ADRIAN ASHTON

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June 2013 07786 [email protected] www.adrianashton.co.uk

ADRIAN ASHTON

After reading business in Cambridge, I workedwith 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 andBank 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: (co-operatives, 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 allstakeholders for the organisation

which is owned by all)

Social franchising (replication ofsuccessful models of social

enterprise)

Research and mapping


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ADRIAN ASHTON

Accredited certificate and advanced diploma in business supportfrom 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 Co-

op 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


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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 ofproposing 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 co-

operative 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


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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 systemsand 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


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Social accounting and evaluation

Development of framework to identify economic impact of micro-

providers 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


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Values in Action':

As someone who believes in the value of social impact reporting and strives to betransparent 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 2011/12 2010/11

journeys by public transport, bicycle or foot 74% 71% 63%

income invested in continuing developmentof skills & knowledge

3% 4% 4%

articles research and published at own cost

(NB: this is not self-published via blog, but by

other media with independent editorial control)

23 16 23

proportion of purchases made within the

'local economy' (within 10mile radius of

registered place of business)

33% 44% 40%

proportion of purchases made within the

social economy (from co-ops, social

enterprises and charities)

29% 35% 35%

feedback on all training delivered

(rating: excellent - very good)

100% 94%* 100%

feedback on all training courses developed

(rating: excellent - very good)

95% 89%* 97%

value of pro bono support given** 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

Documents

ADRIAN ASHTON