Developing Best Practice in Promoting Enterprise (BPPE)
Developing Best Practice in Promoting Enterprise
(BPPE)
Start date: Jan 1, 2008,
End date: Sep 29, 2011
PROJECT
FINISHED
The main aim of BPPE is to develop an enterprise culture and promote entrepreneurship in disadvantaged areas so that individuals can earn a living, gain self respect and grow the work ethic within their communities. Achieving this entrepreneurial spirit will mean creating the conditions and attitudes to be developed so that individuals can gain access to support and success in starting businesses. The project partners, support organisations with different social groups, will help these disadvantaged communities by intervening in schools and other training establishments, both in rural areas and coastal towns of the partner regions. The crossborder aim is to affect the regional policies in this field, benefiting both citizens and regional economies by bringing together the best practical experience from the different partners. By increasing the availability and quality of entrepreneurship education and training, and not just focusing on business start up support, the project hopes to promote a culture in which all citizens in all regions will have the confidence to take risks in their lives as well as in business. Achievements: What were the key results of the project?Through research and the swot, partners learned about gaps in knowledge and expertise. Meeting partners and their respective network of business support brought even wider knowledge and potential for partnering on other projects. The value of enterprise portfolios was assessed bringing a catalogue of projects to consider. The project created a pool of common documents for use throughout the programme, based on best practice from each other. Partners met with trainers and designers and took external suggestions for changes in the future into consideration. Partners translated and adapted materials for use elsewhere.Marketing campaigns and recruitment sessions were completed and delivered throughout for all pilots trialled. Where a pilot was a success, partners tried to deliver it again to a different target group to gauge its flexibility. Evaluations were produced throughout - not just on the pilots but also on the progress of BPPE as a whole. A closing event was held for BPPE where results and lessons learned were disseminated. The project also launched the app at this event.A project transferred to Belgium was picked up by the Job Agency in Flanders (VDAB) who have incorporated part of the programme into a national one for older workers. There was interest in the prison programme and the inspirational events to encourage more women to take up self-employment - neither of these had been explored before. A programme taken to Kent has produced a self-sustaining legacy for promotion of enterprise to university students and requests for further pilots are still being received.Did all partners and territories benefit from the results?All partners benefitted from the exchanges of experience, the research, SWOT and identification of gaps in expertise as well as shared resources. As the swot analysis identified gaps in provision external partner organisations have also been able to review their future strategiesThe Ambassadors pilot will continue as a self-sustaining project, picked up by a local university group to reach out to the younger generations. VDAB have also picked up part of the Shape Your future programme to enhance their national start up programme. Certain pilots which have been trialled in both the UK and Flanders have been successful and will be maintained in some form. Lessons learned from the pilots will be capitalised and used within new projects or introduced as a mainsream product and incorporated into ongoing business support. The UK programme for older workers for example has been incorporated into a mainstream natonal programme by VDAB in Flanders. The Univeristy students who have been trained to deliver talks to students in schools have applied for funding from local education to continue this in schools across the East Kent area. Lessons learned have also been incorporated into a new project - Fusion where both partners will work together again alongside others.What were the effects / outcomes for the territories involved?The learning from BPPE will help to shape future projects and strategies across the South East and Flanders. Learning has already been disseminated and there is a wider pool of workshops and programmes to use in the development of new content. It has provided us all with an extended knowledge of support and cultural differences. it has also allowed us to see how innovative we can be by adapting tried and tested material in different groups.The wider impact of BPPE in the territories should result in increased interest in enterprise culture and self-employment which is particularly important during this economic downturn. More people starting businesses should result in more local jobs which has a positive effect on the local supply chain. It could also inspire others to start up.
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