The Fusion21 Foundation has invested £200,000 in Citizen First LCR, a ground breaking programme that identifies and supports hidden entrepreneurs from communities across the Liverpool City Region to develop businesses rooted in their lived experience of health and care challenges.
The initiative provides each participant with a Real Living Wage salary, early-stage funding, and leading business and tech support for a year to bring their ideas to life.
After an extensive CV-less recruitment process, eight participants were selected from over 200 applicants. Their ventures tackle a range of health and wellbeing challenges, from sustainable youth employment to inclusive mental health support.
The successful entrepreneurs include:
Sean Bailey – My Sleep Health: AI sleep support for autism, ADHD and insomnia - sparked by discovering the power of sleep for recovery after breaking his spine and being told he’d never walk again.
Faye Boswell – Sensified Spaces: An app helping neurodivergent people navigate sensory overload in public - born from family experience and years as a travel agent.
Katie Bowater – Young Entrepreneurs Club: Providing mental health and business support for 18-35s - driven by her own founder journey.
Ceara Byrne – Laurel’s Wood CIC: A 16-acre woodland therapy space -created after nature dramatically improved her son’s mental health.
Abeer Al-awaqi – AA Health and Nutrition: Menopause education and support for ethnic minority women and families - inspired by the taboo she witnessed in her own community.
Lorcan McGuinness – Guided Robotics: Hospital robots to improve patient outcomes - inspired by building robots in his bedroom.
Frankii Panchoo – Hair: Anywhere: A fully accessible mobile salon - inspired by the accessibility barriers faced by disabled friends.
Mat Richards – Inclus-Ability North West CIC: Inclusive sport and media.– driven by seeing disabled people excluded from sport.
The programme is based at Central Tech, Liverpool’s new innovation hub, where participants receive mentorship, tech support, and guidance from the University of Liverpool’s Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL)and the Virtual Engineering Centre. Over the next year, they’ll refine their business models, test ideas with users, and connect with investors.
Jo Hannan, Head of the Fusion21 Foundation, said: “We’re proud to co-fund Citizen First LCR, empowering grassroots entrepreneurs to tackle health and care challenges in their communities. This work strongly aligns with our funding priorities: financial inclusion, health and wellbeing, and employment and skills. We look forward to seeing the meaningful impact this programme delivers.”
James Green, CEO and Founder of Public Life, added: “The people closest to social challenges often have the best ideas to solve them — they simply need the chance. Citizen First LCR gives them that chance by turning lived-experience ideas into new, locally led enterprises, backed by a powerful network of local people and organisations. The inspiring hidden entrepreneurs involved are breaking new ground in how we solve the social challenges facing them and their communities.”
Citizen First LCR is also supported by Torus Foundation, Riverside, and Livv Housing Group, and forms part of the University of Liverpool’s Civic Health Tech Innovation Zone, funded through the Liverpool City Region Life Sciences Innovation Zone Programme.