Commissions and activities - some examples:
Student and graduate entrepreneurship
Graduate Enterprise Incubation Environments - a benchmarking review. Norwich Business School 2010. The project included an extensive literature review, stakeholder consultation and identification and in-depth case studies of outstanding initiatives. It resulted in the development of a strategic planning framework and tool which Universities can use to development bespoke pathways and progression routes towards the delivery of effective Graduate Enterprise Incubation Environments.
National Student & Graduate Enterprise Incubation Survey. University of Hertfordshire and NACUE 2011. The project includes: literature review, construction and testing of the survey tool, analysis, report and recommendations.
Women's enterprise
Commissioned by the DTI and Regional Development Agencies in 2003 to produce the first UK national strategy for women's enterprise and a well-regarded range of training materials, best practice reports and quality standards to support better services. This resulted in a disproportionate increase in the number of women starting businesses in the UK.
Co- author of new economics foundation publication: 'Who Benefits? The Difficulties for Women in Making the Transition from Unemployment to Self-Employment' 2003. (won best paper at ISBE 2003). Also 'Bridging the Enterprise Gap' (on behalf of SBS Phoenix Fund, 2004) and 'Give Women the Credit', in Gender & Development, Volume 5, Issue 3 November 1997.
Inclusive business support
Inclusive Business Support. Northwest Regional Development Agency 2010. Capacity building materials, case studies and training for 120 business support providers and policy makers, about Inclusive Business Support for disabled people, Black and Minority ethnic groups, people aged over 50, people living in deprived communities and women.
Development of quality standards, including the Flagship Award (which became a contractual requirement for all start-up business support providers in three English Regions) and the international Women's Business Centres Quality Standard. Process involved a multi-level stakeholder consultation exercise, including online consultation, several expert groups, 1-1 interviews and focus groups. The development of the WBC standard gained the support of BIS and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.
Programme development and review
Development of the Full Circle Fund (FCF), the UK's first microcredit programme, based on the Nobel prize-winning Grameen Bank's principles. FCF was set-up as an Industrial & Provident Society, with the support of Charity Bank and Nat West and was launched in Norfolk in 1999. It continues to provide peer support circles and sustainable loans to hundreds of women business owners. The FCF model was licensed and successfully extended to operate in diverse communities across the UK, including rural Yorkshire and with disaffected youth in inner city London.
Social and Economic Impact Evaluation Toolkit. Introduced an extensive social and economic impact evaluation process, including SROI at WEETU (which evidenced a ROI of £5.25 for each £1 invested) and developed this, with the New Economics Foundation, into a social and economic impact assessment toolkit and training programme for Prowess members.
Business mentoring
'Women's Enterprise Mentoring 2008'. BERR, the Department of Business, Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (now BIS) 2008. A major national review of business mentoring provision for women in England. The report comprised an overview and survey of national and regional services, stakeholder perspectives and potential support for a national women's enterprise mentoring network. It also sumarised good practice from existing services, international examples and past experience.