The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs has welcomed its first ever Pathfinder members, a group of young people who earned their membership at the launch of the PIE Factory at Airview Park.
It’s a milestone we’re very proud of. A lot of the recent coverage of 16 to 24 year olds has focused on the challenges they face, and the PIE Factory was set up as a practical response to that.
What is the PIE Factory?
The PIE Factory grows out of the work of Primary Inspiration through Enterprise (PIE Project), a charity that has supported enterprise education since 2013. It takes that work into the workplace, connecting young people with real businesses, real challenges and people willing to back them.
Each placement runs for between one and five days of real work experience. Participants take on a business challenge, learn how AI can support a business, achieve the Entry Level Award in Enterprising Skills, and join the IOEE as Pathfinder members. The aim is to help young people learn how to make, manage and maintain money, solve problems, and build the confidence and capability that make them ready for work and more attractive to employers.
The first Pathfinders
Our first group took on a live enterprise challenge, explored how AI can be used in business and achieved the Entry Level Award in Enterprising Skills. They also left with IOEE membership, which gives them recognition for what they’ve achieved and a community to draw on as they move into whatever comes next.
Pathfinder Membership recognises young people who have shown enterprise capability through practical, hands-on achievement. That means completing a real business challenge (planning, making, selling and learning from the experience) as part of an IOEE-recognised enterprise programme, and achieving the Entry Level Award in Enterprising Skills.
Pathfinder Members can add the IOEE Pathfinder Member digital badge to their digital skills passport, and they also receive a physical IOEE Pathfinder Member badge. We’ll encourage them to keep developing their enterprise skills through peer mentoring and further enterprise activity, and the IOEE qualification pathway supports them to progress to Affiliate or Associate Membership when they’re ready.
Nathan Hardwick, founder of the IOEE, said: “Seeing the IOEE’s first Pathfinders come through the door like this is a genuinely proud moment. I went straight into business from uni because the standard career path was never going to be enough for me. I couldn’t see myself working for someone else, and being neurodivergent meant entrepreneurship offered me something a conventional job couldn’t. When we set up the Institute, the whole point was that enterprise shouldn’t belong to a select few. It’s a set of skills anyone can learn, and the earlier you start, the more doors open.”
Thank you
The day was made possible by people and organisations who gave their time to support the young people taking part, including Dr Peter Kayode Adegbie, Hamad Hussain from Sanam Travel, SME Centre of Excellence, Asian Business Connexions and Reezn.AI. Thanks also to Kevin Allen, who delivered the AI session.
What’s next
The PIE Factory is part of the wider Primary2Prosperity pathway, which is being developed to support people from age 6 to 60 and beyond. We’re looking forward to working with the PIE Project team to grow it, and to welcoming many more Pathfinders to the Institute.
Congratulations to our first Pathfinders. We can’t wait to see what you do next.