Archive for the ‘Blog-NFEA’ Category
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Professional standards worth having
Thursday 10 June 2010Some weeks ago I issued a Call to Action, based on my frustration at the slow progress in developing a set of professional standards for our industry which are credible, practical and clear. Specifically I asked for: qualification based accreditation, as the only way to achieve professional standards worth having a CPD process ...[more] -
Working 5 to 9
Tuesday 11 May 2010Emma Jones of Enterprise Nation and a NFEA director, has just published an inspiring new book "Working 5 to 9- How to Start a successful Business in your Spare Time". Emma has done a great job in identifying this new and growing sector of people turning a hobby into a ...[more] -
Evaluating the Manifestos
Wednesday 5 May 2010I recently attended a small focus group at the Sunday Telegraph in which the business policies of all 3 major parties were compared. Here is a major report on the exercise, prepared by E-Bay, who sponsored the event. Suffice to say that the group were not very impressed with any of ...[more] -
Sack your funders!
Thursday 29 April 2010I was asked to chair a conference this week on enterprise coaching. Full marks to Leigh Sear and Dean Marragh for picking up this ball and running with it. Enterprise coaching is a role which has emerged in the last couple of years via the LEGI schemes and was picked ...[more] -
Election Manifestos Business & Enterprise Policy
Friday 16 April 2010We've looked at the Election Manifestos of the three main parties and pulled out all the bits we can find concerning small business and enterprise. This isn't a comparison of the three; we've stayed impartial and are in no way partisan to one party or another. We just want to highlight the ...[more] -
Harnessing the power of the Web
Friday 9 April 2010We've planned a session on Web 2.0 for the forthcoming ACT Conference on May 18. I confess to being somewhat of a Luddite when it comes to Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, etc, much to the bemusement of my more switched-on friends like Frea O' Brien at Customer First who has used ...[more] -
Call to Action
Tuesday 30 March 2010In the run up to the 2010 ACT conference on May 18, NFEA Chief Executive George Derbyshire calls for action over professional standards. Read the release here. [more] -
Business support in the Budget
Wednesday 24 March 2010I have learned from experience that the Budget speech is less important than the Budget documents, which this year include a Budget Report of seven chapters, plus four annexes plus fourteen reports and supporting documents. Note that many of the Budget measures depend on legislation, which may or may not occur. I have quickly ...[more] -
Have your say on the NFEA Enterprise Manifesto
Monday 1 March 2010Sometime in the next two months a General Election will be called, which will take place against the background of an economic situation which most of us would find unprecedented. We are entering a period when crucial decisions will be made, and the area of enterprise support is one which ...[more] -
Let’s get British Business Online
Thursday 18 February 2010I read some research a year or so ago which said that German small businesses tend to see the whole country as their home market. The French looked to their own region. But British small businesses have a very local focus. A generalisation of course which masks all sorts of ...[more]