RBS Inspiring Enterprise

At the Royal Bank of Scotland Group, we are encouraging a more entrepreneurial culture. From the classroom to the boardroom, we are inspiring and enabling enterprise at every stage of the journey.

We know that starting and running a business can be both exciting and challenging. We understand that entrepreneurs and businesses need the right combination of support, advice, and funding to succeed. That is why we provide a wide range of products and services for businesses of all shapes and sizes, in every sector of the economy.

We also know that people need help to explore the idea of enterprise, unlock their potential, and gain the right skills, knowledge, and networks before they can achieve their ambitions. This is what Inspiring Enterprise is all about.

Inspiring Enterprise draws together the work that we do – including our work with partners and charities – to help people explore and develop their enterprise potential. While we will always support entrepreneurs and businesses of all shapes and sizes, we are focusing additional efforts on three groups that could play a stronger role in the entrepreneurial economy, if given more support.

We have committed, by the end of 2015, to:
• help 100,000 young people to explore enterprise, develop their skills, and start up in business, whatever their background;
• inspire and enable 20,000 women to explore and unlock their enterprise potential;
• support 2,500 social enterprises, working in partnership with the sector to improve access to expertise, markets, and finance.

In summary, Inspiring Enterprise is how we encourage more people in more communities to explore enterprise, build their skills, and, ultimately, to start up and succeed in business.

When it comes to entrepreneurship, the RBS Group is leading in both thought and action. Working with partners – including The Prince’s Trust, Social Enterprise UK, Find Invest Grow, and the RSA – we are delivering targeted research and programs to help drive the entrepreneurial agenda in the United Kingdom.

Every year, we commission research into a range of topics, including current trends, the needs of entrepreneurs in our target groups, and the changing nature of enterprise support. We use this research to inform our own approach and to help us direct our funding and support to where it will be most effective.

Through Inspiring Youth Enterprise, we have extended our partnership with The Prince’s Trust – one of the United Kingdom’s most successful supporters of youth enterprise – to help young people from disadvantaged backgrounds get the support they need to start up in business. We have also launched our student enterprise programs in partnership with Find Invest Grow – RBS ESSA and RBS EnterprisingU – to encourage, reward, and recognize undergraduates’ enterprising activities across the United Kingdom.

Inspiring Enterprise provides a range of resources and support for organizations that work with young entrepreneurs, women entrepreneurs, and social entrepreneurs. This includes access to networks, advice, inspiration, and practical facts and figures about how these groups can best be supported on their entrepreneurial journeys. The RBS Group and our partners also provide a wide range of events and services for potential and existing entrepreneurs to help them realize their potential and achieve their ambitions.

We are making £3 million available between 2012 and 2015 to provide grant funding to nonprofit organizations that run programs to offer support and encourage more young people and women into enterprise.

This may include enterprise training, business mentoring, skills development, workspace support, or something completely new and different that will aid young people and women to explore the idea of enterprise and build their skills. Organizations can apply for funding for their programs through a competitive process, which is open several times a year.

In addition, we provide loan funding to social enterprises through the RBS Group Microfinance Fund (RBS MFF). The RBS MFF is an independent arms-length charity set up 10 years ago to work with the community finance and social enterprise sector. The RBS MFF breaks down traditional barriers experienced by social enterprises, as it offers an alternative route to finance. It is our aim to support this sector as it continues to grow and develop and eventually reach a stage where these organizations find it easier to obtain finance from mainstream financial institutions.

• Mobile Business School (MBS). The MBS visits universities, London boroughs, and trade exhibitions and partners with enterprise agencies, charities, councils, and libraries to provide enterprise education to a large number of people, support entrepreneurship, and encourage ambition.
• Start-up Surgeries. The Start-up Surgeries offer guidance to potential new business owners and those who have just started trading. This guidance is delivered locally and covers a wide range of topics such as marketing, taxes, and legal information.
• Business academies. The academies aim to provide additional support to businesses through enterprise education and providing them with the tools they need to be successful.
• Trade clinics. These clinics form a key part of a program of events focused on educating SMEs on doing overseas business. These are typically run in local offices or local venues for 10 to 20 clients, and they are usually managed with input from UK Trade & Investment, local chambers, or other third parties.