Leapfrog Mountain Jumps into its Second Year of Mentoring with IOEE Ambassador Jackie Jenks

Jackie Jenks is an IOEE Ambassador and the CEO and founder of Leapfrog Mountain; an IOEE Academy that supports mentors, business leaders and entrepreneurs. When we first chatted to Jackie in June of this year, we congratulated her on the outstanding achievement of being awarded an OBE for her services to training and people development. Fast-forward […]

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Embracing Enterprise and Entrepreneurship in Further Education

IOEE Academic member, Reece Leggett, is our latest blog contributor for Think Enterprise. As a business teacher of 16-18 year olds, Reece discusses why he thinks it is important to implement enterprise and entrepreneurship education into the curriculum. David Bowie once said ‘’I feel confident imposing change on myself. It’s a lot more fun progressing […]

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London South Bank University partners with Emilie to achieve her enterprising goals

London South Bank University (LSBU) student, Emilie Mendy, partnered with the university’s Clarence Centre for Enterprise and Innovation to create her business, Bizzie Bodies, which teaches children languages in a creative way. For Emilie Mendy (BA Arts and Festival Management, 2016), the partnership has been central to achieving her goal of bringing a new kind of language […]

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HRH The Prince of Wales presents Awards to Welsh businesses set up by over 50s

On 11th July 2017 The Prince’s Initiative for Mature Enterprise in Wales (PRIME Cymru) hosted their annual PRIME Cymru Awards event, celebrating the diversity and success of the businesses that it has supported recently, as well as the dedication of their volunteer mentors. On the day, His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Founder and […]

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Spotlight on… Giuditta Meneghetti

Giuditta Meneghetti is an academic who has recently secured a prestigious post as Curriculum Leader for Business and Public Services at Barking & Dagenham College (BDC), which will begin in August of this year. Giuditta will be influential in rebranding and reshaping the structure and delivery of the college’s Entrepreneur and Enterprise courses, and in preparation […]

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Distance learning, Skype challenges and five-day sea voyages: We talk the ups and downs of blended learning with ALM’s Director, John Parker.

John Parker is the CEO of The Academy of Leadership and Management based in Ayrshire in Scotland. Working alongside his wife, Janet, this husband and wife team are at the heart of the Academy, which gained its IOEE accreditation last year. We interviewed John for the very first issue of Think Enterprise, and this month […]

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SFEDI’s Ruth Lowbridge MBE flies the flag for SME support in prestigious Advisory Board meeting

On the 17th May, Ruth Lowbridge MBE and SFEDI Executive Chair attended the SME Advisory Board meeting at The Westminster Conference Centre in London. Lead by British politician and entrepreneur, Margot James, the board is made up of only 12 SME industry experts, and as the only awarding and standard-setting body from the UK to […]

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Can Design Thinking change the future of your business?

Q&A with GConsultancy Innovation’s CEO, Dr.Julia Goga-Cooke. Julia Goga-Cooke is the powerhouse behind GConsultancy Innovation; an Academy of Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship, based in the heart of London. GConsultancy Innovation believes that ‘innovators are not born – they are made’, and describes itself as ‘an ecosystem of design thinkers who can give you the mindset, knowledge […]

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Enterprisingly Me

Things are hotting up in my journey towards becoming my own boss. I’ve been to view the office space that is part of an incubation centre near to where we live. It’s ‘cosy’ but I don’t really need that much space as I’ll only be using it to prepare my training packs and make my […]

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A new country, a new language and a brand-new career in the UK – there’s no stopping Fathi Mehdi.

Fathi Mehdi’s journey in enterprise and education is truly inspirational. He arrived in the UK as a refugee only a couple of years ago, and he found himself homeless, speaking very little English, and being uncertain of how to get a job – least of all embarking upon a long-term career. However, despite these enormous […]

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Escape the 9 to 5 and become a Digital Entrepreneur

I’m pretty sure that everyone reading this will be able to associate with at least some of the pains that working for others in a stereotypical “traditional” business often presents. I’m talking about all the things like the daily commute chaos, being stuck in traffic on the motorway or trying to get a seat on […]

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The Woo ‘B’ Woo Fairy’s mentoring journey, from a passion for fashion to sprinkling her magic in the vintage wedding world…

Jane Baines is the Woo ‘B’ Woo Fairy; sprinkling her own unique brand of fairy dust through her self-starting company and bespoke service of vintage-style wedding décor and fresh floral arrangements. Jane worked in the fashion industry for almost three decades before she decided to follow her passion and ‘go it alone’. Through the IOEE, […]

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IOEE Academy Status for Suffolk enterprise organisation

Alex Till is the CEO of MENTA; an organisation that delivers services to new, emerging and growing businesses in Suffolk. This month we spoke to Alex to find out more about the support and services that MENTA offers, the advice he would give to aspiring entrepreneurs, and what it means to MENTA to have recently secured […]

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A ‘locally enterprising railway’?

WRITTEN BY RICHARD GIBSON HEAD OF COMMUNICATION, CROSSCOUNTRY Love them or hate them, either for speed, comfort or just not being stuck in a traffic jam, we have probably all used the railways at some point. And with more people using them every year, the level of investment being made in Britain’s railways is staggering […]

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Knighthood for IOEE Honorary Fellow John Timpson

The IOEE is delighted to offer its most sincere congratulations to IOEE Honorary Fellow John Timpson, who has been awarded a knighthood in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list. John is the chairman of the cobbler and key repair company that bears his Timpson family name, though his knighthood is also in recognition for his fostering […]

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IOEE Ambassador is Awarded OBE for Services to Training and People Development

Jackie Jenks is an IOEE Ambassador and the CEO of Leapfrog Mountain; a mentoring and enterprise academy that supports mentors, business leaders and entrepreneurs. Leapfrog Mountain secured its status as an IOEE Academy in May 2016, and just over a year later Jackie has been awarded an OBE for her services to training and people development. […]

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Spotlight On… Enterprising Learner Viv Bellamy

Viv Bellamy is a self-employed holistic therapist based in Bristol. Last month she was awarded her Level 2 Award in Enterprise and Employability through the city’s Centre for Capacity Building & Enterprise Development (CCBED), which has recently gained its IOEE Enterprise Academy status. This month we chatted to Viv about how the experience has not only […]

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Grand Idea business competition celebrates student enterprise

The Royal Agricultural University (RAU) held its 10th annual Grand Idea awards evening on Thursday 8 June, celebrating student success and RAU’s continued commitment to student enterprise. Established in 2008, the Grand Idea business competition gives students the opportunity to pitch their business idea to panel of expert judges, in the hope of winning a […]

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Enterprisingly Me

‘Enterprisingly Me’ is a monthly feature where you can follow my entrepreneurial adventures. Names have been changed to protect the innocent but everything you read really happened. I hope my story inspires you to take your first steps, or if you already have, then it lets you know you’re not on your own. Starting and […]

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Spotlight On… Tim Rivett

Tim Rivett is the Mentoring Manager for the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). Working closely with SFEDI, the mentoring organisations and the High Street banks, Tim supports bank employees on their journey to gaining qualifications in mentoring, so that they in turn are able to successfully use their business experience to positively impact SMEs across the […]

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Spotlight on… Pauric McGowan

Pauric McGowan is the President of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE), and a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Business Development at the University of Ulster in Belfast. He is passionate about how an entrepreneurial mindset can help people navigate their careers and how this, in turn, can shape our social, cultural and economic […]

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“Losing the stereotype of ‘The Entrepreneur’ will inspire more people to work for themselves.”

Matthew Rogers-Draycott is a Compliance Director at Arcadia Nursing Recruitment and a lecturer in Entrepreneurship at the University of Worcester, as well as being an IOEE Fellow. This month we spoke to Matt to discuss how the economy is changing the way that we work, his passion for helping people to set up their own […]

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