There’s a wide range of organisations that offer professional services aimed at entrepreneurs and new enterprises, usually on a fee-based arrangement. Some of these are listed in the Help for entrepreneurs from other organisations section.
It’s not our intent to keep track of all of these organisations, but to highlight the kind of support that is available. Full listings are available elsewhere such as Social Enterprise UK’s directory. We strongly urge you to look around and see what’s available in your area.
A good place to start is with your regional Social Enterprise support body. These are linked to Social Enterprise UK and can be found in their directory (unfortunately the South West organisation called RISE is closing due to lack of funding).
We are also looking at setting up a coaching programme, possibly along the lines of the BizFizz coaching scheme set up and run by the New Economics Foundation.
We hope to get some funding in place to develop and pilot a Transition-themed coaching model that would initially operate in a small number of TIs.
Any such scheme might be run by the Transition Network or a partner.
We imagine this would involve recruiting a local business-savvy and coaching-skilled person in maybe 3 different places, then putting them through a training programme and supporting them as they offer the coaching services to Transition Enterprises where they live.
We’d hope to offer a range of options in terms of payment for the coaching service i.e. some funded, some for a fee, some deferred fees, other means of exchange etc.
If it looks like it’s getting good results, this pilot project will help design the best possible programme for wider rollout, and help us understand where it needs to differ from place to place. Part of the learnings will be around how to make this model financially self-sustaining longer term.
What’s the difference between this coaching model, and the School for Social/Transition Entrepreneurs (SEE) offering? We see the coaching as a more flexible, one-on-one model that offers tailored support around specific needs. The SEE/STE is a more structured course over a specific timeframe delivered to a group. This will become more clear as we better define both these offerings.
More information will be posted here when and if we secure the funding.
Website and Image Source : www.bizfizz.org.uk
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