MEECOE's Response to National Developments

A key element of the Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise’s (MEECOE) work is to ensure that its advice and activities are aligned with national developments on ethnic minority entrepreneurship. To this end, MEECOE has been monitoring, and contributing to the deliberations of the Government’s national Ethnic Minority Business Task Force (EMBTF). In July, the Task Force presented a report to Lord Mandelson, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills. In anticipation of the Government’s response to the Task Force report this month, MEECOE reports on how it is responding to, and building on, the work of the EMBTF in its new Briefing.

MEECOE already builds on the work of the Task Force and its response includes developing the evidence base, improving understanding of the requirements of finance providers, working to develop a culture of ‘good practice’ with business support intermediaries, and the development of a hub for procurement activity in the West Midlands. Details of these and other strands of the MEECOE repsonse are outlined in the third Briefing document.

For your copy of this new Briefing, you can contact MEECOE via meecoe@dmu.ac.uk

MEECOE Profiles Ethnic Minority Businesses in the West Midlands

Drawing mainly on data from the 2001 Census and the Annual Population Surveys from 2005, 2006 and 2007, this Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise (MEECOE) report presents the principal features of and trends in ethnic minority business (EMB) in the West Midlands. With, in 2006, ethnic minority groups making up 16.4% of the regional population, EMB has been an increasingly prominent part of the West Midlands economy since the 1970s but in recent years entrepreneurial activity in several communities has started to move from traditional to non-traditional sectors including IT, financial services and consultancy.

Unlike the first generation immigrants who were often forced into self-employment by their circumstances, the British-born generations have more options. Whilst this resulted in falling levels of self-employment, it has also brought about a shift away from labour-intensive sectors to into higher value-added activities, where rewards are earned through the application of management, expertise and technology rather than brute labour power.

Appropriate support for the region’s ethnic minority entrepreneurs is crucial. It needs to be sensitive the changing nature of this dynamic segment of the small business population. Opportunities are emerging to encourage growing EMBs, as well as encouraging aspiring entrepreneurs from new migrant communities. These should be recognised by business support providers.

As might be expected, the overall verdict on EMB in the West Midlands is highly mixed, one of essentially progressive trends towards diversification, penetration of new market sectors and advancement up the value added chain (albeit uneven between the different groups); but one which still has far to go before EMB is established as an unproblematic part of the mainstream local economy.

The key elements captured in this report, written by Trevor Jones, David McEvoy, and Monder Ram, are a next step in acknowledging the diversity and social contribution of EMBs and in making ethnic minority business, everyone’s business.

The full report, or a Briefing document outlining its key points are available upon request from meecoe@dmu.ac.uk


Funded by Advantage West Midlands, the Minority Ethnic Enterprise Centre of Expertise is an exciting two-year project (Dec 2008 – Nov 2010) that will promote a strategic and innovative approach to supporting ethnic minority businesses in the West Midlands. A consortium led by De Montfort University’s Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) works with public and private sector stakeholders to enhance policy and practice for ethnic minority enterprise in the region. MEECOE works closely with AWM’s other Centres of Expertise to develop an integrated approach to diversity and enterprise activity.