Learning Aims

This aim of this unit is to assist students develop cognitive knowledge and skills needed in the field entrepreneurship and small business management, through understanding the importance of types, attributes and characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, including contributions micro, small and medium-sized businesses make to a national economy. This unit enables students to develop creativity, innovative-thinking and core business management skills necessary for start-up entrepreneurs, including skills-sets that assist aspiring entrepreneurs to evaluate economic variables relating to scale, managing risks, uncertainties and seeking opportunities. Students will learn about the influence of national culture and the economy on entrepreneurship, including an exploration of the personal characteristics of entrepreneurs and the impact of personal situational factors, like education, background and life experiences. Students will also learn about the role and importance of small firms to the economy, social enterprise and the social economy, including learning to balance the risks and rewards of starting a new venture, which requires inves tiga tion and re flec tion o f their own entrepreneurial and enterprising characteristics. Examples of entrepreneurs and start-up organisations will be discussed and students will be expected to draw on local, personal and general  knowledge together with their learning to be able to identify the characteristics of entrepreneurial ventures. Possible Grades: Pass, Merit or Distinction. P1 to P7 must be satisfactorily accomplished before Merit or Distinction may apply.

1-Elizabeth Gooch and EC Solutions PLC

Your primary role at the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Council (ESBMC) is to support your Line Manager, who reports to a Director. The Council primarily assists prospective entrepreneurs and start-up ventures to prepare to become successful entrepreneurs.

2 – Tom Me r ce r a nd MOMA Foods

Your role is to contribute to development of resources used by your Line Manager, who makes presentations and issues publications on the subject, using the two (2) Case Studies below:

Case Study 1: Elizabeth Gooch and EG Solutions PLC

In 2006, Management Today named Elizabeth Gooch as the seventh most successful female entrepreneur in the UK. About 25% of the top entrepreneurs in the list were female.

Elizabeth is founder and CEO of EG Solutions, a small company selling operations management software that helps clients to generate improvements in operational performance and efficiency. EG Solutions prides itself on implementing its programmes on a fixed cost, fixed timescale basis. It is the only company that guarantees return on
investment and its sales receipts/revenues are based on the results delivered. A typical implementation project pays itself within six (6) months.

Elizabeth started work for HSBC Bank aged 18 but left after only 12 months to work for a consultancy that helped large firms find better ways to use their staff. Eight (8) years later, she started her own business, EG Consulting, aged 26, financed by £1,000 borrowed from family and friends and a credit card.

EG Consulting initially offered consultancy and training on operations management to financial services companies. In its first year, turnover reached £600,000. However, the complexity of collecting the information needed to advise on improving efficiency led Elizabeth to develop software to help in the task.

In 1993, the software, called Operational Intelligence, was launched as a product in its own right. It allowed data to be collected in real-time, enabling all departments of a company to monitor the production process. At that point, the business had six (6) employees, several contract workers and a turnover of £1 million.

Elizabeth met Rodney Baker-Bates, then CEO of Prudential Financial Services and things changed dramatically. He believed that she was not making enough of the business and advised that she should focus on the software, rather than consultancy work.

In 2005, the company changed its name to EG Solutions PLC, with Rodney as the Chairman – engaged as a strategic  planning consultant to help develop the business in a focussed way. The strategy worked, increasing turnover by 28% in a year to £4.2 million.

The business needed additional capital to fund an ambitious growth target so; Elizabeth decided to float the company on the Alternative Investment market (AIM), rather than approaching venture

Task 1

LO1: Explore and illustrate the range of venture types that might be considered entrepreneurial.

Your Line Manager has asked you to compose a report for her review, before developing a new publication for prospective entrepreneurs.

Task 2

LO2: Assess the impact of small businesses on the economy.
Evidence required                 PowerPoint Slides (including Speaker Notes: 20 slides maximum)

Task 3

LO3: Determine and assess the key aspects of an entrepreneurial Mindset.
“You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.” – Christopher Columbus

Task 4

LO4: Examine different environments that foster or hinder entrepreneurship.

Evidence required                   Report