Connection Verified source

Liverpool programme turns lived experience into nine businesses and £5.2m of social value

Citizen First LCR backed entrepreneurs facing barriers into business with a Real Living Wage, seed funding and expert support, generating more than £5.2m in assessed social value from £500,000 investment.

By The TEA Editorial Desk · 28 August 2026

Liverpool entrepreneur presenting a digital health idea Image: University of LiverpoolOriginal source

Need something explained?Tap a highlighted word, phrase or concept, or select any part of the article and choose Explain this.

A Liverpool City Region programme designed to find entrepreneurs who might be missed by conventional business schemes has produced nine new ventures and an independently assessed £5.2 million in social value during its first year.

Citizen First LCR began with £500,000 of investment and recruited without CVs, prioritising lived experience, insight and potential. Of roughly 200 applicants, 87 per cent had direct experience of economic disadvantage.

The businesses include Sensified Spaces, which helps people understand the sensory environment of public places, and MySleepHealth, an -guided sleep platform moving towards NHS trials. Other ventures cover accessible hairdressing, inclusive sport, youth entrepreneurship and nature-based .

Participants receive a Real , seed funding and technical and business support. The programme’s useful provocation is simple: perhaps some of the people closest to a problem are also closest to an idea worth backing.