Community Led Business Support
On 18 July 2024, we officially launched our Community Led Business Support pilot at the Legacy Centre of Excellence in Newtown, Birmingham.
About the pilot
The WMCA has invested £270,000 to enable five community led organisations to work with the region’s Race Equalities Taskforce and Business Growth West Midlands to connect local businesses to growth focused support.
Our ambition is to make the West Midlands an exemplar region for supporting ethnic minority business. By partnering with the hubs, we will enable more ethnic minority led businesses to access the region’s Business Growth West Midlands offer and commercial enterprise support. The aim is to help existing businesses to grow.
The pilot is running from April 2024 to the end of March 2025. It is funded by the UK Government Shared Prosperity Fund.
Why is action needed?
Our region is diverse and enterprising. However, evidence shows that race inequality is a barrier to business growth. Leading studies from the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston University has found that people from ethnic minority communities are more likely to start a business than the population generally. These businesses are also more likely to provide employment opportunities to marginalised groups and revitalised deprived neighbourhoods. However, ethnic minority led businesses are also less likely to grow and be successful. Despite being twice as likely to start a business, just 43% of ethnic minority businesses go on beyond the crucial 42-month mark (at which point a business usually becomes income generating), while for white-owned companies that figure is 67%.
CREME argue that removing the barriers to success (e.g., difficulties in accessing finance) that ethnic minority businesses face could enable them to quadruple their national contribution to GVA, from £25bn to £100bn annually.
The Race Equalities Taskforce’s own Race Forward report recognised the additional barriers to success that people from racialised communities face. It highlights the need to invest in community hubs as an accessible source of skills and enterprise support.
This pilot is about working together. We are partnering with established community organisations that ethnic minority entrepreneurs will trust, so that we can help to connect more businesses to available advice, funding, growth programmes and opportunities. We are also backing those community organisations, recognising their contribution to inclusive economic growth.
What does this pilot aim to achieve?
Businesses are more productive, profitable and sustainable if they seek appropriate external advice at the right time – our aim is to ensure that businesses in all our diverse communities benefit from high quality growth focused support.
This pilot is about working together and pooling resources across the Taskforce, Business Growth West Midlands and the hubs. Our collective aim is to offer a whole generation of entrepreneurs better access to available funding, growth programmes and opportunities to diversify into new and emerging sectors. By working together, we can also enable the community hubs with to boost their reach, resilience and impact, and secure further investment.
We want this to be the start of a new way of working with and in communities.
Our community partners
Five fantastic community organisations across our region are taking part in this pilot: The Highlife Centre, iSE Women’s Enterprise Hub, Legacy Centre of Excellence, SWEDA and Access to Business with Wolverhampton Black Business Network.
All five hubs are working closely with their local authority Business Growth West Midlands teams and have been selected due to their strong track record of supporting marginalised communities to succeed.
The funding and partnerships offered through this pilot will enable the hubs to build on the work they are already doing to support ethnic minority businesses in their communities.
Based in the Ball Hill area of Coventry, the Highlife Centre is an ethnic minority led charity with a mission to “empower communities through engagement, education and employment opportunities.”
The Highlife Centre offers business, youth and community development support, aiming to remove barriers faced by disadvantaged young people. 80% of Highlife’s beneficiaries are from Black and Asian backgrounds.
The funding will enable Highlife to create a business hub in the centre, extending their existing youth and community offer. Coventry City Council will work closely with Highlife to connect local businesses to available funding and programmes.
Find out more about the Highlife Centre at: www.thehighlife.org
Initiative for Social Entrepreneurs (iSE) is a social enterprise development organisation targeting deprived communities in Birmingham.
iSE’s Women’s Enterprise Hub supports women from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds to build businesses. The hub will also support East Birmingham businesses and connect with Tyseley Energy Park, engaging and connecting local communities to emerging green markets.
Birmingham City Council’s team will locate business advisors at the Women’s Hub and connect them to other programmes, such as the DIATOMIC project which will support women and ethnic minority entrepreneurs to new market opportunities.
Find out more about iSE at: www.i-se.co.uk/our-services/womens-enterprise-hub
Legacy Centre of Excellence is the largest Black business and arts centre in Europe. It is community owned and receives around 15,000 visitors each month for a wide range of faith, health, youth and business activities.
Legacy has an established enterprise and skills offer, including its annual Black Business Conference (October).
The investment from this pilot will enable Legacy to renovate their building and consolidate their existing offer to Black business. Birmingham City Council’s business growth team will locate an advisor at the centre.
Find out more about Legacy Centre at: www.legacycoe.co.uk
Skills, Work and Enterprise Development Agency (SWEDA) is a charity in West Bromwich town centre.
SWEDA was founded in 1989 to offer women living in deprived communities an accessible business advice service. It now offers inclusive welfare, employment, digital skills and enterprise support to over 1,000 people each year. SWEDA has been providing business start-up, enterprise and social enterprise support for over 20 years.
Sandwell Council’s business growth team will work with SWEDA to: extend their enterprise support offer to growth ready businesses, receive referrals and support activity at SWEDA, Sandwell Council Business Hub (Oldbury) and community outreach centres.
Find out more about SWEDA at: https://sweda.org.uk
Access to Business offers training, employment, self-employment, digital inclusion and enterprise support to enable “all disadvantaged people to realise their potential and have an equal opportunity.” It has a particular specialism for supporting people with health problems and disabilities, and works to help local businesses to grow and contribute to the regeneration of the Black Country.
Access to Business have an established business support offer and a CIC dedicated that helps young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to become self-employed.
Access to Business will partner with Wolverhampton Black Business Network CIC and City of Wolverhampton Council to deliver this pilot. Together, they aim to establish trust based relationships with ethnic minority communities.
Find out more about Access to Business at: https://access2business.co.uk
Find out more about Wolverhampton Black Business Network at: www.wbbn.co.uk
Find out more
Please visit the Business Growth West Midlands website to find out more about available business support: www.businessgrowthwestmidlands.org.uk