How to Create an Innovator Visa Business Plan 

What is the Innovator visa?

The Innovator visa was launched by the UK government in March 2019 to replace the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa route. The new visa category is aimed at experienced entrepreneurs who want to bring an innovative new business idea to market in the UK and have at least £50,000 of investment.

To be accepted for an Innovator visa, the applicant must have their business idea endorsed by an approved body. A strong business plan is key to achieving success in the visa application process, impressing the endorsing body and being granted leave in the UK to make your proposal come to life.

Who are the endorsing bodies? 

The “genuine entrepreneur” test requirement was replaced as part of the criteria for the Innovator visa with a letter from an endorsement body. Though the replacement of the Tier 1 Entrepreneur visa brought the investment capital requirement down from £200,000 to £50,000, the new visa category is still proving hard for entrepreneurs to get accepted for.

Rather than a Home Office Entry Clearance Officer with no specific business experience passing judgment on a potential business idea, it now falls to government-approved endorsement bodies. An up-to-date list of applicants can potentially apply to is kept on the government website here. It includes their websites and background information.

All of the organisations on the list have corporate connections and the business acumen to help develop your proposal in their specific sector. Who you might apply to depends on the sector you are working in or the product you may want to bring to market.

To support your application, you will need to contact them for a letter of endorsement.

What criteria should your business plan meet for an Innovator visa? 

There are three specific criteria set out in the Immigration Rules that the business plan should meet. They are:

• Innovation 
• Scalability
• Viability 

Let’s take each in turn.

Innovation 

Your business idea must be new and exciting, and offer a completely innovative solution to a problem unlike anything else already on the UK market. Your idea in itself must therefore be really strong.

Some areas that your business plan should definitely cover to meet this criteria are:

• Evidence you have undertaken significant market gap analysis and how your business or product would fill them
• How is your product or business new? 
• What makes it different to anything else currently available and trading? 

Scalability 

Having a strong new idea is important. However, your proposal wont get the endorsement you need without it being able to scale.  Endorsing bodies will be looking for evidence of its capacity for growth.

Areas to cover in your business plan could include:

• Is it designed to grow across both national and international markets?
• Which markets would you want to break into and what resources would you need? 
• A breakdown of funding, especially if you already have some or all of the investment needed and where you will acquire further finance from
• Strategies for promotion 

Viability 

This comes down to the individual: do you have the knowledge and skills to make your idea work? You must show in your business plan for the Innovator visa that you as a founder will be at the forefront of your business and heavily involved in the day-to-day management of operations. Therefore, have you set achievable and measurable goals and outcomes for your business and do you have the capacity to drive towards them? Your business plan must show all of this to be successful.

You could include:

• Your experience and transferable skills – why will they help you achieve success in your particular industry? 
• Education and training 
• Research about your audience, to show you know there is a strong market for your business 

Specific endorsement body requirements

Though these areas are set out in the Immigration Rules, they are not described in great detail in how to meet the criteria for an Innovator visa. It is not the Home Office that is judging your business plan, it’s the endorsing body you apply to.

Therefore it’s really important to research in-depth which body you want to apply to and which may fit your business best. Each body will have different things they look for in entrepreneurs and businesses they want to support, so making the right choice for you is crucial to getting that all-important endorsement.

You may need to consider the following when looking for the right endorsing body to apply to:

• Geographic location – are they looking to support people and businesses for a specific place in the UK or abroad
• Do they have specific deadlines and application times you must follow
• Does the body require a pre-existing working relationship, or for the applicant to already be part of one of their “accelerator” programs?

Structure of a business plan 

How you put your ideas across in your business plan is key to your application for an Innovator visa being successful. Laying things out in a logical and coherent structure makes it much easier for a potential endorser to see the potential in your innovative idea.

Some key areas to include:

• An executive summary – an introduction to you and your proposal 
• Description of your business idea
• Organisation structure and legal considerations
• Product or service description 
• Market analysis 
• Marketing and promotion plans
• Competitor analysis – looking at any opportunities that you can exploit 
• Finances and budget
• Risk management

If you’re from South Africa and looking to bring your innovative start-up business to the UK, you can contact IAS for professional immigration advice.

Get in touch with our supportive team today.