MEECOE's Response to National Developments

A key element of the Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise’s (MEECOE) work is to ensure that its advice and activities are aligned with national developments on ethnic minority entrepreneurship. To this end, MEECOE has been monitoring, and contributing to the deliberations of the Government’s national Ethnic Minority Business Task Force (EMBTF). In July, the Task Force presented a report to Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. In anticipation of the Government’s response to the Task Force report this month, MEECOE reports on how it is responding to, and building on, the work of the EMBTF in its new Briefing.

MEECOE already builds on the work of the Task Force and its response includes developing the evidence base, improving understanding of the requirements of finance providers, working to develop a culture of ‘good practice’ with business support intermediaries, and the development of a hub for procurement activity in the West Midlands. Details of these and other strands of the MEECOE repsonse are outlined in the third Briefing document.

For your copy of this new Briefing, you can contact MEECOE via meecoe@dmu.ac.uk

MEECOE Profiles Ethnic Minority Businesses in the West Midlands

Drawing mainly on data from the 2001 Census and the Annual Population Surveys from 2005, 2006 and 2007, this Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise (MEECOE) report presents the principal features of and trends in ethnic minority business (EMB) in the West Midlands. With, in 2006, ethnic minority groups making up 16.4% of the regional population, EMB has been an increasingly prominent part of the West Midlands economy since the 1970s but in recent years entrepreneurial activity in several communities has started to move from traditional to non-traditional sectors including IT, financial services and consultancy.

Unlike the first generation immigrants who were often forced into self-employment by their circumstances, the British-born generations have more options. Whilst this resulted in falling levels of self-employment, it has also brought about a shift away from labour-intensive sectors to into higher value-added activities, where rewards are earned through the application of management, expertise and technology rather than brute labour power.

Appropriate support for the region’s ethnic minority entrepreneurs is crucial. It needs to be sensitive the changing nature of this dynamic segment of the small business population. Opportunities are emerging to encourage growing EMBs, as well as encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs from new migrant communities. These should be recognised by business support providers.

As might be expected, the overall verdict on EMB in the West Midlands is highly mixed, one of essentially progressive trends towards diversification, penetration of new market sectors and advancement up the value added chain (albeit uneven between the different groups); but one which still has far to go before EMB is established as an unproblematic part of the mainstream local economy.

The key elements captured in this report, written by Trevor Jones, David McEvoy, and Monder Ram, are a next step in acknowledging the diversity and social contribution of EMBs and in making ethnic minority business, everyone’s business.

The full report, or a Briefing document outlining its key points are available upon request from meecoe@dmu.ac.uk


Funded by Advantage West Midlands, the Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise is an exciting two-year project (Dec 2008 – Nov 2010) that will promote a strategic and innovative approach to supporting ethnic minority businesses in the West Midlands. A consortium led by De Montfort University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) works with public and private sector stakeholders to enhance policy and practice for ethnic minority enterprise in the region. MEECOE works closely with AWM’s other Centres of Expertise to develop an integrated approach to diversity and enterprise activity.

13th EMB Conference is underway!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

EMB Conference Programme

Click on the images to see the programme for this year's Ethnic Minority Business Conference, to be held in Leicester on Oct 14.

Two Takes on Supplier Diversity

This year's Ethnic Minority Business Conference is fast approaching. This conference has regularly provided a platform for policy and practitioner initiatives designed to encourage small business owners to take advantages of supply chain opportunities in the large public and private sector organisations. This process is often referred to as supplier diversity; and it is clear that significant progress is being made to spread its influence. Our contributors to this session provide interesting accounts of the ways in which the private and public sector are responding to the challenge of promoting supplier diversity.

Mick Wain, Director and General Manager of Staples Advantage, provides a fascinating account of how a major multi-national corporation, with a strong presence in the Midlands, is working to develop partnership working with small firms from under-represented communities. A commitment to ‘give something back’ is a core feature of the Staples philosophy. Mick demonstrates how the company puts this into practice in its operations in the UK; and outlines the plans that Staples has to develop activities in the Midlands.

For supplier diversity to succeed, small firms seeking to secure access to contracts have to be ‘fit to supply’. They have to have the capacity and capabilities required to comply with the often demanding requirements of large organisations. For many years, Supply London has been assisting small firms to make the leap to becoming suppliers to large firms. Michael Gutierrez, Supply Chain Advisor of Supply London, describes the crucial role that this organisation has played in supporting small firms, often run by ethnic minorities, to pursue their ambitions to become suppliers to large organisations.

There are important lessons here for other parts of the country, and for anyone interested in how procurement can promote economic development as well as entrepreneurial growth.

MEECOE's Staples Advantage Event a Success

MEECOE and Supplier Diversity Europe held a 'Meet the Buyer' event at Staples Advantage Head Office, giving local entrepreneurs and corporate buyers the opportunity to meet. You can find a report on how the day went below, just click on the images to enlarge them.

Regional Business Support in the Spotlight at EMB Conference

The East Midlands is one of the most diverse and entrepreneurial regions in England. It is home to some of the most advanced and sophisticated ‘knowledge’ driven business in the country; and, at the same time, benefits from a considerable rural landscape which itself generates significant entrepreneurial activity.

East Midlands Business Ltd. (EMB Ltd.) is a body charged with the challenging task of ensuring that all the region’s businesses have the opportunity to take advantage of support that will enable them to survive, develop and grow. Given the challenging economic climate, this role has never been more important. Stephen Smith, Chief Executive of EMB Ltd, will set out the steps that have been taken to support the region’s businesses through the recession and towards economic recovery. EMB Ltd. is acutely aware of the region’s diverse business base, including the significant numbers of ethnic minority entrepreneurs that operate in the East Midlands. Stephen will outline key initiatives to support these and other diverse groups in business. Importantly, EMB Ltd. is in the process of recruiting a number of ‘community-based’ business advisers whose key task will be to encourage and support ‘under-represented’ groups in the region. At the other end of the spectrum, EMB Ltd. has actively encouraged growing ethnic minority businesses to take advantage of supply chain opportunities with large organisations in the public and private sector.

Working in partnership is central to the operation of EMB Ltd. Together with the Economic and Social Research Council, EMB Ltd has supported CREME to deliver an innovative project to support the region’s new migrant entrepreneurs. For the last year, Alex Kiselinchev and Lovemore Muchenje of CREME have been working closely with EMB Ltd to encourage new migrants to develop their businesses. Alex and Lovemore share their experiences of working on this project, including:-

• The considerable interest in entrepreneurship as a career option amongst new migrants
• New migrant involvement in a diverse range of business activities
• Unacknowledged human capital within many businesses
• A lack of awareness of the existence and role of ‘mainstream’ business support agencies
• Active interest in pursuing appropriate support to develop and their businesses
• A willingness to engage with business support professionals

-Prof Monder Ram-

More Speakers Confirmed for EMB Conference

More speakers have been confirmed for the EMB Conference on Oct 14.

Alex Kiselinchev and Lovemore Muchenje, researchers at CREME, De Montfort University, and Stephen Smith, Chief Executive of East Midlands Business Ltd, will be speaking during the session 'Business Support: a Regional Perspective'.

Speaking on 'Promoting Supply Chain Opportunities' will be Mick Wain, Director and General Manager of Staples Advantage and Michael Gutierrez, Supply Chain Advisor for Supply London.

Introducing: The MEECOE Legacy Group

Who cares about ethnic minority enterprise? Public sector bodies will probably fall over themselves to answer this question in the affirmative, shouting loudly about the different policies and measures that they have in place to support ethnic minorities and other diverse groups. The public sector has usually been most prominent in the development of initiatives to support ethnic minority enterprise. This is to be welcomed. But have you ever wondered how major organisations, apart from publicly funded agencies, view ethnic minority entrepreneurs? I am thinking about the finance industry that shapes access to a vital resource for any small firm: money. What about large private sector companies? They often talk about the importance of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’; but what does it actually mean, and what is its relevance to ethnic minority entrepreneurs? And, in a legal sense, how do we ensure that there is a ‘level playing field’ for ethnic minorities and other diverse groups involved in business? In this pivotal session of the 13th Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference, we bring together representatives of key organisations to help answer these neglected questions.

Gerard Chick of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) kicks off the session with an important presentation on the role that procurers in large organisation can play in promoting diversity in their supply chains. Policy-makers are increasingly recognising that procurement can be used to pursue boarder social objectives, for example, economic regeneration and equality. Gerard, Head of Knowledge Management at CIPS, has been a strong advocate of ‘sustainable procurement’, recognising the fact competitiveness and fairness are inextricably linked.

Most small firms turn to their accountant for advice on all sorts of issues. Research suggests that accountants are a major resource for the development of small businesses, and that their influence extends well beyond the provision of technical advice. Rosana Mirkovic, Senior Policy Advisor at the Association of Chartered & Certified Accountants (ACCA), will outline the key role that accountants play in supporting small firms and the plans that the ACCA have to enhance their understanding of ethnic minority entrepreneurs. Recent research by CREME on the ACCA membership has highlighted the key role that ethnic minority accountants play in supporting other ethnic minority businesses.

David Darlaston, Regional Director of Business in the Community (BiTC) in the West Midlands, has been at the forefront of attempts to engage the corporate sector on a wider range of community-related initiatives. These have included programmes on mentoring, economic regeneration and supplier diversity. At the Conference, David will report on the latest developments to enhance links between the region’s corporate sector and ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

Important legislative changes are afoot that will have potentially significant implications for the issue of diversity in a wide range of organisations. The Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has a key role in implementing the Single Equality Duty which arises from the Equality Bill. Alan Christie, Director of Policy at the EHRC, will spell out what these developments mean for the public and private sector. As recent research by the EHRC suggests, the renewed attention to diversity signalled by these changes could improve the prospects for ethnic minority entrepreneurs.

The four speakers are members of the ‘Legacy Group’ of the West Midlands ‘Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre for Expertise’ (MEECOE). Funded by Advantage West Midlands, MEECOE is an exciting two-year project that will promote a strategic and innovative approach to supporting ethnic minority businesses in the West Midlands. A consortium led by de Montfort University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship will work with public and private sector stakeholders to enhance policy and practice for ethnic minority enterprise in the region. Legacy Group members are committed to pursuing activies to promoted ethnic minority enterprise.

-Prof Monder Ram-

13th EMB Conference Announced

The 13th Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference will be taking place on Wednesday, 14 October 2009 at Leicester Tigers Rugby Ground, Welford Road.

Hosted by East Midlands Development Agency (emda) and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at De Montfort University, the Conference will provide a platform for the presentation of cutting-edge research and policy initiatives on ethnic minority entrepreneurship.

You can book your place from today. To request a booking form, please contact us on creme@dmu.ac.uk

Click on the image below to see the flyer.

Michael Carr to Speak at EMB Conference

The East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has often been at the forefront of innovations to support small businesses. In recent years, it has received acclaim for its approach to ‘business simplification’, social enterprise and the manufacturing sector. As Michael Carr, Director of Business Support at emda, will explain at the 13th Annual EMB Conference on Oct 14, the Agency is set to continue this pioneering role by assuming the national policy leadership role for ethnic minority enterprise in England.

emda takes over from the Government’s ‘National Ethnic Minority Business Task Force’, which concluded its work with the presentation of a report to Lord Mandelson in July this year. It will be emda’s task to implement the findings arising from the Task Force’s report. At the EMB Conference, Michael Carr will report on the steps that the Agency has already taken to ensure that this challenging task of providing effective national support for ethnic minority enterprise is being pursued in a strategic and coordinated way.

It promises to be informative presentation on the important steps and initiatives that are being pursued by Regional Development Agencies around the country on a subject that is bound to loom large in an election year.

Professor David Asch to Open EMB Conference

Professor David Asch, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of De Montfort University, will deliver the Opening Address at the 13th Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference on Oct 14th. At Leicester's De Montfort University, David is responsible for the day to day operations including all aspects of strategy and planning for the institution as a whole. He joined De Montfort as Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law in 2001.

David has written over 50 books and papers on strategy, management and change, and has advised the senior teams of Allianz-Cornhill Insurance, BAA, Ernst & Young, Fujitsu/ICL, Sun Microsystems, the SAS Institute and Xerox. He has also been advisor to the Office of the Prime Minister of Ethiopia and an external advisor to the World Bank on distance learning in developing countries.

He is a Board Member for Culture East Midlands, Regeneration East Midlands, the Leicester Regeneration Company and Leicestershire Business Voice. David also sits on the Partnership Board overseeing the development of the city’s new Digital Media Centre.

Speakers Added to EMB Conference

David Darlaston, Regional Director of Business in the Community, and Alan Christie, Director of Policy at the Equality & Human Rights Commission, have been added to the list of speakers for the Ethnic Minority Business Conference taking place on Oct 14 in Leicester.

Already confirmed were Gerard Chick, (Head of Knowledge Management at the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply), Rosana Mirkovic (Senior Policy Adviser at the Association of Chartered & Certified Accountants), and Stephen Smith (CEO of East Midlands Business Ltd).

13th Annual Ethnic Minority Business Conference - Save the Date

CREME is pleased to announce the date for this year's Ethnic Minority Business Conference. Click on the image above to read our announcement.

The conference will take place in the brand new stand of the Leicester Tigers Rugby Ground, Welford Road, on 14th October 2009.

Updates about speakers, the full programme and the delegate rate will be posted soon.

MEECOE Gets Engaged!

GETTING ENGAGED

Talk to any business support professional and it won’t be too long before the subject alights upon the challenge (and, less frequently, opportunity) of ‘engagement’. How do you engage with small enterprises in a way that is genuinely responsive to their needs? Much of the turbulence in the world of business support has been occasioned by a desire to address this central issue. The most recent manifestation has, of course, been the process of business simplification: the reduction of business support schemes from 3000 to less than 100. It is too early to asses how these new ‘business solutions’ fare. But it’s a racing certainty that better ‘engagement’ with small firms will be an important measure of their success.

The generic challenge of engagement is intensified when dealing with businesses with owners from diverse backgrounds (ethnic minorities, women, the disabled,...). Although such businesses will face similar challenges to any enterprise, a ‘one-size fits all’ approach will rarely be successful in reaching them. For example, research by CREME and many others has indicated that ethnic minority entrepreneurs require approaches to engagement that are sensitive to their particular context. Policy responses to this thorny issue have taken a variety of forms, from the encouragement of specialist support initiatives to an emphasis on catering for diversity within the ‘mainstream’. There are no easy answers.

It is right therefore to open up a debate on this question that reflects the changing policy climate, and indeed, the innovation that has occurred to date. That is why the Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre for Expertise (MEECOE) is delighted to be hosting a workshop that presents a number of ways in which individuals and organisations have attempted to promote business engagement with entrepreneurs from diverse communities. We’ll address a number of key questions:

• What approaches are emerging to engaging diverse communities in business?



• How can ‘mainstream’ and specialist agencies work together to promote effective engagement strategies?



• Can new approaches to supporting diverse enterprises be developed in the context of business simplification?

The contributions of our four main presenters cast new light on these matters.

David Darlaston of Business in the Community discusses an exciting mentoring initiative involving the corporate sector and ethnic minority entrepreneurs. As David will highlight, a real ‘win-win’ situation can result from such linkages.

The rare occurrence of an ethnic minority business support provider successfully pulling off a ‘break-out’ to become a ‘mainstream’ provider is documented by Ilyas Munshi. Ilyas is the Chief Executive of Enterprise4All in the North West. His organisation has developed well beyond its initial niche of Asian businesses.

In contrast, Anne Francis describes how a generic business support programme, BizFizz (South East) can be made to work for ethnic minorities, particularly for new migrant entrepreneurs.

Too often, the contribution, and particular needs, of Chinese entrepreneurs are overlooked. Dr. Sylvia Sham of the Wai Yin Chinese Women Society addresses this gap by describing how her Centre provides an holistic approach to the Chinese community in the region.

Kay Greenbank, Director of Strategy at Business Link West Midlands draws the workshop to a close by offering some reflections on how many of these issues are being addressed in region. The workshop addresses an important debate. I hope you’ll get engaged.Watch this space for a report on the workshop.-Prof Monder Ram-

Working with New Migrant Businesses Workshop

Yesterday, MEECOE ran a successful workshop in Birmingham which focussed on working with New Migrant businesses. Starting point was filling a knowledge gap regarding entrepreneurs from New Migrant communities. Who sets up new businesses and why? In what sectors of the economy are they concentrated? What factors promote or retard business formation? How many new jobs are being created and what are these jobs like?

Attendees represented many different stakeholders from business owners, policy makers to business support networks. As such the lively debate brought up some key issues for the research to focus on.

To gain further insight some one-to-one interviews will follow. These will allow the research to be steered toward and focussed on the crucial issues which were brought up by stakeholder themselves.

CREME Director to Consult on ESRC Project

CREME Director Prof Monder Ram will be involved as a co-investigator in a prestigious new ESRC project which was awarded to two research centres at Newcastle University: the Centre for Knowledge, Innovation, Technology and Enterprise (KITE) and the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies (CURDS).

The 28-month long project will be overseen by Dr Simon Down (KITE), Dr Paul Richter (KITE) and Dr Jane Pollard (CURDS) and will compare firms in the North East and Cambridgeshire in the bio-processing, film and media and security sectors and intensively track a small number of firms to get a close-up picture.

Dr Simon Down, the principal investigator, explains:" Whilst we know that all entrepreneurs complain about the excessive burden of red tape, very little is known about how they really deal with it in everyday life. To ensure that government gets the extent and forms of regulation right, without unduly harming the development of small businesses, better knowledge is required. It’s all well and good simply saying reduce the regulatory burden, but as we have seen in recent years, too light a regulatory touch isn’t necessarily in everyone's best interest".

A Week in the Life of Prof Monder Ram

Lund is a lively University town in the south of Sweden. In contrast, Eslov is a quiet vilage situated a few miles from the town. It is home to the Herbert Felix Institute (HFI), which is named after a prominent 'immigrant entrepreneur' who did much to regenerate the area. Lund University and the HFI jointly support my visiting Professorship at Lund. It is an exciting assignment. My role is to stimulate research on ethnic minority entrepreneurship at Lund, and at the same time, engage in more practical and policy oriented activities with the HFI in order to raise awareness of the issue. This blend of research and practice fits well with the work of CREME at De Montfort University.

My recent visit was typically hectic and varied. My first task was to catch up with my Phd student at Lund, Craig Mitchell. Craig is a year into his studies. He is trying to get to grips with literature on immigration, entrepreneurship, and the Swedish language (which is tough call for this affable Scotsman). But he has done well to navigate a path through the extensive and somewhat eclectic debates on the subject. Quite sensibly, he will be looking at the contribution that entrepreneurship studies can make to resesearch on ethnic minority studies. Wednesday (13 May) was an important day for him. His research proposal was scrutinised in public (that's the Swedish way), and he was interrogated on its contents by three academics from Lund and Malmo University. He acquitted himself extremely well, and moves on to the next stage of his academic journey.

My stint at the HFI was rather interesting. With barely any notice, I was asked to give a presentation to a group of visiting schoolchildren from Sweden and Germany. It is a real challenge to make the subject of immigrant entrepreneurship relevant to 16 year olds from different countries. Where do you start? Well, I suppose one might want to reflect upon the generic importance of entrepreneurship, immigration and human rights. And then hope for the best. I emerged (relatively) unscathed; although I was intrigued by the insouciance of one youngster who resolutely kept his ipod earphones firmly in place throughout my talk.

On the research front, much of my time was taken up with assisting to put together a major bid to undertake a large-scale study of immigrant entrepeneurship in Sweden. It involves a collaboration between Lund and Malmo University, as well as CREME. CREME's role in this multi-dsciplinary research project will be to provide international policy comparisions, which will be used to 'benchmark' the policy and research on immigrant entrepreneurship in Sweden.

Despite the tranquility of Eslov and the genial, pleasant setting of Lund, it is difficult to escape the hurly-burly of CREME's activities. We have been asked to be a partner in a bid to the National Lottery on new migrant social enterprises in the east Midlands. It has be to submitted in the next few days and I am expecting a frantic phone call in less than an hour. Never mind, I will be back in Lund in September!

-Prof Monder Ram -

Event Report: New Migrants Focus Group in Northampton

Focus Group for Eastern European Migrants in Northampton

Last Thursday, April 23rd 2009, a focus group event, co-sponsored by CREME, New Communities in Social Enterprise (NCISE) and Business Link, was held at Chata Polish Restaurant in Northampton. The 14 invitees represented established Polish businesses, prospective Polish businesses, NCISE and other Eastern European community organisations.

This focus group was specifically aimed at Eastern European businesses and community organisations within Northamptonshire.

After brief introductions, where the sponsors of the event introduced themselves to the participants and provided an overview of their activities, we went through several questions with the attendees covering people’s backgrounds, their businesses and experiences of business support. There were several immediate key findings:-

• A large majority of people are either planning on settling down in the UK or staying at least for a few more years
• Business activities focused on food related businesses, websites, arts and crafts, construction and import/export
• People started a business in order to gain more opportunities and to maximise their potential
• Main barriers people face are language barriers and not knowing where to access information
• Most participants have little help from family, business support organisation or religious organisations
• Credit crisis doesn’t have a big impact because Polish people are used to tough conditions
• People mostly use the internet to find business related information
• Most people lack information on legal aspects of running a business and where they can find sources of finance

Most of the attendees didn’t know much about Polish social enterprises. The event concluded with a question and answer session where attendees could pose their questions to Business Link and NCISE. Several people showed interest in making appointments to meet with a Business Link advisor at a later date and with NCISE, and declared a big interest in being involved with CREME’s future activities.

- Alex Kiselinchev-

Project News: Facilitating Entrepreneurship in New Migrant Communities

Prof Monder Ram in collaboration with East Midlands Business Ltd is overseeing this year long project commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Two dynamic researchers have gotten this exciting project off to a great start.
Alexander Kiselinchev has been engaging with new migrant business owners to raise awareness of business support, and develop detailed understanding of their particular needs through a series of interviews and focus groups.
Lovemore Muchenje is working with intermediary networks that support new migrant communities in order to explore opportunities for collaborative working.
The study is also aiming to increase knowledge transfer between CREME and EMB Ltd.

The project runs until October 2009 and updates will be posted here.

Project News: Facilitating Supplier Diversity

Facilitating Supplier Diversity: A Collaborative Approach to Engaging Underrepresented Suppliers and Large Firms

This year long project, commissioned by the Economic and Social Research Council, is nearing completion. Working together on this are Prof Monder Ram, Dr Nick Theodorakopoulos and Dr Olga Tregaskis in collaboration with Supplier Diversity Europe (SDE).

The focus of this project is trifold:

Knowledge transfer. CREME and SDE are sharing material that will support the implementation of supplier diversity in SDE members’ companies. The intention is to share the accumulated and synergistic expertise at special events for SDE members. Importantly, these experiences will help to shape broader policy debates in the UK and other European countries.

People transfer. CREME recruited two specialists who are ‘placed’ with SDE. One of these ‘placement fellows’ works with an SDE member to create a ‘Hub’, which is drawing together suppliers at different points in the supply chain. The other expert assists in the production of a ‘Handbook’ that will have resonance in a number of European countries.

Developing the business case for Supplier Diversity. CREME’s action research methodology will be used to develop an informed approach to supplier diversity in practice. This will be distinctly European in orientation.

A brief summary of this project's outcomes will be added here in July.