Intrapreneurial culture means rethinking how your business pushes forward into new areas, innovates and embraces fresh, creative thinking. Anyone with the drive to start up a business – that essence of ambition combined with curiosity – is by nature entrepreneurial. But, once a business has passed that initial start-up phase, recruited its core team and […]
News and Blog Articles
Everyday innovation
How important is innovation to your business or organisation’s everyday operations? A recent survey conducted by Lloyds Bank asked SMEs exactly that. It revealed that while almost all firms want to bolster their innovation levels (91%), two thirds of them face barriers to innovation. In fact, it’s essential for SMEs to innovate if they want […]
Venture Pilot helps businesses get off to a flying start
Peter Richards worked in corporate software for around 25 years but, around 12 years ago, he decided to break free and work for himself. Remembering that time, Peter says: “I wrote my first business plan and started a company, which I IPO’d on the London Stock Market a couple of years later, which was quite […]
“Mentoring has given me real insight into how small businesses operate at the very top level.”
“Mentoring has given me real insight into how small businesses operate at the very top level and exactly how vital they are to the health of our economy.” Last September Meet a Mentor was held in the stately surroundings of Exeter Castle. It was at this event that Lloyds Banking Group mentor Duncan Webster and […]
SFEDI’s Executive Chair Ruth Lowbridge receives prestigious Award
Ruth has been made an MBE for her Services to Entrepreneurs and UK business by the Queen at today’s Buckingham Palace ceremony. Born in 1953 and brought up at Hartlepool Headland, the pursuit of entrepreneurial success has been a defining feature of Ruth’s entire life. Her mother, Mary Pattie, was a determined business woman who […]
Long-time Lloyds employee becomes enterprise mentor
Alan Jenkins from Carmarthen is now into his fourth decade as a Lloyds Banking Group employee, having joined the bank in 1982 aged just 16. Since then, he’s enjoyed a number of key successes, including being awarded Bank Manager of the Year in the Swansea Local Director Group and gaining fellowship of the Chartered Institute […]
Go Cyber Streetwise for 2016
The online world moves fast, developing at breakneck speed, with new ideas, fresh connections and amazing digital innovations constantly changing how enterprise takes place everyday. There are plenty of opportunities for the savvy entrepreneur and forward-thinking business. However, making the internet central to the way we do business has also brought with it a multitude […]
Spotlight on…Sharon Goodyer
The IOEE’s member base is incredibly diverse, with people from all walks of life signed-up to enjoy the privilege, services and benefits associated with it. To let you know just how broad a spectrum of people we work with and what membership represents to them as individuals, we’ve created Spotlight on… which, every month, will […]
Small and Medium Businesses – a statistical snapshot
In October last year the Department for Business and Skills and the Office for National Statistics published two sets of important figures. These provide a handy snapshot of small and medium businesses in the UK right now. The data explores how the number of private sector businesses active in 2015 compares to that of previous […]
Prestigious award for IT Auditor
Last month, the International Association of Bookkeepers (IAB) held its Finance and Small Business Awards Ceremony at the House of Commons. SFEDI and the IOEE have close ties to this organisation and our Executive Chair, Ruth Lowbridge MBE, was proud to be part of the event. Ruth was given the important task of presenting the […]