News and Blog Articles

‘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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

IOEE are delighted to welcome back our guest blogger, Clare Talbot-Jones. Clare and her husband, Richard, run Talbot Jones Risk Solutions, based in Felling, Gateshead. In this month’s blog, Clare shares her ideas on how small businesses can help support charities. When we launched our business last year we had to reduce our charity giving […]

Ailsa Victoria Miller is an artist from North East England. She creates beautiful original botanical pastel drawings, prints and gifts that are inspired by the vivid colours of nature. Ailsa’s entrepreneurial journey is an extraordinary one, having overcome enormous personal challenges and obstacles to make a living from doing something that brings her joy. This month we […]

In 2009 Katie Geddes set up The Dance Studio Leeds (DSL), bringing together her professional dance training and her entrepreneurial spirit. When we first spoke to Katie in 2016, the IOEE had just matched her with a mentor, Colin Kemp, through the Meet a Mentor scheme. One year on, we catch up with Katie and […]

David Williams is an IOEE enterprise mentor who recently established an Enterprise Mentoring relationship with mentee Barbara Govan and her award winning independent TV production and training company, Screenhouse, despite being just 25 years old. We caught up with David to find out why age is no barrier to mentoring success. Leeds-based David Williams works […]

We’re currently carrying out a piece of national research into business and enterprise support to guide strategy and policy. Your opinion is vital to this research. If you could spare five minutes to complete our online survey you’ll be helping to shape the future business support landscape. Click here to have your say… Developed in […]

This month saw Ruth Lowbridge MBE, SFEDI Executive Chair, and Nic Preston, CEO SFEDI Awards, attend the DigComp and EntreComp EU Commission Practitioners and Stakeholders Event: ‘Inspiring Use and Building Community’. This prestigious event was held at the Crowne Plaza in Brussels, with the conference looking at the European Digital Competence Framework (DigComp) and the […]

Lisa Soderman is the Business Development Manager for the Dolphin Centre, a Darlington-based leisure centre that has taken a pioneering approach to intrapreneurship, and that has recently secured its status as an IOEE Enterprise Academy. Working with Lisa on her journey is SFEDI Group’s Executive Chair, Ruth Lowbridge MBE, and together they have developed One […]

CCBED is the Centre for Capacity Building & Enterprise Development; a Bristol-based social enterprise that focuses on helping to tackle unemployment and underemployment in  people aged 19 and above in disadvantaged local communities. Originally a SFEDI Awards Centre, CCBED has recently gained its IOEE Enterprise Academy status. This month we met Aliu Bello, its founder […]

‘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 […]

Entrepreneurship lecturer Dr Louise Chalkley of Anglia Ruskin University shares with us her thoughts on enterprise, education and the unexpected adventures life can present. Cambridge-based Dr Louise Chalkley has been an entrepreneurship lecturer at IOEE Centre of Excellence Anglia Ruskin University for four years. However, the 46-year-old’s route to academia has been varied and unconventional, […]

Applications are now open for Blue Patch’s annual Business Awards, which is now in it’s second year. SME’s and fledgling businesses across the British Isles are urged to come forward and nominate themselves for one or more of the following business categories: New Business Award – if you have a new business (under 2 years […]

Lee Sharma is the CEO of Simply Do Ideas; a unique and innovative online platform that provides a place for people with exciting enterprising ideas to take that spark of inspiration and turn it into a viable business plan. We first met Lee in May 2016, when Simply Do Ideas had just achieved IOEE Academy […]

Sean O’Tuama is the CEO and founder of Firemole; a Cork-based company that has developed a safety gadget that warns people if their electrical devices, such as mobile phone chargers, are getting dangerously hot, by sounding an inbuilt alarm. In only a year, Sean has gone from ‘idea stage’ to viable business, even passing on […]

Rocketeer Enterprise is an IOEE Enterprise Academy on a mission – to change the world, one entrepreneur at a time. Rocketeer specialises in understanding how to benefit from being in the midst of the current digital and technology revolution, through supporting educational organisations, start-up companies, and wannabe entrepreneurs to succeed in the field of enterprise. […]

The Samee Project is a unique and inspirational social enterprise that aims to promote self-employment and freelance working as viable career options to young people in school education, and the organisation secured its status as an IOEE Academy in February this year. Four months on, we caught up with its CEO and founder, Sam Everard, […]

Anne King is a Personal Travel Consultant and runs her own business through Not Just Travel; one of the leading and fastest-growing travel agencies in the UK. After working as a PA for 20 years, Anne’s life took a turn on a family holiday in Florida that lead her to change her career, buying into […]

Written by Professor Paul Jones, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Deputy Director, Coventry University A frequent criticism of the academic community is the lack of value and relevance of their work towards the business community. Academic research is often criticised as being overly theoretical and lacking meaning for business world practioners. This criticism does have some […]

‘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 […]

Nottingham Community and Voluntary Service (CVS) is an IOEE Enterprise Academy with premises in the heart of the city. Business Development Manager Jules Sebelin talked to us about her organisation’s work and how its fresh IOEE status is shifting perceptions of how entrepreneurial thinking can create impact in the third sector. Nottingham Community and Voluntary […]

David Morgan is Enterprise Partnership Lead at Novus, an IOEE Academy delivering SFEDI Awards qualifications. Working in more than 60 prisons located across five English regions, Novus deliver a diverse range of high-quality qualifications, preparing people to find employment upon their release and thrive in the world of work. The SFEDI Awards enterprise and employability qualifications […]