News
10 May 2007
Report from London for the NFEA Year Book
At a presentation by the University of Cambridge’s Judge Institute of Management Studies it was noted that it took the Germans a lot longer to build something than the British. Once built, however, the Germans steadfastly stood by their creation whilst the British on the other hand, ripped it all up every three to five years and started again from scratch.
This might ring a bell with those of us that have been around to see the changes with Training and Enterprise Councils, Learning and Skills Councils, Regional Development Agencies, Business Links (more than one version of) and the like.
It seems like the one constant in our sector is change but importantly one must recognise the important role that our member Enterprise Support Organisations have played by being the one constant for end user/clients in a world that is full of variables.
Only last year there was uncertainty regarding the future of the core Business Link contracts with a number of changes on the Regional Development Agency’s de-proliferation and simplification initiative, engagement with the private sector and roll-out of the new Business Link. Today we find Enterprise Support Organisations at the forefront of the new Business Link London involving Serco and the IDB (Information, Diagnostic and Brokerage) model. Our members drive if not lead the five sub-regional consortia comprising a public-private partnership.
The Regional Development Agency whilst centre stage on enterprise is not the only higher-level policy-making and funding body with Job Centre Plus, the Learning and Skills Councils, Local Authorities and other public and private sector organisations involved and supporting initiatives.
Both Barking & Dagenham and Croydon are seeing the benefits of the Local Enterprise Growth Initiative with our members playing key roles in the boroughs in particular on start-ups.
Our regional body, Capital Enterprise is synonymous with the enterprise agenda in London linked to wider regeneration and economic development via its representation, membership and programme management remits.
Our network is one that is focused on the provision of enterprise support, experienced in the delivery of programmes to facilitate entrepreneurship and quality assured – there is no other network that is able to differentiate itself in this way.
Sometimes we suffer from the tag of being mainstream providers of business support. Definitions aside we continue to progress the fact that we too are third sector organisations focusing on the priority groups of BAME (Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic), increasingly ‘new and newer’ communities, women and people with disabilities. Add to that youth, ‘silver liners’ and those hard-to-reach groups and disadvantaged communities from the most deprived boroughs of London that we serve, providing a local/community-based presence in some cases for near about twenty five years.
Our network with the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies at the centre, Capital Enterprise in its pan-London role and local Enterprise Support Organisations supported by partners of the likes of the Prince’s Trust provides for an unparalleled channel for the provision of business support.
Congratulations to Pauline Barnett of the East London Small Business Centre on her Queen’s Award for Enterprise Promotion. We bid farewell to Clair Ferguson of Brent Business Venture, Jane Howden of Centa Business Services and Trevor Phillips of GLE oneLondon who we simply cannot thank enough for their contribution to our movement – they will be missed.
Members are responding to changes in the environment in a number of ways including diversifying services from purely enterprise to related agendas including skills and innovation, commercialisation, managed incubation and even our version of Venture Capital – the recently launched Enterprise Capital Funds – representing the broad spectrum of services provided from simple grass roots activities through to sophisticated mechanisms for business growth.
We can shape our destiny by leveraging the multitude of opportunities that present themselves – the new European Regional Development Funds and of course Olympics 2012 to name just a couple. We have excellent foundations to build on and are ideally placed to create enterprise success for our clients, ourselves and all involved.
Here’s to the year ahead.
Vijit Singh MBA
Executive Director
Capital Enterprise
Representative
NFEA London Region