Women and ethnic minorities benefit from NES

A national report has revealed that NES has a significant impact on helping women and ethnic minority entrepreneurs set up a new business.

The findings come from an evaluation of NES, commissioned by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which shows the effect of the annual £6 million programme in helping people in the most disadvantaged areas of the English regions set up successful and sustainable businesses.

Women

Since the programme began, 46% of those awarded a place on NES have been women. As only 26% of self-employed people in the UK are female, this suggests NES successfully reaches out to women entrepreneurs, attracting nearly twice as many as the national average wanting to start their own business.

NES’ success in attracting women is due to several factors. NES courses are offered at family friendly times, often from 10am - 3pm which allows for childcare issues which many female entrepreneurs have to arrange. The programme can also help meet some childcare costs. NES doesn’t just concentrate on business ideas with the highest value or prospects, but helps real people with real business ideas. Also, outreach and marketing activities for NES are specifically designed to target areas where women are – not just advertising in business sections of newspapers but in community centres, shopping areas and childcare facilities.

Ethnic minorities

The report also revealed that NES is successful in helping entrepreneurs in non-white groups. One in six (17%) of NES scholars describe themselves as ‘Black’, and NES is particularly strong at attracting the UK’s Asian entrepreneurs on the programme. 80% of scholars from an Asian background start a business with NES’ help, compared to 76% from a White background and 60% from a Black background.

NES also helps ethnic minorities in other ways they find very useful. The course is flexible and offers funding. Scholars don't need excellent English and maths, and NES can make referrals to Islam-friendly finance options. Also, many black and ethnic minority entrepreneurs have been through the NES course and can demonstrate their success, so NES offers inspirational role models which give people confidence in applying for the programme.

Comparison with other initiatives

The report highlights the success of NES compared to other initiatives that offer business support to people in disadvantaged areas or who are under-represented and often socially excluded from being self employed, such as women, ethnic minority groups, people with disabilities and ex-offenders.

For example, the report compares NES to The Phoenix Development Fund, The New Deal for Self-Employment and The Prince’s Trust and looks at the type of people applying to these schemes. The results suggest that more women take up NES than any of these three schemes and, in most cases, the number of NES places taken up by ethnic minority entrepreneurs is similar to or more than for the other schemes.

Diversity

“This is a fantastic result considering how low the start-up rate is for these groups in other schemes,” said Dominic Martinez, NES Project Manager at MMU Business School. “NES attracts a wide range of people from different backgrounds on to its programmes in the North West and this report reflects the diversity of the scholars we have going through the programmes. It’s great to see that this success is reflected in the national report, and that we are helping entrepreneurs not only from traditional male or white backgrounds to achieve their ambitions of setting up their own businesses, but also those who are under-represented in being self employed.”

Overall, the findings from the report show that NES business owners are ‘quick out of the starting blocks’ after finishing NES when it comes to starting trading. Nearly all current businesses (93%) started in the first twelve months after the course. More positive results show that three-quarters of people completing NES go on to set up their own business within three months.

Further encouraging news is that NES businesses have an extremely high survival rate with 94% still in business after a year, 86% going strong after three years, and 75% still trading after five years.

To find out more about the findings of the LSC NES Evaluation, read a copy by visiting  www.nesprogramme.org.uk/index.htm?page=media_room/news/neseval07.pdf