New networking community will be a vessel for purpose-driven business in the Liverpool City Region

Matchstick Creative launches Firestarters, a purpose-driven business community

Matchstick Creative wants to improve the social impact of businesses in the Liverpool City
Region (LCR) with the launch of Firestarters, a networking community that focuses on
purpose as well as profit.

The business networking landscape has become stale and outdated. Networking groups up
and down the country are dealing with the same challenges around diversity, representation,
and providing real value to their members.

Firestarters is a new business community that focuses on ethics and the impact of business
on people and the planet. In the past, too much focus has been placed on profit with
businesses paying little attention to the way their activities affect the environment and
people around them. Firestarters is going to do things differently by creating a
purpose-driven business networking community that truly values diverse voices.

How will Firestarter’s act as a force for good business in the LCR?

Firestarters will enable positive social change by facilitating meaningful interactions
between purpose-driven businesses and providing the support and resources the LCR’s
business community need to be the change they want to see. Firestarters will be a
multi-faceted series of events run throughout 2021 and beyond. A blend of public and private
events will help to encourage positive conversations between private businesses, the third
sector and community groups.

Aaron Fontenot, Business Lead at Matchstick Creative, had this to say about the need for
a different approach to networking – “Before COVID-19, I spent a lot of my time in
networking events, often as the youngest person in the room, and the only non-white
person. For me, the whole business networking landscape had become really stale and
outdated. Firestarters is going to change the status quo by creating a business networking
community that truly values diversity.”

Ruth Hartnoll, Founder at Matchstick Creative had this to say about the potential impact
the group could have on the region – “Firestarters naturally lends itself to the Liverpool City
Region as it’s a city with a living and breathing social-economy. Our hope with Firestarters is
that it will bring everyone into one room to do more good.”

Firestarters is set to launch its first event ‘Building Back Equal’ on 22nd of April