23 Comments on Forget The Apprentice – here’s a real challenge for tomorrow’s entrepreneurs

David Wilcox on Thu, 7th May 2009 10:30 am


Matthew – I do think this is a good idea in principle, although I’m not so sure about the methodology. The danger is that it ends up doing things To and For people, rather than With them.
The standard expert/consultancy approach in the past has been to survey and study, come up some techniques for intervention, use these to consult and maybe engage, then “deliver”. When this fails the blame may go on to resident apathy, choice of techniques etc. I think it is deeper than that, and I believe outsiders should co-design processes from the start with beneficiaries. They know best what may succeed.
So I would suggest – as you indicate – with a lot of finding out as a first phase. But then run a process design workshop with all main stakeholders to work out next steps … rather than just going for a panel. There are, of course, lots of ways to organise collaborative working, and I’m not sure panel sessions are the best way to do it in the sort of neighbourhood you describe.
As an example, Andy Gibson – also a Fellow – and I will be running a simulation of something similar at the social entrepreneur conference SHINE on May 16 http://socialreporter.com/?p=586
We’ll be inventing a neighbourhood, briefing entrepreneurs and other interests about the problems and (new) funding opportunities available, facilitating pitching sessions, encouraging collaborations, and asking for project development stories …. all in two hours.
In this instance the emphasis will be on how to use social technology, but I know from work with colleague Drew Mackie over more than 20 years that this sort of co-design and co-creation approach works. I’m sure others will have other methods … the main thing is to engage right from the start.
The value of simulations is you can use them for real … or just as a safe prototyping exercise to gain insights into what may happen “for real”. Military and corporates use extensively… I’m sure we have more expertise with RSA if this is of interest.
None of the above detracts from your main idea – of bringing an entrepreneurial approach to poorer neighbourhoods. Provided we trust the residents to help create the solutions from the start.

David Wilcox on Thu, 7th May 2009 10:58 am


I’ve now pitched the idea,/a> to the London City Network, which is <a href=”http://londoncitynetwork.ning.com/events/city-network-get-together-7th”meeting tonight for socialising and – hopefully – ideas for action. Open to anyone, Fellows or Friends, and in the past Laura has bought the drinks …

Lopa Patel on Thu, 7th May 2009 12:43 pm


Newham has been relatively succesful in economic regeneration projects focussing on the textile industry of Green Street. Take at look at:
http://www.asiandreams.org.uk
http://www.ethicalfashionforum.com
http://www.saricouture.com
http://www.newham.ac.uk/pages/businessserviceshomepage (CIPS)
http://www.richmix.org.uk/partners.htm (Managed Workspaces)

Dan Fox on Thu, 7th May 2009 1:52 pm


Many schemes along these lines end up trying to impose what the organisers/funders think should be the “right” solutions; rather than checking in with the people affected first in order to better ascertain what is aspired to and what is possible.

So the three phase approach described above (of a comprehensive survey followed by meaningful community consultation followed by buy-in from enablers) could well form the basis for succeeding where others have failed.

However, don’t forget another major player in all this: colleges. By which I mean the FE sector, which is, sadly, so often overlooked.

A local college should be central to a community’s regeneration. Better matching the skills supply to a) what local entrepreneurs need for their businesses and b) what individuals aspire to do/know/learn would be a good first step in any regenerative strategy.

Jo Hill on Thu, 7th May 2009 7:16 pm


Have a look at the BizFizz model developed by nef and the Civic Trust – to unleash entrepreneurial passions within disadvantaged local communities:

http://www.bizfizz.org.uk/

They produced a book to disseminate their learning called Who’s the Entrepreneur – you can read the first chapter online:
http://www.bizfizz.org.uk/resources/WhosTheEntrepreneur_Chapter1.pdf

David Wilcox on Fri, 8th May 2009 9:00 am


Picking up Dan’s point, I think the key issue for RSA at the outset is what stance is taken … “we are going to bring some expertise into your area” or “we are going to help you find and support entrepreneurial talent locally … and then help you find more if you need it”. My experience is that the second works best … for the locality.

Simon Watson on Fri, 8th May 2009 10:39 am


Hi Matthew

This is an interesting idea. My comments are as follows:

Mapping the ‘in-community-spend’ might by definition limit the range of possible enterprise options. It might be better to approach this from the point of view of designing enterprises that could succeed by being based in the community but deliver services to a more affluent market surrounding it – thereby encouraging private wealth inflows rather than recycling current in-community spend.

An example approach might be to map the commercial needs in surrounding areas and then create an incubated-enterprise programme within the community whereby people can be supported to learn the skills to start their own private enterprise to serve this need.

Simon

Michael on Fri, 8th May 2009 12:46 pm


“The first stage is to undertake a very detailed survey of family income and expenditure [and] local economy [then] overlay this with other information about neighbourhood resources and assets”..

Would that be necessary? A lot of this information is held in the Mosaic public sector database, and/or by local authorities.

“Who might partner with us and the housing association?”

Local authorities could be encouraged (one way or another) to make empty space in their buildings available for entrepreneurs on favourable terms, and to offer help with accounting, health and safety, legal and accounting issues.
One posssible issue though, is that of level playing field/unfair competiton between new “assisted” enterprises/businesses and existing ones in the same town/city.

Julian Dobson on Fri, 8th May 2009 3:37 pm


I think you’ve picked up on a really important issue here. But don’t forget that a substantial proportion of entrepreneurship in deprived areas is informal – cash-in-hand work that enables people on the margins to survive.

The challenge is not, as the government appears to believe, to stamp it out, but to legitimise it. I’ve posted some thoughts on that here: http://livingwithrats.blogspot.com/2009/02/punishment-for-poverty.html

Community Links in Canning Town (just over the border from Poplar) have done a lot of work on this. See their Need not Greed campaign, for example: http://www.neednotgreed.org.uk/

The Create Community Allowance is a proposal that suggests a way of recognising the valuable work that a lot of people on benefits do: http://www.communityallowance.org/

Finally, InBiz in the northeast is one organisation with good experience of helping people to move from the informal economy into legitimate enterprise: http://www.inbiz.co.uk/

I hope that’s useful!

carl allen on Fri, 8th May 2009 9:16 pm


A contrarian approach would be to map all the wasted and under-utilised resources in the area over the last 10 years. Next look at resources in the area being used for rework of all sorts to either bring up to standard or prepare low quality input. Only then we can start to talk about what new or additional resources might be needed.

The resource approach range from low educational achievement to unused high street shops to the presence of money-lenders to electricity pay meters.

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:11 am


Thanks Julian

This is great stuff. I will follow the links. Not sure if the RSA will end up doing anything on this, but if we do it is important to learn from others ; especially those who have worked for a long time at the front line

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:12 am


Some good thoughts. Thanks Michael

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:14 am


Thanks Simon. This is a really good point; we should look at potential external markets. And, with the Internet, those markets can, of course, stretch across the world.

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:14 am


Thanks David. Fair point

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:15 am


Thanks Jo. Great tip. I’ll follow the link and read the chapter. Thanks for the comment

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:16 am


Thanks Dan. I agree absolutely that the local college is a an important potential partner.

matthewtaylor on Mon, 11th May 2009 7:18 am


Thanks Lopa. This is a really good example.

Peter Grigg on Mon, 11th May 2009 5:07 pm


Matthew, thanks for this – an excellent idea and chimes a lot with something we are developing at Make Your Mark. I’ll send you more details as it develops. At the risk of sounding like a broken record our entrepreneurial potential is a real weapon against our current economic woes.

I entirely agree with all the comments made as well – a good bunch of comments. Thanks. I would add a few things. Firstly, entrepreneurs do not necessarily only consist of the classic “self-starter”. I’m sure you would cover this in selection but the entrepreneurial teams you make up should cover a broad range of personalities, leadership styles, and backgrounds.

Secondly, related to the comment about informal economy, I would agree with the comments that imply that in most communities the most entrepreneurial ideas and potential lies somewhere inside its residents. Part of the issue can be the lack of social networks/capital/investment to realise this potential. Perhaps part of the scheme would be to mix this up a little and get fertilisation of ideas, contacts, and funding more freely flowing. Social network analysis might then be usefully added to your detailed work at the start around the picture of the local economy and local wealth?

Thirdly – you may be interested in the 11th May issue of Regeneration and Renewal (not sure its available online but this is the website http://www.regen.net/) on page 18 there’s a piece entitled “5 steps to dealing with empty shops”. Strikes us at the campaign that there’s lots you might do in local areas with empty shop space and buildings…

There’s not much talk of business and SME involvement from the start at the moment – this might hamper buy-in later on. The clear business benefits of retaining finance locally should make this an attractive scheme to all.

Finally, I think there would be added interest in this idea if you could also use it to explore some of the inter-generational issues around communities – for instance – how about retired older people communities utilising their entrepreneurial experiences too.

Good luck with the idea – do get in touch if our campaign can help at all as it gets going.

matthewtaylor on Tue, 12th May 2009 7:12 am


Thanks Peter

Really great comment. If we do take this forward we will definitely be in touch.

mike chitty on Wed, 13th May 2009 10:52 am


Much good sense already made. Hope I can add a little more based on experience on this type of work in the US and UK.
I believe that we need to start with enterprise rather than entrepreneurship. By this I mean helping individuals to recognise their current situation and then develop clear ideas about what progress might look like. We also need to help them to believe that progress is possible, that they do deserve better and that they can make a difference. The process of development starts between the ears – psychological regneration before economic and social regeneration. We also need to provide a social context then in which people can develop their own personal plans to achieve the progress that they desire.
Take deliberate steps to connect and support people who choose to take repsonsibility for their own progress and a re-inforcingenterpsie network will ensue.
Do this at the right scale and a new enterprise culture will start to take route. It might be a year or two before entrepreneurship follows – but it will follow.
Much, much more on this at http://localenterprise.wordpress.com

Charlotte Morton on Mon, 18th May 2009 4:57 pm


Dear Matthew,

I think the School for Social Entrepreneurs is already doing something very similar to your idea with considerable success. Can I suggest that you talk to Nick Temple (nick.temple@sse.org.uk), Director, Policy & Communications (www.sse.org.uk).

Best, Charlotte

Naomi Alexander on Tue, 2nd Jun 2009 10:10 am


Hi Matthew,

I think this is a really interesting post and set of responses.

I thought you might be interested in the work of one of the members of the CREATE Consortium (which campaigns for the Community Allowance http://www.communityallowance.org Julian mentioned earlier). The Marsh Farm Estate in Luton (http://www.marshfarmoutreach.org.uk/index.html) has done the mapping of spend you suggest in this blog post in their neighbourhood.

The results are fascinating. They found that £90 million comes into the estate through public and private sources each year.

Through resident surveys they then mapped how much was spent on different items and compared how much of this was spent on Marsh Farm (e.g. being recycled in the local community) and how much was being spent outside Marsh Farm (e.g. lost to the local economy).

A snap shot of some of the findings:

Car accessories and Maintenance £517,660 spent over the year £517,660 of which was spent outside Marsh Farm
Pubs and Clubs £1,541,280 spent over the year £1,436.473 of which was spent outside Marsh Farm
Football and Sports events £280,800 spent over the year £267,883 of which was spent outside Marsh Farm
Hairdressing and Beauty £631,800 spent over the year £610,951 of which was spent outside Marsh Farm
Take away fast food £1,264.380 spent over the year £1,164,494 of which was spent outside Marsh Farm

It doesn’t take much of a leap of imagination to envisage the kinds of local businesses or community enterprises that could be established on Marsh Farm to ‘plug the leaks’ as NEF would say and keep this money in the local economy for longer.

The Marsh Farm Estate have used this data to begin a process developed in Brazil known as Organisation Workshop (OW) to develop community enterprises in response to local need and opportunity.

I have got a document detailing all the findings of local spend and plans for an OW that I’m happy to send to you if you’re interested, along with contact details of people in Marsh Farm you could talk about this with further.

I also wanted to say ‘hello’ as I’ve just become a RSA fellow and hope to become actively involved with the RSA’s work.

All best, Naomi

Glenn Jenkins on Mon, 28th Sep 2009 10:46 pm


Hi Matthew

Im Glenn Jenkins from the Marsh Farm Outreach team in Marsh Farm, Luton. Having read your blog about getting enterprise going in deprived communities and Naomi Alexanders post in response to it (thanks Naomi!) I was wondering whether you would like to come to Marsh Farm for a cup of ‘Just Change’ tea and a discussion about this subject?

http://www.justchangeuk.org/

Kettles on if and when you’d like to come Matthew!

One Love

Glenn

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