GROWING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS.

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Entrepreneurial activity, including small business start-ups, expansion and innovation offer an important avenue of econ
GROWING YOUR SMALL BUSINESS. The role of business schools and professional bodies.

CASE STUDY DEVELOPING THE FUTURE GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS OF NORTHERN IRELAND The Department of Business and Enterprise, Ulster University Business School Entrepreneurial activity, including small business start-ups, expansion and innovation offer an important avenue of economic growth for the region of Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Economic Strategy, 2012). Indeed, the Northern Ireland Executive recognises the need for creativity and business enterprise within the private sector, in order to compete on national and international levels. Increased political interest is evident through multiple strategic action plans. The Northern Ireland Economic Strategy (2012) outlined a range of priority areas designed to encourage business start-ups, promote entrepreneurship and create employment opportunities. This strategy focuses on the private sector, seeking to stimulate innovation and new channels of growth within Northern Ireland. Succeeding this, a complementary report was released, namely the ‘Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland’ (2014-2025). It outlines, “the key long-term actions necessary to make that transformation and so ensure that innovation plays its full part in realising the vision of our Economic Strategy”. Acknowledging and supporting the importance of small business start-ups within Northern Ireland, the Ulster University Business School has fostered an environment of entrepreneurship and enterprise across the faculty, including the recent establishment of the Centre for SME Development. This case study will focus on the Department of Business and Enterprise, whose commitment to student enterprise and entrepreneurship is evident across undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, recognised at a local, regional and national level for excellence and has established a new incubator facility off campus. This is their story from small beginnings to growing success.

Student Enterprise Within the Curriculum While we are good at cultivating creativity and celebrate enterprise throughout the Department, entrepreneurship education is particularly evident within in a number of specific modules. For example, the first year module, ‘Academic and Business Effectiveness’, is designed to stimulate excitement for business enterprise, nurture creative minds, encourage innovation and build student confidence. Students engage in pro-active learning styles, which challenge them to develop a new product, produce promotional material and present in front of a panel of experts and peers. It is this dedication and innovative approach to enterprise education, which has contributed to an environment of enterprising students. Furthermore, gaining particular success on a national level is the delivery of the ‘Entrepreneurship’ module in final year. In this first semester module, students are assessed on their ability to develop a business plan for a new, innovative product concept or service. During the module, each team must present their business plan to a panel of external experts, which includes local business owners, local Council and Chamber of Commerce representation. Due to the high standards of the students, it is often the case that panel members become involved in mentoring activities, following the competition. Building on the success of the Entrepreneurship module, a complementary module was introduced into second semester of final year, which is invitation only. Upon completion of semester one, those teams with feasible and realistic business plans are invited to participate in the ‘New Venture Creation’ module. This module provides a platform for students to develop their business plan and launch their product commercially.

CASE STUDY

Evidence The excellent teaching style and dedication of staff has been recognised and commended, with Senior Lecturer Fred Scharf recently receiving the highly acclaimed Enterprise Ireland award for ‘The academic who had played a key role in fostering the ‘Enterprise’ agenda in universities across the Island of Ireland’.

As such, it is clear that the Department of Business and Enterprise has laid successful foundations for student enterprise. By implementing pro-active learning styles and developing innovative modules, we are proud to have created a culture of entrepreneurial undergraduate students.

As further indication of the success directly leading from the foregoing final year modules, a number of high calibre achievements can be noted. In 2015, a team from the module ‘New Venture Creation’ has won the Internal Ulster University stage of the Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Award in the undergraduate category for the fourth time in a row. Team ‘Little Creations’ won the UK-wide Santander 60-second pitch competition in June 2015. ‘Little Creations’ were also invited to pitch at the semi-finals of the Ireland Funds Business Plan competition. Team ‘Blindspot’ has reached the final of the 2015 Enterprise Ireland/Invest NI Student Entrepreneur Awards and won a prize of €5,000 for technologically most innovative company. Table 1 further outlines student achievements, which were obtained during the final year entrepreneurship modules.

The challenge: Developing Graduate Entrepreneurs

Table 1: Department of Business and Enterprise Student Awards Year

Santander Universities Entrepreneurship Award within the Ulster University (UU)

Enterprise Ireland/ Invest NI Student Entrepreneur Awards

2008

Winner

2009

FInalist

2010

Winner & Runner-up

2011

Other Awards

Runner-up

2012

Winners – UU Undergraduate

Finalist

2013

Winners – UU Undergraduate

Two Finalists

Ireland Funds • Runner Up NISP £25k Awards • Only U/G Finalist

2014

Winners – UU Undergraduate

Finalist

Whilst the Department of Business and Enterprise has built successful foundations at undergraduate level and has a proven track record of enterprising students, we admit that we have been less successful in converting enterprising students into graduate entrepreneurs. This challenge mirrors the wider context of Northern Ireland. While efforts are made to increase enterprise awareness (Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland 2014-2025), at regional level, Northern Ireland has a poor record of entrepreneurial activity. Since 2004, Northern Ireland has annually recorded fewer business start-ups than any other UK region (Office for National Satistics, 2010). Consequently, the challenge is thus, how can The Department of Business and Enterprise build upon successful foundations already in place at undergraduate level, in order to promote and increase the number of graduate business start-ups?

CASE STUDY

The Strategy: Three Pillars of Support In order to address the above-mentioned challenge, The Department of Business and Enterprise have adopted a three-pillar strategy, with the primary aim to support the development of graduate entrepreneurs and new business start-ups. Building on the current successful foundations, we offer three pillars of support; commitment, mentoring and resources, as illustrated in Figure 1. Each will be discussed in turn. Figure 1: Three Pillars of Support Strategy

Finally, the third pillar of support is the provision of resources necessary for graduates to start their own business. The Causeway Enterprise Agency has sponsored a fully functioning incubation unit for our students, which includes both office and networking space outside of the university campus. The incubation unit, which we named The BeHive, is our most recent movement and is still in the initial stages of startup. The aim of BeHive is to provide the vital stepping-stones for our graduate entrepreneurs, in terms of a business address, meeting place and office environment, which many students historically struggle to locate. Lessons Learned: Positive Outlook

Resource

Mentoring

Commitment

Graduate Entrepreneurs

Mentors include local business owners and the Causeway Enterprise Agency.

Enterprising Undergraduate Students

Firstly, we are committed to students post-graduation – going beyond the duty of care and assessment during the life cycle of a module. It is important that a community of investors, practitioners, and enterprise agencies are also fully committed, in order to move beyond the undergraduate mentality. As a specific example, visiting professor Philip Bain (co-owner of Shred Bank) has invested his time, resources and care into the students. This involves significant input to our students, regular guest lecturers and provision of advice and guidance to both student and academic staff, ensuring that we are up to date with current business demands and needs. The second pillar of support is mentoring. During the course of final year, our enterprising students are exposed to business practitioners, panels of experts and a network of contacts. In particular, a mentoring scheme has been incorporated into the ‘Entrepreneurship’ and ‘New Venture Creation’ final year modules. The aim is to offer practical insights on manufacturing, finance and marketing of the business concept from a commercial perspective. It is important to move beyond the realm of undergraduate assessment and provide mentorship throughout the postgraduation experience of starting a new business venture.

To date, the department has a positive story to tell. While we acknowledge that we are at the beginning of our journey, we are excited about the future and are in a strong position to move forward. Most recently, the enterprise team secured significant funding from a global bank. This will support us to build upon successful foundations and facilitate the implementation of the Three Pillar Strategy, with the aim of developing the future graduate entrepreneurs of Northern Ireland. Authors Dr Aisling Reid, Mr Fred Scharf, Dr Karise Hutchinson and Mr Chris McLean, Ulster University, Department of Business and Enterprise. References Northern Ireland Economic Strategy: Priorities for Sustainable Growth and Prosperity (March, 2012), Northern Ireland Executive. Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland (September 2014), Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment. Hughes, M (July, 2010) ‘Office for National Statistics Report’, Newport Innovation Strategy for Northern Ireland (September 2014), Northern Ireland Executive. For more information on Growing Your Small Business visit www.managers.org.uk/growingsmes or join the conversation #GrowingSMEs