Press release on launch of Furloughed Life https://furloughed.life/
About Techcelerate Ventures
Tech Investment and Growth Advisory for Series A in the UK, operating in £150k to £5m investment market, working with #SaaS #FinTech #HealthTech #MarketPlaces and #PropTech companies.
Press Release
14th April 2020
Techcelerate, its Companies and Partners join together to
launch Furloughed Life in response to UK Government’s
furlough scheme
Alternative title: Go Find Yourself
Techcelerate, its companies and partners join together to launch
Furloughed Life
aimed at
furloughed employees and UK tech startups to stimulate economic activity.
The UK Government introduced the job retention scheme widely known as “furlough” as a
way to reduce, as well as delay, the impending mass redundancies due to the Covid-19
pandemic.
The scheme, as of now, runs for up to 3 months with the expected end date being in June
2020. Any employee can be furloughed from 3 weeks to 3 months and with the lockdown in
place and the furloughed not allowed to work for their employers, the options for productive
economic activity is very limited. At the same time, an equally important issue is the
consideration of the mental health and wellbeing of furloughed staff.
What if voluntary opportunities could be found for the furloughed, which would lead to
stabilising potential mental health issues whilst increasing their chances of job opportunities
in the future? At the same time, could these volunteer opportunities be used to increase the
chances of survival of UK tech startups? The survival of as many companies as possible is
after all one of the key focuses of the UK Government at this time.
Furloughed Life
was founded to bring volunteers (the furloughed staff) and the tech
startups together.
The project is spearheaded by
Manoj Ranaweera
of Techcelerate in coordination with
Chris
McCarthy
of Focus 5 Recruitment and
Ram Raghavan
of Talent36T (t/a AiRA)
We firmly believe in this cause and to demonstrate our commitment to this, we will be
donating 100% of any profits generated during the first six months to support our health
warriors in the NHS.
Manoj Ranaweera
of Techcelerate said,
“As soon as the pandemic started, we had to change our focus for 2020 from building the
next phase of Techcelerate to ensuring the survival of our tech company members. As
customers slowed down buying new products and services built by our companies, their
survival instead became the number one priority. Realisation that furloughed staff could help
with this whilst gaining invaluable skills and experience led me to team up with Chris
McCarthy and Ram Raghavan to launch Furloughed Life”
Chris McCarthy
of Focus 5 Recruitment said,
“Working in recruitment for the tech sector, I quickly saw the impact the crisis was having in
terms of the numbers of staff being both furloughed and made redundant. With the
subsequent and understandable fall in available roles it was clear a different approach to
help the skilled workforce of the tech community was needed.
The whole thought process of the
Furloughed Life
project is that there are some highly
skilled workers out there who are unable to do any work for their employer whilst furloughed
– a legal stipulation. This presents a significant challenge to some, specifically in terms of
mental health. Some people love what they do and having that taken away from them could
impact their wellbeing. By volunteering they are being mentally stimulated, helping a
business in need and gaining new skills and professional experience. The skills and
experience gained through these projects will certainly give any volunteers an edge in what
will no doubt be a highly competitive (recruitment) market when things do start to return to
normality. Who knows where this could lead for the volunteers!”
Ram Raghavan
of Talent36T (t/a AiRA) said
“The impact of lockdown and employees being furloughed would have an impact on the
general morale and wellbeing of people. With 2 out of 5 people reporting some form of
anxiety, it is an excellent opportunity to tap into the collective intelligence of the furloughed
employees to help start ups. There are a lot of companies that have furloughed their staff
mainly due to the nature of their business but are also equally concerned about the
wellbeing of these employees. By getting their employees to do some volunteering work for
smaller firms it could be an opportunity for these companies to demonstrate that they truly
care.
As human beings we are all driven by a sense of purpose. We achieve gratification when we
are involved in activities that create value and when we can do our bit for the greater good.
Volunteering will help individuals achieve that.
The ability to match people's skills and competencies to companies' skill requirements is
always challenging. It becomes arduous when a startup is trying to seek expertise. Getting it
wrong would be a costly mistake for the startup. We saw this as an opportunity to use AiRA
to help startups identify and match volunteers against the roles to ensure optimum results for
both the start ups and volunteers.”
About Techcelerate
Techcelerate works closely with early stage UK tech companies to find ways to accelerate
their growth and eventually reach an exit, by creating a highly trusted network of partners
and specialists where the company founders can learn from each other. Techcelerate is
currently building it’s angel investor network in order to help tech companies with the capital
they need in the future.
http://techcelerate.ventures/
About AiRA
AiRA is a recruitment tech platform which provides end to end screening of candidates. AiRA
does that by matching a candidate's values against the companies values, behaviours,
competencies and much more to help recruit people who are fit for the role. AiRA uses
machine learning to understand and update its knowledge base on every opportunity to
refine its algorithm to spot talent. AiRA addresses unconscious bias that creeps in when
employers assess candidates by not revealing the identity of the candidate until the end.
AiRA's purpose is to democratise recruitment by providing equal opportunity for all.
https://airanew.talent36t.com/
About Focus 5 Recruitment
Focus 5 are a specialist recruitment business working across tech, marketing and sales with
growth focused North West tech businesses. We help companies find the right staff to build
their product or service and then take it to market.
https://focus5recruitment.com/
Contact:
Manoj Ranaweera, Techcelerate
manoj.ranaweera@techcelerate.ventures
07769734491
Ram Raghvan, Talent36T (t/a AiRA)
ram@riddlebox.co.uk
07500 887279
Chris McCarthy, Focus 5 Recruitment
chris@focus5recruitment.com
07786 248 898
14th April 2020
Techcelerate, its Companies and Partners join together to
launch Furloughed Life in response to UK Government’s
furlough scheme
Alternative title: Go Find Yourself
Techcelerate, its companies and partners join together to launch
Furloughed Life
aimed at
furloughed employees and UK tech startups to stimulate economic activity.
The UK Government introduced the job retention scheme widely known as “furlough” as a
way to reduce, as well as delay, the impending mass redundancies due to the Covid-19
pandemic.
The scheme, as of now, runs for up to 3 months with the expected end date being in June
2020. Any employee can be furloughed from 3 weeks to 3 months and with the lockdown in
place and the furloughed not allowed to work for their employers, the options for productive
economic activity is very limited. At the same time, an equally important issue is the
consideration of the mental health and wellbeing of furloughed staff.
What if voluntary opportunities could be found for the furloughed, which would lead to
stabilising potential mental health issues whilst increasing their chances of job opportunities
in the future? At the same time, could these volunteer opportunities be used to increase the
chances of survival of UK tech startups? The survival of as many companies as possible is
after all one of the key focuses of the UK Government at this time.
Furloughed Life
was founded to bring volunteers (the furloughed staff) and the tech
startups together.
The project is spearheaded by
Manoj Ranaweera
of Techcelerate in coordination with
Chris
McCarthy
of Focus 5 Recruitment and
Ram Raghavan
of Talent36T (t/a AiRA)
We firmly believe in this cause and to demonstrate our commitment to this, we will be
donating 100% of any profits generated during the first six months to support our health
warriors in the NHS.
Manoj Ranaweera
of Techcelerate said,
“As soon as the pandemic started, we had to change our focus for 2020 from building the
next phase of Techcelerate to ensuring the survival of our tech company members. As
customers slowed down buying new products and services built by our companies, their
survival instead became the number one priority. Realisation that furloughed staff could help
with this whilst gaining invaluable skills and experience led me to team up with Chris
McCarthy and Ram Raghavan to launch Furloughed Life”
Chris McCarthy
of Focus 5 Recruitment said,
“Working in recruitment for the tech sector, I quickly saw the impact the crisis was having in
terms of the numbers of staff being both furloughed and made redundant. With the
subsequent and understandable fall in available roles it was clear a different approach to
help the skilled workforce of the tech community was needed.
The whole thought process of the
Furloughed Life
project is that there are some highly
skilled workers out there who are unable to do any work for their employer whilst furloughed
– a legal stipulation. This presents a significant challenge to some, specifically in terms of
mental health. Some people love what they do and having that taken away from them could
impact their wellbeing. By volunteering they are being mentally stimulated, helping a
business in need and gaining new skills and professional experience. The skills and
experience gained through these projects will certainly give any volunteers an edge in what
will no doubt be a highly competitive (recruitment) market when things do start to return to
normality. Who knows where this could lead for the volunteers!”
Ram Raghavan
of Talent36T (t/a AiRA) said
“The impact of lockdown and employees being furloughed would have an impact on the
general morale and wellbeing of people. With 2 out of 5 people reporting some form of
anxiety, it is an excellent opportunity to tap into the collective intelligence of the furloughed
employees to help start ups. There are a lot of companies that have furloughed their staff
mainly due to the nature of their business but are also equally concerned about the
wellbeing of these employees. By getting their employees to do some volunteering work for
smaller firms it could be an opportunity for these companies to demonstrate that they truly
care.
As human beings we are all driven by a sense of purpose. We achieve gratification when we
are involved in activities that create value and when we can do our bit for the greater good.
Volunteering will help individuals achieve that.
The ability to match people's skills and competencies to companies' skill requirements is
always challenging. It becomes arduous when a startup is trying to seek expertise. Getting it
wrong would be a costly mistake for the startup. We saw this as an opportunity to use AiRA
to help startups identify and match volunteers against the roles to ensure optimum results for
both the start ups and volunteers.”
About Techcelerate
Techcelerate works closely with early stage UK tech companies to find ways to accelerate
their growth and eventually reach an exit, by creating a highly trusted network of partners
and specialists where the company founders can learn from each other. Techcelerate is
currently building it’s angel investor network in order to help tech companies with the capital
they need in the future.
http://techcelerate.ventures/
About AiRA
AiRA is a recruitment tech platform which provides end to end screening of candidates. AiRA
does that by matching a candidate's values against the companies values, behaviours,
competencies and much more to help recruit people who are fit for the role. AiRA uses
machine learning to understand and update its knowledge base on every opportunity to
refine its algorithm to spot talent. AiRA addresses unconscious bias that creeps in when
employers assess candidates by not revealing the identity of the candidate until the end.
AiRA's purpose is to democratise recruitment by providing equal opportunity for all.
https://airanew.talent36t.com/
About Focus 5 Recruitment
Focus 5 are a specialist recruitment business working across tech, marketing and sales with
growth focused North West tech businesses. We help companies find the right staff to build
their product or service and then take it to market.
https://focus5recruitment.com/
Contact:
Manoj Ranaweera, Techcelerate
manoj.ranaweera@techcelerate.ventures
07769734491
Ram Raghvan, Talent36T (t/a AiRA)
ram@riddlebox.co.uk
07500 887279
Chris McCarthy, Focus 5 Recruitment
chris@focus5recruitment.com
07786 248 898