Think Enterprise May 2017

Think Enterprise

Vol. 8

Publication | May Edition

READ INSIDE

UNLOCKING ENTERPRISE:

RUTH LOWBRIDGE MBE SPEAKS AT

PRESTIGIOUS ENTRECOMP CONFERENCE

DR LOUISE CHALKLEY

IOEE CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ACADEMIC

ANGLIA RUSKIN UNIVERSITY

INTRODUCING

ENTERPRISE ACADEMY THE DOLPHIN CENTRE

MAGAZINE May Edition Vol. 8

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

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SARAH TROUTEN, IOEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE A very literal warm welcome to our May Edition of Think Enterprise –the sun is blazing and we have an action packed round up of this month’s IOEE activities for you to enjoy in the sunshine!

I am delighted to welcome two new Enterprise Academies this month. Rocketeer’s fantastic learning resources, which link enterprise with digital tools and techniques, have been recognised and validated by IOEE. Also, CCBED who have been part of the SFEDI family for some time but have just recently come on board as an Enterprise Academy to extend our relationship and enhance their already exceptional offer - I’m very much looking forward to working with both Academies and I hope you enjoy reading all about their work.

In this issue we shine the spotlight on Lee Sharma head of Simply Do Ideas an IOEE Academy and Ambassador, we also interview Dr Louise Chalkey, an IOEE Academic Fellow based within Anglia Ruskin one of our Centres of Excellence. Louise is passionate about helping people turn their lives around through enterprise and I know you’ll enjoy reading how she does it.

Our work within prisons in the UK is something I’m exceptionally proud of and this month Ruth Lowbridge MBE, Executive Chair of SFEDI Group, travelled to Brussels to speak at the Entrecomp Conference. Entrecomp, the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, has been used as the foundation for our important work in the UK providing enterprise development opportunities to those in prison. I’m keen to develop and build on our progress to date as it has been proven to positively affect reoffending rates.

We have been involved for some time with a local authority looking to become more enterprising - vital if they are to build commercial businesses which are sustainable in these volatile times. You can read all about their approach in this month’s article. The work has been enlightening and rewarding and I’m very much looking forward to working with other local authorities looking to commercialise.

And, finally, following the event we held in partnership with ISBE and Northumbria University I am delighted to be strengthening this partnership with a reciprocal membership discount for members wishing to join ISBE. I hope you enjoy this month’s publication, I particularly enjoyed Enterprisingly Me and hopefully our new SMEEZ cartoon blog will also make you chuckle.

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How intrapreneurship and the power of positivity changed company culture

Content 08

SFEDI showcases its transformation of UK prison education at prestigious Entrecomp conference in Brussels

10 How intrapreneurship and the power of positivity changed company culture

12 IOEE Academy inspiring young people into employment in the heart of Bristol

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14 Enterprisingly Me x

16 Learn anytime, anywhere with our Social Learning Platform!

17 Introducing SMEEZ

18 An enterprising outlook for IOEE Centre of Excellence academic

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21 Blue Patch Business Awards 2017

22 Spotlight On ...

Lee Sharma

24 Spotlight On ...

Sean O’Tuama

26 Rocketeer Enterprise brings Digital Learning to Education

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28 IOEE Academy launches pioneering school careers programme in Dorset

30 Not Just Travel: Taking the leap into self-employment

32 Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship

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SFEDI showcases its transformation of UK prison education at prestigious Entrecomp conference in Brussels

This month saw Ruth Lowbridge MBE, SFEDI Executive Chair, and Nic Preston, CEO SFEDI Awards, attend the DigComp and EntreComp EU Commission Practitioners and Stakeholders Event: ‘Inspiring Use and Building Community’.

This prestigious event was held at the Crowne Plaza in Brussels, with the conference looking at the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp) and the European Entrepreneurship Competence Framework (Entrecomp).

SFEDI was the only awarding and standard-setting body from the UK to be invited by the EU Commission to share best practice from the UK’s perspective with colleagues from across Europe in commercial and educational institutions.

Ruth Lowbridge MBE was personally invited to speak at the conference and share the success of using Entrecomp’s framework as a foundation for SFEDI Awards qualifications, and presented ‘Unlocking Enterprise: Transforming Prison Education Through Entrepreneurial Learning’.

“

We are supporting both an increasing number of prisoners to develop as productive individuals, as well as supporting the Government’s agenda to reduce reoffending rates.”

Ruth’s presentation showcased the use of the IOEE National Enterprise Standards in collaboration with the new Europeanwide Entrecomp framework, and how it has been used to develop

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qualifications that support prisoners to become more enterprising and better citizens and individuals upon their release. Ruth says: “I spoke about how the context and environment that an individual applies their enterprise skills to can often be the difference between ethical and non-ethical business behaviours, and explained how through the support of SFEDI Awards qualifications, developed from the IOEE and Entrecomp frameworks, we are supporting both an increasing number of prisoners to develop as productive individuals, as well as supporting the Government’s agenda to reduce reoffending rates and create sustainable futures for those that undertake education within the prison estate.”

The conference also gave SFEDI the opportunity to share its experiences and the changes these are making within the UK with colleagues from Government, education, and businesses from across Europe, to support enterprise education on an international scale. Nic says: “We used the Entrecomp framework to standardise the enterprise and entrepreneurship standards already adopted at a UK level, as set by SFEDI and the IOEE, against an international framework across Europe, to ensure a wider and more considered approach is taken to enterprise skills development.

Being personally selected to speak at this conference by the EU Commission was an outstanding achievement, and was an opportunity for us to showcase what sets us apart from other UK awarding bodies. However, not only was it a platform for us to share our experiences from the UK, but we were also able to provide examples of using Entrecomp’s framework to other educational and business practitioners from the rest of the EU – and inspire others

Ruth Lowbridge MBE, SFEDI Executive Chair, speaking at the conference in Brussels.

by showing how they can adopt this framework successfully for huge benefits within their own country and educational systems.”

“

Being personally selected to speak at this conference by the EU Commission was an outstanding achievement, and was an opportunity for us to showcase what sets us apart from other UK awarding bodies.”

prison estate and also to support unemployed people to get back into sustainable employment. Nic says: “These qualifications are the first of many that will see a collaborative approach between the IOEE and EntreComp standards, with a view to supporting the standardisation of effective enterprise education both at a UK level and internationally.”

For further information on the IOEE National Enterprise Standards, see the IOEE standards database here, and you can find further information on EntreComp and the work of the EU Commission here.

The first of the qualifications to use the EntreComp framework, Passport to Enterprise and Employment, was released in 2016, and has already seen use within a wide array of settings both within the

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How intrapreneurship and the power of positivity changed company culture

Lisa Soderman is the Business Development Manager for the Dolphin Centre, a Darlington-based leisure centre that has taken a pioneering approach to intrapreneurship, and that has recently secured its status as an IOEE Enterprise Academy. Working with Lisa on her journey is SFEDI Group’s Executive Chair, Ruth Lowbridge MBE, and together they have developed One Outstanding Team;

a programme that not only enhances company culture, but allows employees to work towards IOEE-accredited qualifications. This month we chatted to Lisa, to discuss The Dolphin Centre’s journey, the new programme’s launch, and how positivity is at the heart of everything they do.

With over 20 years of experience working with the Dolphin Centre, Lisa knows how important it is to adapt and change with the industry and the market in order to succeed: “Although I’ve worked with The Dolphin Centre for a long time, it’s such a changing environment to work in. You’ve got to be able to adapt every couple of years as a new business challenge comes in, but this makes for a very exciting and addictive work environment. A couple of years ago, we were in a position to step back and revaluate again, and ask what is it that will take us to the next level – and realised that it had to be investing in the team. We needed to create a culture that was all about supporting business performance and encouraging our team to be entrepreneurs, to take responsibility and have that drive and passion to move the business forward – and this is what led us to create One Outstanding Team.”

Almost a year ago, SFEDI’s Ruth Lowbridge came on board to help Lisa develop this programme and to tailor the IOEE qualifications specifically to The Dolphin Centre, and Ruth delivered a series of training workshops to The Dolphin Centre Managers to develop

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their intrapreneurial skills. However, Lisa and Ruth’s collaboration goes back to 2007, when together they created and launched the company’s Code of Service, and Lisa says that this actually formed the foundations of One Outstanding Team: “In many ways, the Code of Service from 10 years ago is where this all began. On paper, the Code of Service may look like a set of standards for customer service, but it was about much more than that. It was a strategy to show that we listen and respond to both customer and employee feedback about products and services, as well as what’s happening in the wider industry, and this created a positive culture shift within the organisation.

For example, we used our customer and staff feedback along with industry trends to build a new gym that would rival any private gym in the country – and this led to a growth in membership of around 175%. Listening to each other within our team gives us the power to be able to translate this information into business development – and we built on this Code of Service to get to where we are today.”

However, although One Outstanding Team embodies the values and vision of The Dolphin Centre, the programme is much more than that, creating opportunities for intrapreneurship to shine, and for employees’ to be recognised through IOEE qualifications. Ruth says: “When we developed the Code of Service, we were developing the business as a whole. One Outstanding Team is about helping individuals to learn that they could become more enterprising, and that their skills and efforts are valued. Through the IOEE, we’ve created a way to validate that with IOEE membership and working towards qualifications. We held a launch on Monday 15th May and all of The Dolphin Centre employees are now registered and working towards a qualification, but even in the build-up we have seen real engagement and ownership, and everybody at The Dolphin Centre has truly embraced this.”

Whilst The Dolphin Centre employees are working towards their IOEE qualifications, there are many opportunities for CPD

(Continuing Professional Development) along the way, and Lisa says that involving all levels of employees in meetings and workshops has a significant effect on team morale and business development, but that it can also lead to further professional qualifications too: “I’ll invite colleagues to workshops that I’d be running anyway – so staff aren’t coming into a classroom learning environment and feeling like they’re studying their way towards their certificates.

They’re contributing ideas in business meetings and having a voice. For example, we’ve listened to the industry, customers and our employees, and have decided to add Aqua Jogging and Aqua Circuits to our offering. As a result of that, we’ve put three of our staff on training courses; this culture of inclusion only creates more professional opportunities.”

Lisa says that at the launch event, there was a real buzz and sense of excitement for the new programme, but that positivity has also long been at the heart of absolutely everything that they do: “There have a been a lot of challenges over the last few years. Lots of organisations have had to close their doors and local authorities have made many redundancies, but The Dolphin Centre has always

maintained its positivity – and that’s why we’re still here. We understand that if we want the business to be successful, we need to look at the company culture as a whole, and at the individuals – as if you haven’t got a happy team, then you’re always working against it.

Positivity has to be part of your job too, rather than an additional ‘bonus’, and we feel it’s so important that we’ve introduced a Team Etiquette. Its values are – talk positively, engage and listen, good attitude, show gratitude, motivate, and inspire. However, if people didn’t know they were working towards a qualification – they wouldn’t know about it! This is just about creating an outstanding work environment, where people who are working their socks off have an opportunity to shine and feel valued – and to get a real sense of achievement and fulfilment from getting a qualification that serves as evidence of their talents and hard work. The launch was fantastic, but this is only the beginning of what’s going to be a very exciting year.”

Click here to find out more about the new IOEE Enterprise Academy.

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IOEE Academy inspiring young people into employment in the heart of Bristol CCBED is the Centre for Capacity Building & Enterprise Development; a Bristol-based social enterprise that focuses on helping to tackle unemployment and underemployment in people aged 19 and above in disadvantaged local communities. Originally a SFEDI Awards Centre, CCBED has recently gained its IOEE Enterprise Academy status. This month we met Aliu Bello, its founder and Managing Director, to discuss the importance of community engagement, mentoring for start-up businesses, and how the organisation is supporting diversity in the heart of the city.

Aliu Bello, CCBED Founder and Managing Director, with Michelle Meredith, Community Engagement Officer.

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CCBED has a vision; to create a world where there is equal opportunity for all to discover their hidden talents and achieve economic self-reliance. Having celebrated its transition to IOEE Academy last month, it was back in 2013 when Aliu first found his inspiration: “A survey was conducted by the African Caribbean Chambers of Commerce on behalf CCBED. One of the key findings was that people around this community prefer self-employment and enterprise as a way of getting back to work, and this inspired me to apply for SFEDI Award Accreditation in 2014; to deliver enterprise and employability qualifications within Bristol.”

Aliu has a background in vocational education, having spent most of his career working as an International Civil Servant with UNICEF. Based at St. Paul’s Learning Centre, CCBED offers a variety of support to young people who are not following a traditional academic path, and Aliu says it’s his passion to see enterprise as a means of getting back to work, and to know CCBED is making a difference:

Deputy Mayor Councillor, Asher Craig, presenting the certificate to CCBED learner, Fanuel Oyuga.

“Following an academic route isn’t for everybody; it’s not always the right way for somebody to reach their full potential. We can offer young people the opportunity to develop their potential through learning vocational skills and gaining qualifications, which will help them to rise to the top and be the best that they can be.”

It’s so important to celebrate your successes too, and for the learners to get a real sense of achievement. Many have just completed their Level 1 and Level 2 Awards in Enterprising Skills and Employability, and they were presented with certificates from the Deputy Mayor, Asher Craig. It was a chance to reflect on the last couple of years and to look forward to the next couple – but it was also about saying ‘well done!’”

When CCBED first opened its doors, it was working with younger teenagers of around the age of 15, but today it focuses on young people aged 19 and above. Aliu says:

Aliu says that CCBED is also proud to be tackling inequalities and breaking down barriers to equal opportunities in the city-centre Bristol communities:

“We realised that there was a gap in the market for supporting this age group – and as a result, this is where we would be able to make the biggest difference. Looking at adults aged over 19 in Ashley, Easton and Lawrence Hill, our learner cohorts to date show that 90% are unemployed. This is where we can make real impact.”

“Because of our location, we have seen a lot of people from black and minority ethnic groups – 80% of our learners have come from that group. The fact that we’re able to contribute to the economic development of these communities and to the diversity rating within Bristol - that is a huge achievement.”

This impact is evident in CCBED’s results from the last two years. After completing SFEDI qualifications, 40% of learners have gone on to full-time employment, 15% have gone on to university, and a further 15% are in volunteering positions whilst being supported and mentored towards securing a job or starting their own business.

Last month, CCBED held a belated launch event to celebrate their success so far: “Since we began in 2014 it’s been a whirlwind, so in many ways, this event was a late launch party! It was a chance for us to become more well-known in the local community and meet potential learners and partners, but it was just as important to be a celebration of our journey.

Aliu says that not only is he proud of gaining IOEE Enterprise Academy status, but that this status will enable CCBED to develop further moving forward and reach organisations such as local colleges, the SFA (Skills Funding Agency), Corporates and Business West.

“The status sets us apart and gives us credibility, and this new status will show people that our enterprise offering is more robust, which will help us to maximise our market penetration and reach organisations where we are able to work with them in partnership, and enhance our delivery within the community.

We also want to develop the professional mentoring side of our organisation, the practical support and business advice you need when setting up a company on your own, and our new IOEE Academy status will also be able to help us do that.”

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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!

Well that’s it I need to have a conversation with my current employer as I have loads of ideas about how I could help them to set up a separate part of the business that wouldn’t depend on funding. It seems obvious. As I’ve been researching what I would need to do to start up my own business I’ve realised that its something that they could do themselves and I could lead on it giving me some sense of ownership but without the risk of losing my monthly salary.

Although it helped to talk things through with my mother I feel it would be good to speak to someone who doesn’t know me as well as she does – its great to get her views but then she will throw a spanner in the works by asking me if I’ve thought about the effect it will have on the kids with me having to dedicate so much time to running a business. What does she think I’m doing now? I’m juggling working 38 hours a week with childcare (often unreliable), dancing classes (often involving additional commitments not only in time but also producing the very best sparkly outfit with minutes to spare), swimming lessons (often requiring me to sit in an overheated seating area of the public baths watching

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my daughter swimming many lengths without even noticing that I’m there and the only time I popped out to get something for tea she managed to cut her foot on a broken tile which then resulted in a trip to the local hospital and many months of fighting a compensation claim for £100 which didn’t even cover the cost of the petrol), parties (why so many friends each requiring me to find the perfect present and the perfect party outfit no wonder I’m always exhausted and need my House of Fraser retail therapy), and a teenage son who although fends mostly for himself still depends on mums hotel for his every need. He will soon be leaving us to go to University and I’ll miss him as the man of the house, filling it with noise, laughter, music and the constant sibling bickering. For the past 5 years I probably haven’t appreciated how much I’ve depended on him to help me to manage my chaotic work/life balance. So although my mothers question was annoying she was right to get me to think about how I was going to manage the new challenges that would come from working for myself.

Still it won’t hurt to get a second opinion and I will also book an appointment with my boss to share my ideas about a new business opportunity for them.

Bad news, after speaking to my boss its not something that they feel would fit with their plans for the future and they are convinced that their funding will continue.

He told me not to worry, that my job would be safe once they got the contract agreed and in place. Oh no what shall I do?

I can’t stop thinking about it – what shall I do? Now that I have started to explore my options my mind has been working overtime. If I don’t do it now I probably never will and I have picked up lots of skills along the way which I’m sure I could put to good use if things didn’t work out.

As you may remember I can pull a mean pint and I can cook so what am I worrying about? I’ve always been a really positive person and I’m sure I can make this work but I realise that it isn’t going to be all plain sailing and I need to be sure I’m going to be able to make it work out financially because I have the kids to think about.

I have decided to try to put together a proper plan –I have come to realise that I need to be able to explain easily to both potential customers and funders what I have to offer. Easier said than done when you’re not good at writing about what you’re planning to do in the future – it all seems a bit unreal……. I rang the local council who say that one of their business advisers would be happy to help me so I have made an appointment to see them early next week. In the meantime I have downloaded a template for a business plan from the internet. The problem is there are so many different types of plan to look at and I’m not sure which one I should be using.

I made a start but my friend popped round and I got

distracted googling cheap holidays – maybe not such a good idea after a couple of glasses of ice cold prosecco and a bowl of nuts!

Luckily for me and my potential new business I didn’t book to go on that fantastic holiday in the sun this summer (which was a bargain by the way). I’m starting to realise that if I’m really going to do this then I do need to hang on to my self-control. Well not too much that I become a boring fart but just enough to be able to make some sensible decisions based on the fact that I may have to make some sacrifices over the next few years until I get things going.

I’m starting to think I could really do this and have decided to speak to my employer again – its difficult as I’m not exactly sure how he will take it when I tell him I want to start up on my own. Obviously I won’t be competing with them as he has been very clear that its not something they would want to do themselves but I’m still nervous about how I should play it. The last thing I want to do is upset them as they have been really good to work for especially when I have had challenges with childcare. Maybe I should wait until I have a proper plan, what do you think?

Me x

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CAMPUS

NOW LAUNCHED . . .

Learn anytime, anywhere with our Social Learning Platform!

In January we launched our new IOEE Campus in support of all of our members. Enjoy our online enterprise courses, wherever you are and whenever you want.

Learning content is available on mobile, tablet or desktop and we’re publishing more content all the time!

Enterprise Answers, Groups, e-Learning, Business Plan Builder, Mentoring and Factsheets will all be available through our new online campus.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Access now at

http://campus.ioee.uk 16 | Think Enterprise

INTRODUCING

SMEEZ

TM

The search is on for

Guest Writers and Enterprise Experts!

Are you an IOEE Fellow?

Do you have exceptional writing and/or design skills? Are you interested in sharing your expertise with a large audience of entrepreneurs, educators, and small business owners?

If so, click here to find out more about IOEE’s Think Enterprise blogging opportunities!

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An enterprising outlook for IOEE Centre of Excellence academic

Entrepreneurship lecturer Dr Louise Chalkley of Anglia Ruskin University shares with us her thoughts on enterprise, education and the unexpected adventures life can present.

Cambridge-based Dr Louise Chalkley has been an entrepreneurship lecturer at IOEE Centre of Excellence Anglia Ruskin University for four years. However, the 46-year-old’s route to academia has been varied and unconventional, taking in various adventures along the way. Having left school before she turned 16 following a childhood spent in the care system, Louise performed several casual jobs before gaining a place at the University of Nottingham in 1995 to study archaeology as a mature student. This degree, and a second Masters degree in the same subject became the foundations for Louise’s first official business. In her late twenties, with two children

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and divorced from her first husband, Louise met her second husband, an Irishman, with whom she went on to have two more children. It was at this point, aged 30, that self-employment became a reality for Louise: “We moved to Ireland and I set up a company called The Archaeology Company, which went on to become a multimillion euro company – we became very successful delivering large infrastructure projects across the country.”

The Archaeology Company was an archaeology and heritage management consultancy, which at its peak employed 58 people and carried out some of Ireland’s largest and most significant excavations. In 2008, after many years of hard work and incredible

success, the business, like many connected to the construction industry – fell victim to the financial crash. Louise and her family lost everything. However, this wasn’t Louise’s first foray into independent enterprise and earlier experiences had taught her resilience. As a 19-year-old, she had bought her own studio flat in Essex. She says: “I think that was my very first taste of entrepreneurship because I bought a run-down flat and developed it myself. I actually only ever lived in the flat for six months, but property prices rose quickly. I rented it out and it provided me with a small income. This helped fund me through university.”

Having spent several years in the care system Louise had developed a fighting spirit She says: “When I left the care system aged 16, there wasn’t any safety net at that time – so you had to earn your own money immediately. I hadn’t really had much stability in my early years so I think that’s what drove me to buy my first property at a young age. Buying my own home was the first thing I wanted to do as soon as possible.

I needed independence and never wanted the ‘street’ experience ever again.”

The determination, drive and hard work during Louise’s early life had instilled in her returned with a vengeance whilst watching her archaeology business fail. By the time it was wound down Louise was already nearing the end of her PhD and an entirely new life awaited her.

“I had seen the crash coming so I worked really hard to achieve my PhD really quickly – completed in three and a half years part-time.

Within ten months the business had gone to nothing, absolutely nothing. All our money, property and savings were gone, eventually we even lost our home.”

In the face of this catastrophic financial loss, Louise and her family moved back to the UK in order for her to take up a lectureship in entrepreneurship at Anglia Ruskin University. Louise credits her own challenging background as the reason her academic research focusses on enterprise as practice – and social mobility. Rather than seeing entrepreneurial characteristics as innate within people, she perceives them as developing in response to specific life experiences. Louise says: “I’ve experienced both severely disadvantaged and very successful.

Even after that success there are no guarantees, as I found out for myself. That’s made a real difference to how I now teach entrepreneurship. I want to inspire people to look back into their own pasts and see what capabilities have been developed from their personal life experiences. They can draw from these in an entrepreneurial context (or not) using them to build a better future for themselves wherever it may take them.”

Rather than encouraging students to come up with the next ‘big idea’ and complete detailed business plans for ‘get rich quick’ schemes, Louise encourages them to reflect on their own experiences in relationships, with family and at work and try to explore areas where they have already acquired skills that could be applied to an entrepreneurial context. She calls this creating their personal Entrepreneurial Toolbox.

“Students may reflect on four or five things that have happened in their lives. Rather than pressuring them to immediately set up a business, or begin with a business idea – I encourage them to reflect on what they have already achieved and what they have learnt which could be useful in their particular life-journey. If you’re a severely disadvantaged person this is an especially helpful and personal process.”

“

Anglia Ruskin University is synonymous with the spirit of entrepreneurship. It has an entrepreneurial culture and enterprise is embedded across the whole curriculum; students from very diverse backgrounds are empowered to become more entrepreneurial as a way of either helping themselves or making themselves more attractice to employers.”

Currently, Louise is teaching a post-graduate module called Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Students create their ‘Toolboxes’ as part of their overall assessment during the first five weeks of lectures, before even thinking about a ‘business idea’. The form the toolboxes themselves take is as varied as the students who create them, as Louise explains: “Some have presented me with art, posters, videos, cartoons, or even with an actual toolbox – it’s very open ended and I encourage students to express their own spirit of entrepreneurial creativity through this assessment.”

The teaching method is flexible so can be explored in just one twohour session. For example, working with the university’s Science and Technology faculty Louise has run two-hour sessions with MBA and international business undergraduates who have simply noted down the ‘tools’ they have developed through a variety of their own experiences.

Recently, in keeping with the theme of inclusivity and social mobility, Louise was involved with the team developing the Channel 5 television programme, ‘The Great British Benefits Handout’.

This saw individuals on benefits receive the maximum 12 months Turn over to continue ...

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allowance of £26,000 all in one go, and see if they could change their lives around for good. However, Louise was disappointed at how the press responded to those who featured in the programme.

her future academic research and she believes that in the longterm Anglia Ruskin could become a significant champion of social mobility through enterprise and innovation:

“The people who appeared on the show were vilified in the media, especially the women. They were attacked for how they looked, and for getting ‘handouts.’ Their efforts weren’t seen as entrepreneurship, although one of the impacts of the cash was they set up their own small businesses. People who are on benefits or socially disadvantaged in some way aren’t seen as entrepreneurs and the terminology used to describe these people was very negative.”

“I would like the university’s Enterprise Agenda to focus on social mobility and using enterprise as a form of social empowerment. The university is a progressive, hard-working organisation and it’s very supportive of all kinds of entrepreneurship - this is something they push strongly.”

Louise was keen to point out that the people who appeared on the show opening tanning salons, hairdressers and removals businesses (many of which were employing other people) were exhibiting classic entrepreneurial behaviour, however the media responded to them: “These are entrepreneurs too but the enterprises they start don’t seem to link in with our ideological position or view of ‘who entrepreneurs are’. It may not be glamorous like Dragon’s Den or The Apprentice, but they are entrepreneurial too.”

Through her work, Louise has been asked to contribute to a book on social mobility. She explains her starting point for this project: “It’s about using entrepreneurship as a way of allowing people to take better care of themselves. Instead of vilifying them, let’s help them. Let’s applaud the efforts of people who are trapped in the poverty cycle and trying to get out. Imagine if the government provided a fund to help people on benefits set up businesses. It could actually save taxpayer money!”

This is an area of work that Louise intends to explore further in

“

I want to inspire people to look back into their own pasts and see what capabilities have been developed from their personal life experiences.

They can draw from these in an entrepreneurial context (or not) using them to build a better future for themselves wherever it may take them.”

In fact, Louise is keen to express how rewarding she finds working for a university that pushes enterprise as a route to empowerment for all: “Anglia Ruskin University is synonymous with the spirit of entrepreneurship. It has an entrepreneurial culture and enterprise is embedded across the whole curriculum; students from very diverse backgrounds are empowered to become more entrepreneurial as a way of either helping themselves or making themselves more attractive to employers. The entire environment fosters equality, social mobility and entrepreneurship. I am very proud and privileged to work in such an entrepreneurial institution where lives can potentially be changed for the better by the work we do.”

Calling IOEE Members Are you an IOEE Member with an entrepreneurial story to tell?

Every month IOEE shines the spotlight on enterprising individuals recognising their entrepreneurial skills, experience and dedication.

If you’re interested in being featured, we’d love to hear from you.

Please contact: newsletter@ioee.uk

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Blue Patch Business Awards 2017 Applications are now open for Blue Patch’s annual Business Awards, which is now in it’s second year.

SME’s and fledgling businesses across the British Isles are urged to come forward and nominate themselves for one or more of the following business categories: •

New Business Award - if you have a new business (under 2 years old).

•

New Heritage Award - for young businesses using traditional production methods and techniques (under 5 years old).

•

Social Impact Award - for socially minded businesses aiming to make a difference to their local communities and the environment.

•

Sustainable Innovation Award - for businesses with a cutting edge idea that will save energy, reduce carbon, encourage a circular economy and protect the planet.

•

Female Business Leader Award - for businesses headed by women who are achieving greatness.

•

The People’s Prize - the shortlisted candidates from every category will be put to a popular vote via social media. The People’s Prize will be awarded at the event in Autumn.

Jane Langley, founder of Blue Patch, a social enterprise and ethical British business community commented: “We’re looking for exciting and interesting entrepreneurs and businesses across the British Isles. Don’t be shy and put your business out there. This is a friendly competition designed to encourage participation and support within the business community.”

The deadline for applications is 12pm on Monday 24 July.

The shortlist will be announced on Tuesday 1 August and winners will be judged in August and announced during Design Week in September.

The judges for the awards include Sarah Trouten CEO of IOEE, Abigail Forsythe CEO & co-founder of Keepcup, Lloyd Atkin MD at Bio-D, Jo Taylor Trustee of Clear Conscience, Doug Simpson Principle Policy and Program Officer at the GLA. The application criteria: You must be manufacturing, making, producing or providing a service in Britain and have an interest in sustainability. Please visit the Blue Patch website to see the kinds of businesses they feature.

Apply here

Think Enterprise | 21

Spotlight On...

Lee Sharma Lee Sharma is the CEO of Simply Do Ideas; a unique and innovative online platform that provides a place for people with exciting enterprising ideas to take that spark of inspiration and turn it into a viable business plan. We first met Lee in May 2016, when Simply Do Ideas had just achieved IOEE Academy status. This month we shone the spotlight on him to find out how his business has evolved over the last year, and how its IOEE Academy status has been an important part of the company’s growth.

it can be intimidating and off-putting, especially for young people.

It can dampen the spirits of young entrepreneurs in the making, and the prospect of setting up a business becomes completely overwhelming. This is why simplicity and accessibility are at the heart of Simply Do Ideas.”

It was Lee’s first-hand experience of wanting to set up a business that ignited his passion for enterprise and entrepreneurial skills being accessible to everyone - one particular setback, almost 20 years ago, seeded the idea for his future company: “I walked into a bank back in 1998 when I was only 25, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, all fuzzy and creative, and said ‘I have a business idea, what do I do?’ - and was immediately asked for a business plan and three years’ cash flow forecast. Of course, I didn’t have those things, and left with my tail between my legs, feeling like maybe I wasn’t cut out for business after all.”

“However, I pulled myself around and became determined to develop the skills and confidence to succeed, and spent about nine months getting my head around business planning and reading every book I could get my hands on. One of the biggest lessons that I learnt is that there’s a lot of very complex business jargon to describe some very simple principles. And that’s the problem –

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When we first met Lee a year ago, Simply Do Ideas was flourishing in the field of enterprise in education, giving students and teachers alike a platform that would act like a bridge between ‘those brilliant, slightly mad ideas in your head’ and the formal, completed business plan. It is this that has gained Simply Do Ideas much recognition over the past 12 months, with new academic credibility coming from a variety of prestigious sources: “The University of Wales Trinity Saint David wrote an academic paper on Simply Do Ideas that was presented at the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) conference in Paris, which was an incredible achievement for us. The paper was about how design-led thinking could benefit entrepreneurs, focusing on how our platform captures ideas in a creative way, so that it doesn’t put you off, make you lose your momentum, and dull that initial spark.”

Lee says that this academic stamp of approval is also why Simply Do Ideas’ status as an IOEE Enterprise Academy is so important to him: “Academics are part of our core market. A lot of our clients are educational institutions – comprehensive schools, colleges, universities, and community learning partners – and our contacts

L-R: Dr. Will Webberley (Chief Technical Officer), Lee Sharma (Chief Executive) and Josh Barnett (Community Manager)

are involved in academia themselves; teachers, heads of schools, university managers. Being an IOEE Enterprise Academy gives us the academic and professional credibility that builds trust in our existing and prospective clients.”

Over the space of the last year, Simply Do Ideas has also been given the seal of approval by other esteemed educational organisations: “We had Simply Do Ideas independently mapped against the QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education) Enterprise and Entrepreneurship framework. This QAA framework was set up in 2012 and sits as the gold standard of what should be done.

This process was fantastic and highlighted how Simply Do Ideas encourages best practice in entrepreneurial teaching and learning.”

“We were also successfully mapped against the criteria of the EU’s Entrepreneurship Competence Framework, ‘Entrecomp’. This looks at all enterprise learning, from primary school education to adult learning, and focuses on doing something, rather than just knowing. Being accredited by the IOEE and recognised by these other external organisations is fundamental to our opportunity for growth, development and moving forward.”

There is also a new third strand to Simply Do Ideas in development, which helps businesses to innovate within their own companies, and harvest any entrepreneurial activity that’s happening internally.

Lee says:

instead of entrepreneurship - but that’s not necessary! The existing methods or platforms for employees to voice their ideas seems to be one of two extremes - either you’ve got fancy corporate innovation systems that are so complex it puts off the average employee, or you’ve got the old-fashioned postcards-in-a-suggestion box. What we’ve created is a platform for employees’ ideas to be heard, that is simple and accessible – and these are the qualities that make it work.”

Simply Do Ideas is working with some big clients in this space, including the Prince’s Trust, Welsh Government and NatWest Bank, but Lee says that innovating SMEs is where his heart is: “Of course, it’s a great honour to be working with these household names, but what I want is to make innovation accessible to businesses of any size. These small and medium-sized businesses won’t have Innovation Managers and Innovation Departments – and these companies are where the economic growth potential is, so it’s where we can see the biggest impact. I’m still as excited about Simply Do Ideas as when I began. It’s been brilliant so far – exhausting, but brilliant! We’re moving into a new chapter of the business, and I’m excited to see what the next year brings.”

If you would like to find out more about Simply Do Ideas, visit www.simplydoideas.co.uk.

“In business jargon, we’d be calling this area intrapreneurship

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Spotlight On…

Sean O’Tuama Sean O’Tuama is the CEO and founder of Firemole; a Cork-based company that has developed a safety gadget that warns people if their electrical devices, such as mobile phone chargers, are getting dangerously hot, by sounding an inbuilt alarm. In only a year, Sean has gone from ‘idea stage’ to viable business, even passing on advice to IOEE’s very own Nathan Hardwick along the way. This month we shone the spotlight on Sean to find out about his journey so far, and how having mentors is pivotal to success.

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Sean, 28, worked as an electrician for a number of years, but always felt like he had that entrepreneurial streak, he just needed to find the right business venture:

Sean says that wearing all of the different hats is part of the process of starting up a business alone, and that he’s had to turn his hand to things he had no experience of in the process:

“I’ve always had an interest in business, and when I returned from Australia in 2015 I took the plunge and set up my own electrical company. But it just didn’t tick the boxes for me, and a lot of it ended up being negotiating fees and battling with people for pay rates. I knew I wanted to do something bigger.”

“There was an article about Firemole going in The Journal one Saturday recently, and I didn’t have a website for them to link to and there was no time or money to go elsewhere – so I did it myself the night before. I had a couple of drinks in the pub with my friends on a Friday night and then said, ‘see you later, I’m off home to build a website!’ – and stayed up until 5am until I had something. That was a long night! But it was worth it, as we sold our first months’ projections in 24 hours.”

After there was almost a fire in Sean’s own home, he got the inspiration for Firemole: “I was fortunate in that my knowledge as an electrician prevented anything from happening, but I’d read in the news about serious fire incidents caused by chargers that had taken lives, and I asked myself, ‘why isn’t there a device to warn you if chargers are overheating?’ - I knew what I wanted to create, but I had to figure out how to actually do it.”

Advances in technology mean that we have more electrical products in our homes than ever before, and this number is increasing: A report by Electrical Safety First showed a 35% increase in residential fires caused by electrical faults, and states that children have, on average, 10 electrical devices in their bedrooms, including phone and tablet chargers. Sean’s Firemole invention sits on top of a charger and sounds an alarm when it reaches over 54 degrees - the temperature that can cause skin damage if touched – and has the potential to prevent dangerous incidents, and even save lives.

“I took the idea to Genesis Circuits, an electronic engineering company, and MAAS engineering, a tool making company in Cork that are well-known for product development and working with start-ups. From then, everything happened quickly. Within a few days the ball was rolling, and within six months I had working prototypes, but needed funding to be able to move forward.”

Sean pitched his idea to Enterprise Ireland, securing a place on its prestigious New Frontiers Entrepreneurs Development programme, which focuses on early-stage start-ups, giving people the funding and business tools to be able to take their ideas to market. The programme is based in 14 campus incubator centres across the country, with Sean’s course sitting at the Rubicon Centre – Ireland’s premier Business Incubator Centre, located on campus in the Cork Institute of Technology. Sean says that it was an opportunity that changed everything: “It’s an intensive entrepreneurship programme that lasts for six months. You get given €15,000 funding, your own office, and countless workshops and mentoring sessions. It’s geared up to build your business acumen, which was vital for me, coming from a purely electrical background, and you learn things like how to approach retailers and strategies for getting to market. However, even though it’s intense, it actually gave me some breathing space and allowed me to slow down, step back, and really look at the business. The experience was fundamental in getting me to the position I am in today.”

Firemole’s product is patent-pending and due to launch this summer, and although press coverage and public reception has been extremely positive, Sean says that he’s had his fair share of trolling on social media: “The nature of social media means that you do get people making negative comments, but I often find this quite entertaining!

Obviously, you can’t get involved yourself, but it actually gives you a chance to think about how you would answer if you were asked those questions in real life, so it’s good practice! It’s also nice to see people defend the idea too, saying how it will give them peace of mind with their children or grandparents – as that’s exactly what I’ve designed it for. But it’s very important to emphasise that Firemole focuses on fire prevention; not fire detection. It isn’t a replacement for a smoke alarm or fire detector, it’s simply a gadget that can give people that peace of mind they crave, and it could have huge benefits.”

Sean is passionate about supporting others in bringing business ideas to life, and says he couldn’t have done any of this without the support he got from people through Enterprise Ireland and the Cork City Local Enterprise Offices: “I’ve been given so much advice over the last year, and I’m still getting advice now. When Nathan Hardwick got in touch with me with some questions about patenting and product development, I was happy to pass on any advice I could – and product development is a minefield, so you need as much advice as you can get! I know how important it is for people to share their knowledge and experience - I couldn’t have got this far without support, so it’s great to be able to pass on what I’ve learnt.”

Sean has also recently become a member of the IOEE, and says that this will play an important part in the growth and development of Firemole: “It’s fantastic to have that credibility, but also to be able to connect with people in the UK and get help and support with the UK market.

A year ago, Firemole was only just beginning, and now there are plans to launch a whole new range of fire prevention products in 2018. It’s been a big year, and the next one is set to be even bigger.”

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Rocketeer Enterprise brings Digital Learning to Education Rocketeer Enterprise is an IOEE Enterprise Academy on a mission – to change the world, one entrepreneur at a time. Rocketeer specialises in understanding how to benefit from being in the midst of the current digital and technology revolution, through supporting educational organisations, start-up companies, and wannabe entrepreneurs to succeed in the field of enterprise. This month we met CEO Richard Wood, who is dedicated to delivering high quality content for enterprise courses and start-up training programmes, to enable entrepreneurs to learn how to launch, grow and scale a business in today’s fast-moving digital world.

Having created courses since 2014, Rocketeer relaunched its refined and retuned programmes last year, at a time where Richard says that entrepreneurial skills are especially important: “2016 saw some big changes take place in the UK; most notably, the decision to leave the European Union. Whatever your political stance may be, these decisions will impact how the UK does business with the world, and the need for entrepreneurial skills may be required now more than ever before.”

Rocketeer Enterprise specialises in cloud-based courses and start-up incubator programmes, so that students and learners who are keen to be enterprising can access the right information and knowledge to help them succeed.

Rocketeer initially started by developing strong relationships with the Prison Education Trust (PET). Its courses and programmes are now being run in over 10 prisons across the UK, and are on the curriculum at the women’s prison, HMP Drake Hall. Richard says: “What sets us apart is our focus on the importance of digital technology. Yes, we’re about enterprise and entrepreneurship, but this is underpinned by the way the digital and technology world is evolving. It’s at the core of everything we do, and we work with market leaders all around the globe. We ensure that we’re at the forefront of digital evolution; this is the key to success.”

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Richard began his professional career in teaching - first at a primary school, and then a secondary school - before going on to become a Head Teacher at a private school for young offenders. In 2007 he began his first entrepreneurial venture in the field of education by setting up after-school activities for children, and he says that the experience taught him his first big lesson in entrepreneurship: “I set up and invested in running martial arts classes for children, and expanded it far too quickly. Essentially, I tried to do too much too soon, without understanding the intricacies of each business model before progressing to the next. I went bankrupt, and had to start again from scratch, but sometimes failure is your biggest teacher – you have to be prepared to fall off your bike in order to find your balance.”

Richard’s career then took an unexpected turn through an opportunity in filmmaking, and he spent several years working as a producer, travelling all over the world: “Whilst we made and promoted these films, I became fascinated by watching how the digital and tech world was constantly changing the process. When I returned to the UK, it was time to change. My values didn’t align with that of the movie industry’s, and I knew I wanted to help people. I was armed with only my laptop in a coffee shop when I thought ‘okay, this is everything I need, I’m just going to go for it’.”

It is this combination of ambition and strong work ethics that still drives Richard today:

presence, branding, and - most importantly - how they will effectively market and sell through utilising online digital opportunities.”

“Opportunity is everywhere. You just have to look for it. I think of business like an iceberg – what you see is just the top bit, but once you delve into the water, the biggest and most important part is underneath the surface.”

“We are at our most exciting phase and are expanding our recently launched incubator directly into education - schools, sixth forms, colleges and universities - to help the students of today prepare for navigating through the uncertain future of tomorrow.”

Richard says that it is richly rewarding to see the personal effects Rocketeer’s courses has on people, as well as the professional development, such as with the female inmates at Drake Hall Prison:

As the links with the IOEE continue to grow and strengthen, Richard says why this is so important to Rocketeer Enterprise:

“As well as equipping the women with the relevant skills, our courses also help to build their self-esteem. Inmates know that once they’re released, finding a job with a criminal record can be a difficult and daunting prospect. Seeing how these courses can provide a realistic alternative and help build a person’s confidence makes it even more worthwhile.”

“We are very excited to have now added to our programme of courses our Startup Incubator Programme, and are now working with our second group of eight female inmates, who not only want academic knowledge, but who are applying this knowledge directly to starting a business ready for their release. We teach them the practical steps of setting up and running a real business, working through their mission statements and values, business models, web

“Being an IOEE Academy adds enormous credibility to our offering, but it has also shown us that what we’re doing really matters and is being recognised. Looking to the future, further developing Rocketeer in education is incredibly exciting. We have the opportunity to show people that they can take control of their own destinies and change their lives – and nothing could be more exciting than that.”

Click here to find out more about IOEE Enterprise Academy, Rocketeer Enterprise.

Think Enterprise | 27

IOEE Academy launches pioneering school careers programme in Dorset The Samee Project is a unique and inspirational social enterprise that aims to promote self-employment and freelance working as viable career options to young people in school education, and the organisation secured its status as an IOEE Academy in February this year. Four months on, we caught up with its CEO and founder, Sam Everard, to discuss the pioneering programme being piloted in Dorset, her passion for helping young people to build confidence, and why developing these skills is more important now than ever before.

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Sam Everard has always had an entrepreneurial streak, but her first business was in a very different industry; a self-started wedding coordination company called Roses & Garters. However, despite the disparity between the two, Sam’s wedding business actually led her towards the Samee Project, as Sam’s entrepreneurial skills were recognised by a prestigious organisation and she was invited to mentor young people who were wanting to set up their own businesses too; an experience that ultimately changed Sam’s career direction. Sam says:

a ‘portfolio career’ of different jobs and industries, and strive to seek employment that helps to achieve that elusive ‘work-life balance’. Sam says:

“Whilst young people are taught some employability skills, self-employment is seldom presented as being a viable career option for students when they leave education.

Careers staff and professionals in schools and colleges are asked to talk to students about what they would like to do following their exams, and the two main routes that are suggested are apprenticeships and higher education.

Unfortunately, this rarely takes into account the next steps of the journey for students as they leave the education system, including the option of self-employment and what this entails.”

There is also a need for young people to understand the difference between being an entrepreneur or starting a small business, and having a self-employed contract.

Some students may not aspire to run their own business, but they may find themselves in a few years’ time having a freelance or consultancy contract, and will then need to be technically self-employed – so it’s important prepare them with the right information and a real understanding of what this means.”

Armed with her experience of mentoring young people and her hands-on experience of running her own business, Sam was inspired to create the Samee Project, which is now being piloted in Dorset: “After volunteering with young people through different organisations, I knew that we needed to bridge that gap and take students back to basics. They might be thinking that they want to be a freelance beautician or bricklayer or graphic designer, and whilst they’re still in the ‘safety’ of school, we can give them those practical self-employment skills – how to do receipts and invoices, what a tax return is, how to make contacts. The Samee Project teaches them these skills and gives them the confidence and support to know that they can do it.”

Advances in technology is one element that’s shaping the way that we work, with many job roles centring around the internet, giving companies and employees the flexibility to work anywhere. In addition to this, whilst people were once likely to begin one career path and work their way ‘up the ladder’ within the same organisation, young people today are much more likely to embark upon

“The young people with a trade, skill or talent, and those that want to do freelance and contract work, need to be nurtured and given the knowledge, information and support early on, so that they can start to plan what they want to do, think about their money, and develop the skills needed to ensure success.

Sam says that her passion for guiding young people into fulfilling and rewarding careers is what keeps her focused, and she gets great satisfaction from helping them to feel more optimistic, confident and capable: “It’s fantastic to see the Samee Project having a positive effect. We recently helped a 14 year-old boy who told me he had no future because he couldn’t read or write properly, and said that everyone was giving up on him.

Imagine my surprise when he showed me some of the photos he had taken - they are award-winning! He’s now in touch with my colleague, setting up a small selfemployed income to enhance his career options – and he’s excited about developing his literary skills so that he can invoice and promote his work too.”

Sam says that the pioneering programme in Dorset could be just the beginning of the journey for the Samee Project: “So many young people are disengaged with education, and we may be able to get these students to think about a skill or talent that they could develop for employment in a completely new and different way. We can already see the positive effects in Dorset and, in time, we would love to take the Samee Project further afield.”

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Not Just Travel: Taking the leap into self-employment

Anne King is a Personal Travel Consultant and runs her own business through Not Just Travel; one of the leading and fastestgrowing travel agencies in the UK. After working as a PA for 20 years, Anne’s life took a turn on a family holiday in Florida that lead her to change her career, buying into the Not Just Travel franchise in 2015. This month we met Anne to find out how she took the leap into working for herself, and how her mentoring relationship with Sally-Ann Cain has played such an important part of her success.

Anne’s journey from working for other people to going it alone, is an exceptionally personal one. She began her career working as a Beauty Therapist in Harvey Nichols and then worked on the Pictures Desk of a magazine in London, before she embarked upon a 20 yearlong career as a PA. She spent eight years working as PA at a local council, but towards the end, redundancies started being made and employees had to keep applying for their own jobs again and again. However, a serious illness in her family in 2012 caused Anne to revaluate what was important to her: “2012 was the year that changed everything. I was away for a month in America with my family and my stepson became very ill.

One minute we were enjoying a holiday in Florida, and the next he needed emergency brain surgery. He is now very well and fully recovered, but it shook everything up. Your perspective just shifts, and when we came back home and I returned to work, I thought – do I really want to be applying for my own job again? There are just more important things in life.”

“I was the PA to the Deputy Chief Executive, and although he told me that my job was safe, it had become about more than that. The atmosphere was so miserable and depressing. When you’ve been through something as awful as we did in Florida, and then you try to go back to ‘normal’, your reality’s different – it was the third year of employees applying for our own jobs, and I thought ‘life really is too short to keep working like this’.”

Anne took redundancy in 2013 and set up as a freelance PA, working

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for a variety of clients. It was throughout this time that her friends and family, knowing Anne was a keen traveller, started asking for lots of travel advice, giving Anne the spark of inspiration she needed to look at another career direction.

“It all happened incredibly quickly. I searched for travel franchises, found Not Just Travel, and knew I had to go for it. I didn’t have the money to buy into it, but successfully secured a start-up loan, and then I was in! As a new franchisee, you have to go through some training first, but one of the big bonuses of being part of a travel company is getting to go abroad, so I had the hardship of enduring the training in sunny Marbella!”

“It was an amazing experience, there were around 30 of us – all new franchisees – and at the end of it you’re given a laptop with all of your contacts and suppliers, and you’re just let loose. It was very daunting, but the trip had armed me with the skills and the confidence I needed – now I just had to do it.”

Anne says, that although you’re working for yourself, input and inspiration from other people is imperative to your success, and earlier this year we matched Anne with Sally-Ann Cain, the Relationship Director of Barclay’s Bank and an IOEE Accredited Mentor: “My mentoring relationship with Sally-Ann Cain has been so important. The franchise that I bought into has a wonderful sense of community, there’s lots of training and everyone there really helps each other, but you’re all coming at it from the same perspective.

It means that you kind of get down one track, one way of thinking, which is why it’s so important to have someone else who is able to see at things differently and offer new ideas and fresh ways of looking at things, that you wouldn’t necessarily have been able to do yourself.”

“Sally-Ann also holds me accountable – but in a lovely and supportive way! She makes me focus, which is so difficult when you feel like your To Do list is endless. If I’m overwhelmed that goals are too big,

“

Sally-Ann helps me to break it down, and to plan and organise so that I can achieve them. You need someone in your corner when you’re setting up on your own, as you have no colleagues to bounce ideas around with. Having a mentor is invaluable.”

Anne says that being accountable is also one of the most satisfying and fulfilling parts of running her own business: “You’re completely in charge of people’s holidays, and that’s a huge responsibility. But what I can offer my customers through Not Just Travel is a much more personal experience than you’d get through your typical agency. If they run into any problems with hotels or airlines, they can just contact me directly and I’ll be there to sort it out. I love being able to create an unforgettable or even life-changing holiday for them – I always find a way to contact a hotel and tell them how important the clients are, whether it’s an anniversary, birthday, or just a getaway, to make their trip that little bit extra-special.”

If I’m overwhelmed that goals are too big, Sally-Ann helps me to break it down, and to plan and organise so that I can achieve them. You need someone in your corner when you’re setting up on your own, as you have no colleagues to bounce ideas around with. Having a mentor is invaluable.”

close my laptop think ‘right, I’m finished work now’. There’s always more you can be doing, especially with the 24/7 nature of social media, but I love what I do, and for all the challenges of finding the right balance, I get all of the benefits, and my family do too. It took something awful to make me take that leap into running my own business, but since taking that redundancy, I’ve never looked back.”

Sally-Ann, Anne’s mentor, said: “Mentoring is a great learning experience and teaches you things about yourself too. It is very rewarding seeing your mentee develop and the business grow. It is good to know that you are making a difference and I feel honoured that Anne feels the way she does about our relationship.”

However, Anne says that the last couple of years have been a huge learning curve, and that working for herself has not been without its own challenges: “You never get that Friday night 5 o’clock feeling where a weekend of freedom stretches out in front of you. I never get to the evening and

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Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship Written by Professor Paul Jones, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director, Coventry University

A frequent criticism of the academic community is the lack of value and relevance of their work towards the business community. Academic research is often criticised as being overly theoretical and lacking meaning for business world practioners. This criticism does have some basis within certain traditional academic disciplines. The Entrepreneurship discipline is different in that academics must work closely with the business community to provide value and meaning for their activities. The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) is seeking to address this with its focus and activities in entrepreneurship. ISBE is the premier learned society for Entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom (UK) and believes in research informed practice. The focus of the society is to provide a network for people and organisations involved in small business and entrepreneurship, research policy, education, support and advice. ISBE offers a network of academics, policy makers, business support and small and medium sized enterprise (SME) community. ISBE provided a forum for these groups to evaluate, debate, and disseminate best practice. This is a two way engagement process.

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Firstly, as a network we recognise the importance of our effective engagement with the SME community and supporting enterprises to benefit from our activities.

Collaboration with the SME community will allow ISBE members to improve their knowledge of business behaviour and processes and potentially imbed best practice through projects and collaboratively funded activity. From the individual SME perspective, enterprises can benefit from engagement with ISBE through improved self-evaluation, observation and adoption of new practices and methods and ongoing engagement with key stakeholder groups.

ISBE offers a regular cycle of events for various stakeholders including an annual two day conference which is rotated around the UK and provides a key forum to discuss entrepreneurial behaviour with key stakeholders.

ISBE also offers a regular series of smaller one day and half day events to promote entrepreneurial activity in specific areas. ISBE offers a number of dedicated special interest groups (SiGs) including Entrepreneurial Learning Practice and Policy, Entrepreneurial Finance, Gender and

Pauric McGowan, President of ISBE.

Enterprise Network, Social and Sustainable Enterprises, Rural Entrepreneurship Network. All these SiGs offer dedicated events and focus for discussion within the ISBE community.

ISBE membership also offers access to a leading entrepreneurship journal namely the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research (IJEBR) which has a unique focus on publishing original research related to the human and social dynamics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management in SMEs. IJEBR draws its research from the experience and practices of the SME community so it a highly relevant platform for a range of stakeholders. The Journal is well regarded in academia and globally is the ninth ranked journal for its discipline.

A further element of the ISBE community is the Research and Knowledge Exchange (RAKE) fund. Previously, the RAKE fund has been sponsored by ISBE and a combination of European and academic stakeholders.

RAKE offers financial support (e.g. grants of up to £5,000) to new research activities from academics, third sector organisations, businesses, consultants and practitioners to explore a specific issue related to small business behaviour. The fund was created with the aim of assisting the exploration of issues, challenges and opportunities surrounding entrepreneurial activities and small firm performance and to encourage and promote innovative and cutting-edge research which is relevant to both the development of policy and practice. Examples of projects supported include addressing sustainability in entrepreneurship, assessing the value of innovation and invention in SMEs and exploring knowledge exchange and transfer processes and possibilities for SME internationalisation. The choice of project topics is

typically aligned with the special interest groups. Such projects offer great opportunities for the SME community, enterprise support agencies and academic to collaborate effectively to drive increased efficiency and effectiveness within the firm.

Pauric McGowan, President of ISBE, said: “In such a complex and multi-layered environment, it is increasingly important for groups like ISBE to work together with other bodies so that the entrepreneurship research agenda is applicable and relevant to the worlds of work and policy. In our ongoing partnership with the IOEE, we are delighted to be working with a premier organisation that has such established links into the business world. At our joint workshop a few weeks ago with Northumbria University, we saw how the latest research into Human Resources and talent management can have real impact in the practical world of SME startup and development.

As we continue to discuss how we can both advocate for our different networks of members in the entrepreneurship policy arena, we look to an exciting future that brings together the worlds of enterprise research, policy and practice”.

Thinking of becoming a member of ISBE? IOEE are delighted to announce that a special 20% membership discount is available to existing IOEE members via ISBE’s membership page.

To find out more about the benefits of ISBE membership, click here.

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INTERESTED IN FINDING OUT HOW MENTORING COULD HELP YOUR BUSINESS? Mentoring has a strong track record of helping businesses meet their objectives. The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) helps match businesses with mentors from the banking industry, who are able to give an hour of their time per month, across the following regions:

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North East

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Yorkshire

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West Midlands

Central London

The volunteer bank mentors offer a wide variety of business experience and expertise with small and micro businesses, social enterprises and creative businesses.

Are you interested in meeting a mentor?

For more information contact Paul Harper paul.harper@ioee.uk or 07715 905638. * To be eligible to receive support you business must be established and begun trading.

Our dedicated volunteer mentors are passionate about helping their mentees.

“

The key skill I have taken from this experience is true active listening. I have applied those skills at home and at work and I am finding the results are having a lasting impact.

The reason I continue to mentor today is the positive feeling I get when I help others achieve their dreams and ambitions. It’s a great way to give something back to the local community through sharing my knowledge and experience.”

Carl Beardon

IOEE Volunteer Mentor IAB Small Business Mentor of the Year 2016 award winner

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“

My mentor’s support and level of understanding has been exceptional, which was the key in identifying and overcoming issues as they arose.

With his experience I have become self sufficient working through the challenges my business faces and to identify new business partners who have exporting experience.”

Dorota Grabkowska

Founder of Fanatic House

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To discuss this please contact the Marketing Team at newsletter@ioee.uk.

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