A new initiative has been launched to find ten of the UK's leading social entrepreneurs who are working to tackle energy challenges, and making real, sustainable change in their communities.

Established by Ignite Social Enterprise, a social investment fund focused on energy-related businesses and enterprises and backed by Centrica, the aim of the Big Energy Idea is to help the social entrepreneurs to grow their ventures.

The Big Energy Idea will provide ten energy social entrepreneurs with an individual package of support and the potential for funding of a minimum £50,000 to grow the social impact they create.

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Ignite is seeking new ways to tackle the challenges that UK society faces through energy-related entrepreneurs. The profits from Ignite's investments will be reinvested and recycled back to help more social enterprises and ventures grow and scale up their work.

Applications opened on 3 December for the Big Energy Idea, with applications closing at the end of February 2014. Twenty finalists will then be selected to attend an event in April to pitch their business idea to a panel of experts, before the ten successful entrepreneurs are announced in April 2014.

The Big Energy Idea is being run by Ignite in collaboration with Wayra, a technology-focused accelerator programme providing support to companies in the digital space. Working in collaboration, these two partners will provide investment, support, connections and expert advice to help the successful energy businesses, with up to three winning a place at the Wayra Academy in London.

(CD/IT)