Small business owners across the UK are being offered a unique opportunity to receive mentorship from Hollywood star Eva Longoria and secure a £7,500 grant as part of a new global initiative.
The programme, spearheaded by tech giant Lenovo, aims to foster connections between like-minded entrepreneurs through a concept dubbed “business twinning”. A select group of founders will benefit from the American actress, businesswoman, and investor’s guidance, alongside a significant boost to their public profile.
Businesses from the UK, US, Japan, and Mexico are eligible to apply for the cross-border campaign, “Backing Every Business”, which will award 12 winners with £7,490 in grant funding, artificial intelligence-powered devices, and bespoke mentoring.
Lenovo, a Hong Kong-based electronics manufacturer, states that the twinning model is designed to bridge a “support gap” often faced by smaller firms, pairing entrepreneurs confronting similar challenges to facilitate mutual problem-solving and learning.
Eva Longoria, known for her acting career, also boasts a diverse portfolio of business ventures, including part-ownership of Mexican football club Club Necaxa and involvement with women’s club Angel City FC.
She remarked that being an entrepreneur is “one of the hardest, most daring things you can do” and stressed that “entire communities benefit” when founders receive adequate support.
Longoria also invested $6m in funding in the highly successful John Wick action movie franchise, starring Keanu Reeves, less than 24 hours before filming was to start, essentially saving the project from being shelved.
In an interview celebrating the film’s tenth anniversary, Chad Stahelski and Davi Leitch talked about the Desperate Housewives star’s investment to close funding they had lost.
“We didn’t know any of this. Our producer Basil [Iwanyk] never told Keanu or us. Literally less than 24 hours before we had to lock the doors on the movie and walk away, Basil said, ‘We’ve got the investor, we’ve locked the gap.’ We found out by the end of the movie, Basil took us out to dinner, and we were laughing about all the bullshit that happened, and he said, ‘By the way, funny story, you know who gap financed you? Eva Longoria.’ We were like, ‘What!’”
To qualify, applicants must employ fewer than 250 people, have generated less than 50 million US dollars in revenue, and have raised under three million US dollars in investment capital. An independent panel of judges will select the winners after applications close on 15 April.
