Entrepreneurship
Theme: Entrepreneurship
Cross-cutting themes covered: Tailored business support
Name of project: Reaching for Enterprise
City: London
What is it? The Reaching for Enterprise (R4E) project aimed to promote entrepreneurship and the option of self-employment among London’s low income communities. Almost none of the residents contacted had ever used (or even knew of) the small business support services available to them in London. Despite this, the project uncovered a large unexploited desire for self-employment in low income communities.
Who is it? The project was based on a partnership between GLE oneLondon, five registered social housing landlords and nine London local authorities, aiming to reach out to and support 70,000 housing association residents.
Where is it? The project operated in areas of London with high levels of unemployment.
Who funds it? The project was funded by Jobcentre Plus (a nationwide employment agency) and the European Social Fund.
How does it work? Raising awareness of enterprise among unemployed people: As a first stage in this project, unemployed residents were sent letters by their Registered Social Landlords, which explained the Reaching for Enterprise project. (Registered Social Landlords work closely with local authorities to provide housing for disadvantaged groups, such as unemployed people). The letters contained a phone number for people to call if they wished to participate in the project.
Interested residents were then matched with outreach workers who coached them and directed participants to business support facilities. For 21 months, five outreach workers counselled residents and guided them to the business support services they needed to develop their ideas. Clients were provided with enterprise training, and assistance with business planning.
Almost none of the residents contacted had ever used (or even knew of) the small business support services available to them in London. Despite this, the project uncovered a large unexploited desire for self-employment in low income communities.
Anything else? The R4E project partnered with Jobcentre Plus, a nationwide employment agency, to ensure that while residents participated in the scheme their benefits would not be cut. Outreach workers were also able to give participants clear advice on benefits while they were on the project.
The service also provided advice on access to finance for potential entrepreneurs; this issue was clearly sensitive as many clients were not in a healthy financial position to begin with. It was useful to make it clear from the beginning a client’s potential path to accessing business finance.
What are the results?
Is the model transferable? Working with an intermediary in order to market business support facilities to unemployed people and other priority groups is the key transferability lesson from this case study. This project benefited from the fact that Registered Social Landlords were willing to participate, marketing the initiative to over 70,000 tenants. In other localities or regions, projects may be able to work with different intermediaries to deliver similar results.
The outreach component of this initiative is also transferable. Ongoing contact with outreach workers to ‘encourage’ potential entrepreneurs is essential. People liked the idea of a personal coach to guide and motivate them, although there are considerable resource implications for offering this service.
Business advice should be linked to benefits and housing advice – project deliverers should liaise with the various agencies (i.e. housing, social security and education) to try and ensure that there is clear benefit advice related to self employment. Reaching for Enterprise participants were guaranteed that their benefits would not be cut while they were on the programme.
Building on local competitive advantages? This project uncovered a desire for self-employment among low income communities in London; it is possible that low income communities in other areas also have an unexploited entrepreneurial spirit.
What are the barriers to transferability? Lack of partnership working with housing associations, or equivalent, would constitute the most significant barrier to transferability.
