Yorkshire Forward acted as a strategic facilitator of such a pilot project which focused on “pre-pre-start-up enterprise” outreach support using Children’s Centres in the Rotherham area. Pilot partners include Business Link Yorkshire, community organisation GROW, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council and Jobcentre Plus.
The recently published Review of Rotherham Children’s Centres – Enterprise Pilot provides an insight into the planning, preparation, delivery, evaluation and outcomes of the successful pilot, outlines policy implications and makes recommendations for future potential.
The Children’s Centres’ Enterprise Pilot aim was to engage with harder to reach communities to raise awareness of employment, self employment and entrepreneurial options working with four centres.
The pilot objective was to offer individuals the opportunity to engage in pre, pre business/employment start up activity, including information sessions, barrier removal support, mentoring and partnership development and training packages.
Individuals from hard to reach communities who were considered to be from a range of minority groups i.e. socially and economically disadvantaged such as lone parents were offered:
• Enterprise Roadshows
• Information/training sessions with workers from external agencies
• Linking in with other outreach activity and support
The following are a selection of the lessons/observations recorded throughout the pilot:
• Drivers for the target groups were “additional income” and “flexibility to fit around children”
• Language was identified as a barrier to taking the first steps into considering “if enterprise is for me”.
• Entry-level business models such as party-planning, home selling businesses and freelance beauty services were commonly found with the target communities
• Mainstream agency start-up support was on occasion a “step too far” for the target client group who could be put off by perceived “high level discussions” about VAT registration and business plans.
• ‘Seeds sown’ in people attending the roadshows did scatter and take root in other parts of the community.
• Roadshow attendance of 113 people (79% female: 21% male) whilst pleasing in the context of a pilot, was expensive per head when considering wider roll out. One idea suggested for possible promotion was to have additional marketing and outreach activity with longer lead times and wider publication in local media.
The pilot aim evolved from encouraging more women into enterprise, with Children’s Centres as a useful route to a broader scope of engaging with women and men from within the communities surrounding Children’s Centres from a range of disadvantaged communities.
Readers interested in this agenda may wish to read Nynzi Maung’s April article which reflected back on her experience of delivering an ‘Encouraging women into Enterprise’ pilot aimed a raising awareness of self-employment amongst women in deprived communities in the North East. Click here to read the article.
For further information about the Rotherham Children’s Centre – Enterprise Pilot contact the Yorkshire Forward Enterprise and Access to Finance team on 0113 394 9633.
Click here to download a copy of the Rotherham Children’s Centre - Enterprise Pilot report.