Summary
To create thriving local economies, communities need a business support ecosystem that can engage with and harness the ideas, creativity and passion of local people who want to help create a fairer and equitable economic and social future.
This place-based research report focuses on business support ecosystems for social purpose and generative businesses, from the perspective of local practitioners and community anchor organisations. They identify and provide support that meets the needs of
individuals and businesses who may have barriers that prevent them from accessing, or making best use of, mainstream business support.
Building on the recommendations in our literature review, particularly those on embracing wider social impacts linked to inclusive growth, and supporting local organisations to collaborate and deliver support journeys that are more sympathetic to the needs of the
communities they serve, this practical research leads to the following conclusions:
Recommendations Summary
- Greater value should be placed on local intelligence, establishing a collective vision of what good local business support looks like from the experience of individuals, organisations and networks
- Support must be accessible in the places where people live. This can be achieved through new ways of organising and communicating, and removing barriers to collaboration between place-based actors and larger organisations
- Support that is human-centred and encourages peer-networks is more effective over the long-term. Upskilling local actors with coaching and facilitation skills improves enterprise outcomes and the impact of investment in business support
- Commissioners need to consider the overall health of business support ecosystems and how this drives tangible change and more productive interactions between individuals and organisations, not just specific outputs and short-term funding drivers
- Focusing support on thematic objectives such as the environment, creative sectors or social care drives knowledge transfer and the creation of peer-support clusters that deliver better business and social outcomes
