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Mayor Steve Rotheram today hailed the £35.9m impact of Liverpool City Region’s UK-leading approach to supporting community businesses.
Kindred was set up in 2020 with £5.5m from the Combined Authority and £1m from Power to Change to support socially trading organisations (STOs).
Five years on, a new impact report reveals Kindred has delivered £35.9m in economic and social value and created hundreds of jobs in STOs, which trade commercially while delivering lasting benefits to their communities.
Kindred Director Jen Van der Merwe (left) and Mayor Steve Rotheram (right)
It has made 66 investments worth £3m in 51 STOs since 2020, and in 2024 alone Kindred invested £615,720 in 13 organisations, including £431,720 in nine new STOs.
Kindred’s network of socially-trading organisations now has more than 1,500 members, helping build a more inclusive local economy rooted in community, creativity and care.
Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said:
“Kindred is helping to rewrite the rules of what an economy can look like when you put people and purpose first.
“It’s showing that by backing local entrepreneurs with strong social values, we can grow businesses that create good jobs and keep wealth in our communities. That’s what devolution is all about – giving local people the power and support to build a fairer, more inclusive economy, the Liverpool City Region way.”
Kindred’s impact also includes:
Jen Van der Merwe, Kindred’s Director, said:
“Kindred’s investment is about relationships, lived experience and partnership. We don’t just back ideas – we back people in every borough who understand their communities and what real change looks like.”
The social trading sector employs 50,000 people, one in 10 of the city region’s workforce, with 1,300 STOs generating £2.9bn per year for the city region’s economy.
Kindred’s commitment to diversity is reflected in the people and places its money is invested: 31% in Black-led STOs; 51% in women-led organisations and 100% to underinvested communities. Average growth in the BlaST portfolio (the Black Social Traders network) runs at 46% – more than double the ‘high growth’ definition, showing what happens when money goes into underinvested communities.
BlaST director Joanne Anderson said:
“Our portfolio is one of the most diverse in the UK, because we invest where traditional finance doesn’t. By listening to lived experience and backing Black-led and women-led organisations, we’re proving that inclusion isn’t just moral – it’s good business.”
Investment from Kindred has also brought new jobs to the city region – often in places ignored by other investors. Employment has increased 71.6% since investment, with 323 jobs safeguarded and 74 new jobs created in 2024, bringing the total since 2020 to 200.
Kindred strategy director, Erika Rushton, said:
“Our evidence since 2020 shows that STOs offer a ‘pathfinder’ to a new economy. They fill gaps in supply chains and address market failures. Alongside increasing numbers of jobs created and safeguarded, they enable upward mobility, increasing the hours, wages and stability of their teams.”
