Zinc will support an exceptional female tech Founder on the next Zinc Venture Builder, starting in November 2021, to celebrate our former colleague, Rose Acton.  Sadly, Rose passed away in December 2020, age 28, after being diagnosed with grade 4 glioblastoma.

Rose was a Founder on Zinc’s first ever Venture Builder programme, who later stepped down from her role as a co-founder at Parla and joined Zinc’s team.  Zinc’s Venture Builder offers brilliant individuals the opportunity to co-found and build their own mission-driven commercial business from scratch.

Rose was a polymath, who deeply cared about financial inclusion, the empowerment of women through technology and solving some of the hardest societal problems. You can read more about her 18-month journey here.

Some of Rose’s greatest attributes were grit, ambition, courage, passion, diligence and curiosity.

To keep her legacy alive and to cherish her memory, we are launching the Rose Acton Award which will fund an exceptionally ambitious technical female Founder with a background in software development/engineering/data sciences, who demonstrates Rose’s values. The winner will then join Zinc’s next Venture Builder programme to improve the emotional and mental health of children and young people.

Each Founder in the cohort receives a £12,000 stipend across the first six months of Zinc’s Venture Builder programme, to assist with living costs as they find their co-founder and establish their business. The recipient of The Rose Acton Award will receive an additional six-month personal stipend, providing a full year of individual support.