‘The Future of Enterprise’

Martijn Mugge, a Director of QED Consulting and renowned specialist in enterprise reflects on recent government changes and shares his views on the enterprise agenda.

Despite the rapid growth of the SME sector since the 1970s, rates of entrepreneurial activity in the UK remain moderate by international standards, particularly compared with the US.

This is something the government is seeking to redress with the full cooperation of the Regional Development Agencies through their strategies for enterprise and skills development. Back in 2005, in his speech to the Advancing Enterprise Conference, Gordon Brown said:

“I want a Britain that is a leader in the world's fastest growing, most wealth-creating sectors at the cutting edge of global advance – in capital markets and financial services; in science and innovation; in creativity and enterprise; in skills and education.”

His ambitions can be achieved if those working at the regional level join together in delivering well-developed support to UK businesses. This includes creating an environment, which encourages enterprise, innovation and investment and enables the entrepreneurs in our society not only to start new businesses, but to grow them.

It is no surprise therefore that 3 years on and with Gordon Brown in power, the Small Business Service, as was, will soon be renamed the Enterprise Directorate to reflect a new focus by the government on encouraging the growth of existing small businesses rather than the creation of new ones.

The Enterprise Directorate will be part of the newly created Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr) which has absorbed the former Department of Trade and Industry. The name change comes as part of a renewal of the government’s small-business strategy that will culminate in the creation of a new three-year action plan for 2008-11.

A clear message from Stephen Timms, the new minister for small business, is that while his department will continue to encourage people to start up businesses, the new focus will shift to encouraging the growth of existing ones.

This is a very welcome change in focus for all small businesses and we are confident at QED Consulting that we can continue to support the Government in their strategy through our range of productivity improvement services, including strategy development and implementation, bespoke workshops and executive coaching.

At the same time we will continue to support the release of entrepreneurial talent into the community through our successful entrepreneur development programmes. Our Entrepreneur School model has now been developed to support a range of sectors, including environmental technologies, bioscience and biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical.

The Schools distinguish themselves from mainstream start-up provision through their strong focus on developing the entrepreneur potential of the delegates whilst at the same time exploring the viability of their business ideas. The Schools are delivered by seasoned entrepreneurs and business professionals and each day of the school focuses on a different aspect of how successful entrepreneurs have started and grown their business. The sessions teach delegates about enterprise skills such as networking, presenting, confidence building, problem solving and planning.

The Schools are delivered using a combination of training, exercises, case studies, peer group learning, discussions and mentoring, leading up to a friendly Dragon’s Den-style presentation to a panel of sector professionals, consultants and advisers on the last day.

Our latest development has been our Entrepreneur Academy aimed at the younger entrepreneurs, starting at 16. Pip Tutty, one of the delegates on our Academy aims to start her own business that offers corporate entertainment on Race Days. Advising others her age, Pip says: " Real business is very different from what you might expect!." (For further details on the Entrepreneur Academy please see the article Future Entrepreneurs: Success at the UK’s First Entrepreneur Academy.)

For details about our entrepreneur schools go to www.entrepreneurschools.co.uk or contact Martijn Mugge at martijn@qedconsulting.co.uk.