Business Start Ups
Celebrate Their Success
The SES approach to Business Start-up, Training and Aftercare has evolved over 20 years and is primarily driven by the needs of our service users. At its core is 'flexibility'.

The Agency has customised its business start-up and business counselling service to meet the needs of its service users whether they be people who wish to legitimise their 'informal economy' activities or are graduates wanting to launch their own co-operative.

Agency staff work at the pace demanded by their service users, work 'one-to-one' or 'one-to-group' focusing on their particular business idea and their individual support and training needs.


SES's enterprise training, business start-up and aftercare service includes:
Enterprise training
Feasibility studies
Marketing
Financial projections
Production of business plans
Finance packaging and accessing funding
Financial and business management
Legal structures and responsibilities
Book-keeping and payroll
Although these services apply to all types of business, the Agency does offer a specialism in the promotion, development and support of co-operative and social enterprises.

To receive a qualification for their work with SES, service users can undertake the NVQ -Business Start-up - Level 3. Equivalent to 'A' level plus, for some it is the first qualification they will have achieved.

This work is supported by small feasibility and training grants offered by the Agency.

And importantly, the agency offers intensive after-care support to the fledgling enterprises once they have commenced trading.

The Hendon Co-op
Home to SES



SHCA Team		  
Sunderland Homecare Associates
appoints its 150th employee

Sunderland Homecare Associates Limited (SHCA) is a co-operative and Wearside's leading independent provider of personal care in the home. It has recently appointed its 150th member/employee and has a turnover approaching £1.5million.

SHCA was set up eight years ago after the co-operative members secured a contract with Sunderland Social Services to deliver 450 hours per week of personal care. From these small beginnings, the co-operative has continued to expand and diversify.

SHCA is now recognised as a co-op of national significance and a model of best practice. It has systems and approaches that work and are transferable. It recently helped to establish Direct Care, a similar co-operative based in Darlington. On the back of this it has now developed a proposal to replicate the SHCA model and to create six new social enterprises across the Northern Region.

Based in the Hendon Co-op Centre, SHCA has a long-standing affiliation with SES which has continually supported its work and provided business management and financial advice.

Margaret Elliot, founder member of SHCA: "SES has been a constant pillar of support and like them, we strongly believe that if people are given a stake in the place they work they will perform much more effectively and will give a commitment to that organisation. This just does not happen in conventional businesses. This has certainly been the case with SHCA."

Qualcom secure IT deal with school

Sunderland couple Barbara Rafter and Phillip Wrathall set up the IT company Qualcom with the support of SES. Qualcom offers tailor-made IT solutions from PC upgrades and consumables to complex installations for North East businesses and schools.

Its biggest contract to date is Valley Road Community Primary School for which it signed a £250k deal for the supply and installation of a tailor made IT network (including hi-tech cinema quality plasma screens), and to meet their future maintenance requirements. Their involvement with the School has placed it at the forefront of IT technology.

Phillip said: "We knew we had the industry knowledge to make the business a success, the problem was making that leap to create our own business. SES helped us every step of the way from writing a business plan, to securing grant funding from the Princes Trust."

Barbara Rafter added: "We are thrilled to be working with such a visionary school. This is a fantastic opportunity for us and its great to see so much being invested in the area and its people."

Qualcom won the 2003 Regional Princes Trusts Business of the Year Award and is now entered in the national final.



  


Qualcom's Philip Wrathall
and Barbara Rafter