News | Mark Prisk MP Hosts Triumphant Launch of Enterprise Alliance UK
The Enterprise Alliance UK was launched at the Houses of Parliament on the morning of the 27th January 2010. The event hosted by Mark Prisk, MP (Conservative Shadow Business Secretary), was attended by more than seventy delegates, bringing together supporters from academic, business, political, educational and student communities. Attendees included Ken Clarke MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills; Jenny McDowell of Lloyds Banking Group; Lars Lindstedt of Microsoft UK; and Anwar Hasan, Managing Director of Tata Ltd.
Attracting strong cross-party support, the launch encapsulated the beliefs of the three founding organisations, Enterprise Educators UK, The Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE), and National Consortium of University Entrepreneurs (NACUE), that there is a need for a stronger focus on Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Education within the UK’s Universities.
Endorsing the foundation of the Enterprise Alliance, key note speaker Julie Meyer, Founder & CEO of Ariadne Capital and Entrepreneur Country emphasised the need to “Educate young people to expect success”.
Mark Prisk MP said: “Yesterday’s launch of the Enterprise Alliance is an extremely important venture and proves that the artificial divide between education and business is now gone.”
Prof. David Rae, VP Education at ISBE, who spoke on behalf of the Alliance, stated “through the Enterprise Alliance UK, the three founding organisations are building on their existing individual strengths to become the voice of enterprise education, research and support in the UK.”
Speaking at the launch Prof. Colette Henry, President of ISBE; Dr Simon Brown, Chair of Enterprise Educators UK and Victoria Lennox & Matt Smith, Founders of NACUE emphasised the impact that Entrepreneurship Education makes in improving the skills, employability and business creation potential of Students and Graduates.
The launch of the Enterprise Alliance saw strong foundations being put in place to form an All Party Parliamentary Group on Enterprise & Entrepreneurship Education post-election - an initiative supported by Mark Prisk, MP Conservative Shadow Business Minister and Lorely Burt MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Business Minister.
The ongoing activities of the Enterprise Alliance UK will involve the three founding organisations sharing knowledge & research and speaking with one voice to inform policy, practice and the public about the value and impact of enterprise and entrepreneurship education. This will be achieved through a collaborative communications strategy and our National Events Programme which includes each founding organisation’s international conference; NACUE’s Leaders Training Conference in May, Enterprise Educator UK’s International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference in September and ISBE’s 33rd Annual Conference in November.
Following on from its launch the Enterprise Alliance UK is set to become the most powerful voice for the support, promotion and representation of Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Education in the UK.
Our own Stu Anderson, Director of Shell LiveWIRE, is also a Director of ISBE, so we will be working closely with the Alliance to get the best for our members.
