SFEDI and the IOEE held a workshop last week to present the new enterprise and entrepreneurship educator standards which were developed in partnership by SFEDI and Enterprise Educators UK. The standards which were extensively researched and compiled using the experience and contribution of those involved in enterprise education across the country have now been approved by UKCES. Leigh Sear from SFEDI explained how they can be used and adopted by organisations in many ways including creating learning programmes, developing best practice guides, recruitment, codes of conduct and many more ways which were explored fully during the event. Feedback on how the standards could be implemented was gained from the attendees at the event and a task and finish group is planned to take forward this piece of work.

During the event we took the opportunity to reflect back on the existing enterprise and enterprise support standards and invited a number of our partners to demonstrate how they had used the existing standards to embed and promote enterprise both internally and externally to their organisations.

The highlight of the event was hearing first hand from Robert Turnbull and John Stenhouse how they have adopted the national enterprise support standards as both a developmental tool for the organisation and for individuals within the business support team. The New Anglia Growth Hub are committed to driving quality and ensuring a consistent approach to the support that they offer, this is demonstrated through the recent achievement of their team achieving a Level 7 Professional Business and Enterprise Support qualification.

Gaynor Hodge, National Franchise Manager at TONI&GUY brought a buzz to the workshop in TONI&GUY style with their brand video introduction. Gaynor provided an insight to the world of fashion and hairdressing and exemplified how the standards can be used in a variety of sectors to develop enterprise skills and know-how.

We were delighted to be joined by Christine Atkinson who travelled across to Norwich from the University of South Wales. Christine, who is Deputy Director of the University’s Centre for Enterprise, and Head of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Hub, spoke about the Women Adding Value (WAVE) project. This is an EU-funded women’s entrepreneurship project that has enjoyed real success and Christine’s talk demonstrated the transformative effect that the programme had.

Ultimately, all of the workshops have demonstrated the importance and immense value of developing and nurturing an enterprising mindset and in the current uncertain economic times this is vital to ensure businesses can not only survive but thrive.

The final event taking place is being hosted by Leeds University on 14 July 2016. To book a place please visit www.ioee.eventbrite.co.uk.

To discuss further involvement in any aspect of SFEDI or IOEE’s work please contact Sarah Trouten – [email protected]