Impact case study database

The work of the Enterprise and Diversity Alliance (EDA) has changed how large banking institutions, sector associations, and other employers and organisations support Ethnic Minority Businesses (EMB) at regional, national and international levels. Specifically the EDA has shaped:

1. Changes to business support, including finance, mentoring and advice for EMBs provided by key UK banks

Two large financial organisations, NatWest Bank and Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) have transformed their mentoring provision and finance support for EMBs across the UK:

1.a. NatWest has improved its business support mechanisms for EMBs through mentoring and better support provision. NatWest trialled an ‘Accelerator’ programme in London in 2018–2019, which has been rolled out nationally, with bases in Birmingham, Manchester, Bristol, Leeds and Glasgow; and an ‘Expert in Residence programme’ was piloted in the West Midlands in 2018 and made national in 2019, involving partnership with all 38 Local Enterprise Partnership Growth Hubs (S1). Both programmes build trust between EMBs and the financial sector through access to financial guidance, bank advisers and mentors in local communities and nationally (KF2, KF3, KF6, S1). Accelerators have provided support to 250 EMBs to date (S1). The ‘Expert in Residence programme’ is a peer-mentoring scheme which facilitates the sharing of local expertise by a local ‘expert’ to grow EMBs and female-run businesses, improve diversity and inclusion in business (S1). The Strategic Lead for Diversity in Business at NatWest confirms “[EDA’s] research has been critical in informing and shaping our approach, policies and practices to diversity”, and as a result they report improved customer experience and “stronger relationships” with EMBs (S1). In the West Midlands alone 25 mentoring workshops for EMBs and Bank staff, designed to “change the perception challenges as highlighted by the (EDA’s) research”, resulted in “stronger relationships with over 100 minority businesses” (S1).

1.b. Between 2014-2019, LBG has redesigned and expanded its in house business support for EMBs and introduced staff training and mentoring (S2, KF1, KF2, KF4). They have prioritised mentoring for EMBs seen as “most marginalised by traditional forms of business support” (S2) through a new bespoke scheme, which has resulted in entrepreneurs who have taken part in LBG Financial mentoring schemes seeing up to a 40% increase in new business as a result of greater financial capacity due to these improved relationships (S3). They developed new unconscious bias training which is now mandatory for all 2,000 LBG commercial staff nationally (S1). This includes cultural awareness and sensitivity training, considering languages and formats and raising awareness of EMB anxieties (KF2, KF3). The bank has also delivered new unconscious bias training to an additional 600 staff and supported 500 LGB Charity mentors and 500 LBG Social Enterprise mentors to diversity proof their practices in line with Trehan’s recommendations (S2). LBG UK Head of Manufacturing SME and Mid Corporate stated, “as a consequence of Professor Trehan’s research we developed all our mentor training with an additional focus on listening skills” (S2). The bank has also changed how it engages with EMBs with the new processes resulting from ten “interactive events [which] allowed open dialogue and questions for the first time in a relaxed event setting between diversity entrepreneurs and bankers” held between 2014-18. These allowed the bank to “…build key relationships with leading diversity entrepreneurs. This support resulted in increased levels of trust and understanding between the banking teams and the entrepreneurs and removed barriers to accessing support” (S2).

1. Mentoring support provided to EMB clients by major sector organisations and companies across the UK and Europe

Organisations across the UK and Europe, including the British Banking Association (BBA), the National Enterprise Network (NEN), the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs (IOEE) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as companies such as Leapfrog Mountain have changed their mentoring provision and/or strategy around mentoring in the following ways:

2a. Between 2015–2019, the BBA, a leading trade association with 200 member banks and operations in 180 jurisdictions worldwide, has transformed the way its member banks engage with and support their EMB clients by expanding and redefining their mentoring provision (S4). Following Trehan and Ram’s recommendations (KF1, KF5), the BBA has implemented three different mentoring schemes: peer-to-peer mentoring for EMBs through the 12–8 Group; large corporate mentorship of SME EMBs and the BBA Mentorsme mentoring scheme to reach grassroots businesses that banks find difficult to access (S4). Key policies identified as barriers to EMBs were changed, such as implementing a feedback mechanism to clients whose loan requests were rejected, setting up an appeals procedure and introducing a credit scoring guide to provide better guidance on how they might secure loans in the future (KF1, KF5; R1, R5). The BBA states that over 100 EMB businesses have taken up mentoring as a result of joint initiatives with the EDA over two years and that it has introduced a ‘diversity’ category into its Excellence in Enterprise Mentorsme Awards directly as a result of its work on EDA. Trehan and Ram’s guidance on diversity proofing was implemented for example through the BBA’s Mentorsme portal, which is currently used by 120 mentoring organisations, which have around 27,000 enterprise mentors. According to the Head of the BBA: “Our collaboration with EDA and Professor Trehan of the University of Birmingham informed insights which led to important changes in our strategy for diversity and mentoring practices. We used the research best practice and recommendations to form our new strategy and this was shared with banks mentoring task force resulting in bank wide changes to policy direction and practical implementation of mentoring policy” (S4).

2.b. The NEN has improved its mentoring provision and developed a business case to ensure mentoring remains a key support mechanism for EMBs across their membership despite funding cuts. NEN has 30,000 enterprise clients a year, of which 20% are EMBs (S5). The CEO of NEN reports “in 2014 Government funding was reduced to social enterprises and/or focused on business advisors instead of mentoring […] The EDA’s work, and Trehan’s research, helped us to justify a continued commitment to mentoring. By sharing their research [...] mentoring remained a key support route for our member organisations […] Many of the Enterprise Agencies the NEN work with had created small mentoring projects previously however, they had found it costly and time consuming. Because of Prof Trehan and teams [ sic] work and guidance, they were able to implement mentoring schemes with greater ease and to follow best practice to support 60% of our EMB Ethnic Minority Businesses” (S5; KF2).

2.c. Between 2016–18, the IOEE changed its policies and practices influencing the work of their 150 referral organisations across the UK (S6). Specifically, they introduced new mentoring guidelines and processes that take account of diversity and inclusion for the first time, including inclusive marketing and staff diversity (KF3, KF5). The IOEE “used [Trehan’s] research to inform significant change to our approval process for new centres and academies. This means all organisations now applying to be an accredited learning academy with us must evidence their diversity offering, policy and commitment” (S6; KF4). IOEE mentoring guidelines also influenced a nation-wide audience of 30,000 IOEE members through the Institute’s on-line member-to-member offer (S6). The CEO states: “The research published by Professor Trehan at the University of Birmingham examining the impact of mentoring within diverse ethnicity backgrounds has informed current IOEE policy and practice, as well as future proofing of processes so they are inclusive of the needs of different groups of individuals looking to start or grow their business. Because of this a greater number [of] over 130 businesses have been able to access quality mentoring support where historically this may not have been the case” (S6).

2.d. Between 2016 to 2018, EDA recommendations were instrumental in the design and delivery of Leapfrog Mountain’s diversity practices and mentoring provision. Leapfrog Mountain provides bespoke mentoring and leadership programmes to major clients across the UK, including Pearson, the Scottish Chambers of Commerce and the Royal Institute of Architects. Their CEO states: “as a direct consequence of Trehan’s research we created our diversity policy, our Mentoring programme design and our Mentor engagement based on her insights and best practices. This has led to best practices being shared and used across a wealth of organisations that we support” (S7; KF5, KF6). This includes (1) new mentor training and a qualifications programme to support 1,000 volunteer mentors for the Scottish Chambers of Commerce; (2) a new mentoring programme, website and training for 50 key staff at the Royal Institute of British Architects (which has 44,000 members) and (3) a new on-line training programme for mentors supporting newly qualified teaching staff for the Society for Education and Training (the largest membership body in the education sector, with over 20,000 members). Trehan’s research has “shaped key concepts” of a toolkit used by UK corporates in setting up Corporate Social Responsibility mentoring programmes with Leapfrog and the Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (S7).

2.e. The EDA’s approach shaped practice at the OECD so informing European Policy and Practice, which cites the EDA work as an exemplar in its guidance on Inclusive Entrepreneurship (S8). The OECD mentoring toolkit for EMBs draws on Trehan’s findings and is being disseminated to all the OECD EMB clients across Europe (S8; KF5, KF6). EDA was one of 22 selected case studies from across the EU and beyond (including Canada and Australia) and scored highly from a sample of 193 effective schemes, and was one of only two from the UK (S8). Further, the EDA’s work has been reviewed and showcased in a European Commission report which “[d]isseminate[s] lessons learned from these successful initatives in Europe and beyond and to encourage replication of good practices” to support migrant entrepreneurship.

3. The West Midlands ‘Inclusive Leadership Pledge’

The West Midlands ‘Inclusive Leadership Pledge’ (S9), was launched following the Leadership Commission, a nine-month collaborative process considering leadership diversity in the region led by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), which culminated with a final report Leaders Like You, authored by Trehan (S9). The Commission was commended by PM Theresa May as an exemplar for improving equality (S9). According to the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street: “Trehan’s recommendations as presented in Leaders Like You went on to inform and shape the launch of the WMCA Leadership Forum in January 2019 and the Leadership Pledge […] key instruments for building inclusive leadership, which better represents the region’s diversity” (S9).

WMCA has committed to implementing key recommendations of the Leaders Like You report across a diverse range of organisations including large businesses, small firms, public and professional services. Organisations that have signed up to the Pledge to date include major firms such as KPMG, Wesleyan (S10) and DLA Piper, Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club and public sector bodies including the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Black Country Growth Hub, the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP, and regional universities, including the University of Birmingham itself. To aid implementation of the Pledge, WMCA has produced a Toolkit for Inclusive Leadership (S10) which includes five ‘What Works’ guides that draw directly on Trehan’s report. The Pledge LinkedIn page has over 2,700 followers (S10). Following one recommendation, the ‘Mayor’s Mentoring Scheme’ has been expanded to reach 10,000 disadvantaged young people in the region by mid-2020, many from minority backgrounds. UoB staff are mentors in this scheme and, with two other regional universities, have created the Transformation West Midlands project providing coaching, mentoring and reverse mentoring opportunities for students from minority ethnic backgrounds (S9).