Enterprise UK Blog

In 2008 we (Enterprise UK – or Make Your Mark as we were known back then) published ‘The Future Face Of Enterprise’, a collection of viewpoints. We asked over 50 entrepreneurs, business people, industry experts, social commentators, academics what they thought would shape the future face of enterprise in the UK.

Two years later and we’re now collating views and opinions for the Enterprise Manifesto - which is intended to inform politicians and policy-makers of what the enterprise community thinks they need in order to flourish in today’s challenging times.

I wonder how many of those original view points still stand today?

If you had the backing of a leading enterprise charity, four major business organisations and a highly successful entrepreneur, what ideas would you put forward to make the UK a world leader in enterprise?

Enterprise UK, its Chair Peter Jones, the Institute of Directors, the British Chambers of Commerce, the Confederation of British Industry, and the Federation of Small Businesses are launching a collaborative manifesto for entrepreneurship. It is an online space where entrepreneurs from any industry sector, geographical region or stage of business development can submit and rate innovative and practical enterprise policy ideas.

So, that was Global Entrepreneurship Week, that was.

What a week. I attended a microscopic fraction of even the events that were held in UK: the people who attended even this tiny sample of events were drawn from all walks of life and each had their own highly distinctive story to tell. If the week taught me one thing, it’s that entrepreneurs defy easy characterisation and stereotyping.

Global Entrepreneurship Week sparked a great deal of discussion, debate, and exchanging of ideas online too. The blogosphere was particularly energetic in its coverage of the Week.

‘Wake Up and Smell the Sustainable Coffee’ did not actually feature any coffee, sustainable or otherwise. Whilst that was something of a disappointment for those of us experiencing GEW-related sleep deprivation, the event was brilliant in every other way. It offered practical, detailed advice regarding business plans and models for social enterprises. It was pointed out that we often think of a social enterprise as being an entirely different creature to business enterprises, when actually a social entrepreneur is just an economic entrepreneur with an additional social motive. It is just as important for them to have rigorous business plans, if not more so because a social enterprise will have to satisfy very different groups of ‘customers’.  

…never put all your eggs in one basket, and research your markets properly. Sound advice from Conor Woodman (Channel 4’s Around the World in 80 Trades). Particularly that bit about working with animals, as anyone who has seen the show will know.  Conor was speaking at ‘On the Road Less Travelled’ hosted by the Institute for Enterprise at Leeds Met. The event explored joint themes of travel and enterprise, and in addition to amusing anecdotes from the charming Conor there was an excellent presentation on the topic of responsible tourism and all the inevitable gap year story sharing.

Social Enterprise day was celebrated in Sunderland’s National Glass Centre today with Mutual Inspiration’s Social Enterprise, Collaboration and Sustainability Conference.

Around 50 delegates from the North East social enterprise arena descended on the fabulous venue to discuss such topics as:

-The recession, social enterprise opportunity or challenge?

-Finance and franchising social enterprises

-Opportunities for social enterprise in the emerging “green sector”

-Idea generation and sustainability for social enterprises

The conference took an open space theme with the delegates themselves formulating the agenda with their own topics of interest and concerns.

GEW – IoD

The Institute of Directors have launched a special offer for Global Entrepreneurship Week that could save you £205.

As a way of supporting new start ups in the UK they are offering IoD membership to all those who are starting out with the election fee completely wavered. IoD membership costs £307 with a one off election fee of £205, so this will give people who have recently set up their own company (within the last year) and those who are in the process of starting their own company a saving of £205, meaning they just pay the membership fee of £307.

A great short video about how the world is changing fast:

Not sure about the source of all the stats – but according to the video:

- the top 10 jobs that will be in demand in 2010 didnt exist in 2004

- today’s learners will have more than 10 jobs by the age of 38

- more than 220 of the biggest companies have their IT headquarters in India

- China’s exports were £10bn in 1996 and £200bn in 2006

- Running a business is the top career choice for 62% of young people

Not a question you’ll see often but prompted by the exploits of Alex Sobel, general manager of Social Enterprise Yorkshire and Humber.

Alex is halfway through a challenge to exclusively buy goods from social businesses for the whole of November.

Regen and Renewal magazine tells us that so far he’s had his bike serviced at a co-op, petrol from the region’s only Waitrose petrol station, and onions from his local allotment.

You can keep up with progress on his site.

At the London Stock Exchange on Tuesday night to launch a really exciting mission called “clean and cool” – the next iteration of what was previously known as Webmission where high-growth entrepreneurs are escorted on a visit to San Francisco to explore opportunities for growth with key people in Silicon Valley.

Clean and Cool Mission 2010 is designed to celebrate the best of UK technological innovation within the “Cool Economy”.  It’s a joint endeavour between the Technology Strategy Board, Enterprise UK and Market Intelligence experts Polecat.

At the Global Entrepreneurship Week launch event in London on Monday – David Wei, the chief executive of Alibaba.com, made a catchy comment.

“People who use slides in presentations often have no real Power and make no real Point”.

It’s a good line – and I sort of agree – but as a bit of a Policy and Research geek, I can’t help thinking that slides are occasionally useful. I think its where people use them as a substitute for having anything interesting to say that’s the problem.

Just one of the highlights from a busy old day http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFsaE4E_6No

An unlikely title but an interesting report we’ve just released online – as part of our Global Entrepreneurship Week efforts – http://www.enterpriseuk.org/publications/attitude_problems

The findings show that while 52% of young people have considered setting up their own business, only 7% have actually set up their own business.

We’re planning a major project in response to some of this work (more on this at a later stage…) but what is it that makes this gap between attitudes and behaviours?

Why is it that enterprise is so popular as a concept but that not that many young people actually go on and start a business? I know what I reckon, but what do you think?

Went to a really interesting session in Derby yesterday as part of the Enterprising Places Network. http://www.enterpriseuk.org/epn – we were discussing the promotion and support of disabled entrepreneurs.

A full note will be available on the website at some stage but just wanted to say how inspiring it was to hear Caroline Bell’s enterprise education work with children with autism. Children, and their parents, are seeing that autism doesnt have to be a barrier to enterprise.

The Holbrook Centre for autism now has several social enterprises on the go and one of Caroline’s students is up for an award today at Downing Street.  Fingers crossed!

At the launch this morning of One Big Idea http://www.onedifference.org/onebigidea- a competition Make Your Mark, Global Ethics (the amazing guys behind One Water), The Co-Op and others

My group of stars from St Matthew’s Academy in Blackheath came up not with one big idea, but two.

One Wash - washing up liquid where profits are donated to cleaning materials for families in Malawi. A nice idea superbly sold by the future entrepreneurs at mine and Matt’s table.

Even better was the second idea which I think has something going for it.Wait for it…

Anyone who is interested in entreprenurship will already be well aware of joseph schumpeter

The Austrian economist, was rightly given his place at the table in this amazing week (well, not literally because he’s dead) by Rona Fairhead, Chief Executive of the FT Group.

Rona reminded us at a Parliamentary reception to celebrate Global Entrepreneurship Week, of the absolute legend who many people credit for starting the theoretical study of Unternehmergeist or what came to be known as “entrepreneurship”.