ADRIAN ASHTON

After reading business in Cambridge, I worked with one of the top 100 PR consultancies in the UK before taking on various management roles within a wide variety of social enterprises, community organisations and more traditional enterprise support bodies. These experiences enabled me to turn around an ailing specialist social enterprise support agency into a nationally recognised body and gained me recognition as an authority on social enterprises from local, regional and national organisations including the DTI and Bank of England. I have used this position, along with my knowledge of the changing environment and policy context in which social enterprises operate, to deliver support to local groups and national projects to high acclaim. This appreciation has been not only from the direct individuals and communities my work has impacted upon, but others, including support agencies and international governments. It has also led to my being invited to be an occasional writer for national and regional publications.

Skills and expertise:

Extensive working knowledge of all forms of social enterprise: (cooperatives, social firms, development trusts, charities, CDFI) Business Planning and feasibility Social accounting CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Organisational health check and review all aspects Fundraising writing bids and generating new business proposals Project management Marketing Legal structures and models of governance Public Relations and publicity Business start-up Training Building organisational focus (creating a shared vision from all stakeholders for the organisation which is owned by all) Social franchising (replication of successful models of social enterprise) Research and mapping

June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk

ADRIAN ASHTON
Accredited certificate and advanced diploma in business support from CMI Accredited management coach and mentor from CMI SFEDI certificated as advisor to enterprise (including social enterprise) Certified auditor for the Organisation of Responsible Business standard Business Link approved supplier of business support services, and listed on National Register of approved business consultants Graduate of Social Audit Network's:
'Social Accounting & Audit Masterclass' programme

Certificated trainer by the Institute of Leadership & Management Common Purpose graduate

Highlights / Achievements: Enterprise start-up and support

business adviser for Enterprise Lancashire (local enterprise agency) principle provider of consultancy support to clients of Manchester Metropolitan University programme on assisting social enterprise appraised proposals for support to develop new rural enterprises on behalf of Plunkett foundation support to new rural enterprises on behalf of NWDA specialist co-operative and social enterprise support through national Coop Enterprise Hub, Business Link Yorkshire, Cambridge Co-operative Development Agency guest lecturer on social entrepreneurship to Cambridge University, Manchester Metropolitan University, University of Sheffield creation of 2 new social firms creating employment for people experiencing mental ill health Guest speaker on Rural and urban perspectives on co-operative development at national research conference Prevented insolvency of regional social enterprise supporting homeless Created enterprise aspiration and supporting business start-up planning amongst prisoners business advisor to student startups via Salford University programmes

Faith and enterprise Published in theological journal on how social entrepreneurs can reconcile their theology with trading forms led discussion groups within regional & national project exploring churches creating social enterprise guest speaker at seminar on creating a new theology for the Church to endorse and support social enterprise hosted by theological college work with Muslim communities exploring enterprise creation June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk

Training associate tutor to The Co-operative College, specialising in governance and business development delivery of start-up training programmes for local enterprise agency development and delivery of acclaimed training programmes for Unltd and Business Link Operators on governance, legal structures, and other aspects of (social) enterprise drafting set of start-up guides for social enterprise for sub-regional social enterprise support agency covering range of topics including feasibility, budgeting, marketing, business planning and structure.

Workspace and incubation Instigation of regional flagship incubator for social enterprises Created new framework to research community needs in respect of proposing further workspace developments in local communities Supported national project to explore models for incubators for homeless entrepreneurs

Policy and research Part of delivery team with Manchester Met Uni researching economic and social capital impacts of micro providers of health and social care services Collation and comparative analysis of vocational training within social enterprises across Europe Guest speaker on the relationship between the co-operative and social enterprise movements at national conference Research into co-operative childcare sector to inform development of national support and development programme to this type of cooperative enterprise Research into legal and governance models for social firms Unparalleled research into social enterprise training issues Consulted by Bank of England on finance issues for social enterprise

Strategic management Secured commitment from other regional and sub-regional bodies to support new regional social enterprise forum despite apparent conflicting agendas Development of 3-year business plan for regional co-operative enterprises forum to secure 1m investment Strategic placement of regional social economy forums within other regional and national partnerships Increased local enterprise agencys turnover by 400% and reserves by 300% within 18 month period June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk

Governance bespoke facilitation days for various boards and trustees on a variety of issues associate of national college with allocated specialism in governance work with various enterprises at different stages in the development to explore how their chosen legal form will affect their intended governance arrangements

Project management successful delivery of 12 month ESF project in 5 months delivery of national pilot creating new models of enterprise creation to enable people experiencing mental ill health (re)gain employment Development and management of social enterprise-exclusive CDFI, increasing its activity and securing additional investment Instigation of local food project, creating regional interest and securing partners from private, statutory and NGO sectors Management of various other projects, funded by RDAs, LSC, ERDF, local authorities, and their successful subsequent auditing by funding bodies, including Government Office

Mapping the social economy Mapping of local social enterprise to fit with Business Link Operator systems and IT infrastructure Partner in mapping and research of social enterprise for local strategic partnership Key partner in original DTi initiative to map social enterprise

Raising Finance Successfully secured resource for Business Link Operators local in-house social enterprise adviser Secured additional investment for social enterprise-exclusive CDFI Raised revenue to completely fund specialist social enterprise support agency for continuous 3 year period Guest lecturer to Goldman Sachs national programme supporting small business growth on alternative sources of growth finance

June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk

Social accounting and evaluation Development of framework to identify economic impact of microproviders of health and social care services as part of national programme Development and piloting of framework to allow football clubs to identify the impact they are having on their local communities as part of national programme Project management of first social audit for local charity (including development of framework and supervision of delivery team of undergraduates) Development and piloting of social accounting toolkits for social firms and co-operatives, and subsequently facilitating their official adoption and uptake by the wider sector Evaluation of flagship mediation project for NRF and national pilot project for SBS Evaluation of existing mainstream national training provision for suitability to be marked to social enterprise in current formats Review of national social franchise network

Professional Memberships:
The UK Society of Co-operative Studies Co-operativesUK The Plunkett Foundation National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship new economics foundation Fellow of the RSA Voluntary Sector Studies Network Fellow of the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Organisation of Responsible Businesses

June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk

Values in Action':
As someone who believes in the value of social impact reporting and strives to be transparent in how I conduct my professional work, I have committed myself to monitoring and reporting openly on my impact and the extent to which I have been able to generate activity in relation to my values: 2012/3 journeys by public transport, bicycle or foot 74% 2011/12 71% 2010/11 63%

income invested in continuing development of skills & knowledge articles research and published at own cost (NB: this is not self-published via blog, but by other media with independent editorial control) proportion of purchases made within the 'local economy' (within 10mile radius of registered place of business) proportion of purchases made within the social economy (from co-ops, social enterprises and charities) feedback on all training delivered (rating: excellent - very good) feedback on all training courses developed (rating: excellent - very good) value of pro bono support given**

3%

4%

4%

23

16

23

33%

44%

40%

29%

35%

35%

100%

94%*

100%

95%

89%*

97%

6,381

* in this period 1/3 of all learners were found to have not booked themselves to courses attended so were resistant to training delivered ** calculated from national day rate benchmark calculated by Skilllfair.co.uk
Social accounts for previous years are available on request

June 2013
adrian_ashton2@yahoo.co.uk

07786 492313
www.adrianashton.co.uk