Welcome to the Make Your Mark campaign’s Enterprise Insights where only the most interesting enterprise developments and stories are delivered to you fortnightly.

Creating enterprising places

World Knowledge Competitiveness Index 2008 (Centre for International Competitiveness)

Economic activity in Britain is still dominated by the South East; with Guildford, St Albans and Cambridge revealed as the most competitive cities in the UK (excluding London) according to the UK Competitiveness Index. However, the strong economic performance of Liverpool, Salford and Manchester has meant that the North West is one of the fastest improving regions.

Growing good business / social enterprise

Social Enterprise - Making it work for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Women (Government Equalities Office)

Social enterprise has the potential to increase the number of female and ethnic minority entrepreneurs according to this report. Signposting Black, Asian and minority ethnic women to sources of advice and funding, developing case studies and conducting further research into the needs of women wanting to set up social enterprises, are all identified as ways to improve the current picture.

Driving up innovation in businesses

Supporting Innovation in Services (BERR - PDF: 2.2MB)

Businesses and government should find ways to encourage more intrapreneurial workplaces, according to this report. Companies which are successful over time have well developed processes including environments open to innovation, ways to exploit the commercial potential of new ideas, benchmarking performance against competition, and even the willingness to consider changing business models to implement changes!

Real-world education and skills

Education Briefing Booklet 2008 (IoD - PDF: 3.7MB)

Hot on the heels of GSCE and A-level results, a survey of directors examines the different skills of young employees from those hired ten years ago. 23% of directors surveyed stated that young people have more confidence, 18% self-presentation skills and 18% a better business understanding and appreciation of what work entails. However, most directors also believe that young people are now less proficient in core skills such as writing (71%), reading (46%) and maths (60%) and that British education should do more to prepare students for employment.

In the media

Those young people that are not in education, employment or training should be allowed to ‘earn as they learn’ to allow them to work their way out of a disadvantaged future, proposes Steve Mather, neigbourhood director, Places for People. (To read the full article requires a free trial of Regeneration and Renewal.)

The financial downturn may actually increase numbers of entrepreneurs. A survey from GetSet for business found that 40 per cent of business owners state ‘fear of having their financial security removed’ as the main motivation for becoming self-employed. This sentiment was echoed by a Financial Times article, which stated that enterprise will be more important in the new economic climate.

European venture capital firms invested in 167 young companies in the second quarter, 42 percent fewer than in the same period a year earlier. In Britain, long the leader in European technology innovation, venture investment fell 49 percent last quarter.

The TUC is calling for an extra Community Day bank holiday in October, and calculates that the effect of voluntary activity by ten per cent of the workforce would be worth a further £250 million to the UK economy.

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