This post is one full time post or 2 part time posts

Generic role of post:

To engage and support people from under-represented groups (including women, unemployed, BME, disabled), particularly in deprived areas, through 1:1, small group activities, and our specialist training, that enable them to make the enterprise journey into starting up their own business.  You’ll also provide ongoing contact and support after start, and be involved in the enrichment and networking activities of the Outset programme.

Specific duties:

• Responsible for planning, creating and managing a wide variety of innovative and pervasive outreach and awareness-raising activities, motivating and engaging with people from diverse and non-traditional backgrounds, to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of clients entering into the programme. This will involve seamless working alongside the enterprise coaching team.
• Working in partnership with major or local partners, community organisations and stakeholders, with whom you will foster, develop and maintain excellent working relationships and mutual referrals.
• Delivery of YTKO’s proven programme of pre-start enterprise ‘tasters’, Introduction to Enterprise modules, and structured Business Start-up course on a rolling basis in the target areas and for the target clients.
• Provision of post start support and enrichment to help increase sustainability.
• As trusted client advisers, you will value and support the client’s journey throughout every stage, including 1:1 meetings and support, and ensure there are sufficient numbers of clients in each stage of the Outset programme.
• Responsible for capturing all appropriate client data and activities required by the Programme Manager, ensuring files are audit ready, and support him/her in preparing accurate and informed claims and progress reports.
• Deliver excellent client service at all times to clients, partners and funders
• To support the Programme Manager in working to make the project a Flagship for funders and the clients.
• Proactively work to add or leverage additional value to the project, for example, through greater linkages with ESF, community and third sector, non-enterprise agencies (police, health, housing etc) or involving private sector pro-bono enrichment activities.

Person Specification:
Experience

Essential:

• Relevant commercial, academic or vocational experience to our client groups and to the enterprise journey (preferably 3 years +)
• Have a sound knowledge and understanding of the “Business Journey” and “Barriers”, both real and perceived in relation to under-represented client groups and/or working in deprived communities
• Knowledge of the key determinants of business success and sustainability.
• Case-load and account management experience, with particular emphasis on prioritising and goal setting for clients, effective use of time.
• Successful training experience, knowledge of and the ability to respond to, a variety of learning styles
• Demonstrate sensitivity in managing client expectations, particularly in reference to the de-selection process with clients for whom enterprise is not a viable option.
• In depth knowledge of the local economy/infrastructure and/or a particular client group
• Ability to secure trust and respect of other enterprise and non-enterprise partners and community groups, and to establish a robust mesh of strong working relationships on the ground.
• Professional, SFEDI or similar accreditation. Greater emphasis is placed on any first hand experience of starting/growing a business, and/or of the sales and marketing function.

Personal Attributes and Qualities

Essential:

• Must enjoy delivering facilitated workshops and interacting with a wide variety of people
• Enjoy a proactive and positive attitude to working in the community
• Excellent organisational and communication skills, including non-verbal
• Highly motivated and proactive team player
• Client centric ethos and attitude, focus on quality and impact of intervention
• Empathetic and supportive of individual clients
• Confident, enthusiastic enterprise advocate
• Flexibility, adaptability and a willingness to embrace processes of change and development

John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: “Growth has stalled. European politicians have not acted quickly enough. It has been like a bushfire, and the politicians have not created a big enough firebreak, so each time the bushfire has jumped the firebreak and is now getting closer to the houses.”

Given the potential for industrial action, John Taylor, (ACAS) said: “While we have seen some high profile strikes, we need to keep things in perspective. The number of disputes and days lost to strikes remain at historically low levels.”

John Gieve described the prospects for EU and UK banks and economies as “between grim and catastrophic”, seeing a real chance that the euro would collapse leading to a deep depression across the West. Even if that was avoided, he fears a renewed recession would be certain in Europe, with little the UK could do to avoid it.

Despite the challenges, the panel explored the importance of creativity and innovation in creating new jobs and opportunities.

Bev Hurley focused on how loosening the reins for SMEs would generate jobs. She highlighted the importance of redefining “SME” to accurately reflect the distinct profiles and needs of micro, small and medium sized enterprises, pointing out that 98 per cent of all UK enterprises have fewer than 50 employees. With the emphasis on incentivising growth and ambition at the critical stages of the enterprise journey, Bev called for more refined policymaking to reap rich rewards for the UK’s economy.

Read Bev Hurley’s full text, “It’s all about jobs!” here.

Generic role of post:

To lead the company’s financial accounting, reporting and control activities across related businesses.

Key responsibilities will be to lead, motivate and manage the finance department. Develop, implement and maintain an effective business reporting framework that facilitates effective scrutiny of financial performance and safeguards business assets.

Main Responsibilities

• Manage all financial related processes and procedures to maintain accurate and timely measurement of company performance and financial expectations.
• Develop a financial framework, system and procedures to ensure the efficient and effective management of the company’s finances without compromising quality and service.
• Ensure accounting policies comply with the relevant accounting standards.
• Provide full management reporting on monthly basis.
• Manage the project grant claim documentation, submissions and evidencing process as required by each project to deadlines
• Analyse company’s monthly financial results, variances and trends verifying data integrity and investigating anomalies to evaluate business performance.
• Measure ongoing financial activities and monitor/implement internal control procedures ensuring that they are appropriate and compliant
• Create and deliver the corporate financial strategy.
• Compile business projections including cash flow incorporating central and project budgets.
• Produce draft statutory accounts and act as the main point of contact to external auditors and provide information as required.
• Deliver all necessary financial and operational reporting to funders, clients and regulators as required.
• Manage any audit processes with both independent financial auditors and funders’ auditors as needed.
• Document and communicate financial/operational issues and procedures as necessary
• Line management of small accounts team
• Ensure best practice is captured and applied across the organisation.
• Work with marketing and new product development teams to create and validate business plans and models.
• Other financial and business responsibilities as mutually agreed.
• Recommend changes that will improve the company’s performance, planning and decision making.

General Responsibilities

• Provide cover for absent colleagues where appropriate
• Secure good internal and external relations with individuals, suppliers and third party agencies.
• Attend training events as required in relation to duties and responsibilities.
• Comply with all Policies and Procedures, i.e. Code of Conduct, Health and Safety and Equality and Diversity Policy.
• Undertake other such reasonable and related duties as may be required from time to time.

Personal Specification

Knowledge and Experience

• Sound knowledge and experience of Sage Payroll systems and SAGE accounting.
• Qualified/QBE accountant
• Experience of managing small teams.

Skills and Abilities

• Demonstrably competent and confident IT skills across all Microsoft Office Applications
• Excellent organisation skills – you will be working to a monthly timetable with deadlines and will be expected to organise your time effectively to compliment the team’s goals.
• Highly Organised – Attention to detail and the ability to work with high degree of accuracy in an efficient and timely manner and to strict deadlines.
• Accurate – in calculating, recording and checking of work
• Good timekeeping and punctuality
• Ability to identify, analyse and solve problems
• Team player – willing to multi-skill, help others and be able to ask for help
• Good interpersonal and interpersonal skills in order to communicate at all levels.
• Customer Service – able to meet the needs of both internal and external customers

Other Points

• A ‘can do’ attitude and flexible approach to working is essential to this role, as is an ability to remain calm under pressure.

If you wish to apply for this post, please complete the application form which can be downloaded at www.ytko.com and email it to jobs@ytko.com

YTKO is an equal opportunity employer.

The closing date for this post is provisionally January 31^th.

Enterprising

Reproduced here with the kind permission of ISBE, the paper includes responses from members of their expert panel.

To date, more than 300,000 entrepreneurs have been supported through enterprise creation, management and growth by FastTrac’s NewVenture, GrowthVenture and TechVenture programmes.

Bev Hurley, Chief Executive of YTKO, says, “We’re delighted that YTKO were selected as the only organisation to deliver Kauffman FastTrac^® in the UK.

“FastTrac is a powerful and highly accessible learning tool, that has earned its reputation for stimulating entrepreneurship by results, and this new partnership will enable YTKO to multiply its own successful approach to driving enterprise awareness and job creation.

“With FastTrac, we will be able to reach many more entrepreneurs looking for effective support to grow their businesses.”

Alana Muller, president of Kauffman FastTrac^® commented, “We selected YTKO because of its impressive record in job creation.

“FastTrac was developed to empower people to create their own jobs – and YTKO’s strength in enterprise start-up and business growth makes them an ideal partner to deliver this accessible learning programme in the UK.”

The three Kauffman FastTrac^® programmes address the range of skills needed at the various stages of business:

• Kauffman FastTrac^® NewVenture: Specifically for new entrepreneurs in the early stages of business creation, NewVenture provides the tools to develop the business concept, determine its viability and outline the critical steps to a successful business launch.

• Kauffman FastTrac^® GrowthVenture: Supports existing entrepreneurs to improve business performance with review and evaluation tools for key aspects of the business, exploring next stage growth and reshaping the existing business for improved profitability and performance.

• Kauffman FastTrac^® TechVenture: Focuses on enterprise creation and development created for technology-based ventures with aspirations for growth.

FastTrac learning programmes start in Cambridgeshire at the end of January 2012.

To find out more or register for details of course dates and news, please email Sandy Eaton, Kauffman FastTrac^® UK country manager, or contact her on 01223 421475.

Kauffman in Europe

Thanks to the partnership between META Group and Kauffman FastTrac^®, the FastTrac Programme is now available in Europe with a qualified network of certified partners including YTKO Ltd. Meta Group is a leading International group, working for the creation and acceleration of knowledge intensive companies, through the provision of training and coaching and early stage financing.

Now, with the advance of rapid manufacturing, EL-BO has the opportunity to offer high value manufacturing services. This investment in growth will allow them to maximise the market opportunities that composite materials offer.

YTKO are identifying new market applications for EL-BO and potential customers, as well as developing their brand and supporting their entry into these new markets.  Chosen for our specialisms in research, early stage proof of market and value proposition development, EL-BO are looking to YTKO to help create an effective growth strategy for the company.

Virginie Vinel, Head of Strategy at YTKO, commented: “Making a parallel with the market introduction of digital printing, which I was involved in during the 1990s, the rapid manufacturing with composite materials is a disruptive innovation: it is changing the role of companies in the manufacturing value chain and gives them the ability to exploit new and more profitable market segments.”
 The composite industry is currently in growth stage, with a shipment value of US$17.8billion and annual growth of 10.3% last year. Potential applications are numerous within building construction, wind turbines, oil rigs, bridges, aerospace and
trucking/automotive parts.

In addition to high performance and reduced weight, manufacturing with composite materials can solve some serious challenges, for example, in reducing the cost of deep water constructions and resistance to weather adversities.

Enterprising Women, the largest business community focused solely on women entrepreneurs, carried out its own in-depth research across the UK with female business owners who were ‘stuck’ in achieving their ambitions.  More than 220 women responded, to provide specific insights about their barriers to growth.

These were not all micro businesses. Claiming a total turnover of £47m at the time of responding, some had multi-million£ turnover, some employed between 50-100 people.  All, however, had ambitious plans for growth, which, if those barriers were demolished, would represent a cumulative contribution of £232 million of sales and the creation of more than 3,500 jobs.

If the goals of this representative sample were replicated in every women-owned business in the UK, an additional 240,000 jobs could be created. That is six times the job creation being promised by the £950 million Regional Growth Fund.

Is this level of employment and growth realistic? The women responding to the survey were confident and determined, but they clearly needed specialist help to grow.

Enterprising Women has trained more than 3,000 existing women-owned businesses and helped more than 350 new businesses to start up, delivering a survival rate of more than 80 per cent after four years.  Women business leaders engaged with the Growth Programme report significant job creation, GVA growth and return on investment, none of which have been replicated in traditional business support initiatives.

In Cornwall in 2011, with a group of just 14 businesswomen, the Growth Programme reported – only six months later – turnover increases between 10 – 250% on sales between £100,000 and £1 million. It also revealed greater profitability; significant investments in infrastructure, including expansion into larger premises for four of the businesses; expansion into new markets, including South Africa, Canada and Italy; eight new full time and three part-time jobs – and more forecast.

Participants reported greater strategic direction and focus, growth planning and execution abilities, confidence and vision; and tangible benefits from working in a group of supportive, like-minded peers.  Leadership, sales, growing teams, understanding risk, marketing strategy and tactics, and financial skills improved greatly.  Benchmarked across 14 personal and functional attributes before and after participation, improvement percentages ranged from 130% – 193%.

Further evidence of the longer-term impact of the Growth Programme came from women taking part in Northern Ireland nearly two years ago.  More than 80 per cent said that they were still using learning from the course to grow their businesses, and that their confidence, motivation and determination to succeed endured.  As one respondent commented:

“The impact was profound for me.  The spirit and ethos of the programme, and the tools and knowledge I gained, continues with me to this day, especially when I’m pursuing new business.”

Two new products and three new services had been developed and launched, including into new export markets, four businesses had expanded into larger premises – and first year turnover increases had continued into the second year, with sustained increases between 30 – 120%.  32 per cent of women contacted had created new full and part-time jobs.

Of equal validity, the Growth Programme helped two women to realise that their business idea could not deliver the sustainable growth they sought. Undeterred, they have since set up new companies, applying the skills and knowledge they had gained. Considering that the economic recession struck particularly hard in Ireland during this period, such results are a strong testimony to the Growth Programme’s legacy.

Growth Programme results are so good because content is relevant and pragmatic. It is based on 30 years of practical, first hand experience of growing businesses – and a decade of supporting women entrepreneurs in particular, with the benefit of real-world experience at its core.

The focus is on the individual as well as on their business; you cannot grow a business without growing the founder at the same time. Effective management and leadership skills are imperative for growth. Results from Enterprising Women Growth Programmes to date very clearly demonstrate the value of a different type of intervention, shaped according to the size of the business.  Aggregating everything from sole traders to businesses with 250 employees together under the broad heading of SME – and trying to address the widely disparate needs of such a broad band with generic support – is bound to fail.

The Growth Programme is therefore directed at different levels, in a variety of ways, to suit not only the numerous trials that most micro, small and medium businesses face, but also to address the specific challenges faced by women in business.

This is where the employment and enterprise agendas for women start to come together. Unlocking the huge potential of women entrepreneurs to drive their businesses through successive stages of growth will reap significant economic rewards. This, combined with the government’s campaign, following Lord Davies’ report, to encourage more women into leadership and directorship positions, will increase the performance of the UK economy as a whole. But one size does not fit all.

At No. 10 recently, YTKO Chief Executive Bev Hurley was encouraged to hear the Prime Minister speak about the importance of the latter agenda; but frustrated that there was absolutely no mention of support for the former. Enterprising women are demonstrating that this could be a serious oversight – and the Growth Programme will continue to support them, as they target the kind of growth that makes jobs and delivers almost unparalleled returns.

Not only does it address key barriers to growth, it is specifically tailored to focus on the additional challenges that women face and the different type of intervention that is needed according to the size of the business. The programme repeatedly demonstrates the significant job creation, GVA growth and return on investment that can be achieved through investing in ambitious businesswomen and helping them realise their potential.

This report summarises the programme delivery in 2011 to a cohort of aspiring businesswomen from across Cornwall. The results indicated an overall improvement for each participant across all skill levels. Six months on, we tracked the progress of our participants and the impact the Growth Programme had had on their businesses.

After visiting his local Jobcentre, Tony was signposted to Outset Cornwall for support in setting up as a self-employed electrician. “I am very open minded, so when Outset was recommended, I wanted to find out what it had to offer.”

Pleased with what he learned that first week, Tony signed up with Outset  Cornwall’s Newquay group, taking full advantage of what was, he says, an informative, very flexible and plain English approach to business skills learning.

“Outset has introduced me to business learning, from sales and marketing to management and finance, in a way that really sticks. So much so, that many of these new skills have found their way into my daily life and become second nature to me.”

Tony’s new business, Newquay Home Electrics was launched in November 2009, offering a full range of electrical services, including PAT testing, inspection and testing and quality installations, as well as advice on all matters electrical. This company has now been rebranded Cornwall Electricians and is covering the whole of the county.

When Tony’s application for a grant from Outset Cornwall was successful, he was able to further equip the business, to take on much larger projects and consequently expand the business further.  “I bought a chasing machine and a power drill which both allowed me to take on larger projects. I also bought a laptop and electrical testing instrument which together allowed me to run a slicker, more professional business.”

Early in his business planning phase, Tony had envisaged future expansion into renewables, an area particularly close to his heart. Within a year, Cornwall Solar Panels was launched, creating further opportunities for growth and job creation.

“Thanks to great advice and ongoing support from Outset advisors, I found some very constructive ways to ensure my companies remain busy.  Using networking and local advertising – and taking care to target appropriate opportunities for new business – I managed to generate enough trade not only for myself, but also to bring in sub-contractors so that I could dedicate some time to expanding the business.”

Tony now employs his own staff, including an operations manager, two full time electricians and electrical manager, two site surveyors, two roofers and a full time administrator.

And with such rapid development, he is now taking part in Outset Cornwall’s Stage 4 post-start workshops, where the focus is on making it through the first critical two years, to develop a strong and growing business.

“In the same way that the start-up advisors ensured the success of my businesses when it was just me, Outset’s Stage 4 Coaching is helping to grow my confidence in my own ability to steer my businesses for growth.”

Already projecting a turnover of almost £1million next year, Tony remains ambitious to grow further. “We are now making plans for the further expansion of both businesses, with some very exciting ideas to bring more services to the market.

“It’s very simple, I could not have achieved a quarter of what I have if it wasn’t for the whole Outset programme.

“The ideas that the Outset advisors have are incredible. I have implemented many of them with great success – and still have a long list to work through! Outset has certainly helped to fill my diary and I’m really looking forward to working with them, as I expand my businesses further in the future.”

To confirm his success Tony recently won the the 2011 Hub Awards for the Best New Business at a recent business awards ceremony held in Newquay Cornwall.

www.outsetcornwall.co.uk 

Helen Harman, Programme Director at Outset Torbay, said, “It was a fantastic event and a wonderful opportunity to promote entrepreneurship in the Bay, as well as celebrating the programme’s many achievements. More importantly, it gave our funders and partners the chance to hear the stories of some of our inspiring clients, many of whom have overcome significant barriers to start and run their own businesses.”

Outset Torbay is a £1.8m business support programme funded by the European Regional Development Fund and Torbay Development Agency. Since its launch in November 2010 the team has engaged with more than 500 local people interested in exploring self-employment and 57 new jobs have been created, with many more businesses and jobs in the pipeline.

In his speech, Alex Rowe, Vice Chairman of Torbay Development Agency said: “Growing competition for employment means there has never been a more important time to support self-employment and help develop innovative ideas into new businesses. We look forward to a continuing fruitful working partnership with Outset Torbay; to see the number of new Torbay businesses continue to rise as we strive to bring about the economic regeneration of Torbay together.”

The event also featured presentations from two new businesses that have started thanks to the training and support received from Outset Torbay.  Jacqui Shaw and Pauline Neal of Coralline Health, together with Bill Callaghan of Learn 4 Life Ltd, spoke about their experiences in starting their new Torbay-based businesses through Outset Torbay’s start-up support.

www.outsettorbay.co.uk.