Guest Blog: From Consumers to Creators: Digital Inclusion as an Economic Growth Strategy
For too long, the conversation around digital inclusion has centred on consumption: how to get people online, how to navigate services, how to use devices. These are necessary steps, but insufficient for true inclusion. If we stop there, we risk reinforcing a passive model of engagement where underserved communities become recipients of technology, rather than its creators, coders, or stewards.
At Breakthrough Social Enterprise, we believe the future of digital inclusion must be creative, entrepreneurial, and regenerative by design. As artificial intelligence, digital platforms, and automation reshape the economy, it’s not just about helping people access tools—it’s about supporting them to build, express, and lead with them.
This is not a nice-to-have. It’s an economic, ethical, and cultural imperative.
Pathways from Bootcamps to Digital Entrepreneurship.
In our Skills Bootcamps and Digital Pre-Apprenticeship programmes, funded by the government and delivered in partnership with CGI, IBM, KPMG, DXC and local employers, we’ve trained hundreds of learners in digital fundamentals—from cloud skills and coding to digital marketing and AI skills. But we don’t stop at CVs and job interviews.
We’re now investing in digital business incubation, particularly for those who’ve historically been locked out of creative industries and enterprise ecosystems. Many of our learners, particularly young adults, prison leavers, and migrants, carry untapped ideas for digital ventures. Some want to start ethical AI consultancies. Others are building wellness brands on Instagram. Some are using their lived experience to create YouTube channels, podcasts, or digital storytelling platforms that speak to communities mainstream media ignores.
Breakthrough’s role is to nurture that spark, with coaching, funding access, community, and ongoing digital learning. It’s one thing to help someone apply for a job. It’s another way to help them design their own income-generating platform.
Storytelling, Design and Sovereignty
Digital inclusion is not only about skills, it’s about voice and visibility. Creative expression through design, content creation, and storytelling is a gateway to power.
We’ve seen learners who couldn’t write a CV six months ago now producing podcast series, digital zines, or AI-assisted visual art projects that reflect their heritage, healing journeys, or visions for social change. Some are using Canva to launch businesses; others are learning video editing to document their community’s history.
These aren’t just personal wins. They are acts of cultural sovereignty.
When historically excluded groups get to see themselves as creators, they begin to challenge the underlying dynamics of the digital divide.
They stop asking, “How do I use this?” and start asking, “What can I make? Who do I serve? What legacy do I want to leave?”
The Digital Economy: An Untapped Engine for Inclusion
The UK’s digital and creative economy is worth over £100 billion, but it remains deeply unequal. Entry is often gated by unpaid internships, cultural capital, or academic credentials. That’s why we must expand our definition of tech talent to include community-rooted creatives, digital entrepreneurs, and emerging storytellers from underrepresented backgrounds.
Imagine if every prison leaver or single parent on Universal Credit had access to:
-
A refurbished device and Wi-Fi
-
Basic content creation training
-
A micro-grant to launch a digital product
-
Ongoing coaching and peer networks
The cost is modest. The economic, social, and cultural return is transformative.
At Breakthrough Social Enterprise, we’re actively building a model to do just this. It’s grounded in mutuality, local relevance, and ethical tech fluency. We’re not waiting for Big Tech to fix exclusion from the top down. We’re working from the margins inwards because we believe the most radical innovation often starts on the edge.
Inclusion Means Imagination
To truly end digital poverty, we must stop designing for survival and start designing for creative self-determination.
We must move from giving access to giving agency. From teaching tools to building visions. From digital literacy to digital authorship.
This End Digital Poverty Day and beyond, we call on funders, employers, and policymakers to:
-
Back to creator-first and entrepreneur-first digital inclusion pathways
-
Support community-led enterprise and storytelling
-
Recognise underserved groups not as problems to fix, but as creators of the future economy
Digital inclusion is not just about being online. It’s about having the tools and the confidence to shape the story of tomorrow.
Authors
