Tameside Business Family

by North West England

There is a significant ‘enterprise gap’ in the district of Tameside. The Business Family was created to close this gap and significantly increase the numbers of businesses created in Tameside by local people.

Business Family Radio Commercial 1, Business Family Radio Commercial 2, Business Family Radio Commercial 3, Business Family Radio Commercial 4.

Tameside has a significant ‘enterprise gap’ compared with the neighbouring districts of Greater Manchester.

Research in 2006/7, identified that the gap was made worse by the lack of people living in the Borough who did not already have a family member in business. The research showed that people are more likely to think about starting up their own business if a family member is already in business. In addition, their first attempt at seeking assistance relating to start up would also be with a family member in business.

The Business Family was created to attempt to break this cycle and fill the gap by offering a friendly, informal and supporting role to help individuals through the process, nurturing them through the initial pre start and start up process and offering ongoing mentoring and coaching beyond that. The Business Family was an attempt to change the whole culture around enterprise, change perceptions and raise aspirations amongst local people.

The Tameside Business Family is acknowledged as an exciting new enterprising concept that involves local businesses in the design, development and co-ordination of business support services in Tameside, encouraging them to grow and prosper, to learn from each other and to work towards a much more enterprising community.

Involvement by a group of businesses and local partners together with ongoing discussions between Tameside MBC, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Tameside College and the local private business community, enabled an enterprise team to be put in place in August 2007 funded by ERDF in part. This enterprise team acts as the core of the Business Family but relies heavily on the private contributions from local businesses and entrepreneurs.

Examples of how we are managing to change attitudes locally include:

Enterprise Bus

Enterprise Days at Local Supermarkets

Recession Busting Event

Local Enterprise Awards

Women’s Enterprise Network

More information can be found here

Jun, 1 2009 No Comments » | Extending entrepreneurship, Good Practices, North West England