- The Nesta study looked at innovation as applied to industrial policy and focussed on migrant micro-enterprises in Birmingham
- Experts found while there is some face-to-face business support in Birmingham, the majority of it is provided online and in English
- The Community Organising for Inclusive Industrial Policy study was conducted by Citizens UK Birmingham and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School.
A new report by Aston University and Citizens UK Birmingham has found the UK Government must do more to include micro-enterprises with business support.
The Community Organising for Inclusive Industrial Policy study, which was conducted by Citizens UK Birmingham and the Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School for Nesta, concluded micro-enterprises in principle can take advantage of business support that is available in Birmingham, but in practice there are several limitations.
Experts found while there is some face-to-face business support in Birmingham, the majority of it is provided online with most of the various government and other websites which provide extensive business support information largely in English, and not directly accessible to those who have inadequate English language skills or lack a good level of digital skills.
In Birmingham, the business leaders group successfully bid for a local authority contract to create public health videos in community languages, featuring community members in familiar locations as a way of making the content more relatable to the target audience.
Professor Monder Ram, director of Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) at Aston Business School, said:
“It is wonderful to see CREME and Citizen UK’s highly impactful initiative on migrant business support receive this recognition from NESTA as an exemplar of ‘grassroots’ social innovation.
“Our collaboration demonstrates the value of communities working together to support businesses and tackle common challenges.”
You can read the full report HERE.
- Notes to Editors
About Aston University
Founded in 1895 and a University since 1966, Aston is a long established university led by its three main beneficiaries – students, business and the professions, and our region and society. Aston University is located in Birmingham and at the heart of a vibrant city and the campus houses all the university’s academic, social and accommodation facilities for our students. Saskia Hansen is the interim Vice-Chancellor & Chief Executive.
Aston University was named University of the Year 2020 by The Guardian and the University’s full time MBA programme has been ranked in the top 100 in the world in the Economist MBA 2021 ranking. The Aston MBA has been ranked 12th in the UK and 85th in the world.
For media inquiries in relation to this release, contact Sam Cook, Press and Communications Manager, on (+44)74469 10063 or email: s.cook2@aston.ac.uk
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