This upcoming event invites researchers, students, professionals, policymakers, entrepreneurs themselves, anyone with an interest in personal and humanistic relations to explore the nuances of social capital that impact entrepreneurship in the context of multiple deprivation. Results from nationally representative survey data will be presented and show that bonding networks, trust, reciprocity, obligations and expectations, shared language, lingo and codes help explain the resources needed by entrepreneurs residing in multiply deprived areas to launch a new venture. However, findings concurrently demonstrate that they are reluctant or unable to develop bridging networks, distant social ties and shared narratives, vignettes. Accordingly, the social capital of excluded and marginalised entrepreneurs seems to be both facilitator-enabler and constraint.

Despite efforts by successive Governments in the UK (e.g. Labour 1997 to 2010, Coalition 2010 to 2015, Conservative 2015 to- present) to provide loans and soft support to socially excluded entrepreneurs, there has been a recent significant policy shift towards prioritising interventions for high-potential and innovative new businesses with ambitions to grow and disrupt. Policy has been directed at increasing the scalability and performance of entrepreneurs residing in multiply deprived areas without knowing about their social capital accumulation and access to resources-especially, what factors facilitate or constrain. Put another way, policies in this area that do not focus extensively on supporting and improving their use of ongoing social relations could be a hidden and potential underlying reason for policy ineffectiveness or ambiguity.

Together, let’s foster discussion and evaluate the social capital that could be a catalyst for promoting life chances, inter alia, opportunities and resources as well as co-create potential new enterprise policy ideas with insight, curiosity and empathy.