Thursday 16 December: Jigsaw is the proud winner of the ‘Impact Enterprise of the Year’ at the Australian Investment Awards 2021.

The ‘Impact Enterprise of the Year’ award honours enterprises with ‘catalytic impact’ on lives. The Awards more broadly recognise organisations for their expertise, commitment and outstanding activity in the Australian impact investing ecosystem.

After successfully operating hubs in Sydney and Brisbane, Jigsaw sought to raise capital to expand its ‘prepare for work, through work’ model to six national hubs, and further develop Jigsaw Connect (which transitions job ready candidates with disability into open employment)).

Jigsaw undertook a capital raise in 20/21, assisted by Impact Generation Partners. Jigsaw raised a total of $3m, comprising a loan of $2m together with grant funding of $1m. Those providing the loan and/or grants to Jigsaw included the Westpac Foundation, the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the Scalzo Foundation, the Snow Foundation, Impact Generation Partners, The RW Fenton Family Trust, The Bryan Foundation, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation and the Ian Potter Foundation. SEFA acted as Syndicate Agent for the investors.

Since the impact investment raise closed, Jigsaw has reached capacity in Sydney and Brisbane, opened new hubs in Melbourne and Adelaide, and has plans in place for Canberra and Perth. It has also been used to further develop Jigsaw Connect.

Jigsaw’s model is designed to directly address the systemic barriers faced by people with disability in finding and keeping a job. This impact investment is enabling people with disability to access the training and support required to successfully transition into mainstream employment. For individual trainees, Jigsaw leads to increased job readiness skills and confidence, stronger social connections, contacts and friendships, as well as improvement in quality of life through gaining employment and feeling a sense of self-worth and contribution to society.

This capital raise will go a long way to help Jigsaw fulfil its goal of creating 1000 traineeships and 600 award wage jobs for people with disability. To date, Jigsaw has created over 600 traineeships for people with disability and 100 award wage jobs. Of the 100 jobs created, 91% are still employed, with 48% of those surpassing 24 months so far.

About Jigsaw

Jigsaw is a social enterprise that provides an innovative pathway to open employment for people with disability. By embedding a comprehensive skill-based training program within our commercial document and data management business, Jigsaw enables people with disability to achieve their employment goals at their own pace. Jigsaw’s holistic approach starts from the very basics of core work skills and supports trainees all the way through to transition to open employment with ongoing support and coaching once they have transitioned. 

Jigsaw is located in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, with Canberra and Perth locations coming soon.