Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason, Director of CEDAR

Anglia Ruskin University’s entrepreneurial talent has been recognised after its Centre for Enterprise Development and Research (CEDAR) has become the first university enterprise centre in the UK to be awarded IOEE Centre of Excellence status.

The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) is the professional institute dedicated to recognising the profession of enterprise, entrepreneurship and enterprise support.  It is a not-for-profit company led by the government-recognised Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI).

This year the IOEE is recognising a small number of organisations that have demonstrated outstanding achievement in enterprise education and CEDAR, based within Anglia Ruskin’s Lord Ashcroft International Business School, will formally receive its award at the House of Commons in October.

Ruth Lowbridge, Executive Chair of the SFEDI Group, said: “CEDAR has done an extraordinary job of embedding enterprise into Anglia Ruskin’s curriculum and post-curricula activity, and has demonstrated best practice when it comes to engaging entrepreneurs and business owners from their local business community.

“The activities of CEDAR show a clear commitment to promoting and developing enterprising learning and skills amongst different groups of learners, both within the UK and internationally.  The IOEE Advisory Council was keen to recognise CEDAR’s achievements in this area and is delighted to recognise the centre as the first IOEE Centre of Excellence.”

IOEE Centre of Excellence Status demonstrates CEDAR’s commitment to supporting enterprise and entrepreneurship to potential and current students, as well as collaborators around the world.

Current CEDAR projects include Antreman, which is working with Romanian partners to establish a new school of entrepreneurial management at the University of Bucharest, and Bridge International – in partnership with ABSA bank and Stellenbosch University in South Africa – which aims to build a pipeline of investment-ready ventures to launch into new international markets.

Professor Lester Lloyd-Reason, Director of CEDAR, said: “To be the first UK university enterprise centre to be awarded IOEE Centre for Excellence status is quite amazing.  This is a great honour for all of us here and is a fantastic recognition of what we are seeking to achieve at Anglia Ruskin.

“At CEDAR, we seek to help all those who engage with us to develop an entrepreneurial mindset, to do things differently, to be courageous, and to tread a different path.  So this tremendous award, which recognises the ‘value added’ delivered by Anglia Ruskin, means a great deal to us.

“It gives us the courage to continue to challenge the orthodoxy, through seeking to inspire all those who work with us to get the best out of themselves and out of everyone around them.  We are very grateful to IOEE for this recognition of our work which will inspire us to go on to even greater things.”