Equal - Digital Repository

Background

The lead body, Breathing Space, works to help the disadvantaged or socially excluded to overcome barriers, to progress in their lives and to re-connect with the world of work, training or education. Round 2 Equal funding gave Breathing Space the opportunity it needed to identify the barriers to self-employment and to work with established partners to create ways of overcoming the barriers. Breathing Space and its partners are well established, know their client base well and are able to make rapid progress in this work.

Aims

Euro Enterprise Evolutions is designed to research and test innovative ways of supporting and empowering people from disadvantaged groups in overcoming barriers and starting their own business.

Objectives

• The project contains tools and support for those people who feel they cannot even consider self employment because of a lack of reading, writing and maths skills, lack of confidence, fear of risks, dyslexia or disability issues etc.
• The project has been developing a range of training and one to one support to help clients learn business skills, create a business plan and access opportunities for start up finance.
• Once clients have set up their business there is further support available from for example, a Business Administration Toolkit, e-business coaching and mentoring support, internet shop creation software and tools to help users fill out forms etc.
• For business advisors, practitioners and policy makers there are a range of research studies, events, training, toolkits and conferences that the project is developing to share information and lessons learned to a wider audience.

Target groups

• Women,
• people with disabilities,
• BME groups,
• Ex-offenders,
• Young people

Breathing Space and its partners are well established, know their client base well and saw the need for the project to further their core aims. The Equal programme has enabled them to come together to further their joint strategic aims.

The focus of this DP is to offer a holistic range of solutions to overcoming disadvantage in starting up and sustaining a business. A wide range of these solutions will become embedded within the practice employed by many local regional and national organisations. The test bed will have proved what works.