Think Enterprise — Quarter One

TE THINK ENTERPRISE QUARTER. 1 — 2020

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NEW NEN & IOEE PARTNERSHIP

WELCOMING THE LATEST IOEE ACADEMIES HACKNEY BASED BUSINESS ANARES RECEIVES

IOEE & BARCLAYS BANK MENTORING ENTREPRENEURS UNLOCKED SPEAK ABOUT

DELIVERING THE IOEE UP_ PROGRAMME HEAD, HAND AND HEART — HOLISTIC THINKING, DOING & FEELING

UNDERGRADUATE ENTERPRISES

THINK ENTERPRISE Quarter 1 — 2020 Vol. 30

CONTAC T US 53 Coniscliffe Road Darlington DL3 7EH 0845 467 4928 newsletter@ioee.uk ioee.uk

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2 | Think Enterprise

SARAH TROUTEN, IOEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE Happy New Year and welcome to our very

In November we welcomed Entrepreneurs

first edition of 2020. This year is the Chinese

Unlocked to our Academy Network, and I was

year of the Rat which symbolises renewal and

pleased to hear that the very first cohort of

abundance, with our country on the brink of

learners have successfully completed their

finalisation of Brexit, a promise of starting

enterprise programme delivered by David

afresh with plentiful opportunities for the

Morgan, founder of Entrepreneurs Unlocked.

countries small businesses is a great prospect.

David shares our passion for supporting This month we caught up with one of our

individuals to change their life through

mentees Inan who has received support by

enterprise learning. The statistics in America

a Barclays Bank mentor. Inan explains the

speak for themselves, of those that undertake

impact this support has had on him and his

fully supported entrepreneurship learning

business, and reinforces our research which

programmes, only 10% reoffend. If you

shows mentored businesses were than twice

compare this to the UK national average, then

as likely to remain in business after five years.

the question has to be asked — why can’t more be done to rehabilitate through enterprise?

I was delighted to announce late last year a strategic partnership with NEN. The National

Finally, this month’s Enterprisingly Me which I’m

Enterprise Network share our values and

sure rings true for many of us and myself for

overall objective which is to ensure small

certain with my ongoing struggle of balancing

businesses can start, survive and thrive. I’m

work, fitness and children! Enjoy this month’s

looking forward to working with many more

issue x

NEN members and widening our support to many more small businesses.

Think Enterprise | 3

CONTENTS 6. hackney based business, anares receives mentoring support Inan of Anares, a business based in Hackney London, has received support from Barclays mentor, Any Murphy, facilitated by the team here at the IOEE. » p.6

8. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF MENTORING? Take a look at some of the many benefits to be gained by both sides when it comes to mentoring.

» p.8

So

whether

you’re

you

can

sure

be

a there

mentor is

or

a

something

mentee for

you.

10. IOEE AND NATIONAL ENTERPRISE NETWORK PARTNERSHIP Late 2019 saw the launch of our partnership with the

National

Enterprise

Network

(NEN)

providing

a streamlined application path for NEN Members when

» p.10

applying

to

become

an

IOEE

Academy.

14. COULD R&D TAX CREDITS HELP GROW YOUR BUSINESS? Research and Development Tax Credits are a UK tax incentive designed to encourage companies to invest in R&D. Companies can reduce their tax bill or claim payable cash credits as a proportion of their R&D expenditure.

16. LEADING TO GROW PROGRAMME Do you employ between 1-9 people? This programme » p.16

will

support

business

owners

to

grow,

innovate and increase productivity in their business through

4 | Think Enterprise

small

adopting

digital

and

new

technologies.

18. remembering allan giBB OBE Just before the start of the New Year, we learnt of the passing of Professor Allan Gibb OBE. He will be greatly missed by those who worked with him at Durham University as well as the wider enterprise and entrepreneurship community. » p.18

22. unlocking potential, pitching for success We speak to David Morgan founder of Entreprenuers Unlocked a

new IOEE Academy who have just

had their first cohort successfully complete enterprise

programme

delivered

by

an David.

24. MBL ACADEMY » p.22

Enterprise & entrepreneurship education have long found its way into our Higher Education curricula, and much has been written about the success of such programmes as well as the pitfalls thereof.

26. Hand, head & heart — holistic thinking, doing and feeling in undergraduate enterprises Enterprise & entrepreneurship education have long » p.24

found its way into our Higher Education curricula, and much has been written about the success of such programmes as well as the pitfalls thereof.

30. ENTERPRISINGLY ME A quartely feature where you can follow entrepreneurial adventures. Names have been changed to protect the innocent but everything you read really did happen, » p.26

making for a very interesting read.

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BARCLAYS BANK MENTORING HELPS HACKNEY BASED BUSINESS.

To kick off our very first Think Enterprise of 2020 we have spoken to Inan Gokcek.Inan received support from Barclays Bank mentor, Andy Murphy.

Inan runs Anares (http://www.anares.co.uk) and has a small studio based in Hackney, London, his work ranges from furniture design to interior architecture and even small architecture projects such as house extensions, conversions and more.

Inan’s main focus is on interior architecture and his goal is to build experience and Anares’ reputation as a business based on this.

We asked Inan what he had taken away from the programme and the mentoring offered as part of this. Inan explained that over the course of the programme he had learned to analyse and assess circumstances, the ability to adapt to new situations and circumstances as well as strategic planning for future.

Inan said “I have learnt to look at Anares as a bigger picture; what it is today and what it isn’t; it’s aims in 3-6 months but also 3-5 years. Additionally, mentoring has also revealed the real values of my business, the versatility and the range of services that the studio can offer that I wasn’t previously very aware of and encouraged and helped me to build my business based on these.”

Mentoring has revealed the real value of my business that I wasn’t previously aware of.

Mentoring has empowered Inan to give a direction to his business based on his own choices, recognising his strengths and weaknesses. Andy has helped Inan to understand what is needed, rather than applying a set methodology, providing both general and specific support based on the situation.

We asked Inan how his sessions with Andy would usually go “At each session, we set goals, distributed on them on a timeline and moved forward from that.

Later we reviewed the progress and created new ones.

I also communicated with Andy via emails in between our meetings which provided additional help when

meeting in person wasn’t possible. Visualising and listing tasks and reviewing them regularly helped me to keep the tempo.”

Over the past year Inan’s mentoring relationship with Andy has helped to build his business and personal skills, we asked Inan about how he looks to carry this momentum through into 2020 and beyond.

Inan’s plans are to realise the full potential of his business by developing the branding via the design studio in Hackney as well as online via the website and social media channels. Inan hopes this will result in increased sales as a result of being well known and respected across the borough and in the longer term reaching those outside of London.

On a personal level Inan has benefitted from the mentoring explaining that he has been able to develop crucial skills such as time management, the ability to prioritise tasks, information management and general business admin. He also started teaching interior architecture at the University of Westminster last September, during his mentorship. Inan spoke with real excitement regarding his new ability to cope and adapt to different circumstances as well as capitalising on business opportunities when they arise.

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2020

I felt the opportunity of helping support a new business & the future of our economy was too good to pass up.

What are the benefits of mentoring?

Small businesses make up nearly 99% of UK business and are at the heart of the UK economy.

Our research shows that businesses that use external support are twice as likely to survive and succeed than businesses that don’t. Ensuring small businesses have somewhere and someone to turn to for valued and trusted support is something we’re passionate about and why we continue to promote and signpost to mentoring support.

Mentoring can mean different things to different people, however, when we talk about mentoring we’re describing a relationship in which a person is supported through a learning or developmental journey. It’s about reflecting, encouraging and supporting the new or existing business owner to make the most of themselves and their business.

Stephen Wright Barclays Bank Mentor

but all mentoring relationships present the opportunity for both mentor and mentee to learn from each other. The benefits of mentoring for the mentee have been well documented within our research, it provides impartial advice and support, boosts self confidence, encourages self reflection and, most importantly, increases business success rate.

Our research demonstrates that mentors also benefit greatly from the experience, with over 90% of mentors stating they learnt something new from their mentee that helped them within in their own business it’s clear that mentoring isn’t altruistic. Mentors also claim mentoring enabled self reflection and widened their networks.

Mentoring is about mutual trust and respect. It’s a two way relationship in which both mentor and mentee get the chance to learn new things and develop. Every mentoring relationship is different; Being an entrepreneur can be lonely, stressful place, so being in a position to provide support gives me a sense of fulfillment by giving back to the my I found the programme was

community, and at the same time, I

much more of a morale

continue to work on my own skills such

booster than I had expected

as listening not to mention learning

& helped me focus on

about different types of businesses.

building my confidence in business environments.

Caren Bharath, Mentee Leeds & Partners

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Anastasia Georgiou, Lloyds Bank Mentor

For the Mentee:

For the Mentor:

• • • • • •

• • • • •

Provides impartial advice and encouragement Develops a supportive relationship Assists with problem solving Improves self-confidence Offers professional development Encourages reflection on practice

• • •

Opportunity to reflect on own practice Enhances job satisfaction Develops professional relationships Enhances peer recognition It uses your experience, making it available to a new person It widens your understanding of the organisation and the way it works It enables you to practice interpersonal skills It provides personal satisfaction through supporting the development of others

You can become a mentor as an IOEE Member here — with the option to take our free Mentoring Essentials course or our Professional Award in Enterprise Mentoring. If you are looking for a mentor search via our organic Mentor Directory within the IOEE Campus. Available to members only.

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& Partnership Late 2019 saw the launch of our partnership with the National Enterprise Network (NEN) providing a streamlined application path for NEN Members when applying to become an IOEE Academy.

We spoke to three organisations who have taken up the opportunity as NEN members and found out a little more about their organisation and why becoming an IOEE Academy was important to them.

First up was the Enterprise Support Alliance (ESA), a not for profit organisation set up to promote enterprise and entrepreneurship across the UK & internationally in partnership with other like-minded organisations & individuals. ESA provide services for pre & post

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start-up enterprises, focusing on the East of England, London and neighbouring regions.

When looking at becoming an IOEE Academy the Enterprise Support Alliance saw this as a key strategic development opportunity.

We asked ESA CEO Pat Smith how he saw working with the IOEE as an Approved Academy of value to their organisation “Our association with the IOEE is very important to ESA as it will provide the level of professional recognition we seek not only for the ESA, but especially for our delegates - through the receipt of Certificates of Achievement and access to the IOEE’s on-line campus.”

ESA have experience of successfully delivering 2 day,

high quality, interactive training workshops on a range of business and enterprise topics and are in the process of rolling out a programme of modular workshops on business startup, business resilience, trading internationally, and pitching for investment Next up we spoke to NEN Member and new IOEE Academy DNAsix, a digital skills and business communications platform designed to help both individuals and organisations become more agile and better communicators. Based around six key factors – Strategy, Culture, Content, Community, Advertising and Data – all of which underpin how well businesses communicate. DNAsix offer two programmes – both of which use a rich array of resources including videos, gamified tools, easy-to-use modules and handy planners.

When asked why DNAsix wanted to work closely with the team here at the IOEE as an IOEE Academy, DNAsix said:

“The

IOEE

holds

exactly

the

same

values and goals as DNAsix plus both organisations are passionate about helping entrepreneurs and innovators to succeed in

“It brings an instant kitemark of excellence to the DNAsix brand and we are delighted that the IOEE recognises our Communicator and Bootcamp programmes. It means that not only can we enrich the knowledge reservoir of our clients and their businesses but we can also now offer a range of IOEE qualifications and learning programmes.”

Finally we spoke to Colbea, a not-for-profit enterprise agency based in Colchester, Essex.

Colbea support pre-start, startup, developing and establish businesses through fully-funded business advice and training to help guide businesses towards success.

Also providing great value incubation and virtual offices as well as on-demand meeting/ training room hire.

We asked Craig Baston, Operations and Partnership Manager at Colbea on why they have chosen to work with us here at the IOEE, Craig said: “Colbea have always been committed to provided business training and becoming an IOEE Academy reinforces this. It also

today’s interconnected, increasingly complex marketplace. Therefore, it makes absolute sense to become an IOEE Academy.”

Think Enterprise | 11

provides even further credibility of the high quality standards that our clients have come to expect from Colbea.”

Looking forward Colbea are extremely excited to strenghen their offer with IOEE Academy Status saying: “It can often be hard for entrepreneurs to find the right support at the right time.

We are confident that Colbea’s partnership with the IOEE will enable us to make our services more accessible than ever so that we can help more businesses flourish.”

Sarah Trouten, CEO of the IOEE said: “We were delighted to announce in November a strategic partnership with the National Enterprise Network (NEN), with shared values and objectives this new partnership was a natural step for us in ensuring quality and trusted support for small businesses in the UK. ”

Nic Preston, Head of Quality for the IOEE said: “Certificates of Achievement provide a great way for organisations of all types and sizes to gain recognition of their self-developed training and development programmes and demonstrate to all that they deliver a quality service supporting enterprise skills development. This new partnership with the NEN has opened this opportunity to yet more organisations who now join the many existing ones who have already gained recognition and certification for their learning and development programmes.”

NEN Chief Executive Alex Till spoke regarding the new partnership between the NEN and the IOEE: “NEN is committed to building strong relationships with likeminded organisations across the enterprise sector. It’s fundamental to our mission of representing, uniting and supporting all

organisations who are passionate about inspiring and encouraging enterprise.

It was clear that the IOEE shared our ethos and vision, so we were delighted to formalise this partnership and create an offer which gives our members real value.

“The stamp of credibility that IOEE Academy status offers is hugely important because it strenghens the enterprise services offered by our members.”

The stamp of credibility that IOEE Academy status provides is hugely important because it strengthens the enterprise services offered by our members. In turn, this filters

down to their clients - the pre-start or established small businesses whose existence is crucial for the future of the high street and our economy.”

For more details on this new partnership or on how you can take advantage of the great opportunities IOEE Academy status and Certificates of Achievement can bring to your organisation, speak with a member of the IOEE team on 0845 467 4928 or get in vouch via email at info@ioee.uk and a member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.

How R&D tax credits can grow your business in 2020 Research and Development Tax Credits are a UK tax incentive designed to encourage companies to invest in R&D. Companies can reduce their tax bill or claim payable cash credits as a proportion of their R&D expenditure.

R&D tax credits — the break you need Research and development (R&D) tax credits are a source of government funding that has been around since the turn of the century. This tax incentive reduces your Corporation Tax bill if you’re profit-making or gives you a tax credit if you’re loss-making.

More businesses are making use of them than ever, but the incentive is still under-used and misunderstood. You don’t need to give away equity in your business to receive a cash injection this year. And you don’t need to re-invent the wheel to qualify for R&D tax credits. It’s much easier than you think to qualify, with the official definition being deliberately open-ended.

Why it’s available

14 | Think Enterprise

R&D tax credits were introduced in the year 2000 to give British businesses a competitive boost. By and large, the incentive has been a resounding success at directing money to the technical businesses that need it.

For every pound spent on R&D, it is estimated by the government that up to £2.35 has been stimulated in R&D expenditure. The money has encouraged new skilled jobs in science, technology and engineering roles. It’s why R&D tax credits are a centerpiece of the government’s Industrial Strategy. They are not going away anytime soon and you could build your business around them.

Are you doing R&D? The full potential of R&D tax credits is revealed when you look at the cost categories that can be claimed. Salaries – one of your biggest costs -

are in. That includes the percentage of gross salary that you spend on technical staff working on R&D projects. The staff’s reimbursed expenses and employer’s NI and pension contributions can be included. A generous percentage of subcontractor and externally provided worker costs can be included, too. Materials consumed, transformed or used up by the project are in, as are prototype costs.

If you happen to do any software development, that’s full of qualifying R&D too.

How much could you claim in R&D tax credits?

Already claiming R&D tax credits?

Most businesses don’t make an R&D tax credit claim just once. ForrestBrown regularly take on new clients that are already making claims where we are able to deliver additional value. We do this by identifying activities and costs that others have overlooked.

This article was provided by ForrestBrown, the UK’s largest specialist R&D tax credit adviser. To find out more, visit: www.forrestbrown.co.uk

The average SME claim is £53,876 and the average large company claim is £272,881. However, we have seen seen some SME claims that have been more than a million pounds.

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IS YOUR SMALL BUSINESS READY TO GROW?

16 | Think Enterprise

Do you employ between 1-9 people? This programme will support small business owners to grow, innovate and increase productivity in their business through adopting digital and new technologies.

A management programme to help you to: • Introduce digital and new technologies into your business • Make informed decisions about the right technology to support growth • Maximise digital and new technology to increase productivity and performance Why Sheffield University Management School?

“Sheffield University Management School is Triple Crown accredited by the world’s leading accreditation bodies: AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS, this is an endorsement of the quality of our programmes, research output, support for students and alumni links with industry.

A member of the UK’s prestigious Russel Group of research led institutions, Sheffield University Management School offers world class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines. The Leading to Grow programme is a fantastic opportunity for SMEs to work in partnership with us.”

The details A half-day workshop with small business experts, with the opportunity to be selected at random to receive further one-to-one mentoring support. All fully funded through the government’s Business Basics Fund.

When:

Monday 17th February 2020 Friday 21st February 2020 Friday 24th April 2020

Where:

Sheffield University Inox, Level 5 Students Union Building, Durham Rd, Sheffield, S10 2TG.

Register: leading-to-grow.eventbrite.co.uk

FULLY FUNDED PLACES AVAILABLE

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A Tribute: Allan Gibb OBE

Just before the start of the New Year, we learnt of the passing of Professor Allan Gibb. He will be greatly missed by those people who worked with him at Durham University as well as everyone here at the SFEDI Group alongside the wider small business support community.

I first met Allan in early 1994 when undertaking my PhD. Allan kindly agreed to my request for an interview.

I was hoping to interview Allan and understand the key aspects of his work.

However, I ended up being interviewed

by Allan for an afternoon – he asked me a range of different questions which ended up re-shaping the focus on my

18 | Think Enterprise

PhD research.

About 18 months later I was successful in gaining a Research Associate post within the Small Business Centre at Durham University Business School and working with Allan for nearly nine years. The environment within the Centre, created by Allan, not only made a difference to my work but also at a personal level. As a Professor within a University, Allan was very different. First, he was truly open with his time. His door was always open, he was interested in your work and a quick question about an aspect of a project would often turn into an hours’ discussion where he would unpack

what you were doing, how and why.

This often made a difference to the development of the project at a critical stage.

Second, he fostered an approach to undertaking research which was led by the problems and needs of the user, not the academic community. Research was undertaken because of a problem or opportunity faced by a group of small businesses or a policy maker or a business support organisation. This resulted in thinking through how the research could be used to generate outcomes which would add value and make a difference. This led to the development of a mindset, a set of skills and a network which I still draw upon daily in my work with SFEDI – a true passion to engage with prospective and existing small business owners, an ability to use outcomes from research to frame learning and skills programmes, an ability to create learning materials that make a difference to the user and an investment in ‘know-who’ and ‘know-how’ as well as ‘know-what’.

your family and he would ask about your travels. He wasn’t asking to pass the time - he was asking because he was truly interested in the people he worked with. Given his experiences it would have been easy for him to talk about himself. An esteemed professor asking you about yourself made a real difference.

Dinah Bennett and Andy Penaluna posted an article about Allan’s passing, which can read here. The responses from people who had worked with Allan, who had been in one of his sessions, or simply who had engaged with his work highlights his impact at both a personal and organisational level. The enterprise and entrepreneurship community will not be the same without Allan.

Leigh Sear Chief Executive, SFEDI Solutions

Third, Allan was truly interested in you and your life outside of the University.

Whilst watching the football at Sunderland or on a walk in the Lake District during a break in a staff-away day or having a cheese and ham toastie at lunch, Allan would ask how your football team was doing (in my case not very well which Allan would often remind me of), he would ask about

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JOIN THE IOEE. GET ACCESS TO E-LE GROW YOUR BUSINE FIND A MENTOR. SHOW OFF YOUR ENT IOEE.UK/JOIN 20 | Think Enterprise

EARNING COURSES. ESS.

TERPRISE ABILITY. Think Enterprise | 21

Unlocking potential, pitching for success.

David Morgan founded Entrepreneurs Unlocked in the Autumn of 2019, soon after becoming an IOEE Academy. David saw IOEE Academy status as vital to his vision of enabling social and economic mobility through entrepreneurship Offering a range of workshops from a half day entrepreneurial skills exploration session, self-employment short courses, smart sub-contracting for people wanting to learn about getting into construction up to the full Offender to Entrepreneur Programme.

David’s drive to set up was inspired by his time in the US in 2018 researching best practice in both custody and community based programmes where entrepreneurship underpins personal transformation. This was funded by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust following a successful grant application.

Research and learning from the US showed that the highest performing programmes had re-offending rates which were less than 10% and focused on 2 key areas: 1. Understanding and developing your entrepreneurial mindset, overcoming barriers and how these can impact on your business and personal life.

2. Developing a coherent and realistic business idea that can be a pathway to be sustainably self-employed.

David was pleased to secure a post-travel grant funded by the Rank Foundation to deliver Offender to Entrepreneur Programme in a prison to put into practice this learning. Taking the decision to work with HMP Liverpool as it served a large

22 | Think Enterprise

geographical area, with a large population.

This enabled the development of a range of workshops that focussed on the following: •

Personal and business success, values, skills and experience, coping with change and challenges.

•

Types of business, risks and rewards, sales and marketing strategies, finance and trading legally.

The funding further enabled the learning from the US to be put into practice by engaging with specialist organisations and members of the business community to become part of the programme. This included: •

Social media/content marketing, personal development and entrepreneurial insights and HMRC and taxation.

A great addition to the programme was the ability to reach out to volunteers who were business owners and professional coaches who gave their time to attend a coaching workshop. They listened to the men’s ideas, and provided a nurturing and supportive environment for honest and valuable two way feedback. Everyone who took part found it a positive and powerful experience.

All of the above needed to be tied together in a coherent package and as David wanted the men to be able to gain formal recognition for their contribution. The IOEE Think_UP qualification was the ideal solution. It focussed the men on answering a simple question “Could running a business be right for you?”.

It broke this question down into 2 elements: Understand yourself and explore/develop your idea.

The Think_UP workbook brought together all the elements of the programme and acted as a refresher for the discussions and activities undertaken by the men. Due to the holistic nature of the qualification David was able to use this evidence to further underpin the requirements.

This included the work that they had completed on their Business Model Canvas, Am I Ready to Trade self-assessments, evaluations of their ideas from the business coaches, professional discussions as well as observation and discussions from the pitching and graduation event.

This enabled the men to demonstrate their competences through visual, verbal and written responses collated over the duration of the programme.

In an environment where people can struggle with formal and rigid assessment methods, this proved very appealing to the men, and David is pleased that they all met the requirements of the IOEE and successfully completed the programme.

The programme culminated in a pitching session and graduation ceremony where the men presented their ideas to a range of invited guests from the local business community and the prison. They had to articulate their idea and get the guests to invest their “Walton Wonga” in the best ideas.

Due to the generosity of the grantee – The Rank Foundation and my partners, the winner was able to secure a wide range of support upon release that included: •

A website for their business, £500 of equipment and resources.

•

Further prizes were awarded totalling over £600 for equipment and resources.

David himself.

We asked David about the Think_UP qualification he has been delivering, David said “I believe the Think_UP qualification is a great way for the learner to explore their options and provide a focus for their future learning. The value added comes from being able to access IOEE Campus and its range of online resources, forums and mentoring matching service post release. This additional support is a key element of starting and developing a successful business.”

“I was proud of the progress the men had made, and all of them agreed it had indeed answered the question “Could running a business be for you”. I am pleased to say all of them said “YES”. I look forward to working with them and supporting them on their journey to a sustainable crime free future.

It is worth noting that half of people that offered their support and provided specialist knowledge to the programme either in running workshops, attending coaching sessions or as part of the the pitching process were men and women who have experienced the criminal justice system and were willing to share their stories to inspire the men on the programme.

I hope to be able to provide this programme in the future to other prisons. Having grant funding is a great way to start, but I need to take the advice I give in that developing a stable and secure income stream is the key to success.”

If you’re interested in delivering our UP_ Programme, from Think_UP, Start_UP or Scale_UP speak with a member of the IOEE team on 0845 467 4928 or get in touch via email at info@ioee.uk and a member of our team will get back to you as soon as possible.

ALL of the men will also gain access free institute membership from the IOEE as well as social media and content marketing support from Elevate Start Up CIC, HMRC / Tax advice and guidance from The Tax Academy CIC. Offers of resettlement services including further training, access to housing and business mobile phones from Inside Connections CIC and last but not least business start-up support from

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MIDLANDS BUSINESS

LEADERSHIP ACADEMY Speaking to Sue Bedward, Director of Operations at IOEE Academy, MBL Academy we took a look at what work they are currently involved in.

Sue said: “Midlands Business Leadership Academy (MBL Academy) has been an IOEE Academy for just over 4 years. We have recently gone through a new branding and website launch after being informed that our clients had difficulty in finding us online. We recognise that the world of business and enterprise is ever expanding and the number of people starting their own business is on the increase.

in most major city libraries across the country.

This is a key source for local enterprise start ups to get support. Recruitment agencies are seeing an increase in clients looking at selfemployment as an alternative to employed positions.

Therefore, we needed to ensure our digital presence was diverse so that we can be found easily for our training services by the different organisations seeking to provide quality business advice and support to their customers.�

Here at the IOEE we have seen first hand Organisations providing support and the excellent work MBL Academy have been information for new business start-ups is able to carry out and some of the fantastic diversifying and expanding into sectors including courses they are able to provide thanks business banking, housing associations, to their IOEE Academy status. We asked recruitment agencies and library services where Sue what it was that made being an IOEE Business Information Centres are now hosted Academy so important to MBL Academy.

24 | Think Enterprise

“Being a part of the IOEE and SFEDI means that we are part of an enterprising family. We were invited to the Celebrating Enterprise Awards 2019 at the House of Lords which was a great opportunity to bring all the Enterprise Family together to celebrate the successes and brilliant work being done by other Academies and partners up and down the country.

Being a part of the IOEE/SFEDI allows us to demonstrate that we provide business enterprise services to a recognised quality standard, and to share best practices and keep up to date on enterprise news.“

the work we do to support and advise business owners. Accredited advisers have fed back that going through their SFEDI accreditation has given them more confidence as well as the opportunity to reflect on their current practice and implement a structured support process in how to help their clients.

One SFEDI learner said: “The SFEDI Awards qualification you helped me achieve has been put to good use and I have been providing business advise on two key council run programmes for 4 years now. So thank you.”

How is being part of the global IOEE enterprise ecosytem able to impact By completing a SFEDI qualification, on the quality of business support?

Business Support Advisers are able to validate what they do, it provides “At MBL Academy we feel privileged to an opportunity for them to receive support business advisers, mentors, and constructive feedback on how they consultants on their own development provide business support and advice, journey which in turn enhances the and enables them to set their own support they can provide to their clients. agenda.”

One of the common threads we have noted with our SFEDI learners is their passion to help businesses to startup Visit www.mblacademy.co.uk to find out more. and grow.“ MBL Academy also recognise the importance of accreditation of learning programmes in providing additional credibility and quality within the business support landscape.

“What SFEDI and IOEE offer is professional recognition, and a quality standard in

Hand, Head and Heart– holistic thinking, doing and feeling in undergraduate enterprises courses at Manchester Metropolitan University The author Dr Rita G. Klapper is Reader in Enterprise and Sustainability at Manchester Met and is part of the University’s IOEE Centre of Excellence. Rita uses innovative pedagogy and elements from yoga such as mindfulness in her course creations.

Enterprise & entrepreneurship education have long found its way into our Higher Education curricula, and much has been written about the success of such programmes as well as the pitfalls thereof. At IOEE Centre of Excellence Manchester Met we offer a variety of enterprise modules (Previously featured in Think Enterprise Issue 28) and in two of our undergraduate enterprise modules. I am presently experimenting with a new theoretical framework for assessing and designing courses: the Sipos et al (2008) Hands, Head and Heart (HHH) framework, which is essentially shorthand for the development of a variety of different, yet complementary competences and skills, in our learners.

The framework has to date primarily been applied in a sustainability education context.

26 | Think Enterprise

•

The Head dimension engages participants’ heads i.e. the cognitive domain, ensuring their engagement with the topic, here enterprise creation.

•

The Hands dimension relates to the enactment of theoretical learning through practical skill development, here within the context of developing a startup with a business model and a strategic map that ensures sustainable growth and in the sense of having all three dimensions of economic, social and environmental sustainability at its heart.

•

The Heart dimension relates to the affective domain, including values and attitudes that are translated into - here - entrepreneurial and enterprising behaviours, as well

as passion and behaviours for sustainable products.

Three dimensions It has been argued elsewhere that educational learning programmes that meet these learning objectives facilitate personal experience for learners resulting in potentially profound changes in knowledge, skills and attitude.

The Hands, Head and Heart framework basically responds to the increasingly important question of what competences and experiences should we teach in the context of enterprise education that is in line with: A) an ever changing, and very diverse economic, social and environmental context; B) the need to integrate a sustainability perspective, and that: C) considers the identity and hence the feelings and emotions of those who create.

It is expected that this threefold approach will provide further insight into the extent to which sustainable entrepreneurship can be learned and is accepted by the students normatively, cognitively and affectively, i.e. practiced in their lives.

In turn this should help to reveal

to what extent a transformation in mindset takes place, ie what impact an entrepreneurial course with a sustainability dimension has, in the Manchester Met context, and why.

International experience In my own practice I have applied this theoretical framework in the assessment of a sustainability course in the Dutch HE context, and also as an assessment tool for postgraduate portfolios at a German university. In the former I explored to what extent an undergraduate BSc programme integrated the different dimensions of Hands, Head and Heart and found that there was, as could probably have been expected, a neglect of the Heart dimension.

Hands and Head were appropriately catered for but emotions and feelings were undervalued according to learners’ assessments of their study programme.

In the context of the German university Hands, Head and Heart was used as an organising logic for course assessment, with key questions guiding the examiner in assessing the postgraduate learners’ knowledge, skills and competences in different topic areas such as leadership, ethics and values, sustainability management as well as entrepreneurship. Overall using

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the framework as a guiding approach for both assessing course contents and student work has been found useful as a simple, clear, coherent, comprehensive and transparent set of criteria for both learners and examiners.

Course evaluation at Manchester Met At Manchester Met I am presently experimenting with the tool in two ways: firstly to obtain theoretically structured feedback from undergraduate learners about the contents of two enterprise courses; and to assess what degree these correspond to Hands, Head and Heart dimensions.

This data will then be used to critically evaluate and update the course contents. Secondly, to explore the Heart dimension in our courses.

Many of our enterprise courses have been very much theory driven, while some have striven to achieve a balance between theory and practice, but very few have integrated feelings and emotions – the Heart dimension

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– as a key component.

Given that sustainability in enterprise education is one of the key aspects that we have been aiming to develop and that it stirs up emotions in our learners as well as promotes critical thinking, the heart dimension needs further consideration and development.

The approach fits with my long-term pedagogical work using innovative learning techniques, including art, music, theatre as well as mindfulness and yoga exercises to increase learners’ awareness of their own skills, competences and their own potential.

One of the early findings from this ongoing examination of our courses is that students have already picked up the usefulness and ease of the Hands, Head and Heart framework for increasing the depth of their reflections of their enterprise portfolios, hence a very promising start.

Figure 1: Head, Hands and Heart Framework (Sipos et al., (2008)

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‘Enterprisingly Me’ is a monthly feature where you can follow my entrepreneurial adventures. Names have been changed to protect the innocent but everything you read really happened.

I hope my story inspires you to take your first steps, or if you already have, then it lets you know you’re not on your own. Starting and running a successful business isn’t about being perfect. It’s about loving what you’re doing, learning from your mistakes and keeping the faith!

The problem with being in business is that you need to be all things to all people and sometimes its difficult to just be yourself. Do you know what I mean?

Taking time for yourself is certainly not at the top of my list of things to do even though I know that by taking time for myself I can face challenges in the business a lot more effectively.

People often ask me ‘Do you work to live or live to work?’

This should be difficult for me to answer given the fact that I began my business to provide me with more security and put me in charge of my own destiny but as time has gone on I’m now very clear that I live to work. Its my safe haven and shelter from the storms of life giving me a focus, a feeling of self worth and a place where I can really be myself.

When people around me tell me I must take some time out for myself I panic. What would I do? How could I justify the time? How on earth could I fill the gaps in time that I fill with work? Let me give you an example of a day in my life.

I awake with my alarm telling me its 7am and as I lay in bed contemplating my day ahead I consider going for a swim. One of my customers is really into her fitness and asks every time I see her if I have been swimming. I have a health club membership as I thought it would encourage me to take advantage of their wonderful facilities. Has it?

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I’ll leave you to work that one out and I bet you come up with the right answer….. So after a few minutes of contemplation I decide to check my emails first and to give myself lots of reasons why I shouldn’t go.

1. There’s an email that needs dealing with really quickly 2. I have a teleconference at 9.30am 3. I have a very slight dry throat so may have a cold coming on 4. I should call at the supermarket before I arrive at the office as we have visitors who will need some lunch and refreshments 5. Its still dark outside Come on, you will have already worked out that these are all major excuses which could be overcome if only I would admit to myself that the swim would be good for both my physical and mental health so why don’t I do it? I think its to do with the fact that I’m so used to putting everything and everybody else first that in some ways I feel it self indulgent to take time just for myself. Putting myself as my first priority is frightening and just doesn’t feel right. I wonder sometimes if it links back to being constantly told as a child not to be selfish and not being allowed to do the things I really wanted to do. Anyway back to my day: I quickly respond to the email, grab a coffee, jump in and out of the shower (well not so much a jump more of a slow step but tried to make it sound as if I was at least

making an attempt at some exercise!) and then head to the supermarket for some provisions. You may well ask why I haven’t delegated this task to one of my team. Well, its as easy for me to do it as its on my way to the office and also I like to check that I’m getting the very freshest of sarnies and the nicest cakes. You’ll have picked up that is again an excuse and totally undermines the ability of my staff member to choose the correct items – sorry this is also part of my control freak addiction.

Arriving at the office I join the conference call which finishes at 10 leaving me just enough time to walk to my next meeting in town at 11.

My whole day is then made up of meetings and dealing with email and telephone correspondence (and chatting to staff of course, very important to include teambuilding into my daily routine) and I’m surprised to look at the time and realise that its almost 5pm and time to head home. I could of course go for a swim on my way home but I then remember that I have volunteered to join a board of trustees at my local school and the first meeting is that evening beginning at 6pm.

This hardly leaves time for me to grab some tea before heading off and not expecting to reach home until around 9pm. The swim will have to wait until tomorrow.

As I arrive home my lovely other half asks if I have had a nice day, berates the fact that I have volunteered for extra work on top of my current workload and begins to ask questions about the details – I’m afraid I’m a bit short with him as the last thing I want to do at this time of night is go over the detail of my day. I’m exhausted and reach for a glass of something chilled, and I don’t mean milk, before watching something mind numbing on TV.

when someone asks me that question ‘Do you work to live or live to work’ my answer is that I do both. Nothing would give me more pleasure that being able to work for nothing because what makes working life so demanding is the pressure of the expectations that we put on ourselves to do the right things and get things right.

If we’re expecting people to pay for the pleasure then that makes it even more pressurised. This pressure also comes from our life outside of work when you’re doing things that people see as more work. Trying to balance priorities so that we are pleasing all of the people all of the time means that we often don’t please anyone not least ourselves.

So my New Years resolutions are these: • • • • •

Swim more Don’t feel guilty if I don’t swim more Do things that I actually enjoy doing which includes work I do voluntarily Don’t feel guilty about doing things that I actually enjoy doing even if others neither understand nor approve of Treat myself to much more retail therapy, chilled drinks and mind numbing TV

Me x

So can you help me? How can I fit in time for myself and move from a life full of interesting and challenging activities to one that includes a swim? Living to work is just too much fun! Nothing else gives me that feeling of complete enjoyment when I can see that what I’m doing is also making other people’s lives more fulfilling (apart from shopping of course). Maybe I’ve come to realise that

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