News and Blog Articles

Social enterprise, Entrepreneurs Unlocked, provides veterans of the armed forces with a route into self-employment, in gardening, with the launch of the Defender to Entrepreneur programme. David Morgan, the founder of Entrepreneurs Unlocked, launched the Defender to Entrepreneur programme in conjunction with Sally Coulthard, founder and CEO of the Defence Garden Scheme (DGS). DGS is […]

Over the decades, a recurring debate in the business world has been related to the specialist vs generalist dilemma – with the first often winning over the second – to establish whether a successful professional should focus on a specialism or aim at developing a wider range of competencies. This certainly does not apply to […]

Stress is a natural phenomenon. We all experience it, some more than others, in many different ways. For some, stress can be running around from one task to another, for others stress can look like constant fatigue. Whatever stress looks like to you, it can be extremely daunting if you don’t know how to control […]

For this article, we checked in with Carl Beardon, a mentor who works for Barclays Bank, and Natasha Crompton, a small business owner and mentee, who set up IntrinsicTherapies. Carl and Natasha were paired up by Paul Harper, IOEE’s mentoring matchmaker, before lockdown and the pair have had meetings ever since. It is brilliant to […]

In an earlier article, we spoke about businesses that started up in Lockdown. One of our members came forward and said they would be happy to talk to us about their business born in lockdown. Kiera runs a home fragrance business called Happy Paws Candle Co. Happy Paws Candle Co is a candle business that […]

Over the last six to nine months, there have been a range of articles within academic journals, business publications and newspapers focused on predicting and unpacking the issues which will shape the extent and nature of remote working in the near to mid-term.  Key themes have included:  • The shifting nature of employee expectations and […]

We are proud to welcome a new academy, NEW Training, to the IOEE family. We had a chat with Natalie from NEW Training to find out more about the work they do, and the importance of the IOEE membership.  NEW Training focuses on wellbeing and health as well as enterprising skills and business development. Finding […]

Starting and running a small business isn’t always easy. In fact, it can often be quite challenging to cope with change – especially during challenging times. If you’re finding it difficult to keep your business afloat, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many small businesses have succumbed to the pressure of change in today’s economy. […]

Lockdown was a time for quiet, shelter, and time to reflect. For some, however, lockdown was a time to take a leap of faith and start something new. Some people say that lockdown was the riskiest time to set up a business, some call it a stupid decision but these business owners are here to […]

In this article we speak to Cheryl-Lya Broadfoot, one of our current mentees on the programme. Cheryl-Lya runs a coaching, planning and consultancy business called Souls Compass. We spoke to Cheryl-Lya about the impact a mentor has and the visible effects a mentor can bring to your business. Cheryl-Lya was paired with Meha Shukla, a […]

Guest Blog by Valentina Lorenzon Over the last couple of years, the business environment has considerably changed and the COVID pandemic has accelerated many processes that were already underway but would probably have taken longer to be implemented under normal circumstances. During this period of crisis and transformation, the headlines have been dominated by business […]

We would like to give a very warm welcome to another new centre that is joining us this year, iUK Academy. iUK Academy recently joined IOEE as an accredited IOEE Enterprise Academy, and what a time to join. As we finally, and hopefully, see the end of these uncertain times, we hope all of our […]

Goals and targets help to keep us all on track. Whether it be an amount of money we want to make, an amount of work we want to get done or even an amount of down time that we want to achieve each day. I think it is fair to say that goals are what […]

There’s no doubt that creativity is one of the most important aspects of any small business. It’s what sets you apart from the competition, and it’s what helps you succeed in a crowded marketplace. But creativity can be difficult to nurture and develop – especially when you’re busy running your business. In this article, we’ll […]

This article shines the spotlight on one of our newer IOEE Academies, Urban MBA and Kofi Oppong, who founded Urban MBA. Urban MBA is a registered charity focusing on providing skills to the young people in their community. Its mission is to create a “world where no young person is lost or left behind” (UrbanMBA). […]

Your small business needs to have a strong social media presence. We know you know this. But we also know that within the time, budget and personnel constraints that are inherent to marketing for small businesses, it’s hard to know how you can possibly compete with the big guns and elevate your social media content […]

Nowadays more and more people are finding the idea of becoming self-employed increasingly more desirable. Self-employment rates hit their peak at the start of 2020 with approximately 5.03 million self-employed workers throughout the UK. Although the pandemic resulted in these levels falling to rates seen in 2015, they are slowly on the rise again. Furthermore, […]

It’s always a great day when we are able to shed some spotlight on our latest academies and talk to then one-on-one. With our newest arrival joining us through the National Enterprise Network, we couldn’t wait to speak with them to see what their company was doing to help their learners join the world of […]

Over the past few decades, there have been significant and steady shifts in the labour market transforming not only the types of work we do but also the way we do it. During the last year, the pandemic has accelerated the pace of change in a way that would have previously been unimaginable.  If there […]

As staff have started to return to offices across Europe over the last few months, a debate has emerged within the media and the professional literature as to the benefits, impact and value of working from the office vis-à-vis working remotely. On the one hand, there are those who argue that the return to the […]

Transmit Startups communications manager Laura White kindly took the time to speak to us about her role within the company and what becoming an IOEE Academy will do to boost their enterprise learning. As a communications manager, Laura helps spread the word about how Transmit Startups supports entrepreneurs and their business aspirations. In addition to […]

Since the Coronavirus outbreak, small businesses have faced a deluge of new problems while the world’s economy has shifted to a “new normal”. Millions of small businesses face a fundamental change in the way business owners and their employees work. Social distancing and lockdown has necessitated a significant rise in remote working. Technology has projected […]

This month we caught up with one of our long standing and much loved Academies Being your own Boss. Being your own Boss have been part of the IOEE and SFEDI centre network for many years and throughout this time have gone from strength to strength supporting many thousands local budding entrepreneurs. We spoke to […]

The modern workplace is constantly evolving and adapting to our society’s needs, thus meaning that the in-demand skills of modern employers are regularly changing. With the unforeseen circumstances of the coronavirus pandemic propelling our offices online, digital skills are the new frontier to have a successful career. However, digital skills are not the only way […]