Purple Shoots

Purple Shoots Empowering Dreams, Enriching Communities Purple Shoots works normal office hours but our Shop is open from 10 - 3 daily during the week.

We've spent years arguing that great ideas are everywhere, but access isn't.It's fantastic to see those ideas reflected ...
04/06/2026

We've spent years arguing that great ideas are everywhere, but access isn't.

It's fantastic to see those ideas reflected so strongly in the newly published The Maple Review on Entrepreneurship, Poverty and Breaking Down Barriers, compiled by Small Business Britain.

We're particularly proud because Purple Shoots doesn't just appear in the report...our work helped inform it!

The review includes contributions from our Founder, Karen Davies, highlighting the critical gap in access to small-scale business finance, and from our Divisional Director, Richard Kirtley, on the challenges faced by entrepreneurs who are excluded by mainstream lending systems.

Most importantly, it features the story of Sian, a Purple Shoots borrower.

After Covid devastated her business, Sian was unable to access support through traditional routes. A small loan from Purple Shoots helped her rebuild. Today, she runs a successful business employing seven people.

That story captures something we see every day. People don't lack ambition, people don't lack ideas and people don't lack belief in what they can achieve.

What they lack is access!

The Maple Review calls for, amongst many other great suggestions, a National Micro-Capital System, greater support for CDFIs, improved financial inclusion, long-term mentoring, and enterprise support designed around real lives rather than idealised ones.

These are conversations Purple Shoots has been part of for more than a decade and we're delighted to see these issues receiving national attention.

When we stop asking "What's wrong with this person?" and start asking "What does this person need to succeed?", remarkable things happen.

Access changes everything.

Congratulations to everyone involved in producing such an important piece of work!

Read the full report here: https://maplereview.uk/report

What if the biggest barrier to starting a business isn't having a good idea?What if it's simply being able to access the...
03/06/2026

What if the biggest barrier to starting a business isn't having a good idea?

What if it's simply being able to access the support in the first place?

Over the years, we've met countless people with the talent, determination and ambition to build something of their own. But we've also met carers, people living with chronic illnesses, parents, and others whose circumstances make it difficult to attend traditional workshops and training programmes.

That's why we're delighted to announce that Purple Shoots has been selected to take part in Small Charity Week 2026 with Big Give. đź’ś

From 22nd–29th June, we'll be raising funds to create accessible digital enterprise training based on our Why Not Start a Business? course, helping more people access practical business support in a way that fits around real life.

The best bit? Every donation made during campaign week will be matched through Big Give, doubling its impact.

This isn't just about creating online content.

It's about opening doors.

It's about helping people build confidence, develop skills, explore self-employment and create opportunities that work for them.

Over the coming weeks we'll be sharing more about the campaign, the people it will support, and how you can help.

Thank you to everyone who continues to believe that talent is everywhere, even if opportunity isn't.

Congratulations to the new Welsh minister for Culture and Sport in the Senedd, Heledd Fychan. Before the election Heledd...
26/05/2026

Congratulations to the new Welsh minister for Culture and Sport in the Senedd, Heledd Fychan.

Before the election Heledd came to meet Reconnect, one of our Self-Reliant Groups here at the Purple Shoots office in Pontypridd and spent time telling the group about the role of a Senedd Member and how they can access assistance, as well as explaining the new arrangements for electing members by constituency.

We had a great afternoon, and everyone went away feeling a little more confident about how to work with Senedd Members. Thanks, Heledd!

History has a habit of quietly warning us before it changes direction.In 1832, the Reform Act emerged because Britain’s ...
22/05/2026

History has a habit of quietly warning us before it changes direction.

In 1832, the Reform Act emerged because Britain’s political system no longer reflected the reality of a rapidly industrialising nation.

A century later, the rise of Labour reflected another shift, as working people demanded not just economic participation, but political voice and dignity too.

Now, in the 2020s, we are living through another moment where large numbers of people increasingly feel disconnected from the institutions, systems and assumptions shaping their lives. The rise of Reform, whether people agree with it or not, says something important about the condition of the country underneath the headlines.

What links all of these moments is not ideology alone, but something much more human.

A growing sense that the system no longer fits the people who live within it.

At Purple Shoots, we see smaller versions of this every day through finance. People with potential, resilience and ideas being filtered out because their lives do not fit neatly into rigid models or automated systems. Too often, complexity is mistaken for risk, and humanity becomes administratively inconvenient.

History suggests that when enough people feel unseen, unheard or excluded, systems eventually have to respond.

The question is whether we respond by becoming more divided and transactional, or whether we build institutions that are once again grounded in human reality, relationship and dignity.

We've written a longer reflection exploring the links between the Reform Act, the rise of Labour, and the political fragmentation emerging today through the lens of community finance and economic participation.

Perhaps the real question underneath all of this is a simple one:

Do our systems still truly see the people they are meant to serve?

Read here, let us know what you think: https://open.substack.com/pub/purpleshoots/p/when-the-system-no-longer-fits-the?r=334jev&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

It was great to be at the Responsible Finance Impact Report launch at the House of Commons on Monday!We’re particularly ...
20/05/2026

It was great to be at the Responsible Finance Impact Report launch at the House of Commons on Monday!

We’re particularly proud of the work that micro-finance CDFIs across the UK have done to support entrepreneurs and communities who are too often excluded from mainstream finance and proud that Purple Shoots is one of the six specialist micro-finance CDFIs featured within the report.

Collectively in 2025, the six micro-finance CDFIs:
• Lent £290,059 to 113 people
• Helped create 37 new businesses
• Supported 70 new jobs
• Reached many people unable to access finance elsewhere

Behind every statistic is someone trying to build stability, opportunity and a better future for themselves and their family.

Responsible finance continues to prove that finance can be human, relational and deeply impactful when designed around people rather than just systems.

Read more here:
https://lnkd.in/eYf_bJdp

Yesterday, Richard Kirtley attended the King’s Award for Enterprise Outreach Event in Leeds, hosted by the All-Party Par...
13/05/2026

Yesterday, Richard Kirtley attended the King’s Award for Enterprise Outreach Event in Leeds, hosted by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Ethnic Minority Business Owners in collaboration with the Department for Business and Trade.

The event focused on something really important: ensuring that more businesses from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds are recognised, celebrated and encouraged to access opportunities like the King’s Award for Enterprise.

Too often, brilliant businesses are under-recognised, under-connected and under-supported, despite the enormous contribution they make to local economies, communities and innovation across the UK.

What stood out throughout the afternoon was the strength, resilience and ambition in the room, alongside a genuine desire to make prestigious national recognition feel more accessible and representative of the diversity of modern enterprise in Britain.

There were excellent contributions from previous recipients, practical insights into the application process, and honest conversations about visibility, opportunity and growth.

A special mention as well to Rupa Huq MP, who hosted the event brilliantly and created a really welcoming and thoughtful atmosphere throughout the day, as well as to Diana Chrouch for organising such a brilliant event!

At Purple Shoots, we see every day how much talent and entrepreneurial potential exists in communities that are too often overlooked by mainstream systems. Recognition matters. Visibility matters. Access matters.

When participation broadens, growth broadens too. đź’ś

There’s been a lot of discussion recently about economic growth, productivity, and how the UK “gets moving again.”But on...
11/05/2026

There’s been a lot of discussion recently about economic growth, productivity, and how the UK “gets moving again.”

But one thing still feels strangely absent from so many of those conversations.

Participation.

Growth becomes incredibly difficult when millions of people are effectively locked out of contributing, not because they lack ideas, work ethic or ambition, but because modern life no longer fits the narrow shape that mainstream financial systems were designed around.

Illness. Caring responsibilities. Redundancy. Irregular work. Life disruption.

For too many people, one difficult chapter becomes a permanent barrier to opportunity.

At Purple Shoots, we see the human side of this every single day. People with viable ideas, deep resilience and real capability being told “computer says no” because their lives don’t look tidy enough on paper.

Meanwhile, we keep asking why local economies feel fragile.

The truth is that financial exclusion isn’t just unfair. It’s economically wasteful.

Every person prevented from turning effort into income is lost capacity. Lost local spending. Lost confidence. Lost participation.

The encouraging thing is that this is solvable.

Patient finance, relational support and trusting people properly changes trajectories. We’ve seen it happen for over a decade.

Sometimes the biggest economic intervention is simply someone finally being told: “Yes, we believe you can do this.”

There are moments when it becomes difficult to place your trust in the systems that are meant to support people.We hear ...
08/05/2026

There are moments when it becomes difficult to place your trust in the systems that are meant to support people.

We hear it often, and if we are honest, we feel it too.

At Purple Shoots, we spend our time in a different part of that landscape. Not at the level of policy or headlines, but in conversations with people who are trying to build something for themselves and their families, often after being told no more times than they can count.

On paper, many of those decisions make sense. Risk doesn’t fit neatly. Circumstances don’t align. The system does what it is designed to do.

But when you sit with someone, properly listen, and understand the reality of their life, a different picture begins to emerge.

That is where our work starts.

Sometimes it leads to a yes.

It is a small word, but it carries weight. It can be the difference between an idea staying just that, or becoming something real. More than that, it is often the first time someone feels genuinely seen within a financial system.

Those moments stay with you. The pause on the call. The disbelief. The shift in tone. The sense that something has opened up that was previously closed.

They are a reminder that while systems matter, people matter more.

We will keep pushing for systems to evolve. But in the meantime, we will keep doing the work that sits in front of us. Listening properly. Backing potential. Saying yes where we can.

If you want to read more, we have shared a longer reflection here: https://open.substack.com/pub/purpleshoots/p/holding-hope-lightly?r=334jev&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Last Wednesday felt like one of those quietly significant moments that you know will grow into something much bigger ove...
05/05/2026

Last Wednesday felt like one of those quietly significant moments that you know will grow into something much bigger over time.

A huge shoutout to Stuart, who delivered an absolutely brilliant session with a cohort from Walk Ministries, an organisation we only connected with a couple of weeks ago, but one that already feels deeply aligned with how we think about people, potential, and what “support” should really mean.

Walk Ministries work with men who are either leaving prison or at risk of entering it, providing a structured, residential programme that bridges the gap between custody and independent life. They offer housing, daily support, skills development, and a pathway into employment, all within a safe environment designed to rebuild confidence, purpose, and stability.

What stood out most last Wednesday wasn’t spreadsheets or business plans, but something far more important.

Confidence, belief and the slow, often fragile process of helping people recognise the value in their own skills and experiences.

This group are now approaching the end of that journey, beginning to think about what comes next and Stuart created a space that met them exactly where they are. No overwhelming language, no jargon, just honest, human conversations about ideas, possibilities, and what might actually be within reach.

There’s a tendency in enterprise support to jump straight into the mechanics...plans, forecasts, structures, but without confidence and clarity, those things rarely stick. What Stuart delivered was the foundation that everything else can be built on.

We’re really excited about where this relationship with Walk Ministries could go. There’s a clear opportunity to walk alongside people in a much more meaningful way, starting with confidence and ideas, and then, when the time is right, layering in the practical tools and support to help those ideas become reality.

The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9%. On the surface, that sounds like progress.But alongside that headline is anoth...
24/04/2026

The unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9%. On the surface, that sounds like progress.

But alongside that headline is another story where more young people juggling multiple jobs just to make ends meet.

At Purple Shoots, we’ve seen something interesting in this context. Our loan applications have fallen from 70 to 58 year-on-year. At first glance, that might suggest caution. But it could also point to something else - that more people are finding work elsewhere and the real question is: what kind of work?

Wage growth has slowed to around 3.6%, vacancies are declining, and more people are piecing together income across multiple roles. More people may be in work, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more people are secure.

We might be seeing a shift from people trying to build something of their own, towards people managing survival in the short term.

From where we sit, the labour market looks stronger on paper than it feels in practice.

The challenge isn’t just getting people into work. It’s ensuring that work provides enough stability, dignity, and opportunity to move forward.

We’ve written a longer reflection on this here 👇

https://open.substack.com/pub/purpleshoots/p/more-people-in-work-more-people-struggling?r=334jev&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

Address

Purple Shoots, 2 Church Street , CF37 2TH Opposite The Multi Storey CP And St Catherine's Church
Pontypridd
CF372UF

Opening Hours

Tuesday 10am - 2pm
Wednesday 10am - 2pm
Thursday 10am - 2pm
Friday 10am - 2pm
Saturday 10am - 2pm

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