News and Blog Articles

1. It gets lonely at times! Until you get around to employing other people, business owners are on their own. Don’t be disheartened when friends and family don’t demonstrate the same enthusiasm for your enterprise as you do, you need to prove your company’s value and worth to get even the closest people to you […]

Create a routine Routines can make us much more productive in the long run. Even if it takes you time to get into your new routine, if it’s well thought out and provides you with realistic daily opportunities to achieve the tasks you need to, a routine is the way forward. Keep the mornings for […]

In the UK, we have one of the worst records for levels of female entrepreneurs. Alison Rose, CEO of Natwest’s Commercial and Private Banking has reviewed the situation and encouraged some realistic solutions to enhance the UK’s support and funding for female entrepreneurs. Firstly, advancing female entrepreneurship represents a £250 Billion opportunity for the UK […]

 In 2015 The Ministry of Justices’ Dame Sally Coats said, “If education is the engine of social mobility, it is also the engine of prisoner rehabilitation.” but just how effective is educating our prisoners? There are pros and cons to educating our prisoners. Many argue that it costs the Government too much of the tax […]

Jamie Oliver’s restaurant chain has gone into administration. It most likely comes as no real surprise to Oliver going on an interview he gave to the Financial Times under a year ago when his company first started to experience some issues. “We had simply run out of cash” he said, referring to the end of […]

With 47% of the UK’s workforce being women, it would seem that there isn’t really any need to balance out the gender roles in our country. That being said, the gender gap still remains evident. For example, in the main occupational groups, the gap is 4.8% and in the skilled trades occupations it is up […]

Mentoring in the UK can sometimes be seen as a British predicament. It’s thought that the UK aren’t very good at utilising our resources when it comes to mentoring and there are few who know why. Maybe it’s because we Brits are inclined to feel like we would be imposing on someone when asking them […]

IOEE Academy Natwest is prepping up for this year’s Great British Entrepreneur Awards and they’re looking for specifically entrepreneurs from the North East. Categories range from the Entrepreneur for Good Award, Scale-Up Awards, Health & Beauty Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Entrepreneurs’ Team of the Year Award and so on. Founded in 2013, the NatWest […]

It is Mental Health Awareness Week and we’re looking at different perspectives on mental health. Over the last few years, mental health and the encouragement of mental health has become more prominent within our society. Apparently, entrepreneurs are more susceptible to poor mental health and here’s the reasons why… STRESS This might seem a little […]

The Mental Health Charity Mind have expressed their concerns over people who work from home becoming lonely and isolated and with 50% of the UK’s workforce predicted to be home-workers by 2020. These concerns arise as Work Wise Week sweeps across the UK and National Work from Home Day lands on the Friday 17th May. […]

Next Friday sees National Work from Home Day sweep across the UK as part of Work Wise Week, a non-profit campaign encouraging employers and employees to share with the world the benefits and methods to work from home successfully. It’s been predicted that by 2020, 50% of the UK’s workforce will be working from home […]

Sam Everard is the CEO of SAMEE, a Disability Confident Leader charity based in Dorset, which achieved its IOEE Academy status last year. SAMEE believes in a world where people of all abilities can proudly and independently provide an income for themselves and their families. Sam has always had an entrepreneurial streak and her first […]

Robert Turnbull has a longstanding relationship with SFEDI Awards and the IOEE and has a wealth of inspirational work in the field of enterprise and entrepreneurship under his belt. He is a SFEDI Awards Programme Leader for the Suffolk Chamber of Commerce, joining its Growth Hub in 2014 as a Business Growth Advisor, as well […]

Greetings from the United States. The story so far… I am at the half way point of my travels across the USA exploring Entrepreneurship and how it can support formerly incarcerated men and women to have productive and brighter futures. I have travelled from New York to San Francisco and Omaha in Nebraska and already […]

Business of all types and sizes are increasingly expected (and becoming) more ‘social’ and ‘ethical’ for a variety of reasons: • Changing legislation (various Acts from the Environment Agency, Companies House, and in relation to Public Services) • Consumer preferences for ‘#BuyLocal’ and ‘#BuySocial’ (national campaigns around both of these have emerged over the last […]

Article written by Dr Jun Li from the University of Essex. Dr Jun Li is the Senior Lecturer in Management Science and Entrepreneurship. Highly educated graduate entrepreneurs can be ‘high quality entrepreneurs’ with substantial growth potential. Education contributes to the development of human capital, and provides students a set of opportunities and resources unavailable to […]

David Morgan our IOEE Member of the Year gives us an insight into his upcoming Winston Churchill Memorial Trust travels. Wow! How time has flown. Where has the year gone so far? Back in February this year I was given the amazing news that I was to become a Fellow of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. […]

Alex Kostyakov is a recent graduate from Manchester Metropolitan University, throughout his time at MMU Alex was enrolled within the ICE Programme. The programme is accredited by the IOEE and gives students the knowledge to become a confident entrepreneur and potential business owner. Alex whilst at University started his own business called Flyr Artists and […]

Prime Cymru an IOEE Academy held their annual awards event earlier this month in Wales, to which our very own Ruth Lowbridge MBE and trustee of Prime attended and provided the closing speech. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Founder of PRIME Cymru, met with people aged over 50 who have set up their […]

Sunil Sharma joined the IOEE’s Mentoring Programme in 2014 and has recently celebrated completing his 10th mentoring case – though reaching this milestone doesn’t mean slowing down for Sunil, and he has taken on another three mentees since the beginning of 2018. Sunil works for Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and is united with his mentees […]

Clarion Housing Group is the country’s largest housing association, with over 125,000 properties nationwide. Through its partnership with the IOEE’s Apprenticemakers programme, Clarion helps people to access employment and training opportunities through its charitable foundation, Clarion Futures. Alex Dean is Clarion’s National Apprenticeship Manager, and this month we caught up with him to talk about […]

Marine apprenticeships have historically played a major role in developing the skills and expertise of the marine workforce. According to British Marine’s Labour Market Survey (September 2016), the UK marine industry employs 470 apprentices across 100 businesses. Almost three quarters of these apprenticeships are in manufacturing and engineering (43% boat manufacturing, 21% repairs and servicing, […]

We’ve had the opportunity this month to speak to Jo Bradford, Group Apprenticeship Manager at Marston’s and find out exactly how they have been able to utilise the current apprenticeship levy. When asked on Marston’s stance on Apprenticeships & their use of the Levy Jo said “Apprentices are a key part of our People Strategy, […]

In a speech to the CBI on the 26th June  Small Business Minister Andrew Griffiths unveiled a new £8m fund to boost the productivity and performance of small businesses in England. Boosting national productivity and increasing workers’ earning power forms a key part of the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy and the Business Basics Fund, run […]