What is Hackney Impact?
Hackney Impact is a group of organisations delivering business support in Hackney. We provide training, coaching, mentoring, networking opportunities, energy consultancy services and support networks to anybody that is running - or wants to run – a business in Hackney. And we do it all for FREE.
The idea is that by helping people set up, grow and develop their businesses (or in the most challenging circumstances helping them survive or turn things around) we are developing the ecosystem for businesses in Hackney. This is important as it will have an impact on the wider borough, helping to create jobs, attract investment, build cultural capital and reinforce communities.
The impact of collaboration
We believe that acting collectively gives us greater impact – each organisation in Hackney Impact has unique strengths, whether that’s in terms of experience, cultural roots, area of expertise, or networking reach.  Each organisation has its own values, ways of doing things and capabilities.
It’s this organisational diversity that is key to Hackney Impact. By delivering a wider range of services, across a wider set of channels, we can go further, together.
United by a commitment to making a difference in the real world, the 5 partners that make up Hackney Impact are committed to: helping people realise their visions, helping businesses survive and flourish and making Hackney’s ecosystem more diverse, richer and ultimately to build a better place to live and work.
My role within Hackney Impact
I’m Paul Wight and I work for Allia Impact as the Hackney Impact Programme Manager. This means I have a few plates spinning at the same time which keeps life interesting.
Since the project went live on October 4th most of my work has been focused on getting businesses signed up to Hackney Impact, and getting the business support programmes up and running. In the New Year I will be delivering Allia’s Start Your Business and Grow Your Business programmes which will support 120 people develop their ventures over the next 18 months.
I’m ridiculously proud to be part of the partnership and regularly get over-excited about what we’re doing, the things we’re trying to put in place, and the impact that I think we can have.
How are we doing?
We are already supporting 80+ businesses and that’s great! There is a fascinating range of people and ideas that are benefitting from the range of support services that we have developed.
However, to maximise our impact we want to reach businesses that don’t typically engage with support programmes like ours. We know we’ve got a really good offer – meaningful, practical support across a wide range of areas and in a wide range of formats. There is something useful there for anyone that is running a business in Hackney.
But Hackney Impact was not set up to be exclusive, or to keep doing the same old things to support the same people. We want to work with businesses that represent Hackney, that have a place in the community, that develop Hackney’s sense of itself and its cultural legacy.
This means we need to do more to build relationships with business owners, to demonstrate the tangible benefits of working with us, and to highlight our credibility as being able to help businesses in the real world. We are already delivering meaningful support to real world businesses and each partner has a track record of making a real difference to people’s businesses and their lives.
This is the most compelling reason we can put forward for people to put their faith in us.
Our message to Hackney
If you run a business in Hackney, or are planning on starting one – then we want to help you.
We will do our best to help you keep your business afloat if that’s what you need. We will help you to develop your businesses by building up your skills, by connecting you to networks that give you an advantage, by finding you ways to reduce your bills or by simply listening to you and doing our best to help you.
Join us, and we will make a difference!
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