North East Business & Innovation Centre
The Company:
The North East Business & Innovation Centre (BIC) is the largest enterprise development agency in the
region providing business support and advice to local businesses, including social enterprises, at all stages
of the business life cycle. The BIC also owns an expansive portfolio of business accommodation comprised
of a 14 acres business park in Sunderland, with satellite centres in Washington and Darlington. The BIC is
one of 160 accredited Business and Innovation Centres globally. It is the only accredited Business and
Innovation Centre in the region and an active member of the European BIC Network.
Traditionally focussed on for-profit business, the BIC identified a niche opportunity in the business support
landscape, establishing a social enterprise support function, following the closure of social enterprise
development agency, SES. SES was the longest established social enterprise and co-operative
development service in the region. This move was both a strategic motivation to diversify the BIC’s offer’s
core competencies and a social motivation to continue the much-needed support to communities. The
BIC’s social enterprise team is principally comprised of former SES employees, continuing the legacy and
building on the foundations of its work.
The BIC is an active member of the North East Enterprise Agencies Limited (NEEAL) consortia, providing a
co-ordination role to the enterprise support function of the region. As such, the BIC plays an integral role
in shaping local enterprise policy, working closely with both Local Enterprise Partnerships and devolved
administrations as well as local authorities, principally in Sunderland
The Project:
Social enterprise is playing an ever-growing role in local economies. As a consequence of economic
restructuring, public sector reform and austerity, with calls from CLES
(https://cles.org.uk/publications/recovery-reform/) and other think tanks that the UK should build back
its economy post covid in a different way, social and local business models are being highlighted as ways
to provide jobs, promote economic development, create local wealth and “Build Back Better”.Social
enterprises are seen to provide much needed services in deprived communities and create local
employment opportunities. The BIC has secured funding from Sunderland City Council to accelerate social
enterprise development across the city through the Innovate for Good project. This links to the council’s
commitment to Community Wealth Building and its focus on supporting economic growth in the area.
This project focuses on three key client groups:
Group One Supporting people living in Sunderland who are thinking about setting up a social
enterprise to develop their ideas through to start-up stage
Group Two Supporting existing and established social enterprises within Sunderland to become more
suitable through business support (e.g. helping organisations to diversify, develop a new
product or service, secure contracts etc.)
Group Three Non-trading community organisations (e.g., grant reliant charities) to think about how
they can become more enterprising to diversify their income matrix.
The Ask: The BIC would like students to develop a training programme that will equip entrepreneurs with
the baseline skills to manage their businesses effectively. Students are asked to create a high-level
curriculum for this programme to guide the BIC team in creating an impactful course. Students are
reminded that this course is for social entrepreneurs to become more sustainable with a focus on social
innovation. Therefore you may want to include areas such as funding and social impact that would not
necessarily be included in a traditional business course.
Please note: You are not being asked to create the training materials – you are being asked to identify the
subject areas that should be covered, the skills that entrepreneurs need to develop and come up with
some ideas on how this knowledge/skills development can be achieved