Success Initiative allocated 25 million in investment to startups
After a successful start with 264 applications and several million in investments, it is soon time for BLING Startup and Breakit to open the application for Shift.
– Both we and Breakit strongly believe that entrepreneurship leads to benefits for society as a whole, both in terms of employment but also because successful entrepreneurship makes stronger and prouder people. Especially in our suburbs, the positive spirit needs to be lifted much more than it is now, says Deqa Abukar, co-founder BLING.
On January 24th, Shift will reopen, the initiative launched in 2021 with the aim of shifting the flow of investment in startups from the metropolitan centres to groups that are often overlooked in the entrepreneurial context. In particular, entrepreneurs from minority backgrounds, women and rural entrepreneurs without access to inner-city networks are overlooked groups that Shift wants to shine a spotlight on.
- In Sweden, we have a huge potential among entrepreneurs that has unfortunately been overlooked for too long. These are people who neither have access to important networks nor have the conditions and advantages that entrepreneurs from inner cities have, and we want to change that,” says Deqa Abukar, co-founder of BLING.
2021 was a really successful year, resulting in 264 applications and around SEK 25 million in investment. New for this year is that there will be semi-finals in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö where selected startups will have the opportunity to pitch their ideas in front of a jury consisting of business profiles and investors. The top ten pitchers will then have the chance to meet the Shift’s dragons with the opportunity to sell their ideas for investments of several million SEK.
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Deqa Abukar, co-founder BLING.
This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of the entrepreneurs who apply to Shift, both for the investment opportunity but also for the networks and contacts they make along the way. In the long run, I’m quite sure that initiatives like this reduce the gaps in our society more than many political efforts do,” says Deqa Abukar, co-founder
In conjunction with Shift opening up for applications, the podcast Against All Odds will also be launched, where Deqa Abukar from BLING Startup meets people who have in some way made an inspiring journey. The podcast gives listeners an insight into the work BLING does when they are not working with Shift.
- Our whole idea is to help entrepreneurs who are living in exclusion in one way or another. Of course we do this together with Breakit and Shift but we also do it through our other popular initiatives like Womenisa, Bridge and not least För-orten where we just finished another successful season together with Reach for change, says Deqa Abukar, co-founder
