East Perthshire Annual Report

Our Principles!

We have to balance appropriate record keeping with our determination to stick to the Sirolli principles – which
discourage setting ‘targets’. The recession may even cause officialdom to review its policy: a local authority chief executive writing in Public Servant Scotland observes: “… the target culture has left local services struggling to meet community needs while diverting resources towards chasing central targets. This is now unsustainable.” Sirolli also prohibits active follow-up on clients by the Enterprise Facilitator. Our clients’ businesses succeed because all the necessary energy and motivation come from the client. What Fiona supplies are a listening ear, incisive questioning, and access to appropriate sources of local knowledge – which the client has to contact on his own initiative. Confidence grows when a ‘sole’ trader or a ‘small’ business knows there is a community of people willing to help. All client businesses which have opened or expanded are still trading and one was sold on.

Things we did and who we did them with

In June 2008 Ernesto Sirolli himself and John Swinney, Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, joined Bernadette Malone, Chief Executive of Perth & Kinross Council and over 100 of our supporters and clients for our first anniversary celebration lunch, and Dr Hulbert, Provost of Perth & Kinross hosted a civic reception for Ernesto in the City Chambers

In January 2009 John Swinney came to Burrelton and met with
Fiona and GrowBiz directors to discuss our progress and aspects of our future role and funding. We are very grateful for John’s support as our local MSP and very fortunate that he should also be Cabinet Secretary. In March 2009 we held an evening of awareness-raising and celebration at Roy Sim Antiques and the Antiquary Restaurant in Blairgowrie, during which 80 people mingled with GrowBiz volunteers and clients. More members of the community joined GrowBiz as a result. We enjoy excellent relationships with the elected councillors from our area and are deeply appreciative of the support they demonstrate. Officers of Perth & Kinross Economic Development Department keep in touch with us and Fiona works closely with them to ensure that clients receive accurate information and good access to council-provided opportunities. We participated fully in meetings and events of the Area Based Initiative, including holding an exhibition and public access meeting in Tesco, Blairgowrie, during February 2009. JobCentre Plus staff refer people to GrowBiz, and ENET, the Business Gateway provider, invited us to a seminar in October 2008. Perth College joined us on relevant occasions and invited Fiona to be a ‘Dragon’ at an event modelled on the TV show Dragons’
Den. We have contact with Sirolli projects in England and those in Kintyre and Dundee.

The Official Bit – the Company and Board

I was elected Chairman of Enterprising Eastern Perthshire at a meeting held on 24 April 2008 at which point 11 members
joined the Board as Directors. Through election and co-option a further three people have served as Directors. Sadly three people have had to withdraw from serving on the Board due to pressure of other commitments and the list of our Board Members as at 31 July 2009 follows. All these people, and Michael Gallagher, Kirsten Miller and Susan Allan, have shown a generosity and commitment which defy description and while I can sincerely say a personal ‘thank you to you all’ I hope that due appreciation from the community which we serve will also reach you in some shape or form.

Wendy Birse, Chairman                                    Doreen MacIntyre
Marion Brown                                                  Simon McCaig, Treasurer
Valerie E Cameron                                           Michael Purdie
John Corrigan, Vice Chairman                         Euan Walker

John Easson                                                    Lindsay Watt, Company Secretary

Alan Grant

Brief Background

Fiona McPhail was appointed Enterprise Facilitator in June 2007. The Sirolli methodology prescribed that the members of the community supporting the project introduce her to at least 10 people each. We had to believe that people considering starting or expanding businesses would then begin to contact her. By April 2008, 58 business people had made contact, 4 new businesses had opened and a further 3 had expanded.

 

                   Our Clients –where they are and what they do

 

                                                               
                                                                      

GrowBiz Achievements          April 2008 – July 2009

	2008	2009
Clients	58	181
New business opened	4	27
Business expanded	3	8
New jobs created	4	50
Jobs retained		70

News of Fiona and the business coaching service she provides continued to spread, through introductions, stories in the press, including major features in The Glasgow Herald and the Business Perthshire magazine and through her attendance at local events. The impact of her efforts to the end of July 2009 is clear:

 

 

What is GrowBiz anyway?

GrowBiz is the name and brand of our service. That service is free and confidential business coaching, delivered by a full-time professional, supported by members of the community willing to help local businesses flourish. This model of economic regeneration was developed by Ernesto Sirolli and in 2005 the then Scottish Executive decided to pilot three ‘Sirolli projects’. Our status as a ‘pilot project’ ended in June 2009. The consultants engaged to evaluate the pilot projects said: “GrowBiz is operating above expectations” and that in Eastern Perthshire “there has been a significant increase in the level of local networks and better communication in terms of sharing knowledge and working together across local communities for a common purpose.”
(Source: Strategic & Operational Review of the Enterprise Facilitator Pilot
by EKOS Ltd, March 2009.)

Where the money came from

In April 2008 we were half way through our two-year period as a pilot project, largely funded through Scottish Enterprise. The funds we needed to pay Fiona McPhail, our Enterprise Facilitator, were in place up to June 2009, being a combination of the Government money, support from Perth & Kinross Council, generous donations from A Proctor Group Ltd and contributions from Royal Bank of Scotland, The Rotary Club of Blairgowrie and personal donations from individual supporters. Donations in kind from The Royal Hotel in Blairgowrie, Roy Sim Antiques and the Antiquary Restaurant, and from the Royal Bank of Scotland and Perth & Kinross Council, who have encouraged staff members to take an active role in GrowBiz, have been of incalculable value. Traditional fundraising efforts by members have all added to our funds and allowed us to develop our website and marketing material. Members have generously donated design skills and
countless hours of personal time in attending events, collecting and delivering things, cooking and baking, distributing leaflets and serving on stalls. Working groups met to develop our Business Plan and this work kept us focussed on our purpose: to provide a locally based free and confidential professional business coaching service and secure the financial means of doing so.

Value for money?

Our total expenditure since the project began in 2006 to end of June 2009 has been £179,166. Of that, £100,000 was a one-off payment for training to the Sirolli Institute. The 50 new jobs we have helped create have therefore ‘cost’ £3,600 each. The 120 created and retained work out at £1,500 per job. A little research turned up some interesting comparisons:

Organisation	Investment £	No. of Jobs	Cost per Job £
GrowBiz	179,166	120	1500
North Lanarkshire Working*	19,000,000	2000	9500
Regional Selective Assistance**	20,000,000	1250	16000

*(Source: Public Servant Scotland, August 2009) ** (Source: www.scottishbusinessgrants.gov.uk)

If our annual running costs level out at around £60,000 and we create and retain, say, 60 jobs per year that is £1000 of financial investment per job. We must never take for granted the huge voluntary investment of time and expertise which underpins this. That is the price of community leadership, which we have demonstrated a community can be willing to pay.

 

                

  Future prospects

  During the winter of 2008 – 2009 we applied to the Rural
  Tayside LEADER Programme 2007 - 2013 and secured funding of
  £36,622.50 for the period June 2009 to September 2010, to be
  matched by Perth & Kinross Council. This allows us to maintain
  our service within Eastern Perthshire and provides for us to
  extend into the area bounded by Dunkeld, Bankfoot and
  Balbeggie. As public monies must of course be fully accounted
  for and relate to government policies we will in future record
  how representative our clients are of society, e.g. by age, gender,
  and ethnicity.