The Enterprise HQ (EHQ) project provides support for home-based entrepreneurs, helping them to set up and grow their own businesses.
As a result of the initiative, it is predicted that over the next five years 1,500 new businesses and 600 jobs will be created. Success is already evident; in 2008 Shropshire recorded a 13.5% increase in economic activity in the self employed sector, against a regional figure of 8.4% and a national rate of 9.4%.
Launched in the county town of Shrewsbury, the project was founded with public sector investment, which has been matched by private and in-kind support. EHQ now comprises a dynamic entrepreneurial network and provides services to a growing number of home-based entrepreneurs and mobile professionals. Members of the EHQ network can access luxury business meeting venues, AV resources, flexible hot desks, business addresses and powerful new routes to market. EHQ provides them with a vital connection with the local entrepreneurial community and professionalism for their home enterprises. Accessible support and specially designed facilities enable their onward growth and development.
Over the past decade Shropshire, the county made rich by agriculture, global merchants and heavy industrial development, has shown decline and degeneration and the recent transition to the new ‘knowledge based economy’ created further challenges. With rising unemployment and falling job vacancies a social enterprise, guided by local businesses and community representatives, led the innovative EHQ project to transform the county’s fortunes through enterprise.
National research has shown that 2.5million businesses are based within UK homes, and this is increasing at a rate of 18% per annum. The EHQ project capitalised on the growing number of home-based enterprises to meet challenges posed by the economy head-on. It has been so successful that Shropshire is deemed as the most advanced area in the UK in terms of supporting home enterprise. It is currently the location for a home business pilot research study by the Local Government Association and EHQ has won European Commission funding to deliver a £1million project, with two state of the art Business Hub venues in Shrewsbury and Ironbridge.
Business Hubs provide incubation services to thousands of isolated enterprises – a unique concept in the public and private world. They encourage mass ‘individual’ innovation, and position increased productivity and self employment as the answer to economic declines.
New products are also under development to target young people who are leaving school or college and face a declining jobs market. ‘Business in a Box’ is an EHQ product, developed jointly with a young entrepreneurial design agency. It gives young people all the tools they need to convert skills and ideas into workable businesses within a day. Follow-on workshops under the banner, ‘Business Rocks!’ have also been set up to help young entrepreneurs develop their business skills and ideas. In tune with the collaborative nature of this project, Louis Barnett, a high profile young member of the community, is the Business Rocks! Ambassador.
Teenage Shropshire entrepreneur, Louis, began his business at the kitchen table and now controls local factory production of his own brand of chocolate – Chokolit. Supplying Sainsbury’s and Waitrose and exporting to four international outlets, Louis was this year awarded the Lord Carter Memorial Award for his services to the UK Food Industry. At just 18 years of age Louis is a perfect example of a Shropshire based EHQ member. He uses his own journey from kitchen table tycoon to nationally recognised industry guru to inspire younger members of EHQ.
The work of the EHQ project communicates a message of hope and recovery from the financial crisis. The scheme assists businesses to launch new products, gain new custom, increase sales and ultimately create new jobs and start-up businesses. In a country facing 3.2 million talented people being underutilised and unemployed, Enterprise HQ focuses on self employment, self reliance and self sufficiency as a way of tackling these problems.
Fay Easton, Projects Director at Shropshire Enterprise Partnership, said:
"Winning the regional heat of the Enterprising Britain competition is a
fantastic achievement and we are delighted that Shropshire has been
recognised for the hard work of its entrepreneurial business owners and the
innovation of the Enterprise Partnership in nurturing and supporting them.
“The catalyst for this Enterprising Britain entry was the people themselves,
the entrepreneurs who are as inspiring as they are innovative and managing
business ventures of all sizes from a home base. The new Industrial
Revolution is underway and the business force created by the multiple
enterprises, invisible but powerful, created a need for the EHQ business hub
project.
“Enterprise HQ is an ongoing initiative that is set to expand over
the coming two years as the Partnership continues to work towards improving
the economic fortunes of our area. We hope the judges recognise that
the 'enterprising DNA' of British people will be the key to the recovery
from the current cyclical decline and recognise Shropshire as symbolic of
that much needed business growth and the most enterprising place in the
country for its own recognition and support of the home-grown entrepreneurs.
Self employment and self reliance go hand in hand and in Shropshire our self
motivated and enterprising people are working from home-bases all over the
county, transforming our local economy whilst at the same time, bringing the
local neighbourhoods back to life."
Supportive evidence
Serving a widely dispersed county the evidence of success to date includes:
? 500 business membership base in 18 months
? 400 businesses showcased from the EHQ central hub in Ironbridge
? 250 local entrepreneurs a year receive business training and business assists
? 10,000 entrepreneurs have attended the venues for peer support, use of the facilities and to connect to Government funded business support
? VAT Registrations are increasing at a rate 3% beyond the national average
? The numbers of registered self employed people is noted at 23% [per head of working population -the national average is 12%]
The work of EHQ communicates a message of hope and recovery from the worst financial crisis in living memory. The ‘good news’ is that intense business growth can be perpetuated from the skills of enterprising populations working from an economic home base and supported by an Enterprise HQ.
In addition there has been:
? 86 new business start ups via EHQ programmes
? £500,000 worth of new businesses created by connections to EHQ
? £250,000 in positive press coverage for members of EHQ resulting business development worth upwards of £1million
? 400 businesses entered onto the EHQ Member Directory
? 430 referrals a year to Business Link to access government funded business support services