Think Enterprise Issue 1: September 2016

Think Enterprise

Vol. I

Publication / September Edition

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CE2016 CELEBRATING ENTERPRISE AWARDS EVENT

NEW IOEE

CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER

SPOTLIGHT ON ...

FELLOW

RICHARD TALBOT-JONES

MAGAZINE September Edition Vol. I

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 I am delighted to welcome you to our very first Think Enterprise magazine. Learning and skills development is inherently associated with the month of September as everyone goes back to school and work and thoughts turn to ‘what’s next?’. The team here at IOEE have been busy creating some exciting new programmes which can help your business to not only survive in these uncertain times but thrive.

As entrepreneurs the time to reflect can sometimes seem like a luxury we can’t afford but it’s so important to take the time to think about both our successes and our failures in order to better face the challenges ahead. What went right and how can we make it happen again. What went wrong and how can we make sure it doesn’t!

It’s been an action packed year here at the IOEE, with the launch of a number of exciting partnerships including the Creating Enterprise which sees us working with Toni & Guy to create a contextualised enterprise programme for the fashion and hairdressing industries.

We’ve welcomed a number of new IOEE Academies and Centres of Excellence, two of which are featured within this first edition. We’ve also made links with a wide range of organisations who share our vision for the development of enterprise and entrepreneurial skills across the UK and globally.

There’s lots to look forward to in the coming weeks, too, with a best practice conference being hosted at London South Bank University, our inaugural Fellow Summit and of course our annual awards event ‘Celebrating Enterprise’ which this year also see’s our 20th Anniversary celebrations at the House of Lords.

I do hope you enjoy this first edition and the bottom line, as always is this: We celebrate you, we support you and we believe in you. Even on your roughest day, we’re right there with you.

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Content 08 University Gains Centre of Excellence Status for Entrepreneurship

10 North east councils bolster business resilience

12 IOEE Centres of Excellence shortlisted by Times Higher Education Awards

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14 Welcoming the Academy of Leadership and Management as an IOEE Enterprise Academy

16 Celebrating Enterprise Awards 2016 With our Celebrating Enterprise 2016 Awards just around the corner, we got in touch with Anne Wilson, last year’s Small Business Apprenticemaker, to find out what the experience of winning meant to her.

18 Graduate illustrator drawn to enterprise mentoring

20 Enterprise mentoring for artisan tile company Imogen Mitchell approached the IOEE on the search for a mentor just two months ago. She was soon matched up with Barclays Bank Leadership Performance Coach Ann Ratcliffe, who enjoys mentoring small business owners as a contrast to the corporate professionals she works with day-to-day.

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22 Reforming Apprenticeships for Small Firms How can we get apprenticeships reform right for small businesses? That’s the question at the heart of research recently published by Federation of Small Business (FSB).

24 Spotlight On IOEE Fellow ...

Richard Talbot-Jones

27 IOEE’s Best Practice Workshop for the Enterprise Community

28 Level 7 SFEDI success for QLM Ltd. SFEDI’s Level 7 Certificate in Professional Business and Enterprise Support Services is designed specifically to help people working in the business support sector optimise the services they offer their clients. We caught up with Richard Wingate from training provider QLM Ltd, to find out about the success he’s had in delivering this innovative programme.

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30 BBA publishes findings on women and EMB-led enterprise

32 Lloyds mentor lends support to IT consultancy Anastasia Georgiou works on a risk and compliance assurance team for Lloyds Banking Group. She was matched as mentor to Nick Clarke, who runs an IT consultancy franchise. We caught up with them both to find out about the enterprise mentoring experience they shared.

34 Baking business finds mentoring is a recipe for success

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University Gains Centre of Excellence Status for Entrepreneurship The University of Worcester has become one of a handful of education organisations to gain Centre of Excellence status from the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE).

The University, which offers a number of Entrepreneurship degrees through its Business School, now has the flagship accreditation which marks out organisations that promote and deliver enterprise skills development.

The announcement comes ahead of the third annual Worcestershire Festival of Business, that took place on Friday 16 September, which celebrates enterprise within the County. The University is heavily involved in the Festival, including arranging for the Start-up Britain Bus, which tours the UK to give free advice to budding entrepreneurs, to be part of the day.

that has an enterprise culture.

Good practice highlighted by the IOEE included the University’s flexibility of staff and resource managers, which allowed them to do projects, such as one funded by the British Council which created learning material using Worcestershire and Chinese businesses.

It was also impressed by its innovative practice, such as scaleup support, engagement with external partners such as the Local Enterprise Partnership or growth hubs, links to external entrepreneurs and its learning support systems.

The IOEE have a network of more than 200 centres and academies delivering enterprise and entrepreneurial programmes, however, currently only five educational establishments, including the University of Worcester, have achieved Centre of Excellence status.

As a Centre of Excellence, the University of Worcester is now able to deliver IOEE programmes and qualifications and may receive recognition for its own programmes. University staff, students and learners can also access IOEE membership.

Dr David Bozward, the University’s Strategic Lead in Entrepreneurship, said: “Entrepreneurship is part of the core strategy for the University of Worcester and, as such, we are developing a world class environment for students, staff and local entrepreneurs.

IOEE’s Chief Executive, Sarah Trouten, is looking forward to working very closely with the Business School.

“This IOEE Centre of Excellence is recognition that we have demonstrated our commitment to enterprise and also working with our local partners.”

Centres of Excellence recognise the importance of creating and sustaining an enterprising and entrepreneurial culture and support continuous enterprise development, improvement and growth.

To gain accreditation the University had to demonstrate it could successfully meet 12 criteria. These included anticipating and understanding the needs of its students, delivering what businesses and learners want, and proving that it was a learning organisation

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“The team exhibited the qualities that nurture enterprise and entrepreneurial thinking and this has fed directly into both curriculum and extra-curricular activities,” she said.

“There is an enterprising culture and clear examples of innovative practices with good engagement with external partners including LEP’s, growth hubs and local businesses.

“The team at Worcester are innovative and creative and given the autonomy to achieve great things.”

To find out more about how your organisation could benefit from becoming an IOEE Centre of Excellence, please contact sarah.trouten@ioee.co.uk

Pictures show left to right: Dr David Bozward, the University’s Strategic Lead in Entrepreneurship at the University of Worcester’s Business School, and Tim Maxfield, Director of Business Development at the University of Worcester’s Business School, with the IOEE Centre of Excellence plaque.

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North east councils bolster business resilience

The IOEE’s Level 5 Award in Understanding and Planning Business Resilience prepares business support professionals to spread the business resilience message far and wide, looking in detail at a broad range of areas where all sorts of enterprises can strengthen their ability to bounce back and keep going when confronted with difficulties and setbacks. IOEE colleagues Leigh Sear and John Sunderland Wright recently delivered the Award to a group brought together by Lynne Dunleavy, a self-employed Programme Manager who undertakes work for the Northumbria Regional Flood and Coastal Committee. We caught up with Lynne and she turned out to be a firm believer in the Award and the positive impact it can have on individual businesses and wider communities too.

Having a fantastic idea and the energy for enterprise is a brilliant start for any business. However, it’s also important to have plans and measures in place that will ensure long-term success. In other words, business resilience. Much of Lynne’s work is concerned with helping businesses and communities to build their resilience to physical factors that could threaten their wellbeing – specifically flooding. Lynne says: “I go into communities and talk to them about having flood plans. I might get a group of volunteers together, preparing them so that if there is another flood they’re ready to react positively right away.

That might mean, for example, manning rest centres, helping with an evacuation, door-knocking to check on vulnerable people, or working with the fire service on contingency plans.”

As the projects Lynne works on have developed and expanded, she’s been asked to provide support specifically for business resilience, as well as community resilience. In order to find out what she could do to add to the existing support delivered by the region’s

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local councils, Lynne consulted the North East’s dedicated Business Resilience Officers. She says: “What I found was that everyone was trained differently and everyone had different levels of knowledge. They wanted to talk to businesses about flooding, but also about wider resilience – covering everything from potential market changes and staffing issues, to logistics and insurance.”

Lynne had sat on the board for Climate North East, one of the bodies involved with developing the IOEE’s Award in Understanding and Planning Business Resilience, and she had also achieved the Award herself a number of years ago. She was able to see that the programme was a good match for the Business Resilience Officers’ requirements; its holistic approach to business resilience would cover the flooding issues that Lynne specialises in, as well as all the other key areas of solid business resilience.

Last month, Lynne invited the IOEE to deliver training for Business Resilience Officers representing local authorities across Northumberland and Tyne & Wear, Durham and Hartlepool. The Award is a carefully designed programme that covers seven broad umbrella areas where resilience can be built into the fabric of a business’s day-to-day operations and strategic approach. These are Premises(including topics like flood risk and building maintenance), Operations, Financial, Insurance, Markets, Staff and Logistics.

Over three days, 32 people attended the half-day training. Although everyone who attended broadly works in the same field for their various local authority employers, they actually fulfil a very diverse set of roles, as Lynne explains:

“I think it’s absolutely brilliant training. When I did

the training myself, I came out buzzing with ideas for my own business.”

“There’s no standard way of working here. For example, in Newcastle there are one-to-one business sessions at the central library. Others will target specific industrial sectors or communities where they think businesses are more at-risk. Some will take what they’ve learned and deliver talks to groups of businesses, to whet their appetite for business resilience. The ways that attendees can apply what they’ve learned is very flexible.”

The content of the course is delivered in an interactive way, with topics broken down into individual sessions and various engaging exercises to complete. Lynne found that across the board, the programme was very well received. She said: “I spoke to people as they came out of the first session and they were really enthusiastic, saying it was great and exactly what had been needed. I think it’s absolutely brilliant training. When I did the training myself, I came out buzzing with ideas for my own business.”

“Councils have had to weather major cuts in recent years and, while some employees have a lot of long-term business resilience experience, others have less and have had to encompass resilience as part of other roles. This training really helps to get everyone up to the same standard. The accreditation is important because it means people can cascade the learning to other members of their teams, as well as directly imparting it to businesses, making a real difference to communities’ economic prospects.”

If you work for a local authority and you’d like to offer this training to your Business Resilience Team, drop us an email at info@ioee.uk Or, if you would like to undertake the Business Resilience Healthcheck survey yourself, you’ll find it here. Those who complete the online Healthcheck receive a detailed report that outlines business areas where they show resilience, as well as areas where they need to put extra measures in place to boost resilience.

Right now is the ideal time for local authorities to make this training available to their staff, as Lynne explains:

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London South Bank University facilities

IOEE Centres of Excellence shortlisted by Times Higher Education Awards

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This year, three universities with IOEE Centres of Excellence status have found their way onto the Times Higher Education Awards shortlists. Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU), London South Bank University (LSBU) and the University of Worcester are all IOEE Centres of Excellence. They also all appear on the Times Higher Education Awards shortlists for 2016. The first two of these IOEE Centres of Excellence have been shortlisted in the Entrepreneurial University of the Year category, and Manchester Metropolitan University has also been shortlisted for the Business School of the Year Award. The University of Worcester meanwhile appears on the University of the Year shortlist.

Manchester Metropolitan University received two nominations, having been shortlisted as Business School of the Year, as well as Entrepreneurial University of the Year. To receive this award, institutions must demonstrate exceptional performance in specific arenas including innovation, teaching, research, student experience, alumni relations and development.

In order to become an IOEE Centre of Excellence, an institution must prove it has strong credentials with regard to the promotion and delivery of enterprise and entrepreneurship skills development.

Those organisations selected to become IOEE Centres of excellence may be Higher Education institutions, Further Education colleges, enterprise support providers or training providers. However, no matter what their overriding purpose, they must demonstrate to us that they facilitate and nurture an entrepreneurial culture, and that they understand and implement best practice in the field of enterprise and enterprise support development.

“Being shortlisted as finalists in two Times Higher Education Awards is testament to the fantastic work that has been taking place in the Business School and across Manchester Met. Recently recognised for having the best Business School in the North, it is right that Manchester Met’s support of business innovation, commercial partnerships, student enterprise, and applied teaching and research, is being recognised on the national stage.”

All of these IOEE Centres of Excellence and their associated universities have excelled this year as they have each been handpicked by The Times for recognition. The awards’ category of Entrepreneurial University of the Year is a celebration of universities that develop ‘an environment and culture that fosters enterprising attitudes among all members of [a] community.’ The university who receives the accolade will be one that can demonstrate its work has delivered significant entrepreneurial impact on both local and international platforms. Gurpreet Jagpal is LSBU’s Director of Research, Enterprise and Innovation. He said: “It’s great that LSBU is one of the Times Higher Education Awards finalists. This has been a very busy and exciting year for our team as we worked with an increasing number of local businesses, and supported more students to reach their entrepreneurial potential.

Our shortlisting recognises the range of innovative projects and programmes we deliver through collaboration with academics, enterprise societies and SMEs.”

“

Our shortlisting recognises the range of innovative projects and programmes we deliver through collaboration with academics, enterprise societies and SMEs.”

David Taylor is Director of MMU’s IOEE Centre of Excellence, as well as being Principal Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the university.

We asked him what the award nominations meant to the Business School and MMU more widely. He said:

Worcester University appears on the Times Higher Education Award’s University of the Year shortlist. To earn a place here an institution must demonstrate that, over the last academic year, it has undertaken bold initiatives that have boosted its reputation.

Additionally, quality research, teaching, access and business performance are give consideration within the final judging.

Sarah Trouten, the IOEE’s Chief Executive, was also thrilled to hear that three IOEE Centres of Excellence stand to be winners in the Times Higher Education Awards. She said: “It’s very pleasing to hear that three of the universities the IOEE has selected to be Centres of Excellence are now also being showcased as exemplary by the Times Higher Education Awards.

Manchester Metropolitan University, London South Bank University and the University of Worcester have all, over the years, shown themselves to be absolutely dedicated to furthering the interests of individual entrepreneurs, as well as wider business communities, and to creating cultures of enterprise and endeavor. Each of these institutions exemplifies the objectives and ethos the IOEE brand has always stood for.”

The Times Higher Education Awards ceremony will be held in Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in London, on 24th November.

It is a prestigious event attended by some 1000 guests from the worlds of academia, industry and politics. The IOEE will be represented at the event and we’ll all have fingers crossed that our three brilliant Centres of Excellence receive the recognition they deserve.

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Welcoming the

Academy of Leadership and Management as an IOEE Enterprise Academy

The Academy of Leadership and Management based in Ayrshire in Scotland operates as a virtual business school, delivering enterprise education to people living in every corner of the globe. Husband and wife team John and Janet Parker are at the organisation’s helm as joint Directors. We interviewed John about what the new status of IOEE Academy means to him and his team.

For over three years the Academy of Leadership and Management has been a recognised SFEDI Awards Centre, delivering SFEDI programmes as part of a suite of professional enterprise qualifications. This year, when reaccreditation rolled around, owners John and Janet Parker decided to take the plunge and become a full IOEE Academy. As John explains, it was a logical progression: “As a longstanding, established SFEDI centre, as well as an ILM Centre, making the transition to IOEE Academy made sense and was relatively simple to do. We have a strong track record of achievement in the field. To become an IOEE Academy was, for us, about transferring some of that longevity and experience from one place to another.”

Operating at all learning levels, from 3-7, John and his team meet the study needs of everyone from first line managers to business owners and senior managers, as well as business support professionals like advisors and executive coaches. Uniquely, the Academy of Leadership and Management, as well as providing

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learners with a rich suite of online learning materials, also offers individual coaching, as John outlines: “We weave one-on-one coaching into the learning process. That means you can study one of our programmes on an individual basis and meet up with your dedicated tutor or coach directly via the internet.”

The Academy of Leadership and Management selects high-quality individuals with a wealth of experience in their own fields to perform the role of tutors. Rather than having full-time tutors, the business handpicks particular individuals to perform specific projects, working either for individuals or supplying learning and development to groups of learners via their employers. Plus, this way of delivering teaching means that the Academy’s students can be based anywhere in the world. In fact, right now, they have students in the Falkland Islands, Australia, Russia, the Middle East and America, as well as on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean.

The Academy of Leadership and Management, which delivers enterprise education to key people within large and small organisations, as well as to individuals who are looking to develop their careers via accredited courses of learning, also has an important connection much closer to home, with Edinburgh Napier University, as John explains:

“Many years ago we approached Edinburgh Napier University to create a link between our accredited programmes and the degrees they were teaching. Together we created a year-long programme called the BA Business and Enterprise, which is a top-up for students who hold a leadership or enterprise-related level 5 qualification.”

Today, the Academy continues to run the work-based learning element of the higher education programme. This creates an opportunity for students to apply their learning and use reflective writing to develop their capabilities across personal effectiveness, job effectiveness and the application of innovation, creativity and enterprise. John says: “Over 12 months I work with the Edinburgh Napier students in writing or via webinars. They complete their work with me alongside their three university-delivered modules, and they gain their degree. We’ve had over 500 students follow that route since it was established and I was appointed a visiting professor at the university in 2005.”

Now, with the new gravitas of being a recognised IOEE Academy, John, Janet and their team are looking forward to even greater achievements ahead. Right now, they’re pulling together the final pieces of a new sales-based qualification. John says:

the Academy. At the moment, we’re working on the IOEE Level 5 Certificate in Sales, which we’ll begin to offer in the autumn.

Potentially, that will be the first of an entire suite of sales courses to be added to our portfolio offer. There were so many reasons for us to become an IOEE Academy. The IOEE’s work fits in with a lot of what we do. We have for many, many years worked in the field of business advisor development, which is why we originally became a SFEDI Awards Centre. Therefore, the idea of expanding our product offering and getting into other areas of entrepreneurship and enterprise along with the IOEE is something very attractive to us.”

“

To become an IOEE Academy was, for us, about transferring some of that longevity and experience from one place to another.”

“We see IOEE programmes as a definite future growth area for

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HOUSE OF LORDS - THURSDAY 10 NOVEMBER

Apprenticemakers Achievement With our Celebrating Enterprise 2016 Awards just around the corner, we got in touch with Anne Wilson, last year’s Small Business Apprenticemaker, to find out what the experience of winning meant to her. We discovered that the Celebrating Enterprise accolade isn’t Anne’s only recent success as a few months after the event she received an MBE in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List.

Anne Wilson is someone who has made championing apprenticeships a key part of her role as Managing Director of Numill, a precision engineering company in Sheffield. In 2010, the forward-thinking businesswoman realised there was an industry-wide skills drought looming on the horizon. In response, she was determined to make apprenticeships a central component of Numill’s training plans.

During the intervening years, Anne, through her position at Numill and as Chair of the Employer Strategic Advisory Board for a local engineering college, has worked hard to employ, train and support apprentices, simultaneously creating opportunities for young people and safeguarding her industry’s future. Anne also endeavored to spread the apprenticeship message beyond Numill by supporting other employers through Apprenticemakers. So, how did it feel to hear in early autumn last year that she was in the running for a Celebrating Enterprise award?

“To find out I’d been nominated for something like this was a shock and an honour! It came out of the blue. I wasn’t expecting it at all.

To be nominated was a pleasure and to actually go to the House of Lords and win was doubly exciting.”

Anne was one of three individuals to be nominated for the Small Business Apprenticemaker Award, which is given in recognition of an individual who has championed the apprenticeship model in their own enterprise and beyond, demonstrating a dedication to extolling the benefits of apprenticeships for learners, small and medium businesses and the wider economy. As her guest for the day, Anne chose friend and professional contact Karen Finegold, who is the Executive Director of the Engineering Industries Association. Anne

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remembers the excitement and sense of occasion she felt on that day last November: “Even to approach the House of Lords buildings, to get through the security and be welcomed is fun. The crowd was very bubbly and excited. When my category came up, Karen was nudging me and saying ‘this is you, this is you!’ We had drinks and canapés on the terrace at the House of Lords, which not many people get to do!”

Sophie Hardwick of Apprenticemakers said: “As an Apprenticemaker, Anne has proven herself to be committed for the good of her own company but her perspective is far wider reaching than that. She is someone who has spotted a significant future skills gap and understands that apprenticeships are the route to filling it, for the good of an entire industry.”

Award Success for SimVenture Nominations for Celebrating Enterprise 2016 are officially closed and before we announce who is shortlisted, we caught up with Peter Harrington of SimVenture to find out what’s been happening since his business was named Most Enterprising Learning Product 2015.

Peter Harrington and his brother Paul are the team behind SimVenture, an interactive software product that allows learners of all ages and backgrounds to develop and test their enterprise skills in a safe but realistic environment. We asked Peter what winning the award meant to SimVenture. He said: “It was a surprise just to be nominated! We were so busy working on a new project at the time and it came out of the blue. I had no expectations of winning but when we did I was absolutely delighted.”

In fact, the original SimVenture product, or SimVenture Classic as it has latterly been rebranded, has won four national awards altogether; the Celebrating Enterprise award was the fourth.

However, Peter says that winning the title of Most Enterprising Learning Product has had the most positive impact on the business: “In part that’s because of the high-profile, prestigious location where the event is held. But it’s also because the award we won is very specific to the market we operate within. That meant that all the people we interact with – our customers, our influencers, the people who really know us - were in that room when our name was announced.”

Being named Most Enterprising Learning Product is recognition of the way SimVenture supports enterprise learning. Products winning the award, whatever form they take, must be designed to facilitate key aspects of enterprise learning and help individual learners develop the broad skills base they need to become more enterprising in pursuit of employment or to start, run and grow

their own businesses. This is exactly what SimVenture achieves and, Peter tells us that winning the award was just the first piece of good news: “The ripple that went out from the event was terrific. The feedback and the congratulations we’ve received has been just brilliant.

Critically, we ‘ve just signed a huge deal in China and I believe the Celebrating Enterprise award was an influencing factor in securing that contract.”

In fact, since winning the award, the business has gone on to create and publish a new product – SimVenture Evolution. This online enterprise simulation tool, along with SimVenture Classic, is destined to be rolled out across Chinese universities, colleges and schools, as well as British ones. To keep up with the volume of new work, Peter and Paul have undertaken something of a recruitment drive: “We’ve taken on a number of new staff in the past six months and enlisted a few new contractors too. In all, another six people have joined the company since we won the award.”

Would you like to know more about our Celebrating Enterprise 2016 Awards event?

Visit awards.ioee.uk and view this year’s seven award categories, latest sponsorship opportunities and take a look back at our other winners from last year’s event.

We will be announcing our shortlisted nominees for 2016 within the next couple of weeks, so keep an eye out for these!

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Graduate illustrator drawn to enterprise mentoring Amanda Summers is a 22-year-old illustrator who graduated from the University of Worcester in 2015. Right now, she’s exploring a number of interesting avenues in order to forge for herself a varied career in illustration. Enterprise mentoring is one of the routes resourceful Amanda has discovered.

Northampton-based Amanda Summers recently graduated and, determined to explore as many work opportunities as possible, first came into contact with our Mentor Match scheme thanks to a Creative Lab grant she’d won at Worcester University. The grant, which is highly valued by each new cohort of art students, is designed specifically to help creative individuals make commercial inroads during their first year after graduating. Amanda went through a rigorous Creative Lab process to put forward her case for being a recipient of the cash and was thrilled when she heard she’d be receiving the financial support. She says: “During an interview I’d spoken about how I would use the money, which is £2,500. My plan was to use it to set up workshops and purchase materials to help me complete freelance illustration jobs.

A couple of days after being interviewed I was very surprised and pleased to find I’d been selected over lots of other people.”

Since receiving this useful cash injection, Amanda has put it to good use creating the foundations of her fledgling illustration business.

She says: “I bought a scanner, a printer, software and materials to help me get started. I’ve also been working on some WWII themed workshops to deliver in schools around the country. The workshops are based on my grandfather’s evacuation to Wales. Classes of children make their own paper dolls using similar collage techniques to the ones I use in my own work. The end result is a large, collaborative image showing a detailed evacuation scene.”

As a recipient of the Creative Lab grant, Amanda benefited from the mentoring support of the University of Worcester team. However, the team also suggested that Amanda should pursue some external enterprise mentoring support.

“They felt I could do with a bit of extra mentoring time to give me a fresh take on what I could do with my work. They had contacts at SFEDI and its Mentor Match service. In turn, Mentor Match connected me with a dedicated mentor - Doug Walters.”

Doug Walters is a Lloyds Banking Group employee who volunteers as a mentor, and has worked with a number of mentees. Amanda has been consulting him since around April, with the pair meeting up for a relaxed chat once a month in Worcester’s library, ‘The Hive.’

She explains why having a mentor who is not associated with the art world has been good for her:

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“Because Doug’s background is totally unrelated to the illustration business, he’s been a very refreshing influence and completely focused on the commercial, professional side of things. As an illustrator, you may be drawing most of the time but you still have to contact your clients, and promote your work to potential buyers.

Doug helps with things like approaching clients and he keeps me open-minded about things I could do with my work.”

During her final show at university, Amanda attracted the attention of publishers with a picture book project and this was the direction she was focussed on before meeting Doug. However, the mentor has helped Amanda to explore other avenues. She says: “Doug keeps me on my toes and helps me keep my options open. He encouraged me to ask ‘what else can I do?’ That’s when I started to look into editorial work more seriously.”

In fact, Doug has been able to offer invaluable input across a wide range of business areas for Amanda, helping her to fine-tune her processes and get every detail in order before fully launching her business: “Doug has been guiding me on financial matters, encouraging me to think about the items I will need to spend on and helping me consider how costings should be calculated, taking details like National Insurance, material costs and profit into account to come up with reasonable rates that will make me a sustainable business.”

There is one particular instance in which Doug’s input has propelled Amanda’s work to a new platform and audience. The illustrator was looking for fresh, interesting ways to connect with potential clients for freelance commissions. She had spoken to Doug about using social media to get her work out there in more inventive ways. In part, it was her mentor who inspired her to take the initiative and share her work with the world in a fresh way: “I took Waitrose’s Garden Power campaign as an inspiration point for some illustrations. The campaign is about encouraging wildlife into your garden. One of the things they’d done was put cameras in beehives to see what they were up to. I completed some work in for some illustrations. The campaign is about encouraging wildlife into your garden. One of the things they’d done was put cameras in beehives to see what they were up to. I completed some work in response to it, thinking about what those bees were feeling to be

on CCTV! I sent the drawings to Waitrose over Twitter. They were so impressed that they interviewed me and wrote an article about my work. It appeared in Waitrose Weekend Magazine!”

So, would Amanda recommend enterprise mentoring to other people starting creative businesses? She says: “Enterprise mentoring keeps you on the right track and keeps you focussed. In illustration there are so many areas I am thinking of dipping into and trying out as I progress my career. Doug pulls me

back to earth, focusses me and keeps me on the right track. He also broadens my horizons and makes me think in new ways and you can never have too many ideas. That’s why I would definitely encourage other people in my position to get an enterprise mentor.”

You can see Amanda’s wonderful work and follow her developing career at www.amandasummersillustration.co.uk

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Imogen Mitchell, Guy Mitchell Design

Enterprise mentoring for artisan tile company Imogen Mitchell approached the IOEE on the search for a mentor just two months ago. She was soon matched up with Barclays Bank Leadership Performance Coach Ann Ratcliffe, who enjoys mentoring small business owners as a contrast to the corporate professionals she works with day-to-day.

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Imogen Mitchell and her husband Guy run two businesses from their home in Redcar. The first, Guy Mitchell Design, launched in July 2015 and is an outlet for Guy’s high-spec, handmade ceramic tiles. The second, newer business is an online store called Arcane Interiors, which sells carefully selected designer homewares.

Mentor Ann, who is based in Sunderland, mentors small businesses voluntarily, often applying the skills she’s honed in her working life as a business coach, as she explains: “There’s a real crossover between my job and my mentoring. It’s the ability to help people solve problems for themselves. Rather than me coming up with the solution, which would be the wrong thing to do within someone else’s business, I’m adept at asking the questions that lead a mentee to solving issues independently.”

We asked Imogen why, having already successfully set up their tile design business, when it came to Arcane Interiors, she and Guy decided to enlist the help of a mentor. She said: “We’d never done anything like Arcane Interiors before and we just wanted a bit of guidance. Specifically, we were looking for a better approach to time management because it’s a lot to run two businesses simultaneously.”

Charlotte Marshall, who is Creative Industries Advisor at Redcar and Cleveland Council, put Imogen in touch with IOEE Mentor Manager Paul Harper, who in turn matched her up with mentor Ann Ratcliffe.

The mentor and mentee met for the first time just six weeks ago, halfway between their respective bases in a coffee shop in Dalton Park. In just two sessions, Ann has already made a difference to Arcane Interior’s future outlook, as well as equipping Imogen with specific skills to strengthen her position when she’s negotiating with agents for Guy Mitchell Design. Imogen says: “Ann has given me some really good tips on how to improve the way I deal with challenging business situations. We work on practical strategies together and Ann’s approach is very structured, which is something I appreciate. One example of a technique she’s given me is when dealing with people and making arrangements over the

“

Ann has given me some really good tips on how to improve the way I deal with challenging business situations. We work on practical startegies together and Ann’s approach is very structured, which is something I appreciate.”

phone. Now, I will always follow up calls with a detailed email to add extra clarity and summarise in writing what’s been decided and what action will be taken.”

Ann has also enabled Imogen to take the emotion out of potentially stressful business situations and present as professional a front as possible to customers, agents and suppliers alike. Imogen has been able to apply the insights she’s gained through her mentoring sessions to successfully carry out a piece of work supplying bespoke handmade tiles for an exclusive Italian restaurant in Covent Garden – Margot. This high-profile interior design project has involved a number of parties, from architects and designers, through to agents and other creative businesses. Despite this, Imogen has found herself able to operate with confidence, applying her newly honed communication skills to properly represent Guy Mitchell Design’s interests.

Arcane Interiors was, in part, set up to provide an appropriate outlet for Guy’s high-end, stylish ceramic tiles when the couple realised that neither home-craft style sites like Etsy, or mass-market sites like Ebay and Amazon would allow them to reach the correct customer demographic. Marketing is absolutely key to any ecommerce business’s success, so it is one of the areas Imogen and Ann intend to explore further during their mentoring sessions. Imogen says: “We’re just starting to talk about how to boost SEO [search engine optimisation], key words, back link strategy, and generating good PR stories, which is essential to online selling. Although Ann’s not a marketer per se, because she’s so well connected she’s been able to contact people she knows to advise us, which is great.”

Good mentoring is always rewarding for the mentor, as well as the mentee and Ann is no exception. For her, mentoring small businesses enables a deeper understanding of the enterprise landscape and the issues businesses are facing so that when she’s coaching blue chip business leaders she’s better equipped with a broader perspective.

However, there’s also a more personal satisfaction to be had from the process. She says: “I find it fascinating and I love the buzz of being able to help somebody, particularly small businesses. It’s great to work with people like Imogen and Guy because those are the enterprises where you can make the biggest difference.”

Imogen and her husband feel extremely positive about the future of both of their interconnected businesses, which, thanks in large part to the mentoring Ann has provided are getting stronger every day. Imogen says: “Aside from our own products, we have friends and professional contacts who make some incredibly beautiful homewares so we’ve incorporated those on Arcane Interiors too. Our network of suppliers also means we can offer bespoke versions of various products. The range is small but more and more people are approaching us and asking us to stock their goods. Our reputation is growing!”

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Reforming Apprenticeships for Small Firms How can we get apprenticeships reform right for small business? That’s the question at the heart of research recently published recently by Federation of Small Business (FSB).

There’s no denying that a good apprentice can bring a wealth of value, energy and loyalty to small businesses, as well as representing a fantastic opportunity to get thousands of young people into solid employment. Add to this that the government has a goal of three million apprenticeships starts by 2020, and that small businesses represent 99.3% of UK enterprise, there’s no doubt that getting all small businesses switched on to the benefits of apprenticeships, and ensuring the right support and incentives are available throughout, can achieve a ‘win win’ for all.

So how can this be achieved? New FSB research has revealed some interest findings about small business perceptions of apprenticeships, and has made some recommendations for government to consider for their upcoming reforms. FSB surveyed some 2,008 English small business members to find out how deeply they had engaged with apprenticeships and what their general views and stumbling blocks were.

The research revealed the following about employers with apprentices: • One in four small businesses in England already has an apprentice, a figure that is higher than the average across all businesses of all sizes • 32% of these have more than one apprentice on the books • Apprenticeships are most commonly

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• •

•

created as entirely new roles (79%) 67% of apprenticeships lead to longerterm employment The main motivators for taking on an apprentice are feeling committed to giving young people training opportunities (67%) and recognising the positive impact that apprentices can have on a business (50%) 37% said cost effectiveness was another key reason for their taking on an apprentice.

And how about other small businesses: • Nearly a quarter of those small businesses who do not currently have an apprentice are considering getting one in the future • A third of those surveyed said they had concerns about the responsibility of undertaking the day-to-day management of an apprentice • Just over a quarter said they simply did not have the time to dedicate to training an apprentice • Only 50% of those surveyed knew about the AGE Grant for Employers of 16-24 Year Olds (£1,500 grant for up to 5 apprentices) and only 24% had accessed it.

Considering the numerous benefits that apprenticeships can bring small businesses, and the positive feedback from those that have employed apprentices, the research seems to show that potential apprentice employers aren’t always hearing about the benefits and instead still have reservations. These results still point to the fact that better communication between employers could support the uptake of apprenticeships for all.

The SFEDI-run project Apprenticemakers encourages peer to peer knowledge sharing by providing an opportunity for businesses to connect and share apprenticeship knowledge and experience. Apprenticemakers is also cited in the research as an example of how educating business support professionals about apprenticeships can help support the businesses they work with. Sophie Hardwick, who is the project’s director said: “One way to spread the word about apprenticeships to small businesses is to increase the knowledge of apprenticeships amongst those that have regular contact with small businesses and established relationships with them. These people are key influencers, so it’s great to get them up to speed with the latest developments and excited about the benefits of apprenticeships for the businesses they work with.”

Having conducted its research, FSB has put forward a number of recommendations that it hopes the government will take on board in their upcoming reforms to apprenticeships.

The recommendations included: • Businesses looking to grow or already growing should be targeted as potential apprentice employers.

• Local Enterprise Partnerships should support small firms via local employment and skills strategies.

• Information and support services around apprenticeships should be improved for small businesses.

• Small businesses should have their own dedicated content on the National Apprenticeship Service’s (NAS) website.

• A group of 100 FSB members should be formed to represent the needs of small businesses as policy is shaped around apprenticeships.

• An Apprenticeship Investment Calculator

•

•

should be created to help small businesses work out work out the cost of training an apprentice (coincidentally the government has just released an apprenticeship funding tool to help businesses).

The government should introduce a more generous employer incentive to counter the new requirement that small businesses should contribute to apprentice training costs.

FSB also made key recommendations for actions to be taken by the Institute for Apprenticeships, the Careers & Enterprise Company and Local Authorities.

Since the FSB report was published, the government has announced its proposed plans for changes to the way apprenticeships are funded for smaller employers from May 2017. These changes suggest continued strong training funding provision for smaller businesses interested in recruiting and training apprentices, which will be welcomed by small businesses. However, it’s too soon to tell whether proposed funding bands for specific apprenticeships will have a knock on effect for employers.

Above all FSB recommends increased education and support mechanisms around apprenticeships for prospective employers, a belief shared by SFEDI and Apprenticemakers.

Ensuring that the positive message still reaches small businesses and those that support them is key to ensuring that recruiting an apprentice becomes a normal way of growing a business for all. Read FSB’s findings and recommendations in full here.

Join Apprenticemakers to connect with other apprentice employers and to receive updates for small businesses about apprenticeships.

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Spotlight On ...

Richard Talbot-Jones The IOEE’s member base is incredibly diverse, with people from all walks of life signed-up to enjoy the privilege, services and benefits associated with it.

To let you know just how broad a spectrum of people we work with and what membership represents to them as individuals, we’ve created Spotlight on… which, every month introduces you to an IOEE member with an interesting story to tell. This month, the spotlight is on Richard Talbot-Jones, who is an independent Chartered Insurance Broker running Talbot Jones Risk Solutions, which is based in Felling, Gateshead.

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Richard Talbot-Jones, who comes from an army family, had always intended to join the forces himself and never imagined one day running his own business. Having studied archaeology at Durham University, and also achieved a postgraduate diploma, he progressed to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Unfortunately, a muscle condition put paid to that career route and Richard was left searching for a new role. He spent some time working as a canoe instructor, and also returned briefly to his university subject for an income. However, that job didn’t live up to Richard’s expectations. He says: “Commercial archeology is not what I expected - it’s not as exciting as Time Team and it’s not always as interesting as academic archeology either, where you can follow your personal interests. It’s more likely that you’ll find yourself working on a building site or on someone’s extension, digging trenches and test pits – there’s not always much to find!”

At that time in his life, many of Richard’s family members were making the move to Cardiff and he decided to join them. It was while looking for work in the Welsh capital that he first entered the insurance industry, taking a job with a large company, albeit one he had never heard of before: “I was temping for a little while, just doing bits and pieces, then I went to a careers fair and came across a company called Zurich. They invited me for an interview but I had no idea what they did, no idea about insurance! Despite that, I got a job and I enjoyed it.”

Richard’s job at Zurich saw him interacting primarily with insurance brokers, rather than with the general public. He soon realised that while the insurance brokers were paid more than he was and enjoyed more autonomy, they weren’t necessarily any more skilled than him.

At that time, Richard was looking to move back to North East England, where his girlfriend (now

wife) Clare was based, so he began applying for insurance broker roles in the region. He joined a family firm, gradually gaining a broad experience of the industry and honing his skills.

He also took a number of short-term roles but it was around this time that the entrepreneurial spirit kicked in. Richard says: “I’d worked for a family company for seven or eight years, and had eventually become a director. However, ultimately I wanted to work for myself. To do that, as a family we had to be quite frugal. Since we had our first child six years ago, we’ve lived off £120 a week, give or take the odd car breakdown. That meant there was some cash as back up for me to try selfemployment.”

So, six months ago, 34-year-old Richard launched Talbot Jones Risk Solutions Ltd. The business specialises in brokering insurance for three main types of client: not-for profits (including social enterprises), start-ups and professional practice firms like solicitors, independent financial advisors and management consultants. Since setting up in February the company has done very well, as Richard outlines: “We had a really strong start - I had thought we’d have to spend months working on the brand and building momentum, but we got loads of work in the first few months. It tailed off slightly because we were so focused on placing the business we weren’t focusing on our pipeline.

Now we’ve worked out a better balance and it’s picked up again - we’re bang on target!”

Although his own business has been up and running for under a year, Richard has been associated with the IOEE for some time. He first came onto our radar when he followed our Introduction to Enterprise Mentoring programme in 2012, later going on to actually mentor a few start-ups. He says: “The reason I thought I’d be a good mentor

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is that by then I’d been advising people on risk and insurance, and managing clients and people for five years. I was also on the board of directors with my then employer so I knew how that particular business ran. I had a useful understanding of how businesses operate, and how they’re set up and governed.”

Having undertaken the mentoring training, Richard decided to become a full IOEE member, which has proven a wise decision as it exposed him to a new cross-section of the business community: “A lot of the training and development I have done has been through the Chartered Insurance Institute – gaining those qualifications has been my focus. However, the IOEE has really influenced my trajectory. Being a IOEE member and an IOEE mentor meant that I had lots of interaction with start-ups, which now form a large proportion of our clients. Plus, if I hadn’t been associated with the IOEE, I wouldn’t have had that specific interest in start-ups and I therefore wouldn’t necessarily have been inspired to run a start-up myself.”

Now a Chartered Insurance Broker, which is relatively rare in the area where he works, Richard believes that the actual setting up of a business is often easier than people think once there’s a strong idea in place. The challenging aspect is in generating custom, although Talbot Jones Risk Solutions already has a solid few months of trading behind it and both Richard and his family are already enjoying the many perks of being your own boss. He says: “I’ve worked harder than ever, and with longer hours, but being self-employed means I can be flexible, too. I made it to my children’s sports day for the first time this year, and was able to accompany my daughter on a school trip to the beach. These are unforgettable memories for all of us, and worth every sacrifice and struggle.”

To meet more of our fantastic members and hear how IOEE has helped them in their business, please click here.

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

Would you like to share your enterprising success or business tips with others, just like Richard has?

If so, we would love to hear from you. Please contact: newsletter@ioee.uk

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FRIDAY 7 OCTOBER LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY 10am - 4pm

BEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP FOR THE ENTERPRISE COMMUNITY IOEE in partnership with it’s Centre of Excellence network would like to invite you to attend a Best Practice event exploring the role of universities in supporting local small and medium businesses and in turn how this support can develop and nurture enterprising students.

The event which will be hosted by London South Bank University (LSBU) will present three innovative and pioneering programmes delivered by the following IOEE Centres of Excellence;

The innovative approaches to each programme will be examined along with the wider impact on; • • • • •

support to local businesses perception of the university within the local community student recruitment student employability curriculum development.

The event will be held at:

LONDON SOUTH BANK UNIVERSITY CLARENCE CENTRE FOR ENTERPRISE AND INNOVATION

ATTEND THE BEST PRACTICE WORKSHOP

6 ST GEORGE’S CIRCUS

Please visit:

LONDON

IOEE.EVENTBRITE.CO.UK

SE1 6FE

Places are limited, so please register early

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Level 7 SFEDI success for QLM Ltd. SFEDI’s Level 7 Certificate in Professional Business and Enterprise Support Services is designed specifically to help people working in the business support sector optimise the services they offer their clients. We caught up with Richard Wingate from training provider QLM Ltd, to find out about the success he’s had in delivering this innovative programme.

Richard Wingate runs and owns QLM Ltd, a training and development company in Maidenhead which was established in 1998. The organisation’s original remit was to provide accredited qualifications to business managers and leaders. However, as the years passed, their offer evolved, as Richard explains: “In more recent years I recognised a market in providing training and qualifications to business advisers so we sought accreditation from SFEDI in 2011. Since then we have worked very successfully with a range of business advisers, coaches and mentors from many different organisations.”

One of QLM’s clients is ‘Business in Focus’, a company which, under government contract, provides support, routes to finance, enterprise advice and skills training both to start-ups and established small businesses in South Wales. In December 2014 Business in Focus identified a need to develop their business advisers. Richard says: “It was the first time we’d worked with Business in Focus and at that time SFEDI’S new Level 7 Certificate in Providing Business Support Services had just been accredited. It was ideal for the company because they wanted to gain an edge; providing their clients with more highly trained and more capable business advisers.”

Some 12 individuals from Business in Focus enrolled on QLM’s SFEDI programme, which is delivered over a year via a series of workshops, supplemented by in-depth online discussion and learning. Learners follow a process of ‘action learning’, which sees them meeting to discuss issues and applying the training to their work with clients, as Richard outlines: “Part of the programme requires the learners to work with their clients and collate evidence of their interactions, which ultimately goes towards their achieving the qualification. This means working at a deeper, more analytical level with their clients than they might have done in the past.”

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The programme’s content has been carefully designed to introduce real, quantifiable changes in the methods the business support professionals use to actually deliver the support they offer. Richard says: “The SFEDI Level 7 programme improves the learners’ ability to analyse a client’s business model, equipping them with the skills to critically evaluate business ideas so that they are better able to challenge clients in relation to their plans.”

The programme gives learners access to a host of new and practical resources to help them support businesses, such as the Business Model Canvas; a process that helps individuals to look closely at and refine their ideas. The Business Model Canvas deals with key elements such as the value proposition, customer segments, key partners and revenue streams and actions that can be taken to make their enterprise more resilient and profitable.

In December 2015 all of those who had enrolled on the course completed it successfully and Katy Chamberlain, the Chief Executive of Business in Focus said: “At Business in Focus, supporting people in enterprise is both our business objective and our passion. We want all our business advisers to give our clients the best possible service and to feel happy and confident in doing so. The SFEDI programme has been invaluable in helping us to maintain that high standard and I am hugely proud of the team for their success in achieving the qualification.”

Over the 12 months of delivering the programme Richard received positive feedback from various individuals who were quick to identify the ways in which they were able to apply their learning.

The overall impact of the programme can be seen now, in the way all those trained have pooled their learning for the good of their employer. Richard says the feedback he has received shows

Richard Wingate, QLM Ltd.

that today the Business in Focus team operates as one solid unit.

They are more prepared when pitching for tenders, they speak a common language of enterprise support and their processes are improved and more efficient. They have had great outcomes, not just individually but organisationally.

Richard’s story is just one example of how SFEDI’s Level 7 Certificate in Professional Business and Enterprise Support is good news for everyone operating in and accessing the services of the Enterprise Support Sector. Individuals starting a new enterprise, as well as those growing a business, benefit greatly from being supported by professionally trained, knowledgeable and experienced advisors.

Organisations delivering Business Support Services can ensure that by training their professional advisors they are in a better position to provide sound advice to all types of business and, given the right support, these businesses are more likely to grow, employ more people and contribute to the prosperity of the community. Finally, Richard himself finds it a privilege to deliver this programme: “I really enjoy delivering this programme because you see people who are already providing business advice really develop their skills and knowledge in order to make a difference to the clients and businesses that they work with. Good advice is so important to businesses at all stages and it is great to be a part of making this happen.”

“

The SFEDI Level 7 programme improves the learners’ ability to analyse a client’s business model, equipping them with the skills to critically evaluate business ideas so that they are better able to challenge clients in relation to their plans.”

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BBA publishes findings on EMB and women-led enterprise This month, the British Banking Association (BBA) has released the findings of important research into the challenges faced by and the opportunities open to EMB (Ethnic Minority Business) and women-led enterprises.

The study was undertaken by the BBA’s Diversity & Inclusion Business Council (DIBC), and a number of businesses in banking, finance, accountancy, academia and business support agencies like SFEDI. Ultimately, it is intended to inform local and national government policy, and to educate corporations in order to create an enterprise culture in which EMB and women-led businesses can thrive.

Before the research took place, some facts about the UK’s ethnic minority-led businesses were known, for example, they contribute an estimated £25-32 billion to the UK’s economy every year.

Women-led businesses, for their part, contribute approximately £70 billion. These numbers alone suggest that taking care of these entrepreneurs should be a priority. However, the BBA’s research revealed some other surprising information; migrant entrepreneurs are behind one in seven UK companies, and, those UK residents hailing from some 155 countries worldwide, are almost twice as likely to take part in entrepreneurial activity than those born on these shores? However, the paper also uncovered a number of barriers faced by both ethnic-minority and women-led businesses.

Ethnic minority entrepreneurs tended to focus repeatedly on the same business areas, like small-scale retail and catering, in the main because of a lack of capital available to be more ambitious. Womenled firms, meanwhile, were found to be concentrated in the service sectors and, like ethnic minority entrepreneurs, women tend to set out on their business journey with fewer resources.

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Having illustrated the current situation, the research makes seven key recommendations on how government policy should be developed, how LEPs should focus their endeavours and how business networks can be most effective as they champion women and EMB. The research also highlights a number of areas in which the private sector is already making headway to create a healthy landscape in which enterprises led by women and ethnic minorities can thrive. It illuminates a selection of ‘good practice’ examples.

For instance, the way in which large firms have embraced the Get Mentoring programme, established by The Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) in partnership with SFEDI. The project has seen 15,000 business mentors trained through SFEDI, readying themselves to share essential insight and support with thousands of start-ups, including those run by women and ethnic minorities. Other ‘good practice’ examples touch upon outreach programmes (creating positive, accessible role models and building confidence), accessing new markets and encouraging supplier diversity. Mentoring was also praised as a highly effectice way of helping small business with ambitions to grow using mentoring This paper is invaluable reading for any individual or organisation, whether private or public, operating in the field of enterprise support or enterprise learning.

If you’d like to read the BBA’s full Growth and Diversity Paper, you can do so here.

How LSBU can support your business London South Bank University (LSBU) has been transforming lives, businesses and communities for more than 120 years.

Recently shortlisted in the Times Higher Education Awards ‘Entrepreneurial University of the Year’ category for 2016, the past year has been a great success, particularly for the University’s Research, Enterprise and Innovation (REI) team.

Set up in 2014, REI has brought together the expertise from LSBU’s School of Business with SMEs, public sector, voluntary organisations and entrepreneurial students. Strong relationships with local businesses are key to boosting growth, creating jobs and engaging over 10,000 students and staff in the culture of enterprise.

Over the last year, LSBU has supported over 600 local SMEs through funding opportunities, consultancy services and 1:1 support.

Here are just some of the ways that LSBU can help your business: Business Solutions Centre This free drop-in advice service for local businesses is based at the award-winning Clarence Centre for Enterprise and Innovation. Run by LSBU Business Students who are eager to put their expertise into practice, the centre provides tailored solutions for your business needs.

Get in touch: solutions@lsbu.ac.uk and see what’s on offer.

Momentum By bringing together a unique mix of academic experts and independent consultants, Momentum offers high-level education and support to growing SMEs. The programme takes business leaders on a journey that will leave them fully prepared for investment, expansion, and the rigours of running a successful enterprise in an ever-changing economic landscape.

A new cohort will begin in October, register your interest at momentum@lsbu.ac.uk Tenant Community and facilities Over 65 SME tenants are currently based on campus, benefiting from furnished offices, discounted meeting room space, access to established networks and free WiFi. You can also access our diverse range of facilities including: the only anechoic chamber in London, our Digital Architecture Robotics Lab and Elephant Studios with state-of-the-art cameras, game design centre and surround sound.

Contact us: workspace@lsbu.ac.uk.

Read more about our tenant community and see our facilities.

Get Involved!

Follow us: @LSBU_REI Find out more: www.lsbu.ac.uk/business

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Lloyds mentor lends support to IT consultancy Anastasia Georgiou works on a risk and compliance assurance team for Lloyds Banking Group. She was matched as mentor to Nick Clarke, who runs an IT consultancy franchise. We caught up with them both to find out about the enterprise mentoring experience they shared.

Anastasia Georgiou, Lloyds Banking Group

Having been inspired by a colleague’s presentation on enterprise mentoring, Anastasia Georgiou completed the IOEE mentoring training in March 2015. Her colleague had been mentoring a business that had had some success selling mini portable speakers, and was involved in the launch of a pink version of the product, which was then new to the market and which Anastasia had used herself. This sparked in her an interest in the idea of working with a real-world small business to tangibly improve its future. The Lloyds Banking Group employee says: “It could have been something big, it could have been something small but I thought ‘wow, he was involved in that. He helped to launch that product that I use – that’s really great.’” IOEE mentoring training, which Anastasia travelled from Halifax (where she’s based) to London to attend, provided a solid foundation in the skills good mentors need. She said: “The training showed me what a mentor is and is not, the communications skills you need, the mistakes lots of mentors make. We did an exercise around listening skills, during which we closed our eyes and took specific instructions on a picture to draw.

Everyone came up with something different, showing that when we speak, people will interpret what we say in their own unique ways. The training really enhanced the seeds of knowledge I already possessed.”

During her day-to-day job, Anastasia is essentially performing an internal function within Lloyds Banking Group and she has little

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face-to-face contact with external customers. For her, mentoring was an opportunity to see the impact of her efforts come to fruition for a business. In September she was matched by the IOEE’s mentor matching service with Nick Clarke, who runs a franchise of IT solutions company Stonehouse Logic. Having worked for some years as an employee of the firm, Nick became a partner in 2014 and now runs his own separately functioning arm of Stonehouse Logic, covering West Yorkshire. Anastasia recalls their early encounters: “Nick was looking to reinforce the Stonehouse Logic brand across his region; that was the basic mentoring brief. When we first met up we identified other areas he also needed to focus on, for example, generating new business. Nick had been able to sustain his existing client base but he really wanted to generate fresh leads.”

Nick, having worked as an employee of Stonehouse Logic for some years was making the transition to business owner when he asked the IOEE to match him up with a mentor. He says: “I’d recently set out alone as a regional franchisee, taking a step into the unknown really. Although I received, and continue to receive, a lot of support from the core business, I thought in year two of the franchise that I needed some impartial advice and a sounding board, as much as anything else. I was interested in taking support on everything from business development to sales and marketing, and time management.”

Anastasia and Nick’s first meeting took place in a Costa café close

Nick Clarke, Stonehouse Logic

“

My profession is IT consultancy so I go into businesses and look at their software processes in order to implement solutions - I understand the value of an outsider coming in and being able to see what those working in a business perhaps can’t.”

to each of their workplaces. It was a chance to set out what the mentoring process might deliver. Nick recalls: “At that first meeting I was a bit nervous because I didn’t know quite what to expect, or what information I’d need to provide. However, since then, Anastasia’s input has prompted me to check out the competitors more closely, look thoroughly at potential business opportunities, and change how I use social media.”

After a few mentoring sessions, Anastasia identified time management as an area where Nick could bring greater value to his business. Together, the pair undertook analysis of three months’ worth of working patterns in order to identify where Nick’s time was being spent.

“Nick keeps timesheets against hours he spends visiting clients and working for them from his base, which was very helpful. We noticed a pattern that showed he rarely visits clients on Monday mornings so we blocked out that time for the administrative tasks that keep businesses strong.”

For Nick, this time could be invested in creating networking opportunities, generating fresh business leads and upselling to existing clients. The entrepreneur was very open to outside input, recognising that mentoring actually reflects what he himself does for a living:

at their software processes in order to implement solutions – I understand the value of an outsider coming in and being able to see what those working in a business perhaps can’t. That’s what I value most about the time I’ve spent with Anastasia – her ability to point out issues I perhaps wasn’t conscious of, or to reaffirm and clarify my thoughts on where work is required.”

Mentoring is, of course, a two-way exchange and it’s never just the mentee that benefits from it. For Anastasia, mentoring Nick has been a rewarding and enlightening experience, and one she hopes to repeat: “Enterprise mentoring is such a rewarding experience, but can also be quite challenging – as it’s so different to my day job. Having training programmes in place to help refine my skills and approach is incredibly important - this is definitely a worth while programme to participate in and I’ve gained a real insight into the pressures an entrepreneur is under – they’re very different from the stresses on me as someone working within a corporate bank setting. I really enjoy the process and, as well as continuing with Nick, I’m going to ask the IOEE to match me up with another local mentee.”

“My profession is IT consultancy so I go into businesses and look

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Baking business finds mentoring is a recipe for success Elinoah Eitani is a Newcastle-based entrepreneur and the brain behind online companies Bake & Display and The Baker’s Hub. In October 2015, she came along to a Meet a Mentor event in her city on the search for a mentor to help her go further.

Like many female entrepreneurs, for 43-year-old Elinoah Eitani, business is only one element of a very full life. Having had a successful career as a graphic designer, and still lecturing in art at Newcastle University, Elinoah also has two young sons to take care of. However, when she was struck by her business idea a few years ago she was too inspired not to give it a go. She says: “I was on holiday in Europe and I saw a product I’d never come across in the UK. Essentially, they were very high-quality disposable baking ‘tins’ made of card. They’re super attractive, robust and perfect for artisan bakers and home bakers who want to show off their cakes beautifully. I’m a keen baker myself and I knew right away that the UK, in the middle of a baking boom right now, was crying out for something like this.”

At the very beginning, when she was first setting up the business, Elinoah took some assistance from Project North East, a local enterprise support agency that runs courses to help new business people gain useful skills. Having completed a six-week course, she felt ready to start trading and, although Bake & Display, which is aimed at those operating in the baking industry, wasn’t immediately lucrative, little-by-little it has gained in strength. The Bakers Hub, which is designed to appeal to individual bakers, was soon set up as a complementary outlet for the products. Each of the items Elinoah sells is a baking tray and packaging in one and because they’re made of card, they’re recyclable, adding to their appeal for those with an environmental conscience. Customers were increasingly coming on board but Elinoah felt that with the right insight, she may be able to push her fledgling business further. That’s why,

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when she saw that Meet a Mentor was coming to Newcastle’s City Library, she quickly registered as a potential mentee. She says: “I was hoping to meet someone who could advise me, and give some support I suppose. It can be a very lonely place to have your own business. I thought it would be good just to have someone I could relate to and who could guide me.”

Although there wasn’t a perfect matched mentor at the event itself, Elinoah was lucky enough to get chatting to Paul Harper, one of the IOEE’s friendliest Mentoring Managers, who offered to put her in touch with Steve Smith, a potential Lloyds Banking Group mentor who would suit her needs. Steve, who works for Lloyds and is based in Carlisle, has plenty of experience helping small businesses to reach their full potential. Having made initial contact with her new mentor via email, in January Elinoah travelled to Hexham, exactly halfway between their two homes, to meet him for a coffee.

“Steve has worked with other start-ups in the food industry so he had some good advice. What I really wanted from him was guidance on how to approach large companies because I found it very difficult to get access to the right people. Steve’s advice helped me get meetings with Fenwick, who run Newcastle’s premier food hall.”

As well as helping Elinoah move into new business arenas, Steve also set out to remedy past mistakes that could potentially be holding the two businesses back. She says: “I’d made a few errors with the business, which Steve helped me

correct. For example, I had published my manufacturers’ names on the website thinking it would lend me extra kudos. My mentor pointed out that although I was simply sharing information honestly, making it so readily available wasn’t a wise business move.”

One of the major ways in which Steve’s mentoring has helped Elinoah is in his advice to concentrate on winning small, local markets and build on them, rather than attempting to capture the bigger markets right away.

“That was very good advice from Steve. I did some market research with smaller bakers and I’m finding a lot of individual consumers keen to buy products direct. At the moment, I’m focused more my online retail shop, The Bakers Hub, as well as selling on Amazon and Ebay.”

Elinoah is still in touch with Steve and expects to call on his mentoring more frequently as her businesses evolve. Asked whether she’d recommend that other small business owners should access enterprise mentoring, her response is definitive: “Oh, I would absolutely recommend mentoring – totally. It’s hard to do everything on your own and it’s especially helpful to have a different outlook – a fresh perspective is invaluable.”

Elinoah’s fantastic range of baking products are available at www.bakeanddisplay.com and at www.bakershub.co.uk.

Think Enterprise | 35

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