As the UK’s only company formation agent certified as a B Corp, creating a positive impact is a core part of how we do business at 1st Formations. As part of our commitment to social responsibility, we’re proud to have an ongoing partnership with Zero Gravity – a charity working to remove economic and social barriers for talented students who might otherwise not make it to university or lose out on career opportunities. Last month, a colleague and I attended Zero Gravity’s scholars’ roundtable to discuss higher education, graduate recruitment, and how social mobility in business can create genuine opportunities for the next generation.
Hearing directly from former Zero Gravity scholars brought the discussion to life, offering firsthand perspectives on the barriers they encountered and the support that helped them progress into higher education and graduate careers.
Key takeaways
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- How 1st Formations supports the local community
What is Zero Gravity?
Zero Gravity was founded by Joe Seddon, who grew up in West Yorkshire with his mother and younger siblings. After navigating the state school system to earn a place at the University of Oxford, he set out to build an organisation that would help talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds access top universities and graduate careers.
Seddon founded Zero Gravity with the final £200 of his student loan, aiming to use technology to level the playing field for talented students across the UK. Today, the platform connects ambitious students from low-income backgrounds with undergraduate mentors, application masterclasses, scholarships, and major employers. So far, it has helped propel more than 23,000 students into top UK universities.
Zero Gravity scholars are nearly twice as likely to attend a leading university.
Meeting the scholars
The roundtable brought together former scholars whose success stories show just how far the right support can go.
We met Stephanie, a University of Sheffield graduate now working on HSBC’s Cyber Security Graduate scheme; James, a University of Warwick Master’s student in Mathematics, who co-authored a published paper on nuclear reactor technology following a research placement in Croatia; and Taiyyib, a fourth-year medical student at King’s College London balancing his studies while running Bleep64, an AI medical startup backed by $300k in seed funding.
While their paths were completely different, the themes they raised were remarkably similar, giving us an honest, practical look at the barriers students still face and what it takes to overcome them.
What we learned from the discussion
The discussion kept coming back to three main areas where targeted support makes the biggest difference:
Access to information
Students from low-income backgrounds and state schools often miss out on the “unwritten rules” of university applications, assessment centres, and corporate hiring. Getting early access to mentoring and professional networks helps provide that missing knowledge, giving students the confidence to step into spaces they might otherwise feel excluded from.
Hidden costs
The financial strain of university goes far beyond tuition fees, as maintenance loans now fall more than £6,000 a year short of basic living costs. To make up the shortfall, the average student from a low-opportunity background works 19 hours a week – time taken away from studying and career prep. Between medical placements, complex maths courses, and job searches, scholars like Taiyyib, James, and Stephanie didn’t have room for term-time shifts. Receiving financial scholarship support removed that burden, freeing them from extra work so they could focus entirely on their degrees and career ambitions.
Technology and mentoring
While AI tools are transforming how students prepare for interviews and write applications, access isn’t equal. Premium AI tools cost around £20 a month – a structural barrier for students already facing a £500+ monthly shortfall, even as AI fluency becomes a baseline career requirement. Zero Gravity bridges this gap by integrating free AI tools for CV feedback and career guidance directly into its platform. However, the scholars agreed tech only goes so far: generative tools can refine a CV, but they can’t replace the real-world encouragement and doors opened by a human mentor. That support translates into tangible career outcomes, with Zero Gravity scholars 3.5 times more likely to secure professional work experience, and they graduate into starting salaries 22% higher than those of comparable peers.
Why we’re supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds in the UK
Hearing directly from the scholars made one thing clear: closing the social mobility gap isn’t something schools and universities can do on their own. Businesses play a major role in opening doors and providing practical support.
At 1st Formations, our entire business is built around helping people take the first step toward building something of their own. Backing Zero Gravity comes from that exact same mindset – the belief that talent and ambition should count for everything, regardless of where someone starts out.
We’re putting that belief into practice by sponsoring a Zero Gravity scholar with a £3,000 financial award, spread across three years. The £1,000 annual payments can be used for costs that help them get ahead, from a laptop and courses to travel and accommodation for internships. Alongside the financial support, scholars gain access to Zero Gravity’s community, employer opportunities and mentoring.
How businesses can support social mobility
Creating better pathways from education into the workplace doesn’t require a massive corporate overhaul. For employers looking to make a real difference, small, practical changes, and the right partnerships, can have a huge impact:
- Offer direct scholarship funding: Financial grants help relieve the economic pressure on ambitious students. At 1st Formations, we run our own annual Business Scholarship to assist budding UK and US entrepreneurs with essential course materials and living expenses.
- Rethink hiring and offer time: Swap rigid criteria for skills-based recruitment, and encourage your team to mentor students or run practical skill workshops.
- Educate your team internally: Social mobility starts from within. Hosting regular “Lunch & Learn” sessions where charities and social enterprises present to employees helps foster a culture of awareness, inclusion, and active support.
- Form meaningful, targeted partnerships: Collaborate with organisations that directly widen access. Zero Gravity connects students with internships and career opportunities through more than 40 employer partners. Beyond sponsoring scholars through our rewarding partnership with Zero Gravity, we work with partners like the Young Camden Foundation and LSE Generate – where we sponsor dedicated clusters for Black and ethnic minority founders, as well as neurodivergent entrepreneurs.
By embedding these practical measures into everyday operations, businesses can turn untapped potential into real opportunity.
Looking ahead
The roundtable was a powerful reminder that talent is everywhere – opportunity isn’t.
By sponsoring a Zero Gravity scholar, we’re proud to support an organisation that’s actively changing that dynamic. We’re excited to follow our scholar’s progress over the coming year and see the impact of our ongoing partnership firsthand.
Find out how your business can get involved with Zero Gravity through mentoring, partnerships, and sponsorship opportunities.
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