COPIE Community of Practice

Inclusive Entrepreneurship

Peter Ramsden and Paul Soto

The Problem

Disadvantaged groups face a wide range of barriers to entrepreneneurship

Existing policy on entrepreneurship often prioritises high-tech solutions

Equal has tested many solutions and there is a huge amount of good practice

Some Member States have produced a comprehensive entrepreneurial ladder out of exclusion that works all target groups

But we risk losing knowledge and good practice at the end of Equal because the ideas do not get through to the next layer

Our proposition

To maximise your work as funders, practitioners and innovators of good practice

Take lessons from Equal Validate the work of projects, DPs, National Thematic

Networks, and the European Equal Thematic group Put them into a usable format Take them into the Structural Funds 2007 - 2013

The recipe

Take all the experience of equal on enterprise.

Add two strong and committed managing agencies (Germany and Flanders), add experts. Stir in national support structures, and some DPs and country experts. Mix this with some imagination and cash from the EU. Bake.

Communities of practice

A group of people who share a common concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise by interacting on an ongoing basis

Etienne Wenger

Evolution of COPIE

COP proposal accepted December 2006 and granted €300,000 for 12 months

Four founding partners: Flanders, Germany, Spain, and Portugal plus UK (Wales)

France, Wallonia, Greece, Netherlands participate

Origins of this approach

Analysis of best practice using the entrepreneurial ladder out of exclusion

BRIAN tool from Peter Lloyd for assessing 360 impact of social enterprise

Prowess: flagship status assessment from UK Development of tool for DG Employment on policies

measures for micro credit with Jan Evers ´How business friendly is your city?´ Marcus Weidner

of Kiz

Implementation

The tool has been co-created by COPIE and then tested in five regions:

– Wales– Asturias – Lisbon – Berlin Mitte– Flanders

Each region has produced a report on the state of inclusive entrepreneurship

Best practice products have been identified from 6 Member States (UK, ES, PT, D, BE, FR)

Recommendations for practical steps to improve system Mobilisation of stakeholders

We look at experience of 8 target groups

Formerly unemployed Women Migrants and ethnic minorities 50 plus Young people Under 30 People with disabilities Social enterprises

Four tables in the toolOne page per stakeholder

Where? What ? Who fills it in?

How many questions?

Page 1 Enterprise ecology data

Experts 50

Page 2 Culture, start-up, finance, consolidation

Policy makers 20

Page 3 Culture, start-up, finance, consolidation

Business advisers

30

Page 4 Culture, start-up, finance, consolidation

Entrepreneurs

20

First results of the European tool

Rapid appraisal – 4-6 weeks start to finish, 15 minutes to 30 minutes

Engages your key stakeholders: policy makers, business advisers, entrepreneurs

Enjoyable and interesting Generates evidence and data on which to base policy

dialogue and practical actions Comprehensive results that cover all groups

The entrepreneurial ladder out of exclusion

Creating the culture for entrepreneurship Integrated business support for all  Access to appropriate finance Consolidation and growth

  

 ENTREPRENEURS                

Start Up support

no specific target group

unemploye

dwomen

migrants and ethnic

minorities

50 plus

Young people under

30

People with disabilities

Social

Enterprise

s

Average

score

The advice system is easy to access and to get around 2.00 4.00 2.88 2.00 2.25 3.78 4.00 2.00 2.86

The business support available is friendly and answers my needs 1.00 4.00 3.38 2.50 3.25 4.00 2.00 2.00 2.77

I have had access to a mentor 1.00 3.60 3.00 2.50 2.50 3.44 1.00 1.00 2.26

Specialised training and materials are available which meets my needs 1.00 3.00 2.88 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 3.00 2.73

It is possible for me to obtain recognition and accreditation for training and experience which reflects my real skills 2.00 3.00 2.25 1.00 2.00 3.00 2.00 2.00 2.16

There are affordable business premises with easy to enter conditions (short leases, etc) 1.00 3.40 2.13 2.50 1.50 3.11 1.00 2.00 2.08

 AVERAGE SCORE 1.43 3.40 2.82 2.21 2.43 3.32 2.14 2.29 2.50

Traffic light scorecard

1

2

3

4

Unemployed Women Migrants andethnic

minorities

50 plus Youngpeople under

30

People w ithdisabilities

Socialenterprises

Average score for target group Total average score (all target groups)

Figure 3: Specialist advisors’ view on entrepreneurship culture by target group

Example conclusions from Asturias

Advisors identified a lack of mentors and coaches with real business experience, recruited from the community

Lack of quality standards for business consulting. Weaknesses in support for immigrants and ethnic

minorities Strong efforts in the schools with good programmes

there were no visits by entrepreneurs

0

1

2

3

4Entrepreneurship Culture

Start-Up Support

Consolidation and Growth

Appropriate Finance

Policy Stakeholders

Specialist Advisors

Entrepreneurs

Inclusive entrepreneurship in Flanders

By Stephanie Devisscher and An Van Pelt (IDEA Consult), in association with ESF-agency Flanders.

Inclusive entrepreneurship in the principality of ASTURIAS

D. Rafael Vigil Álvarez D. Guzmán García González-Posada

CIUDAD INDUSTRIAL DEL VALLE DEL NALÓN, S.A.U

Unidad Administradora del Fondo Social Europeo.

MINISTERIO DE TRABAJO Y ASUNTOS SOCIALES

May 2007

Inclusive entrepreneurship in Portugal

May 2007

José Manuel Henriques Centro de Estudos TerritoriaisIn association with Equal Managing Authority Portugal

Inclusive entrepreneurship in Wales

Dr Caryl Cresswell Enterprise Development

Associates Ltd.

Iain Willox Department of Enterprise,

Innovation and Networks, Welsh Assembly Government

May 2007

Next steps

5 regions: implement findings to influence Structural Funds 7/13

Recruit five new regions to implement European tool (sign up in the break)

Animate virtual community of practice with web 2.0 functionality