The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs
The Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) is the very first entrepreneurs learning Institute and explicitly recognises and rewards the enterprise skills and know how gained by people who successfully start and run their own enterprise.
Launched in October this year, the insitute is dedicated to recognising enterprise and entrepreneurship as a professional career choice and as a viable alternative to employment. Professional institutes currently exist for most occupations, but not entrepreneurs, until now.
The IOEE’s initial focus will be in providing opportunities for small and home business owner members to mentor others, particularly start ups. The IOEE Mentor Programme will match all those thinking about or in the early stages of starting their own business with experienced entrepreneurs in their area. The programme is endorsed and supported by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), and powered by Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI), the UK expert and accreditation body which has researched and identified best practice in enterprise skills and support for the past fifteen years.
For some, The IOEE has been a long time coming as it exists to make sure that all those involved in enterprise are able to access the support they need, when they need it. All of the work is informed by research into what other entrepreneurs do and have done in order to be successful. The main aim of the initiative is to form an effective support network for small business owners across the country and to recognize and celebrate their achievements.
Tony Robinson OBE, SFEDI Founder says,
“We all know how vital enterprise is to the economy, society and especially as the main creator of new jobs but we’re not that good in the UK at recognising the people who are their own bosses.
Recognition of IOEE members will encourage more people to start and run their own business as they realise that this is a professional and worthwhile career option, at any age, which requires specific skills and know how to succeed. It’s just that you don’t learn these skills and know how in a classroom.
As business owners we don’t need a formal education, business studies or management qualifications in order to succeed. We don’t learn, from our peers, how to succeed in order to impress future bosses. We learn ‘how to’, primarily, so that we can earn a living by being our own boss. Yet it is vital that the UK recognises that IOEE members have the dynamic, practical enterprise and entrepreneur skills and know how. They will lead the way in fuelling the UK economy, providing future jobs, developing communities and integrating society. The priority therefore, and this is what the IOEE will do, is to enable more and more people starting their new enterprise with this ‘survive and thrive’ skillset’.”
To find out more about the IOEE please follow this link: http://ioee.co.uk/