Think Enterprise Quarter 3 2020

TE THINK ENTERPRISE QUARTER. 3 — 2020

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SUPPORT & INFORM PEER-TO-PEER MENTORING THIS MONTH

WELCOMING FOUR NEW IOEE ACADEMIES IOEE ACCREDITATION GAINED FOR

ROYAL AGRICULUTRAL UNIVERSITY MEET AMY AND KOMAL IN OUR

LLOYDS BANK MENTORING CASE STUDY

THINK ENTERPRISE Quarter 3 — 2020 Vol. 32

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2 | Think Enterprise

SARAH TROUTEN, IOEE CHIEF EXECUTIVE Welcome to our third edition of 2020. So much has changed over the last few months. Though I’m pleased to see life beginning to return to some kind of normality, the impact continues to be felt on small businesses across many sectors. So we’re working hard to ensure that our small businesses continue to be at the heart of our lives, community and economy.

We continue our discussions with government, and we were delighted to see results in the form of two new initiatives launched to support small and medium businesses. We have included more information on the Leadership and Management fund and the peer to peer mentoring programme within this publication.

The project we launched back in April in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and UK Finance has proved itself to be a beneficial and valuable source of support for a range of businesses across all sectors. The mentors have been fantastic to work with, and I would like to thank every one of them for their valuable contribution during these challenging times. You can read more about the success of the programme as we feature Lloyds mentor Kommal Poddar and Amy Louise Davies and catch up with them to find out more about their relationship.

Despite these uncertain times, we are pleased to welcome five new academies, four of which you can read about this month. Each Academy has it’s own specialist focus, and I’m looking forward to working together to provide valued and trusted support to many more small businesses.

We also hear from two of our long-standing and respected IOEE Academies, Academy of Leadership and Management and Kaplan.

They have both saught IOEE accreditation for innovative and creative programmes - both successfully launched during lockdown. We were also delighted to finalise accreditation this month for our esteemed Centre of Excellence, The Royal Agricultural University who has achieved national recognition for all students completing enterprise programmes.

We spoke to programme lead, Matthew Draycott to find out what this means for the university and their students.

Finally, we hear from our much loved Enterprisingly Me who shares her honest account of lockdown to which I’m sure many of us can relate. I hope you enjoy this issue and I hope the coming months become more manageable for us all, however, whatever lies ahead know that we are always here, to help and support you.

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CONTENTS 6. KAPLAN INTERNATIONAL PATHWAYS We have spoken to Dr Diana Dale, Senior Project Manager at Kaplan International Pathways on recently gaining IOEE Accrediation and why it’s so important for their organisation and students.

» p.6

8. Royal agricultural university gains IOEE ACCREDITATION We sat down with Matthew Draycott, a lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Marketing at RAU to discuss how RAU has continued to embed Enterprise & Entrepreneurship into the curriculum since becoming an IOEE Centre of Excellence in 2019.

10. welcoming first network as a new ioee academy » p.8

The month of July saw us welcome FIRST Network as a brand new IOEE Academy. We spoke to Charlotte Windebank Managing Direct at FIRST to learn a little more about their business.

12. PEER-to-peer MENTORING

» p.10

As a package of support to assist businesses in responding to the challenges & opportunities associated with Covid-19, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy has announced the roll-out of a peer-to-peer mentoring support programme for small business.

13. the small business leadership programme The Small Business Leadership Programme is a fully-funded 10 week programme to help small and medium businesses to develop their potential for future growth and productivity.

14. speaking to lucy from flourish unlimited, ioee academy » p.14

Flourish Unlimited is the latest in a long list of organisations to recently join the IOEE as an IOEE Academy. Flourish Unlimited focuses on providing specialist support for female founded, focused and facilitated businesses.

16. saint gobain ioee entrepreneurship foundation programme We speak to Andrew Konieczny, the very first learner to complete the Saint Gobain IOEE Entrepreneurship Foundation Programme.

18. JFN & IOEE Partnership » p.16

We are delighted to announce that here at the IOEE we are now working in partnership with JobsForNationals. We have had the opportunity to speak with Nicola Ablett, IOEE Fellow and Partner Academic Reach at JobsforNationals.

20. LLOYDS BANK MENTORING CASE STUDY

» p.20

This month we spoke to Amy and Komal who have been part of the Lloyds Bank Enterprise Mentoring programme, to find out their experiences of the programme and the huge benefits they have both received as a result.

22. Academy of leadership & management We spoke to IOEE Academy & SFEDI Centre based in Scotland, The Academy of Leadership & Management, to learn more about their recently launched programme, Bright Futures.

24. FranchisingworkS » p.24

FranchisingWorks, what do they do? Why is gaining IOEE accreditation important? And much more. We spoke to Vicky Berry, FranchisingWorks Programme Manager to really get to understand one of the latest IOEE Academies.

26. THe business growth school

» p.26

Alan Crouch, Business Growth School, IOEE Academy. We have had the pleasure of catching up with Alan since the easing of lockdown and are excited to update everyone with Business Growth School’s recent work and more.

30. Building Business Resilience: Some Insights from the East Midlands A Greek philosopher once reflected that there is nothing permanent except change. This observation captures the business landscape for many small businesses in the UK since the start of 2020.

» p.30

32. enterprisingly me A quarterly feature where you can follow entrepreneurial adventures.

Names have been changed to protect the innocent but everything you read really happened, making for a very interesting read.

Award Winning Training Provider Kaplan Gains IOEE Accreditation To kick o ff t his q u ar te r s T h i n k E n t e r p r i s e we have spo k en t o D r D i an a D al e , S e n i o r P roj e c t M a nag er a t K a pla n I n te r n at i o n al P at h w ay s an I O EE Aca d e my . K a pla n h as f o r al m o s t 80 y e ar s h e l pe d sh a p e t he dev elop m e n t an d c ar e e r s o f f i na nc e p r ofes siona ls. Oper at i n g i n o v e r 30 c o u n t r i e s , wi t h stron g link s t o t he U S , an d h av i n g b e c o m e one of th e lea ding edu c at i o n p r o v i d e r s i n th e wor l d, Kap la n ha s wo rk ed w i th o v e r 3 m i l l i o n i n d i v i d ua l s a nd b usinesses a cr o s s t h e g l o b e .

to mea su re th e lea rn in g o b jec tiv es req u ired in t he mo d u le. Stu d en ts a lso h a v e o p p o rtu n ities i n t he c u rric u lu m to a p p ly th eir lea rn in g in en trep ren euri al wa ys, fo r exa m p le c o n sid erin g su sta i nabl e d ev elo p men t d u rin g Su sta in a b ility Ap p lied Learni ng W eek. W e b eliev e th a t th is resea rc h a n d d ev elo pment a c tiv ity will h elp stu d en ts in th eir fu tu re c areers, a n d o v er tim e th a t stu d en ts will b e a b le to give us feed b a c k o n h o w En trep ren eu rsh ip h a s b een useful to th em.”

When spea k ing t o D i an a w e d i v e d s t r ai g h t i n to t he q u esti o ns, lo o k ing to f i n d o u t m o r e ab o u t h e r r ol e with in K a pla n a nd b ac k g r o u n d p r i o r to j o i n i n g t he or ga nisa t io n.

I t ha s be e n g r e a t t o se e j ust some of t he man y wa ys i n whi c h K a pl a n ha s t a ke n e nt r e pr e ne urs h ip a nd c r e a t e d spe c i f i c modul e s a r ound t his , as we l l a s wa y s st ude nt s c a n i mpl e me nt t he i r n ew ly l e a r nt ski l l s. We a ske d D i a na why K a pl a n felt it wa s i mpor t a nt t o g a i n I O EE A c c r e di t a t i on for t he i r st ude nt s a nd how t he y f ound t he pr oc es s of g a i ni ng I O EE A c c r e di t a t i on.

Dian a sa id “M y r ol e a t K a p l a n i s t o p r o v i d e s u p p o rt to our I nte r nati ona l P a t h w a y Co l l e g e s a c r o s s th e cou ntry . M os t r e ce n t l y I h a v e b e e n h e l p i ng to imple m e nt ne w i ni ti a t i v e s , fo r e xa m p l e o u r fo c us o n Employ ab i l i ty f or s t u d e n t s , w h i c h d r i v e s o u r a i m to link stude nts wi th p r o fe s s i o n a l n e t w o r k s s u c h as th e IO EE. I have wor k e d i n e d u c a t i o n i n a n u m b e r o f ro les, partic ul ar l y q ual i ty a s s u r a n c e a n d i m p r o v e m e n t a n d as an i nte r i m l e ade r i n v a r i o u s fu n c t i o n s. ” H ere a t t he I OEE w e ar e d e l i g h t e d to se e or ga nisa t io ns such as K ap l an an d m an y o the r s focusing o n Emplo y ab i l i ty an d t h e h u g e b e n e f i t s th is b ring s t o st u d e n ts . W e as k e d h o w K apl a n en su res t ha t ent er p r i s e i s e m b e d d e d w i th i n t he cur riculum a nd how t h e o v e r al l s u c c e s s an d i mpa c t of this implement a t i o n i s m e as u r e d .

“Th e cur r i cul um i n c l u d e s a s p e c i fi c m o d u l e o n Entre pr e ne ur s hi p w h i c h i s d e l i v e r e d o v e r 2 0 w eeks an d re q ui r e s s tude n t s t o p r e p a r e a n d p r e s e n t id ea s an d a bus i ne s s pl an fo r a n a s p e c t o f e n t r e p r e n eu ria l deve lop m e nt. T he m o d u l e h a s a m i d - m od u le assess m e nt and an e n d o f m o d u l e a s s e s s m e n t /exa m

“ A s pr e vi ousl y me nt i one d, i t i s i mpor t a nt to u s t o p ro v id e stu d en ts with a n o p p o rtu n ity to d evel op Em p lo ya b ility skills d u rin g th eir time with u s, a nd one a sp ec t o f th is is to o ffer stu d en ts a c h a n c e to c onnect with a p ro fessio n a l n etwo rk. Stu d en ts c a n th en access reso u rc es a n d resea rc h m a teria ls a n d b ec o me more fa m ilia r with th eir in ten d ed c a reer. W e a re a ttract ed b y a c h iev in g a c c red ita tio n a s th is is rec o gn ise d and im p o rta n t to o u r ta rget m a rkets. Th e p ro c ess to gai n a c c red ita tio n with IOEE wa s v ery stra igh tfo rwa rd and h elp a n d su p p o rt were wid ely a v a ila b le. I wa s abl e t o d isc u ss o u r a p p lic a tio n a n d get a d v ic e a n d we were d eligh ted to a c h iev e a c c red ita tio n a lmo st a year ago.

Th is first yea r o f ro ll o u t h a s seen o v er 400 student s register with IOEE, a grea t sta rt in th is in itia tive.”

Wi t h suc h a g r e a t st a r t t o t he i ni t i a t i v e an d ove r 400 st ude nt s r e g i st e r i ng wi t h t he I O EE w e a ske d D i a na How st ude nt s a r e e nc our a g e d to be e nt r e pr e ne ur i a l a nd why t hi s i s so i mpor t a nt?

“The process to gain accreditation with IOEE was very straightforward and help and support were widely available.”

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Above: UoLIC - Ms Fengdan An, Mr Yihang Wang, Ms Yinan Liang recent graduates of UoLIC

“Stude nts on the E n t r e p r e n e u r s h i p modul e ar e e nco u r a g e d t o d e v e l o p the i r k nowl e dge a n d s k i l l s t h r o u g h the i r choi ce of p r o j e c t t o p r e s e n t fo r as s e s s m e n t . F o r e xa m p l e , Bus i ne s s s tude n t s h a v e d e s c r i b e d the i r s tar t-up p l a n s fo r a n e w product to m ar k e t , S o c i a l S c i e n c e st ude nts have o u t l i n e d p l a n s to s e t up a c o m m u n i t y S o c i a l En te r pr i s e b ac k i n t h e i r h o m e c ountr i e s and S c i e n c e s t u d e n t s h ave pl anne d w a y s t o m a k e es s e nti al he al th t r e a t m e n t s m o r e re adi l y avai l ab l e i n c o u n t r i e s w i th chal l e ngi ng l o g i s t i c s .

We f e e l that p r e p a r i n g s t u d e n t s to be e ntr e pr en e u r i a l i n t h e i r a pp r oach wi l l b e a n e s s e n t i a l s k i l l in a wor l d wh e r e c o n s i d e r a b l e u nce r tai nty an d c h a l l e n g e w i l l

r e q u i re flexib ility o f th in kin g a n d c r e a t iv ity in p ro b lem so lv in g.

S t u d en ts a lso lea rn to c o lla b o ra te w i t h p eers wh ic h we kn o w will s e r v e th em well in th eir fu tu re c a r e e rs .”

A s t h e i nt e r v i e w dr e w t o a c l ose w e d i s c usse d some of t he r e c e nt e v e n ts a r ound CO V I D -19 a nd t h e l o c kdown t he UK a nd ma ny o th e r c ount r i e s a r ound t he w o r l d ha ve f a c e d. D i sc ussi ng h o w the de l i ve r y of e nt e r pr i se e d u c at i on ha s be e n a f f e c t e d by t h e r e c e nt l oc kdown a nd how w h at st e ps ha d be e n t a ke n by K ap l an t o he l p ove r c ome t he se u n i q u e c i r c umst a nc e s.

a n o n lin e d eliv ery mo del . Wi t hi n a week a ll o f o u r stu dent s were a b le to a c c ess o n lin e l ect ures a n d tu to ria ls, lea rn in g support , m a teria ls a v a ila b le t hrough our o n lin e v irtu a l l earni ng en v iro n m en t a n d su pport and rea ssu ra n c e fro m tut ors t hat th eir lea rn in g wo u ld c ont i nue t o su c c essfu l c o m p letio n , wherever th e stu d en ts were in the worl d.

S tu d en ts o n th e En trep reneurshi p m o d u le were a b le to successful l y c o m p lete o n lin e a ssessment s a n d rec eiv e th eir Cert i fi cat es o f Ac h iev emen t th a n ks t o t he tremen d o u s effo rts o f al l our sta ff wh o resp o n d ed rapi dl y and effec tiv ely to a v o id d isrupt i on t o stu d en ts’ p ro gra m m es.”

To f i nd out mor e a bout h ow you r or g a ni sa t i on c a n be nefit from A c a de my st a t us g o to h ttp:/ / ioee.uk/training-providers-andfe

“M a r ch 23rd 2020 sa w a ll o f o u r t e a c h in g a n d lea rn in g m o v e to

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IOEE Centre of Excellence, The Royal Agricultural University “As the IOEE is the foremost professional body for entrepreneurs in the UK they were the obvious choice to provide our accreditation. Giving students the ability to measure their success against others from around the country” In March of last year we were thrilled to announce RAU as the latest organisation to join our ever growing list of IOEE Centres of Excellence, both within the UK and Internationally. Just a number of weeks ago we sat down with Matthew Draycott, a Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Marketing at RAU, Matthew is also a course leader for three of the under-graduate degree programmes: • • •

BSc (Hons) International Business Management — https://www.rau.ac.uk/ ug-ibm BSc (Hons) Argi-Food Business Management — https://www.rau.ac.uk/ ug-afbm BSc (Hones) Rural Entrepreneurship and Enterprise — https://www.rau. ac.uk/ug-ree

We discussed what Matthew’s role was within the University and how he became involved in Entrepreneurship education.

“I joined the RAU in September 2019, prior to that I had been teaching at the University of Buckingham delivering parts of their BBE enterprise programme. I’ve had a varied career which has included periods running companies and charities, teaching, researching and managing economic regeneration programmes.

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My first formal enterprise education role was over a decade ago in 2007 when I joined the e-factor, a Local Enterprise Growth Initiative funded business in Grimsby. I worked there for two years as the Early Enterprise Manager leading youth enterprise activities across 17 schools and colleges across the region.”

It’s clear to see that Matthew has a wealth of experience within the Enterprise & Entrepreneurship sector as well as firsthand experience of running businesses.

We asked Matthew having been at the University for almost a year now how does RAU ensure enterprise is embedded within the curriculum and how is this delivered? As well as how do RAU measure the success & impact of having enterprise embedded.

“At the RAU enterprise education is at the heart of everything we do, whether it’s activities and approaches embedded into our curriculum, or our award winner extra curricula programme, we view these activities as fundamental to supporting our students so that they become the next generation of entrepreneurial leaders.

This means that we focus on developing graduates who have the skills, knowledge and attitudes to create and grow a wide range of ventures, generating value for themselves and their communities. This work takes a number of forms including cross cutting modules and

a range of extra curricula courses, competitions and business development services.

their leadership skills through our other dual accreditation with the CMI.

We focus on this because we recognise that in an ever more turbulent global economy, the next generation of leaders will need to be resilient and adaptable to deal with the changes ahead of them.

As the IOEE is the foremost professional body for entrepreneurs in the UK they were the obvious choice to provide our accreditation. Giving students the ability to measure their success against others from around the country.”

We measure the impact of this work by constantly reviewing our graduate outcomes data, student satisfaction responses, and collecting our own internal metrics so that we can ensure we are delivering the most engaging and relevant activities for our students.”

And finally, to finish off our conversation, we asked Matthew how exactly students encouraged to be entrepreneurial and why this is so important.

We asked Matthew, with Enterprise being so deeply engrained within the University, what were some of the reasons the University found it important to gain IOEE Accreditation?

And how did the University find this process?

“We felt that it was important for students on our undergraduate programmes to be able to recognise and evidence their entrepreneurial development in much the same way as they are able to evidence the development of

“We encourage students to be entrepreneurial in word and deed; forward thinking, action orientated individuals who will seize the opportunities offered by a rapidly changing global economy to innovate products and services, creating value for themselves and their communities.”

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Centre of Excellence or Academy status go to http://ioee.uk/trainingproviders-and-fe

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Welcoming FIRST Network

The month of July saw us welcome First Network as a brand new IOEE Academy. Speaking to Charlotte Windebank, Managing Director at First Network we asked about Charlotte’s background and how she first became involved in enterprise education.

Charlotte said “I have a youth work and events background. I met my business partner, Caroline Theobald CBE whilst running events at a business centre in Newcastle. We developed a series of networking events that brought together established businesses and young people. The quality of the connections were of huge impact to guests so we began to do more, bringing in partners from business, education and local government As a next step we set up the business formally and took over the running of Startup Awards North East

(previously the If We Can You Can Challenge) from the Entrepreneurs Forum. The awards included glitzy ceremonies but also the wrap around support that early stage founder’s need to make those first steps in business. After working closely with early stage founders we soon realised our strengths were building enterprise skills and since then have been working on projects that do just that! After years of workshops and events we decided to formalise the learnings and integrate our skill workshops with the SFEDI award.

Since that decision we have been successful in securing large contracts of work from local government, helping communities build essential skills to help recovery from the pandemic.”

It’s great to hear about some of the fantastic work Charlotte has undertaken throughout her career, we then asked Charlotte to tell us a little more

rk as an IOEE Academy

about FIRST. “FIRST is a learning and development agency that focuses on building entrepreneurial skills. We work on collaborative projects within education, public sector, charities, social enterprises and private businesses that build entrepreneurial skills for early stage founders, young people and professionals.

Last year we worked with: •

•

•

1729 young people and students – 85% now want to stay in the North East and look for work (40% better than the regional average), 88% now have a clearer idea of what they want to do after leaving education 214 early stage founders – 93% still going strong after 12 months (13% better than the UK average, 87% believe their business will succeed, 30% better than the UK average 182 professionals – 91% more likely to pursue leadership opportunities within their organisation”

We love seeing such positive statistics around learners as a real demonstration of the excellent work our IOEE Academies undertake, making a huge difference in helping learners build enterprising & entrepreneurial mindset and skills. Next we asked Charlotte why was it important for FIRST to gain IOEE accreditation.

“The qualification gives us credibility and added value for participants who engage with our activities. It also means we get to work with the experts at SFEDI, all who have incredible experience within this sector – this really helps FIRST as we’ve only been going for 6 years.”

Charlotte, How did you find the approval process?

“Working with Ruth and the team has been really enjoyable as we know they are as passionate about enterprise skills as we are! We have also been SFEDI Guinea Pigs as we were the first awarding centre to be approved virtually… the process was really smooth, considering we the first ones to do it” We are delighted to receive feedback that our new Virtual Approval process is working well and simple for new organisations going through the process to complete. With lockdown coming into force early in the year we spoke to Charlotte about how this affected FIRST and whether this was negative or perhaps even positive.

“Luckily all of our clients were really supportive and compassionate. All of our payments were honoured and we are now experienced and capable of online delivery. Business development has been slow but we are seeing now more than ever a need for entrepreneurial skill development so we think we can really contribute to the recovery of the pandemic” Finally we asked what FIRST’s plans are now they are approved as an IOEE Academy?

“We’re starting with a level 1 but ideally we want to be offering level 2 and 3 in the next 18 months.

We’d also like to work with more councils, education and the voluntary sector to integrate our offer to get more people into jobs or starting businesses!”

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Academy status go to http:// ioee.uk/training-providers-and-fe

Online workshops exploring how to effectively support peer to peer mentoring amongst small businesses

As part of the package of support to assist businesses in responding to the challenges and opportunities associated with Covid-19, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has recently announced the roll-out of a peer to peer mentoring support programme for small businesses across England. However, there are a number of “need to know’s” related to how to effectively support peer to peer mentoring, particularly within a virtual learning environment.

On the 18th August we ran the first of a a series of webinars, the response was phenomenal and sold out within hours. The session was designed to provide Local Enterprise Partnerships, Growth Hubs, local enterprise agencies and other organisations involved in the delivery of mentoring programmes to small businesses with an overview of current thinking on the value of peer to peer mentoring. The session also reflected on the experiences of a current peer to peer mentoring programme working with small business owner-managers and the strategies associated with effectively supporting peer to peer learning amongst small business owner-managers.

The webinar was hosted by Leigh Sear, CEO of SFEDI Solutions and Ruth Lowbridge MBE, Executive Chair of SFEDI Group who both provided an insight to their extensive knowledge of mentoring and provided valuable tools and techniques to support delegates in developing their own knowledge in practice. There were contributions to the session from two IOEE Academies, Sue Bedward from MBL Academy provided an insight in to mentoring for BAME businesses. Lucy Patterson from Flourish shared her experiences of working with female owned businesses, to find out more about the work of Flourish see our article on page 14.

The next session will be held on the 8th September, 10.00-12.30 to book go to https:// www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/understanding-and-supporting-peer-to-peer-mentoring-making-itwork-tickets-118278709805?ref=estw

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The Small Business Leadership Programme

The Small Business Leadership Programme is a fully-funded 10 week programme to help small and medium businesses to develop their potential for future growth and productivity. The programme is being delivered online by a consortium of university business schools accredited by the Small Business Charter and supported by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Participants will develop strategic leadership skills and the confidence to make informed decisions that boost business performance, through a curriculum exploring leadership, innovation, employee engagement, operational efficiency, marketing, sustainable practices, and finance.

Ruth Lowbridge MBE, Executive Chair of SFEDI Group and Board member of the Small Business Charter said “I am pleased to see funding being provided to support small businesses develop the valuable skills they need in order to become more resilient, agile and innovative.

These are the qualities our small businesses must have if they are to recover quickly from the impact of Covid-19 and indeed future challenges we shall undoubtably face.�

To find out more and apply go to https://smallbusinesscharter.org/smallbusiness-leadership-programme/

The programme is designed to be manageable around participants’ busy schedules and it will be delivered over 10 weeks, initially online.

Participants businesses must have been operational for at least one year and have 5 to 249 employees.

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Welcoming new IOEE Academy, Flourish Unlimited I can’t wait to be able to offer our unique ‘whole woman’ approach to even more female founded, focused, and facilitated business’ than before. The IOEE Academy status adds gravitas to our work, and so many additional benefits for our clients.

We are thrilled to welcome Flourish Unlimited as one of the latest organisations to join our IOEE Academy

settling down, looking at my options for alternative ways of having a family, and facing the fact that I was not going to be the independent career woman I always thought I would be.

network. We spoke to Flourish Unlimited Founder, Lucy. We started by asking Lucy to tell us a bit about her background and how she got to doing what she is doing now.

me with opinions on what, why, where, and how I should now live my life. It was then it occurred to me, that as women, we take a lot of our identity and self-worth from societal ‘norms’ and rights of passage. I’d been given a second chance at life, so I certainly wasn’t going to waste the opportunity fulfilling someone elses vision of it!

“My passion has always lay with supporting business’ and entrepreneurs to create impact as well as profit, and it was this passion that I built my career upon. As such, I have an I have an award-winning background in business development and social enterprise.

However, at the age of 28 I received a diagnosis that changed my life, and saw me start on a journey that involved more operation tables and treatment plans, than board room tables and business plans. As soon as I was well enough again, I did what every sane person does when faced with such a life defining moment, I quit my job and flew halfway across the world to do some volunteer work!

It was at this point, whilst deciding what I truly wanted to do with my life, and what legacy I wanted to leave, that I was also being constantly reminded that I was a female (who isn’t in the best health) and should probably be considering

14 | Think Enterprise

So many people – family, friends, and strangers – came at

In short, you could therefore say, that a search for creating impact, supporting enterprise and enabling female empowerment – my own! – got me to where I am now.”

It’s fantasic to hear the story of how you have gotten to where you are now Lucy, what is your organisation all about and what does it do?

“Flourish Unlimited provides specialist support for female founded, focused, and facilitated business’.

We offer business growth support and coaching that utilises a unique blend of design thinking methodologies and therapeutic modalities. Alongside this, we provide innovative assistance for personal development, that builds emotional resilience, boosts confidence, acknowledges the work/family/life juggle, and marks the link between physical and mental health as being vital to the success of female entrepreneurs.

We work to what we call a ‘whole woman’ approach in this way and are delighted to now be able to provide IOEE accreditation alongside these actionable strategies.”

As an organisation why was it important to you to gain IOEE accreditation?

That’s not to say lockdown hasn’t been a steep learning curve, I just felt better placed to process what I needed to do to diversify, and what options would be best for clients as well. I’m pleased to say they’re all still trading to tell the lockdown tales too!”

“There is no regulation within the coaching sector at the moment, yet there are a lot of organisations who will take your money to let you fly their membership flag. None of them have ever felt right for Flourish Unlimited. I did my IOEE mentoring training several years ago, and have always liked the more enterprising approach you take to supporting business’. It seemed a much better option – for the business and for clients - to accredit the content of what we do, rather than just the name of the organisation, so I jumped at the chance when it was offered.”

We are delighted that your business has been able to flourish throughout lockdown whilst helping you understand how you may wish to diversify your business moving forward. What are your plans for your newly gained IOEE Academy status?

It’s great hearing that our accreditation has been a perfect fit for Flourish Unlimited, how did you find the approval process for gaining our accreditation?

“Truly rewarding! Working with Ruth Lowbridge MBE was a pleasure and a privilege. I took on the role of a sponge throughout; soaking up as much information as possible, and taking on board as much insight from her as I could.

Her experience really helped me to look at ways of better implementing our work, and I can say hand on heart, that even if we hadn’t gained accreditation, the process itself has left us in a stronger position as a team and an organisation.”

“I can’t wait to be able to offer our unique ‘whole woman’ approach to even more female founded, focused, and facilitated business’ than before. The IOEE Academy status adds gravitas to our work, and so many additional benefits for our clients. I’m continuing to work with Ruth to ensure that we lose none of the coaching impact as we continue to accredit new elements, because at the end of the day, the IOEE Academy status is for them as well as for us.”

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Academy status go to http://ioee.uk/ training-providers-and-fe

Lucy, with Coronavirus still affecting businesses across the world, did lockdown affect your business in any negative ways? Or even Any positive ways?

“Business has boomed during lockdown. I was very lucky that just before lockdown I became one of only 16 people in the world to engage with EMS/Babson University’s Inspiration USA program out in Boston. Lockdown thrust me into a position that involved accelerating the business plans I’d made during my time there, so I was very grateful for both the learnings and the time I’d had to focus on, rather than work in, the business.

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Saint Gobain IOEE Entrepreneurship Foundation Programme Andrew Konieczny, AKA Building Services — First learner to complete the Saint Gobain IOEE Entrepreneurship Foundation programme.

In terms of my business, I can’t emphasize how beneficial the finance and money modules were.

They really made a difference in helping me gain a better understanding of running a profitable business.

We are excited to announce that Andrew Konieczny is our first learner to successfully complete the Entrepreneurship Foundation Programme.

In this article we find out how undertaking the programme has helped Andrew achieve a healthier work life balance whilst also creating a more profitable business.

my father when I was 9 years old, then it was bounding coat in plastic bath with a shovel and sand and cement on a board, those where the good times not like todays easier methods using power whisks and mixers. 33 years on and I own and run AKA Building Services located in the North West covering most aspects of construction work.

We began by asking Andrew a little bit about himself and his business.

We pride ourselves on quality over quantity, perfection over speed and endeavour to push ourselves to stand out from similar companies. We do this by using and being affiliated with

“Having learnt plastering from my father, Like a lot of older people in the trade, I only got my city and guilds in plastering later on in life when I was about 28 years old as the industry was changing and wanting tradesman to have certificates to show they were competent in their trade.

I also went back to college in 2004 for 5 years to become a qualified electrician and completing my 2391 testing and inspection, having been delayed with plastering works due to electricians not turning up and being unreliable. Following on from this I then set up AKA Building Services in 2006.

My earliest recollection of starting in the trade was mixing plaster with a wooden broom handle in a bucket for

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programme?

“I came onto the IOEE course after being introduced to it by British Gypsum and as a member of the

I would highly recommended the course to anybody who find themselves running a small business who feels like they have no time family or personal time, working all hours, for little financial gain and for who generally would like to run a better business.

leading products and manufacturers, we are also a member of the British Gypsum Certified plasterers Scheme.”

Why did you decided to undertake the Saint Gobain IOEE Entrepreneurship Foundation

Andrew

Konieczny, AKA

Building

services

Certified Plasters Scheme I was offered the chance to do the course because part of the aims of the scheme is to help the members build a better and more sustainable business for themselves. They help with training on practical elements such as, new plasters and much more but also with helping develop business skills too.

I have also received mentoring support, my mentor was Paul Cassidy

from Saint-Gobain who helped giving me excellent guidance when I needed it.”

As a busy plasterer and electrician Andrew, how did you find fitting the programme into your busy schedule?

“At first I was not sure if the course would be for me as there were modules I thought wouldn’t be of use for my business, but I couldn’t of been more wrong, I really enjoyed all of the modules – particularly achieving work objectives and personal needs (work life balance) and Finance and Money.

I found completing the modules in the evenings was best for me while the rest of the family are watching tv or early mornings when nobody else was about even if I only spent an hour on it.”

It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the programme and were pleasantly surprised by how some of the modules can really help you both personally and professionally.

How do you think the programme has made a difference to you personally?

“The biggest difference for me personally – has been with my work

life balance, I have cut down my hours of work to have more family time.

Taken up golf at the weekends so I do not book work in and get to clear the mind about work for 4-5 hours.

Book holidays which I never did as I would always have to much work on and squeeze people/jobs in” How did the programme affect your business Andrew?

“In terms of my business, I can’t emphasize how beneficial the finance and money modules were. They really made a difference in helping me gain a better understanding of running a profitable business. I’ve been able to gain better profit margins thanks to understanding charges, income & expenditures more, as well as using the profit and loss template.”

As the first completer of the Saint Gobain IOEE Entrepreneurship Foundation programme, how important was achieving a nationally recognised qualification to you?

“Achieving a professional nationally recognised qualification was important to me as this shows all the commitment, time, and effort it takes while still working, running a business

and balancing family life and as a result showcases my commitment to my trades and being the best I can be to all my clients.”

Since competition of the programme how have you been able to utilise your access to the IOEE Campus you received as part of your IOEE Membership?

“I have found the IOEE campus to be a really useful resource for courses, helping me to again further my business skills and knowledge.

Alongside this the free Small Business Survival Kit which was provided by the IOEE & SFEDI has been an excellent help through these testing times.”

Finally Andrew, what would you say to anyone considering undertaking the programme?

“I would highly recommended the course to anybody who find themselves running a small business who feels like they have no time family or personal time, working all hours, for little financial gain and for who generally would like to run a better business.”

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JobsForNationals & IOEE Partnership actively involved with mentoring and coaching UAE Nationals and was very successful plus I enjoyed it very much. From 2006 I worked as a consultant and freelancer and had some incredible experiences and learnt so much leading me to starting my first free zone company in 2011 embarking on my entrepreneurial journey.

Nicola Ablett, Partner Academic Reach at JobsforNationals We are delighted to announce that here at the IOEE we are now working in partnership with JobsForNationals based in the UAE. We have therefore had the opportunity to speak with Nicola Ablett, IOEE Fellow and Partner Academic Reach at JobsforNationals, to find out a little bit about Nicola, the organisation she works within, the partnership with the IOEE and more.

So Nicola, please tell us a little bit about yourself and your current role.

“I am an army child and had lived in 6 countries by the age of 18! When I moved to UAE in 1995, it was my 7th country and now the one I have lived in for the better part of 25 years and consider very much as home. My background was Occupational Therapy where you are intent on enabling and facilitating people and families to have the best life that they can and they are involved in the decision-making processes, as it impacts them personally.

When I came to Abu Dhabi UAE this was not a viable option and my career diverted to working in Recruitment with HR in the Ministry of Health, which was actually a good fit. This is the time where I became

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The company and was making headway but financially it was not working out and I had nothing to fall back on to keep going, sadly I had to close the company.

Fortunately, I had friends who had businesses and a visa was secured and I began freelance work which was exciting and eventful. In 2019 I again established my own company and with a much sounder base. In January of 2020 I was approached to become part of JFN Advisory board and here we are, affiliated with IOEE and a Fellow with a combined experience of over 20 years in UAE and making a difference in the areas of careers and writing your own career narrative plus empowering entrepreneurs and championing women.”

It’s an amazing journey you have been on so far Nicola, what is it that makes you so passionate about enterprise education?

“I am passionate about enterprise education for many reasons but the main one being the idea is only part of the journey you have to do the planning, preparation and hard work and for this you need knowledge, critical thinking, an enquiring mind and most of all resources. And an invaluable resource is your enterprise mentor and your coach, from wherever these people are drawn, they may already be in your life or about to join you on your journey which will be as exciting as any journey you will ever undertake.”

With your passion for Enterprise & Entrepreneurship clear for all to see, why was being part of IOEE important to you?

“Becoming an IOEE Fellow has consolidated parts of my journey and brought together everything under an umbrella with all facets represented. I love being able

Affiliation with IOEE and JobsForNationals.com is a tremendous opportunity to facilitate and enable others to have the professional support they might not otherwise have been aware of, or have access to, especially in these challenging times where adaptability is critical.

Both IOEE & JobsForNationals.com encourage and nurture talent to wards and in meeting their potential whether that is with either coaches and /or mentors.

The joint contribution that IOEE & JobsForNationals.com are capable of with their combined resources will add powerful energy to the employment market — Danish, Chief Partnerships Off icer

to share my experiences with the IOEE and bring what the IOEE offers to others who may never have heard of IOEE and increase the success of entrepreneurs where ever they are and specifically UAE. Affiliation with IOEE and JFN is a tremendous opportunity to facilitate and enable others to have the professional support they might not otherwise have been aware of, or had access to.”

What are your thoughts on the newly formed partnership between IOEE and JFN? “This will be amazing as JFN Job Seekers will have a closed group where they will have access to members and fellows etc for support, Q&A and also the opportunity to become members of IOEE themselves with everything that in itself offers them.”

We are excited to be able to provide support to JFN Job Seekers with support whenever possible through our network of amazing members. What is the purpose of Jobs for Nationals?

“JobsForNationals.com is an Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing platform developed to bridge

the talent gap between top Organizations (from Federal or Local Government, Local, Regional and International Companies) and exceptional UAE National Talent across the seven Emirates. For now our focus is on Emiratisation but we are looking to grow across the GCC to support their Nationalization. JobsForNationals also has an Academy (Acaedemy.JobsForNationals.com) where we prepare this exceptional talent to navigate and explore the world of employment.”

With everything JFN does to help talent exploring the world of employment Nicola, what does the new IOEE partnership mean for Jobs for Nationals candidates?

“This partnership opens up a new window of opportunity for the JFN job seekers especially in this time of huge change and the way the employment market is responding to world events. Now is a time when more young people will be writing their own career narrative as jobs and careers are changing daily. The world of work has changed beyond recognition and is not returning to the ways of even 2019.”

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Academy status go to http://ioee.uk/ training-providers-and-fe

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L l oyd s B a n k M e n tor i n g Ca se S tu d y — A m y & Koma l This quarter we launched our COVID-19 mentoring response programme in partnership with Lloyds Banking Group and in this article we hear from Komal Poddar, a Lloyds mentor offering her support to Amy and her textile business, to find out how they have both found the mentoring experience so far.

Amy, can you tell us about your business and why you wanted to be part of the Enterprise Mentoring P r o g r a m m e ?

I run a sustainable textile business inspired by the way that embroidery techniques are used to revitalise worn fabrics that would most likely end up in landfill. In addition I run textile-based workshops which allow participants to put their own embroidery skills to the test and I also sell my own range of bags and purses which are produced from sustainable natural fabrics. Covid 19 has affected my current business sales and also my plans for developing new business ideas, I wasn’t able to start the embroidery workshops that I wanted to do in the community, and during self-isolation I didn’t go to the studio - meaning I couldn’t make products to sell. I felt it would be beneficial to look into forms of mentoring such as this, in order for me to continue to focus in on what I’m really interested in which is embroidery, sustainability and the throw-away.

20 | Think Enterprise

identified problems which we could focus on, the second meeting took place on WebEx which helped to further develop the relationship.

Komal - I believe that the relationship is progressing well, because we take a genuine interest in sharing updates and new ideas with each other via messages even between our scheduled catch ups, which generally take place once a month.

Komal, how has mentoring helped you?

Komal, what’s your role in Commercial Banking and why did you want to become a mentor?

I am an Associate within the Business Development & Innovation team in CIC. During my time on the graduate programme and as an Associate, I have had exposure primarily to large corporates and institutions. However, I have been quite keen to work with smaller enterprises as well and have found volunteering the best way to do so. I have participated in problem-solving forums in the past and have supported fundraising activities too, but the Enterprise Mentoring Programme was attractive to me because it gave me an opportunity to directly work with an entrepreneur/enterprise for an extended period of time.

The fact that this initiative was launched during COVID 19 also meant that there was greater scope to contribute given the current environment.

Tell us how the first mentor/mentee sessions were set up and how are things progressing?

Amy - The initial meeting took place over a phone call where we shared backgrounds, discussed my business and

I have gained greater appreciation for the number of roles that start-up entrepreneurs have to perform to grow their business, as they often begin their journey alone or with a small team. My mentee’s business is quite innovative, and I take the time to not only research the industry but also understand Amy’s vision specifically for her business, I also actively seek feedback from Amy in order to continue my personal development.

Amy, what are the key things takeaways so far for you and your business?

I now have the confidence to explore new areas for my business and have plans to expand my current range as well as focusing on online marketing strategy.

Komal, how has working together as part of the Enterprise Mentoring programme made you feel?

I gain satisfaction knowing that I am able to contribute in some manner to Amy’s entrepreneurial journey. I also really enjoy working with her to brainstorm different ways to solve a challenge as this enables me to think creatively.

Think Enterprise | 21

THE ACADEMY OF LEADERSHIP & MANAGMENT Based in Scotland, The Academy of Leadership & Management is a well respected provider of executive education and key people development in: •

business & enterprise

•

business support

•

leadership & management

•

coaching & mentoring.

We spoke to the team at the Academy of Leadership & Managament who are a SFEDI Centre, part of the Institute of Leadership & Management (ILM), The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) and NCFE. They also have IOEE Academy status. Being one of ILM’s largest awarding centres for senior level qualifications and work with employers and individual students in the public, private and third sectors, both in the UK and internationally.

Delivering courses at Level 5 and Level 3 and having developed strong progression routes into higher education at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

The Academy has a proven reputation for developing business professionals and leaders. With a distinctive and flexible approach, thanks to their highly experienced team over the past 25 years, is proven to deliver results. Having

22 | Think Enterprise

recently launched their new programme, Bright Futures, to support businesses post the Covid pandemic, but the programme will have enduring relevance, to business leaders as we navigate unchartered waters in the months and years to come.

include;

Bright Futures – An end transformation programme

to

end

Lets get started! Through participation with Bright Futures, business owners and leaders will have new confidence and knowledge to lead the transformation of their organisations in changing and challenging times. Bright Futures provides an end to end transformation experience, with relevance to all sectors and all sizes of businesses. Businesses urgently need to equip themselves with a competence to develop new ways of thinking and working.

At the Academy of Leadership & Management we aim to assist businesses to create an environment which makes sense of the current business context they are working in, and to create connections and scenario planning AT SPEED to allow them to trade again, survive and prosper.

Bright Futures offers a means to engage, motivate and support across sectors and size, the leadership teams of businesses.

The key impacts of engaging in Bright Futures

•

Business survival

•

Business growth

•

Jobs safeguarding

•

Jobs creation

Bright Futures Outline A collection of bespoke conversations to allow companies to Reset, Restart and Recover your businesses, coming out of the current extreme business environment ensuring they can embrace innovation, technology (digitisation, platforms and analytics) and resilience, all leading to enhanced productivity.

The three phases of the programme are illustrated below:

RESET

•

Sales strategy and negotiations

This stage is about working with businesses to get them up and operating again. Forensically looking at organisations questioning where the business is now and where it needs to go. Much of the activities at this point are operational, but it is critical that the questions posed are answered in detail and at speed.

•

Early exporting steps

•

Managing the generational mix

What will the Bright Futures Coach do during RESET? Ask key questions to help swiftly diagnose business situation, and evidence the leader self-awareness of the current reality.

Establish capability and competencies within the business in relation to existing business model, using probing questions.

This established the restarting point and the influence of the pandemic on the business.

Bright Futures has a wealth of knowledge through the experienced team and can tap into a range of resources and present the most relevant to individual business leaders. Engaging with Bright Futures is a bespoke experience as we will mentor and coach companies to develop strategies that specifically mirror the issues the individual business is facing.

Over and above the one to one coaching conversations (virtual initially and maybe face to face in future), business leaders will have access to an array of menu driven learning including; •

Output

1 – 2 – 1 (online and face to face when acceptable).

and learn what organisation capabilities they have and identify where the gaps are. The learning will be continuous if the business is to survive and evolve and will generate scenarios, strategies and timelines using specific business models/ frameworks.

What will the Bright Futures Coach do during RECOVER? Business owners and leaders will be stretched to develop the business in a considered way by making sense of the wider context in which the business operates taking into account the future and new normals. Innovation and digitisation are likely to be key aspects that will require to be part of an on-going learning and implementation approach. The need to be agile and flexible to allow the business to pivot and take advantage of opportunities, will be part of the mentoring and challenge posed by the coach during Recover.

To give leaders the confidence to make the right decision about the future of the business and know WHY there is a need to change.

•

Podcasts

Over and above the one to one conversations there will be;

•

Webinars

•

RESTART

•

Online Bright Futures Virtual Library, (cutting edge topics discussed in practical and applied ways)

Peer to peer mentoring (virtual or face to face)

•

Mentoring (virtual or face to face)

•

Accountability check-ins

•

Online partner learning e.g. Institute for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Educators, Chartered Management Institute and Institute of Leadership and Management.

•

On-access to the menu driven learning introduced at the RESTART stage.

Moving business leaders from ad-hoc and spontaneous, to taking a strategic view of the current situation and into the future, and how to make it happen. Coming out of lockdown will require companies to start prioritising activities at speed, to ensure the ability to legally trade again.

What will the Bright Futures Coach do during RESTART? Encourage leaders to look at the business through a different lens and shift the mindset and thinking to create a roadmap for moving into the new normal using business models Potential areas of discussion where new knowledge / competence can be reached out for as part of Bright Futures include: •

Business development

•

Leading change transformation

and

business

•

Leading and managing innovation

•

Building a digital strategy

Output Business leaders will have an understanding of the need to trade in a different way and to have started the journey with some of the tools and techniques shared by the Bright Futures Coach to achieve this.

The leader should know; •

WHAT to do

•

Know HOW to do it

•

Know WHEN to do it

RECOVER

Output For business owners / leaders to demonstrate evidence of business survival, sustainability and growth through agreed timeframes and metrics.

FURTHER INFORMATION For John or

further Parker email

details, please call on 0845 890 2549 info@academylm.co.uk

To f i nd o u t m o re a b o u t h ow your o rg a ni sat i o n c a n b e nef i t f rom Ac a d e my st at u s go to http : // i oe e . u k /t ra i ni ng - p rovi d e rs- a nd - fe

During the Recover stage, strategies are being put in place to navigate the business to the new normal. Leaders must embrace innovation across all aspects of the business

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NEW IOEE ACADEMY

FRANCHINGWORKS We spoke to Vicky Berry, Franchising Works Programme Manager to understand their plans and ambitions for their newly gained status as an IOEE Academy.

such situations we help them to get the right job by offering advice, guidance and support based on their individual needs.

What does your business do?

Tell us a bit about your background and how you got to doing what you’re doing now.

FranchisingWorks is a Social Enterprise with over 10 years’ experience within the Business support advice and consultancy sector, supporting clients to start a franchise or their own business. By offering people an alternative solution to employment, by helping and supporting them into selfemployment and business start-up, the company has developed an innovative model that tackles both unemployment and local economic development. With the potential for multiple positive outcomes, we believe this to be a progressive way of tackling unemployment as new local community business often create new jobs for people within the community.

We have engaged with over 1,400 people in the North West and helped over 300 people start new franchise enterprises or their own business. To increase their prospects of success, we support them and their businesses for their first 12 months, highlighting and overcoming common business obstacles. In addition, many of those who approach us end up deciding on a more standard route into employment. In

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We have been delivering programmes for the past 10 years funded via various avenues including European, local economy and private funding. We are currently delivering ESF Community Grant programmes in the Liverpool City region and Greater Manchester and have also been a delivery partner in “The Enterprise Hub”, an ERDF funded programme for the Liverpool City region.

As a well-established Business Support and consultancy company, we started by providing specialised advice and guidance to individuals looking at getting onto the Franchise sector. We then expanded our range to support all types of business start-ups. Our focus is on developing Enterprise skills, employability and providing impartial information and advice. We run a range of training and information courses and workshops, as well as 1-2-1 business advice and support.

You have a great variety of support you provide, why was it important to you and FranchisingWorks to gain IOEE accreditation?

Having looked at a range of options for accreditation, we carried out comprehensive research on several organisations. We decided IOEE had the best fit with our business model and ethos than other companies, and liked your history, and the reputation of your accreditation. Plus, the company showed understanding and passion about the sector, like our team. We also felt that the qualifications on offer were something that fitted in with our delivery and our aims as a business.

Now that you have gained your IOEE Accrediation, how did you find the approval process?

We found the team and the process uncomplicated, welcoming and supportive. As we have quite a small team, this was extremely useful.

Almost every business has been affected by lockdown.

How did this affect FranchisingWorks?

We have had to put our face to face delivery and engagement on hold due to Covid-19 pandemic. This has had a negative impact on the business but given us the opportunity to adapt to the new environment and look at other ways to engage and continue with our delivery and support to learners. We are now trialling the delivery of 1-2-1 support via online platforms and remote telephone sessions, so far with good results.

Being able to adapt and offer support via different means is a great development to have made during such tough times. What are your plans for your newly gained IOEE Academy status?

We plan to increase the range of accredited and nonaccredited courses & workshops that we can offer on our two programmes: Venture Initiative Programme (VIP) and Find out about Franchising (FOAF). Both of these use a combination of workshops and 1-2-1 sessions with individual clients over 6-week period.

Our programme is designed to help the client meet their own personal goals, offering advice and guidance tailored to their individual needs. This giving them a strong foundation and structure, plus information and the right tools they need to develop their own skills and confidence, and an understanding of how to progress onto the next steps of their journey. It also builds their life skills, such as budgeting, planning and IT and social media abilities.

The curriculum is based around personal development, enterprise, and employability skills. We then work flexibly to support the clients into either setting up their own business (via franchise or independent startup), self-employment or other forms of employment or progression.

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Academy status go to http://ioee.uk/ training-providers-and-fe

Alan Crouch at IOEE Academy, Business Growth School Alan Crouch, Business Growth School, IOEE Academy. We have had the pleasure of catching up with Alan since the easing of lockdown and are excited to update everyone with Business Growth School’s recent work and what is it they do as an IOEE Academy!

Alan, please tell us a bit about your background

many of my own start-ups and leading turnarounds

and how you got to doing what you’re doing now.

within operations I had invested in.

Going all the way back to my school and college days,

On the advice of that very same sales director, I did later

I was that kid who shivered when it was their turn to

do an MBA (with a project specialism orientated in sales)…

read out loud in class. I was full of confidence, excelled

it was at this point I realised I wasn’t stupid, but want I

in sport, loved being the ‘showman’ and was a pretty

didn’t know when I was younger was that I was dyslexic (a

good musician too, but when it came to University or

gift many of us entrepreneurs have the benefit of), so no

post-A-level vocational qualifications, at the time, I simply

wonder I couldn’t easily read with confidence in class but

thought that was for others who were brighter than me!

was never short of seeing an opportunity coupled with an

So, whilst all my friends went off to Uni to become doctors,

obsession to see opportunities through to success!

engineers, biochemists, accountants and one became a

It was as I was developing a brand-new software business

priest, I developed my initial career as a salesperson.

I founded in the North-East, when I also first began

Unbeknown to me at the time, but my first sales director was without question ‘one of a kind’. He was just an outstanding coach and before I knew it, I found myself

consulting as a sales transformation / sales strategy expert… this was a great way of not only funding my outgoings but also funding the new business start-up.

studying sales whilst getting out there and achieving

Consulting and finding work were simple… I was earning

outstanding results too as a salesperson… it was in effect

in excess of £100k whilst working part-time and getting

as if it was my first degree and a first-class vocational

work through a steady flow of referrals to keep my

course all wrapped into one! As I studied, I read every

projects and income nicely topped up.

single book I could afford and as my skills developed in practice, my career grew from sales executive through to sales director, managing director and CEO, operating within both corporate owned businesses and more latterly

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But as I got to meet other business advisors, business consultants and coaches, I was shocked to see: •

A huge number of really skilled former corporate

execs trying to make their way as consultants, with NO WORK •

to wade through, as in today’s world, nobody running a

jobs but had no real idea on how to sell themselves

business or looking to develop themselves as a business

and start off as a business consultant, find a job or

consultant has the time to spend dwelling doing that.

Really brilliant entrepreneurs, who had made a fantastic product or service, but had no idea on how to sell, didn’t like selling and most didn’t even like salespeople!

What I realised is that whilst many of them went off to Uni to study engineering, operations, manufacturing and the like, none of them knew how to sell and commercially prepare a sales-oriented business growth strategy.

My epiphany, that ‘light-bulb’ moment, was when I saw that I could help: •

There’s no three-year programme or laboured syllabus

I saw people who had, for whatever reason, lost their

start a company •

achieve real long-term business growth success.

Business Consultants learn to set themselves up correctly, position themselves to become successful,

Instead we have designed two courses, that are designed to expose all the secrets of success, all in just three days.

We simply want every delegate to have the ‘clouds clear’, see their ‘vision’ and know what they need to do to get there… in just three days. We call this “Expertise – Simplified” as if you are an expert, it will look easy!

With COVID-19 here, Business Growth School® has now taken our courses to Live Webinar training, with the two key three-day training courses being: 1.

consultants 2.

selling themselves, and work towards not only financial freedom, but also career freedom too •

Those looking for work to position themselves for success, approach their futures with confidence and secure opportunities in not only permanent roles,

Business Growth Masterclass – For Entrepreneurs and Business Owners

learn that BLUEPRINT on how to secure that steady flow of referrals without doing virtually any direct

Business Consultant Masterclass – For business

We also then have in place a programme that can support delegates and their businesses succeed from the moment they leave the training room, to include: •

A 30-day Challenge

•

IOEE Award accreditation

•

IOEE Diploma programmes

•

Live on-going monthly and training Q&A,

•

Through to 1-to-1 coaching and consulting, working

but freelance, fixed contract, interim and more!

•

Entrepreneurs and business owners to literally transform the success of their businesses – for the long-term by mastering how to real transform, turnaround and growth their businesses

Hence, the Business Growth School® was born!

Wow! What a story, it’s amazing to hear first stand as to why and how businesses as created and we never get tired of hearing.

So, what is it that your business does Alan?

In just 3 days, we train Business Consultants and Entrepreneurs/Business Owners in the skills they need to

directly on your business

With this, Why was it important to you to gain IOEE accreditation?

Our goal is to: •

COVID-19 was not the only pandemic we have seen in 2020! We have witnessed a training pandemic too! Every Tom, Dick and Harry is out there, they’ve learned Zoom

as we train •

•

their skills to eventually

your money and time in a course that wasn’t formally third-party that had in place a robust assessment

•

however many are not.

What we have seen is that so many are trying to sell training based on having a bunch of slides, an overexcited trainer making huge claims, who’ve just learned Zoom and saying their ‘accredited’ (by themselves… yes, really!).

expert field So, to answer the question, we welcomed an approval process that demands structure, has control checks in place and put demands on its training academies, but what we didn’t expect was how: •

Personal the process would be

•

‘Entrepreneurial’ the approach would be, in respect to being progressive and really focussed

So that’s why the Business Growth School® set out to

on the ultimate client… our delegates

search for a progressive accrediting body that: i. Understood the unique needs and approach of entrepreneurs and business owners ii. Who respected the very important role business consultants play in entrepreneurial businesses iii. Who were internationally renowned iv. And most importantly were progressive in outlook (this vital point I will expand on a moment) All Business Growth School’s® core courses will now be accredited by the IOEE. Working with the IOEE, accreditation will range from Certificate of Achievement, to Award and for those choosing to join the 12-month DIPLOMA programme, Business Growth School® is now launching the: Business Consultant Diploma and Business Growth Diploma.

How did you find the approval process?

Business Growth School®’s #1 focus, as is the IOEE’s, is delivering the very best to our every delegate.

28 | Think Enterprise

Fourthly, move ahead of us, as they become hugely successful within their business, niche and

criterion?

Okay, there will be some courses that are good out there,

Thirdly, for us at the Business Growth School® watch them come along side us as they start using

But here’s the question: Would you seriously invest accredited by an internationally renowned and respected

Secondly, for them to then get behind us as we lead their ongoing training & support we offer

and boom, they are seeing this as their way to make a living.

Firstly, have our class of delegates in front of us

•

Supportive the IOEE team really are

Did lockdown affect your business in any negative ways? Any positive ways?

COVID-19 is an opportunity for us all and it’s how we all manage through this ‘opportunity’ that will shape our futures.

Yes, at the Business Growth School®, we’ve taken our own training as the days of doing live events in large training rooms is currently on hold. We have had to realign our business to the market, move our business online with Live Webinar training and to ensure we are completely credible, we have taken the decision to become and secure IOEE Academy status.

It’s been an interesting personal journey too.

We believed our ‘energy’ came from the ‘buzz’ in the training room, the excitement of delegates intermingling and the emotional high you can feel form physical events.

Now, for sure we miss the whole ‘theatre’, what we have learned is that:

•

We’ve witnessed some of the fastest delegate results ever, with consultants securing their first project in just two days

•

1.

motivate and train our delegates towards success Live Webinar has also greatly expanded our reach and made training accessible globally, providing a really driving motivation at the Business Growth School® for us to be able to support even great delegate success.

What are your plans for your newly gained IOEE

What are the key ‘problems/opportunities’ both business

Live webinar training by video conference enables rea delegate engagement, whilst we still inspire,

•

two simple questions:

consultants

and

business

owners/

entrepreneurs have right now?

2.

How can we put together some free training, tips and strategies to support these?

So, here are two free training courses: 1. For Business Consultants: How to Secure High-Paid Business Consultancy Work – Fast

Academy status?

Learn the Six Essential Stages on how to:

Business Growth School® will be taking its training into

a. Become the Go-to Consultant

LIVE Webinar training from September 2020 offering both Masterclass and Diploma courses for business consultants and business owners/entrepreneurs.

We also have a number of trade marked business skills training and books that will be launched in Q4 2020 and

b. Secure that steady flow of qualified referrals c. Achieve consistency in your income levels d. Appoint your completely free ‘sales force’

2021 to include:

e. How to be remembered above anyone else!

•

EASYSelling® - A leading Sales Process

f. How to really begin to understand your value and worth

•

SLICSelling® - Mastering sales skills by learning to

2. For Entrepreneurs and Business Owners:

‘Skilfully Lead and Intelligent Conversation’ •

My Action Plan™ (MAP) – A unique way to plan your rolling 365 days to ensure success

•

4D Business Growth Cycle ™ - Learning the Four Dimensions of business growth success

At the Business Growth School®, we strongly believe that ‘Like Minded People with the right outlook really drives success’ and with this in mind, we will be very active in looking to partner with our fellow IOEE Academies and training providers, whilst as an IOEE Academy, we are already partnering with external organisations and training schools too.

Exposed: Learn the Fast-Track Sales Transformation Blueprint™ This is where you will learn the four essential dimensions on how to transform business growth, turnaround businesses and move forward to prepare your strategy and planning to achieve long-term business growth Visit

the

Business

Growth

School

here

To find out more about how your organisation can benefit from Academy status go to http://ioee.uk/ training-providers-and-fe

Free Training Offer to IOEE Members Today!

As our thank you to the Sarah Trouton, IOEE CEO, the IOEE team and to you for taking the time to read through this post, that we thought that we would like to offer you some free and fast-track training. So, we asked ourselves

Think Enterprise | 29

Building Business Resilience: Some Insights from the East Midlands Change, Change and More Change...

A Greek philosopher once reflected that there is nothing permanent except change. This observation captures the business landscape for many small businesses in the UK since the start of 2020. Businesses have faced unprecedented weather events, the uncertainty around the planning for exiting the European Union and, most recently, the outbreak of Covid-19 and its impact on the UK economy.

Whilst change may be a constant for small businesses, research highlights that businesses vary in their ability to respond to change, adapt and develop. This ability to adapt to adversity and ‘bounce back’ whilst maintaining key business operations and planning for the future can be labelled as business resilience.

Business resilience is about more than just having a business continuity plan in place. It is comprises: •

•

•

A mindset or state of being around ongoing change and improvement which assists in identifying and responding to challenges and threats An approach to working through the impact of these challenges and threats on the performance of the business in the near and mid-term A set of abilities and behaviours which are increasingly perceived as critical in deriving competitive advantage such as anticipating

30 | Think Enterprise

problems, flexibly responding to challenges, coping with an enjoying uncertainty and persuading others.

In terms of developing business resilience, there are a number of online resources, such as ‘how to’ guides, which outline a number of general steps to being more resilient (e.g. the five key steps to developing resilience). However, these guides provide limited advice and guidance around how these steps to being resilient can be tailored to the specific internal and external challenges faced by a business, particularly in smaller businesses where there may be a lack of resource and/or structures around business continuity and resilience.

The Building Business Resilience Programme This gap in the business enterprise and support landscape for more tailored programmes of business resilience has been identified by the three Growth Hubs in the East Midlands.

SFEDI was commissioned by the East Midlands Growth Hub Cluster, in January 2020, to develop and deliver a ‘Building Business Resilience’ programme. The aim of the overall programme is to support small businesses in the Greater Lincolnshire, Leicestershire and D2N2 LEP areas in being able to adapt to the changes

associated with the exit from the EU and put in place appropriate action plans to survive and thrive in the near future.

Businesses across the East Midlands are now facing some serious challenges. The programme was initially setup to be able to support businesses to become more resilient to economic shocks such as the transitional period and subsequently the full exit from the European Union. With the global pandemic of Covid-19 now affecting all aspects of running a business from the challenges of managing cashflow, managing people and staffing through to local, national and global supply chain impacts, the support offered by the Business Resilience programme is now far more crucial.

There are a number of strands to the programme including: • •

•

Briefing sessions on key topics related to the exit from the EU for business support professionals Development and delivery of diagnostic tools to support businesses in identifying key strengths and areas for development in being resilient One to one and workshops with businesses to support the development of action plans and business resilience plans.

Over the last four months, through a series of webinars and virtual one to one and small group workshops, the programme has supported a diverse range of small businesses to work through the opportunities and challenges created by the outbreak of Covid-19 and the implications for business and skills development.

As we move towards the autumn, the project will focus on working with businesses to plan for the exit from the EU. This will include the launch of an intensive business resilience programme for businesses within a number of key sectors in the East Midlands. This is important in light of recent announcements from the UK government that the negotiation period will not be extended beyond the end of 2020.

Insights from businesses A number of insights have emerged from the activities undertaken to date in the development of the delivery of the programme. These include: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

a regular series of events, as part of a wider programme, which provide clarity to announcements of new programmes of support as well as providing space for questions, experiences and tips to be exchanged Within the initial phase of announcements of different Covid-19 support programmes, there were a number of mixed messages, or ‘noise’, from different communities of practice which created confusion for businesses around how to access certain progress of support There have been a number of challenges faced by businesses in submitting to Business Bounce Back Loans and CBILS, particularly in terms of how banks initially interpreted certain guidance around the scheme and the length of time taken to process initial applications A key element of being resilient is the need to think creatively within a crisis – e.g. plans for diversification of business activity or utilising resources in different ways The importance of communication in building resilience – both internally with staff (e.g. in putting plans in place to return staff from furlough) and externally (e.g. in discussions with landlords, suppliers over contracts and providers of business support) The need to create time to invest in your own learning and skills development – not only in terms of understanding of changes in business support but also the skills required to adapt and alter plans.

The next phase The next phase of the project will involve two sets of activities. First a series of webinars focused on issues related to resilience and responding to the opportunities and challenges created resulting from the exit of the EU. Second the development and delivery of an intensive business resilience programme. This will involve a series of workshops, peer to peer action learning sets, virtual case study visits and signposting to others sources of support within the East Midlands.

If you would like further details on the project and information on planned events in September and October please email Leigh Sear (leigh.sear@sfedi. co.uk) or Meryl Levington (meryl.levington@sfedi.co.uk).

Over the last couple of months, there has been a gradual change in emphasis from businesses asking questions about availability and accessibility of different programmes of support to exploring ways in which support can be used to survive and/ or put development in plans into practice Owner-managers value being able to access

Think Enterprise | 31

‘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 I certainly didn’t see this one coming……

We were meeting with two of our clients for lunch, who just happened to be from a local University, when they took a telephone call to tell them that they were closing down their campus from the end of the week. Had I been ignoring the warning signs? Why had I not appreciated the seriousness of what was happening globally? Why had I thought that this was something affecting other parts of the world/country and wouldn’t affect us?

Talking to others it appears that there were many more like me who just hadn’t appreciated the impact a pandemic would have on both ourselves and our businesses. I certainly know now!! I’m sure if I had envisaged how this current situation has progressed so rapidly and so cruelly then I wouldn’t have felt so blasé about how I was going to manage my way through what I thought was probably weeks and at the worst a few months.

The furlough scheme came as some welcome relief for some of my friends who relished the thought of getting paid whilst spending down time with their families. For me it has been a rollercoaster of emotions as I have tried to keep positive whilst having to furlough our small team of staff with no idea as to how we were going to be able to keep our business going.

32 | Think Enterprise

Like many others, the first few days and weeks were spent talking to others in the same boat as us and waiting for the government announcements that were often difficult to interpret from a small business perspective.

Our business seemed to close down overnight – all the years of planning, worrying and trying to foresee every eventuality yet there was nothing we could have possibly done to foresee what was happening to both us and the businesses around us.

Then there was the personal aspects to understand – I think in the first few weeks we were too busy concentrating on how we were going to change the way we were working to worry about how it was affecting us personally. As we took our pc’s, laptops and work files home and locked up the office it seemed almost surreal that this was happening and I began to wonder when we would be able to get back to normal. At this point I was confident that this would happen however as time has passed I think we have all come to realise that the future holds a new normal for us all as we all adapt to a completely different way of working with brand new ‘norms’ that are exciting and scary in equal measure.

So how resilient are we to what has happened and is still happening and how are we managing

our way through the challenges arising from this current situation?

week to week getting more challenging as time goes on.

Maybe I’ll answer this question in two parts coming from both a business and personal perspective.

I view myself as a positive person and even when times have been difficult in the past I have always felt in control of my destiny. The situation presenting itself now means that we have limited control over what is happening and the only way to stay completely safe is to stay indoors which certainly goes against the grain in terms of how I like to live my life. Speaking to others about how I feel helps as I realise I’m not alone in feeling the way I do. However, when feeling a bit low, I only have to think about those countless families that this awful pandemic has affected throughout the UK and the rest of the world and I count my blessings that I have:

In business terms our resilience has come from having a healthy bank balance which has allowed us time to review our business operations and to develop the resources need to be active in a completely different operating environment. We have used the homeworking time to keep in touch with our customers virtually making full use of zoom and Microsoft teams and to develop new resources that can be delivered remotely through distance learning and online. We have learnt how to create and deliver webinars to keep our business visible and to help the small businesses we are trying to support. We have all learnt new skills - sometimes, I must I admit, I have done so kicking and screaming as I struggle to manage the intricacies of sharing documents whilst being in a meeting on zoom. Wine time has become earlier in the day as I become ‘zoomed out’…

However, all in all, I feel this challenging time has had many benefits for our business which include: • A sense of togetherness and belonging within the remaining staff team • A wealth of innovative new products and resources • A closer relationship with our clients and customers as we share experiences and offer help to each other • Time to review our systems, processes and working practices in order to strengthen our resilience for the future • Time to review our finances and how our time and money can be better spent moving forward The way this has affected me personally is more difficult to measure as it fluctuates day to day and

• A garden to look at and to walk into when I want to spend time outdoors • Family and friends to talk to, laugh with and now share time with • My health and the health of my family and friends • The freedom to now partake in my favourite pastime of retail therapy – albeit whilst wearing a mask. Obviously there has been quite a lot of online purchasing taking place in our house however nothing quite beats the thrill of going into an actual shop!!

• The opportunity to eat out and drink with gay abandon as I help the hospitality industry to recover – I mean I have to do my bit don’t I? • The opportunity to buy local. I’ve come to realise how much healthier we’ve eaten by buying fresh local produce whilst supporting our local traders • A business to be proud of and a team of staff that I will be forever indebted to for their sheer hard work, their loyalty and their kindness Me x

Think Enterprise | 33

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