‘Be the Boss’ is a new service from the Royal British Legion with Poppyscotland aimed at supporting recent UK Service leavers to plan, fund and grow their own small businesses. Funded by the UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Legion and its partner organisations will offer training in small business set-up, assistance in writing a business plan and financial forecast, funding to assist in the launch or growth of a business, and periodic health checks and business mentoring to applicants from across the UK.

The programme is open to anyone who left active service in the UK Armed Forces after 7 October 2001 and intends to start up or grow a small business in the UK. Applicants should first register on the Legion's employment and training portal, CivvyStreet (www.civvystreet.org), and select ‘Be the Boss’ for more information and to access the online application form.

In order to be eligible for grant and loan funding, applicants must complete training in business start-up or growth with their local enterprise agency, including specialised agencies cooperating with the Legion that work with youth and disabled people. By completing a full business start-up programme, applicants will create a business or growth plan and financial forecast, and submit a funding application to the Legion for funding support.

Total funding values will average between £3,000 and £7,500 and may not exceed a total of £30,000 for each individual over the length of their involvement in the Be the Boss programme. Funding is also available for vocational training and qualification when coupled with an applicant's business or growth plan and financial forecast. Additional funding will continue to be available up to a total of £30,000 per person based upon business success and financial management of programme funds.

Participants receiving funding will be given ongoing business mentoring and take part in regular ‘health checks’, helping them to proactively identify and resolve problems, as well as manage revenue and debt effectively. The Legion will also offer complementary support services to all participants from its range of Welfare programmes and work with ‘Be the Boss’ delivery partners to develop supplementary support for Service leavers.

The Legion is committed to supporting Service leavers to build upon the training and discipline they developed in the Services, and leverage it to become equally successful in enterprise and create their opportunity to Be the Boss.

To find out more, visit www.civvystreet.org and click on ‘Be the Boss’.

 

 

 

 

After lack of finance, the biggest single cause of business failure is lack of knowledge. This is especially true in the first few years of a business’s life, although knowledge gaps can cause serious difficulties at any time – particularly when conditions are as tough as they are now. One company, BusinessLearningDirect.com, has taken a bold initiative to attempt to bridge the knowledge gap for the owners/managers of many small to medium-sized businesses, by providing a wide range of business training online. What makes this offering different, however, is that this online business training is available to everyone totally free of charge.

Many ex-Services personnel think about starting their own business when they leave the Forces, which can be a tremendous opportunity for people who have learned to be self-reliant, disciplined and hard working. While they often possess much of the ability necessary to succeed, some of the essential business skills – such as sales and marketing, business planning, health and safety at work – can be missing. Many of the ‘hard’, fact-based skills, such as accounting and VAT, are already catered for by other business resource websites, but the ‘softer’ skills mentioned above are often not touched upon, or the courses that teach them are prohibitively expensive.
 

Recognising this, BusinessLearning Direct.com’s free online training and business resource could help many Services personnel who are considering starting their own business when they leave the Forces. It uses a combination of video training, business resources and step-by-step guides to give users the chance to develop new skills without having to attend expensive classroom courses. This is the first time that a private enterprise has provided such a comprehensive training system totally free of charge to businesses in the UK, and managing director John Graham says that ‘the feedback we have had so far has been excellent’.

The training covers many of the key business topics, including sales, marketing, management skills, coaching and delegation, as well as providing step-by-step guides (for example, on health and safety). While much of the material is produced in-house, other trainers are also featured on the website to provide a diverse range of approaches, styles and opinions.

The training materials are designed for use by businesses at all stages of their development whether new starts or those that have been trading for some time but want to boost their performance. In addition, individuals who are currently employed and simply want to develop new skills will also find the training material gives them an excellent start.

To find out more, visit www.BusinessLearningDirect.com and register online free of charge.

 

 

 

 

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s preBudget report, released in December, announced that £5 million will be made available via the government’s Strategic Investment Fund to help former Armed Forces personnel set up their own companies. The funding will be used to encourage veterans to consider selfemployment, as well as to produce publicity campaigns with the same aim. It will also be used to pay for ‘business coaching’ for former Service personnel who have no direct experience of business.

 

On making the announcement, the Alistair Darling commented, ‘I want to do more to help those who have served in combat zones and are retiring from the Forces.’ The fund will be jointly run by the Department for Business and the MoD. As this issue of Quest went to press, it was thought that an announcement regarding the full details of the scheme would be made in the new year. We will of course aim to bring you more news in a future issue.

 

 

 

 

As the Conservative Party gathered in Manchester for its annual conference at the start of October, Tory leader David Cameron promised that a ‘big, bold’ welfare shake-up would be on the cards if his party wins the next general election, aimed at ‘getting Britain working’. The Labour Party’s New Deal is one initiative that he said would be replaced by more ‘personalised’ help to get the long-term unemployed into work. Cameron told the Sunday Telegraph that the country was ‘crying out’ for a ‘radical new direction’ and said that a Conservative government would, ‘through tax reform and deregulation’, help employers take on new staff and encourage the creation of businesses. Commenting in the News of the World, he stated that the Tories would embark on changes to the welfare system that had proved too radical for Labour.