Edinburgh entrepreneurs join forces in new venture

Three Edinburgh entrepreneurs have joined forces to help international entrepreneurs in a quest to “build a better world through business” by changing the way entrepreneurial ecosystems are built.

Fx Group, co-founded by WeAreTheFuture founder Bruce Walker, Power of Youth founder Adam Purvis and Power of Youth director Zoi Kantounatou aims to combine WeAreTheFuture, Mettā Network and FutureX.

The idea for the group came when its three founders decided to leverage the strengths of their companies in order to provide a range of bespoke products - from drop-in training to international summits and trade missions - that serve purpose-led startups at each stage of their development.

Across the three brands, the Fx team said it will continue to cultivate an international community of values-driven entrepreneurs to tackle some of the world’s greatest challenges.

Though the group officially launches this month, the groundwork to bring their projects under one roof has been underway for some time.

With The DataLab’s DataFest, a Silicon Valley acceleration programme and the Institute of Water’s Circular Economy Leaders Summit already in the bag this year, the Fx team are now planning their Impact Summit, a Startup Summit reboot and the continuation of the Scottish Government-funded pilot Hydronations.

At the centre of the group’s strategy is the idea that entrepreneurs who choose to create businesses that have a positive social and environmental impact are a regenerative force that can be harnessed to transform societies.

In July, and in partnership with Entrepreneurial Scotland, FutureX will take CEOs at scale-up stage to Berlin, to explore some of the the pre-trends of the emerging, impact-led economy. Among the delegates are EiE17 winner and Amiqus CEO Callum Murray, MadeBrave founder Andrew Dobbie and Float founder Colin Hewitt.

Zoi Kantounatou said: “Adam and I are really excited to combine our training programmes with WeAreTheFuture’s event management expertise. Ultimately, we are building a new type of business that challenges the current mindset and showcases the core of purpose-driven entrepreneurship. By bringing our companies together through the Fx Group we’ll be able significantly amplify the impact of what we do.”

Bruce Walker added: “Combining the human-centric methodology used by Power of Youth to build a global network of purpose-led entrepreneurs with the WeAreTheFuture delivery capability is really exciting and is already proving to be transformational for the entrepreneurs and companies we work with.”