Lancaster University
Eliemental WP4 Report:
Identifying Socio-cultural
barriers to enterprise and
employability
Downs, Carolyn; Lazuras, Lambros
4/1/2014
Acknowledgements
This report and its important findings on socio-cultural barriers to enterprise and employability
would not have been possible without the support of huge numbers of individuals and organisations.
We were able to exceed our targets for both quantitative and qualitative data as a result of the
enthusiastic participation and support of people who recognised that ELIEMENTAL has the potential
to make a real difference to outcomes for socially marginalised groups.
Disclaimer
This publication is produced with funding from the European Commission´s Education and Culture
DG. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held
responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.’
1|Page
Contents
Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................. 1
Disclaimer................................................................................................................................................ 1
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Vulnerable Social Groups and ELIEMENTAL........................................................................................ 3
Contextual Background to the Report .................................................................................................... 4
Initial Proposal .................................................................................................................................... 5
Structure of Work Package Four ............................................................................................................. 6
The Research Stage ................................................................................................................................. 7
Quantitative Element .......................................................................................................................... 7
Sample................................................................................................................................................. 7
Measures............................................................................................................................................. 8
Results from the quantitative study ................................................................................................... 8
Psychosocial correlates of entrepreneurial intentions ......................................................................... 10
Semi-structured / co-researcher interview phase ............................................................................ 14
Overview of qualitative phase of Eliemental ................................................................................ 14
Co-researchers and training workshops overview........................................................................ 14
Summary of Main Findings of WP4............................................................................................... 15
Soft Skills Gap ................................................................................................................................ 16
Interview Findings: The Soft Skills Gap ............................................................................................. 17
Reflections ........................................................................................................................................ 18
Confidence .................................................................................................................................... 18
Limited networking skills / restricted networks ........................................................................... 20
Misconceptions about entrepreneurship ..................................................................................... 20
Problems of adaptability and flexibility ........................................................................................ 21
Creative thinking (problem solving) and critical observation skills .............................................. 21
Lack of resilience ........................................................................................................................... 22
Weak Interpersonal and/or Negotiation skills .............................................................................. 22
Communication Skills .................................................................................................................... 22
Emotional Intelligence (EI) ............................................................................................................ 23
Personal Accountability ................................................................................................................ 23
Conclusions ........................................................................................................................................... 23
References ............................................................................................................................................ 24
2|Page
Introduction
The motivation for ‘ELIEMENTAL: breaking down barriers to enterprise’ project
(www.eliemental.org) is the need to help reduce the psychological and social burdens of
unemployment on groups vulnerable to social exclusion which may then lead to the greater reemployment or self-employment rates in the project target groups. Further, ELIEMENTAL supports
the EU aim of assisting under-represented and socially marginalised groups into employment or selfemployment through entrepreneurship in order to reduce the burden of under-employment and
unemployment and improve social mobility. Our project design was based upon the findings of the
EU-Erasmus funded ELIE project (http://elie-project.eu/) and on the consortium members’ individual
research and work with relevant stakeholders and target groups experiencing poverty and social
exclusion.
Vulnerable Social Groups and ELIEMENTAL
Throughout the project we have identified our target groups through the use of definitions
of vulnerable social groups developed by the European Union and academics as follows:
‘Groups that experience a higher risk of poverty and social exclusion than the
general population. Ethnic minorities, migrants, disabled people, the
homeless, those struggling with substance abuse, isolated elderly people and
children all often face difficulties that can lead to further social exclusion, such
as low levels of education and unemployment or underemployment’ (Nardo,
Cortese and McAnaney, 2010)
People who are long-term unemployed, and also others who are inactive but
not registered as unemployed. It should include workers who are in some form
of employment but are at a high risk of losing their jobs. It is, therefore, a very
heterogeneous group, whose members share perhaps only the involuntary
character of their present status (Atkinson, 2000).
The findings in this report are based on the empirical research that was carried out with a large
sample of participants from wide range vulnerable social groups in the four participating countries.
Due to the significant interest in our project, especially in the UK, there was over-recruitment of
participants in this country, providing a larger pool of data to address employability and
entrepreneurship issues related to the goals and objectives of ELIEMENTAL. The final sample of the
project includes older women, minority ethnic groups including recent migrants and young people,
recovering licit and illicit substance abusers, ex-offenders, young long-term unemployed (NEETS) and
disabled people.
This is a far more diverse group of people vulnerable to social exclusion who were, largely as a result
of the 2008 financial crisis in Europe, now in need of sustainable employment, young BME men not
3|Page
in education, training or employment and migrants. In our preliminary work we identified the
following key stages in providing solutions to the underemployment or unemployment of our target
groups. The wider range of participants has been very useful in allowing us to test the commonality
of experience amongst groups vulnerable to social exclusion and to ensure that work-packages 6-9
(development of materials, community access points and a mentoring scheme) are closely tailored
to their current employability needs.
1) Identification of social and cultural barriers to employment and enterprise as they are
experienced by our target groups. This allows for the identification of the soft skills gaps of a
very diverse group of socially marginalised individuals.
2) Providing a community-based option for reaching out to and providing training amongst
communities under-represented in entrepreneurship and employability opportunities. This
is an important stage as our target groups were often under-represented in terms of gaining
access to opportunities because they lacked either the technical/operational (e.g., no
reliable internet access) or the psychological capacities (e.g., confidence to access local
Vocational Education and Training providers) to do so. Therefore, they were socially
excluded and not signposted to appropriate training opportunities.
3) Improving the general employability of target groups through developing entrepreneurial
skills that would be transferable both to employment and self-employment.
4) Increasing the social and cultural capital of our target groups through the provision of a
qualification that can be developed via lifelong learning and VET.
This report therefore covers our work in addressing point one above, which in the project plan
comes under work-package 4 (jointly led by Lancaster University and the South East European
Research Centre) while the second point above is covered in the companion report to this which
comes under the heading work-package 5 (led by BTEG – the Black Training and Enterprise Group)
and which explores methods of access to training in the communities where our target groups may
live. Points 3 and 4 above are covered in work-packages 6 to 9 which are currently underway. These
will be reported on in month 30 to 36 of the project.
Contextual Background to the Report
The significance of SMEs to economic growth within the EU is recognised in the provisions of the
Small Business Act for Europe (2008) and the Lisbon strategy for economic growth. However, the
European Commission (Enterprise & Industry) notes ‘Certain groups in society such as people from
ethnic minorities face additional difficulties in trying to set up businesses’ and the EU highlights the
need for solutions to barriers to entrepreneurship (http://ow.ly/8Obz8). Encouraging underrepresented groups into entrepreneurship is an EU political priority for the new 2020 initiatives.
ELIEMENTAL will underpin a range of EU-led or supported initiatives by providing a framework to
assist in breaking down the social and cultural barriers to entrepreneurship amongst underrepresented groups in SME start-ups within the EU. For example, recent research by The Women’s
Business Council (2014) noted that women are half as likely as men to become entrepreneurs, and
that the barriers faced by women wishing to become entrepreneurs are significant, and include
support services not being sensitive to women’s cultural and social needs, while they also note that
the provision of role models is critical to support women into enterprise. ELIEMENTAL will provide a
model for relevant action across the EU with regard to the needs of a number of groups vulnerable
4|Page
to social exclusion. Further, our project will assist in developing more general employability skills
amongst our target group as it is known that many marginalised social groups face significant social
and cultural barriers in entering the labour market at all. This will be achieved by will providing
scaffolding for developing employability skills that can support entering the labour market as well as
self-employment. Existing enterprise programmes are often focussed on traditional-style start-ups
as a measure of success, rather than longer-term sustainability and the ability to generate a living
income (Rouse 2007), but we propose to consider a wider range of factors such as the ability to
move from unwaged to part-time waged, moving from under-employed to fully employed or taking
up more advanced education and training as a result of engaging with the ELIEMENTAL project.
Further, we recognise that for our target groups there may be a need for long-term support in
maintaining enterprise or employment and the potential for moving in and out of selfemployment/entrepreneurship. These are structural issues that will need to be addressed separately
and through government policy. This matter will be addressed under work package 2, as part of our
dissemination programme to policy makers.
Initial Proposal
Our proposal was developed as a result of the ELIE project (funded by the Lifelong Learning
programme, 2012-2012, www.elie-project.eu) which worked
with existing immigrant
entrepreneurs; learning from their lived experience of establishing and running a business venture in
a new country. However, the significant numbers in our sample of entrepreneurs classified as
‘Reluctant or Necessity-driven entrepreneurs’ (Ip, 1992; Boyle, 1994; Downs et al 2011). This finding
was repeated during our interactive workshops with students and entrepreneurs. Our research
helped us identify a number of almost invisible socio-cultural barriers to entrepreneurship that can
prevent a new venture starting, limit enterprising amongst disadvantaged social groups, and/or
severely limit the expansion opportunities of an existing business venture. These barriers included
shortfalls in soft skills such as emotional intelligence, lack of social and cultural capital, limited access
to or utilization of social capital and social networks, limited ability to identify and apply existing
(transferable) skills in an enterprising manner, as well as limited skills in planning and negotiating.
Furthermore, we found that such barriers acted on at least an equal basis to structural barriers (e.g.,
bureaucracy and red tape, access to funds) to entrepreneurship.
Based on these successful results of the ELIE project, our consortium engaged with a wider range of
stakeholders to develop a new project which would enable the provision of robust solutions for
mitigating socio-cultural barriers to enterprise and employability in socially marginalized and
underrepresented social groups. We aim to deliver this by establishing new knowledge of the nature
of socio-cultural barriers to entrepreneurship, and use this knowledge to develop a communitybased and online training tool-kit based that will enable access a range of learning activities
identified during the course of the project. This tool kit will provide the basis of guided learning that
can be developed into an entry level qualification aimed at providing potential entrepreneurs with
skills and knowledge necessary to start up in business but also recognises that for some of our
vulnerable social groups entrepreneurship skills may be used to assist them into employment. Most
importantly, the training tool will be interactive, involving mentors (experienced entrepreneurs,
third sector professionals and enterprise educators, as appropriate for our diverse target group) and
mentees from our target groups.
5|Page
We also plan resources that will develop knowledge of co-operative, social and low-investment
enterprise as these forms may have most scope for assisting our target groups out of poverty while
also offering benefits to the wider communities within which our target groups live. The tool kit to
be developed as a result of the work reported here will be able to be used online and, most
innovatively, via community access points most frequented by the targeted groups. ELIEMENTAL will
encourage the development of intellectual capital via developing with stakeholders the externally
accredited qualification in Enterprise Skills.
Structure of Work Package Four
As noted above one of the findings from our previous project was that lack of soft skills could act as
a barrier to entrepreneurship, and where an enterprise had been started gaps in soft skills were
often detrimental to the business developing to its full potential. Finding out how to apply the
finding about the significance of soft skills as a barrier to enterprising behaviour to groups vulnerable
to social exclusion was the driver for ELIEMENTAL.
Soft skills that were found to be lacking amongst individuals and that then acted as barrier to
entrepreneurship or the effective development of an enterprise included:











Personal accountability / work ethic
Ability to Collaborate
Future-planning abilities
Critical Observation skills
Interpersonal / negotiation skills.
Conflict resolution skills
Adaptability and flexibility
Communication skills (Oral, aural and written)
Creative thinking (problem solving)
Networking skills (related to embeddedness)
Confidence
Other aspects that may form a barrier to employability and enterprise are relevant to aspects of
emotional intelligence (being attuned to social norms and able to respond appropriately). These
emotional competencies can be significant in developing networks, collaborations, negotiation,
conflict resolution and communication skills and so are essential aspects to develop alongside the
soft skills set out above. Additional barriers to enterprise included social constructs of enterprise and
of people’s understanding of money (as financial resources) and monetary systems. For example, in
the ELIE project there was a common understanding across all four participating countries amongst
non-entrepreneurs that starting a business required significant levels of finance. This contrasted
with the experience of the 200 ELIE project international entrepreneurs who in many cases had
started a business without significant capital, and often with sums as small as 200 euros. The key
feature of these low-capital start-ups was significant stores of social and cultural capital alongside
strong problem-solving skills and creative thinking that were exploited effectively by many of the
ELIE project entrepreneurs. Therefore, ELIEMENTAL takes one of the key elements of ELIE and seeks
to develop further knowledge of HOW the soft-skills gap affects different groups of vulnerable
people in four EU countries in order to produce a package of tools and materials that can be easily
adapted and applied across the EU28 and beyond.
6|Page
The Research Stage
Work package four was a mixed-methods study designed to allow an effective needs analysis
amongst our target groups with a strong element of action research that was used to recognise the
expertise of our target groups in their own lived experience. We worked closely with our project
advisory panel made up of stakeholders on the development of the research tools used and with
their active engagement in the research process, often as co-researchers working amongst their own
community.
Quantitative Element
The initial design was led by SEERC with input from LANCASTER and all partners. Our quantitative
element was a baseline questionnaire designed to help us with the development of an effective
interview schedule and to support our initial planning for training materials through highlighting any
common areas for development that our learning materials and other resources should target.
We therefore developed a questionnaire that assessed the following variables: 1
a. Soft skills, including the capacities, knowledge and skills needed to start and
maintain an enterprise
b. Resilience
c. Attitudes towards entrepreneurship
d. Self-efficacy to start a business
e. Perceived social support for entrepreneurial activity
f. Demographic characteristics, including age, gender, and education status.
The questionnaire therefore:
1. Measured baseline soft skills and perceptions/beliefs towards enterprising of potential
trainees in order to help us ensure that the envisaged learning materials meet their needs
and can effectively target specific skills and/or beliefs in our target groups.
2. Provided an initial pool of data that were synthesized (triangulation) with qualitative data
from the interviews where appropriate.
Sample
In all countries, the participants were derived from the identified target groups in line with the
project’s focus, and where relevant, ethnic variation was sought for in order to record more diverse
experiences regarding employability and entrepreneurship. The sampling strategy was largely based
on convenience and snowballing sampling for two main reasons. Firstly, the target group was a hardto-reach population, so we relied on participants’ links and networking to recruit more participants
from the same target group. Secondly, the focus on target groups differed between countries. For
instance, in Greece the focus of the data collection was on women aged 40+ years with long term
1
A copy of the questionnaire can be found in the appendix to this report.
7|Page
unemployment, as this target groups suffered the most hard consequences of the financial crisis in
Greece, and are among the groups with the most severe experienced social exclusion (age and
gender discrimination mostly). Overall, 142 participants took part in the study and were recruited
through posters and billboard advertisements in several community gathering points for ethnic
minorities and unemployed individuals as well as at forums for recovering substance abusers, at jobclubs for the young unemployed (18-24), via the criminal justice system and through advice centres
for vulnerable social groups including the disabled.
The data collection procedures were reviewed and approved by the Ethics Review Board of the
University of Lancaster. Participants were duly informed about the aims and purposes of the study,
their participation was voluntary, and they were free to stop participating or withdraw from the
study at will without prior notification or any foreseeable penalties for doing so.
Measures
The measures of the study included a structured, anonymous, self-report questionnaire that
comprised soft skills (i.e., communication, openness to experiences and creativity, community
attachment, and planning and problem solving skills), attitudes towards entrepreneurship, social
norms/support for entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial self-efficacy and entrepreneurial intentions.
The soft skills measures were developed based on the evidence that derived from project ELIE
regarding the ‘invisible’ barriers to enterprise with immigrant entrepreneurs. The social cognitive
aspects of entrepreneurship (attitudes, social norms, self-efficacy, and intentions) were derived from
previous work in this area by Linan and Chen (2009), Linan (2008), and McGee et al. (2009).
All the measures were primarily developed in English language, and then translated and adapted to
each partner’s national language (Romaina, Polish, and Greek) using Hambleton’s (2001) guidelines
for adapting and translating questionnaires. All the items were scored on a 5-point continuous scale
from 1 = not at all (indicating less of the specified characteristic, skill or belief), to 5 = a lot. Mean
scores were computed and higher scores denoted having more on each variable. A sample
questionnaire in English is presented in the Appendix.
Results from the quantitative study
The demographic characteristics of the participants in each country are presented in Table 1.
Overall, 142 from the identified target groups were recruited.
Table 1. Demographic characteristics of the participants in the quantitative part of the study.
Number in sample
Males
Females
Ethnic Origin White
Ethnic Origin BME
Higher Education
Higher vocational education
Level 2/3 Education
Level 1 or no education level stated
UK
N=53
60%
40%
92%
8%
34%
NIL
56%
10%
Poland
N=34
38%
62%
94%
6%
20%
NIL
73%
7%
Greece*
N=25
NIL
100%
100%
NA
44%
32%
24%
NIL
Romania
N=30
37%
63%
100%
NA
7%
40%
53%**
**
Totals
142
8|Page
Previous enterprise experience
22%
3%
68%
13%
Relative with enterprise experience
41%
32%
62%
20%
Note. *The Greek partners had a specific focus on older, unemployed women; ** The Romanian data
conflated level 1,2 and 3 education because of differences in measures of educational level for many
of our participants.
In the UK sample, most of the participants (77.3%) were aged between 26 to 55 years old.
Specifically, 18.9% (n = 10) were in the category of 16-25 years, 35.8% (n = 19) were aged between
26 to 39 years, 41.5% (n = 22) were aged between 40-55 years, and 3.8% (n = 2) were older than 55
years. More than half of the participants (60.4%) were males, and predominantly White (92.5% and
7.5% of BME descent). In terms of education and training, 15.1% (n = 8) had academic or
professional qualifications, 18.9% (n = 10) had vocational qualifications, 41.5% (n = 22) and 15.1% (n
= 8) had level 3 and level 2 qualifications respectively, one respondent held level 1 qualification, and
four respondents (7.5%) did not report their educational attainment. Furthermore, 77.4% (n = 41)
never had a business before and 58.5% (n = 31) did not have an entrepreneur family member.
In the Romanian sample, 46.7% (n = 14) of the participants were aged between 16-25 years old, 40%
(n = 12) were aged between 26 to 39 years, and 13.3% (n = 4) were aged between 40-55 years. All of
the participants were White, and 63.3% (n = 19) were females. With respect to education and
training, 6.7% (n = 2) had academic/professional qualifications, 40% (n = 12) had vocational
qualifications, 50% (n = 15) and 3.3% (n = 1) had level 3 and level 1 qualifications respectively. 86.7%
(n = 26) never had a business before and 80% (n = 24) did not have an entrepreneur family member.
In the Greek sample, 88% of the participants (n = 22) were aged between 40 to 55 years, whereas
12% (n = 3) were older than 55. Interestingly, 44% (n = 11) had higher education degree, 32% (n = 8)
held vocational qualification, and 24% (n = 6) were high school graduates. More than half (61.9% or
n = 13) reported having an entrepreneur family member, and 31.8% (n = 7) had a
business/enterprising in the past.
Finally, regarding the Polish sample most of the participants (79.4%, n = 27) were aged between 16
to 25 years old – a relatively young cohort. With respect to the other age-group categories, 5.9% (n =
2) were in the category of 26-39 years, 11.8% (n = 4) were aged between 40 to 55 years, and 2.9% (n
= 1) were older than 55 years. More than half of the participants (61.8%) were females, and
predominantly White (94.1% and only 5.9% of mixed origin). In terms of education and training,
17.6% (n = 6) had academic or professional qualifications, 2.9% (n = 1) had vocational qualifications,
50% (n = 17) and 23.5% (n = 8) had level 3 and level 2 qualifications respectively, and two
participants (5.9%) held level 1 qualification. Almost none of them held a business before (97.1%, n =
33), and 32.4% had entrepreneur family members.
9|Page
Psychosocial correlates of entrepreneurial intentions
Four different correlations matrices (Tables 2, 3, 4, and 5) were produced to display the correlates of
entrepreneurial intentions in each country respectively. The observed correlations help us identify
the variables (skills and/or entrepreneurship-related beliefs) that are most relevant to the impetus
to start up a business in each country.
Table 2. Correlates of entrepreneurial intention in the UK.
1. Intentions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-
.24
32.*
.04
.43*
.60*
.37*
.52*
-
.68*
.18
.70*
.24
.41*
.26
-
.21
.88*
.34*
.32*
.23
-
.16
.08
.21
.43*
-
.43*
.51*
.31*
-
.33*
.38*
-
.36*
2. Communication skills
3. Openness/creativity skills
4. Community attachment skills
5. Planning/problem-solving skills
6. Attitudes
7. Social norms
8. Self-efficacy
-
M
3.59
4.33
4.24
3.62
4.27
3.84
4.10
2.88
SD
1.43
0.67
0.77
0.80
0.67
0.76
0.93
0.96
Cronbach’s α
.93
.74
.75
.78
.75
.74
.81
.76
10 | P a g e
Table 3. Correlates of entrepreneurial intentions in Romania.
1. Intentions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-
.40*
.43*
.33
.41*
.51*
.12
.25
-
.77*
.54*
.73*
.73*
.70*
.51*
-
.55*
.89*
.71*
.66*
.49*
-
.63*
.66*
.34
.56*
-
.75*
.47*
.57*
-
.36*
.61*
-
.20
2. Communication skills
3. Openness/creativity skills
4. Community attachment skills
5. Planning/problem-solving skills
6. Attitudes
7. Social norms
8. Self-efficacy
-
M
3.54
3.85
3.65
3.14
3.68
3.51
4.08
3.22
SD
0.99
0.68
0.86
0.69
0.71
0.78
0.69
0.87
Cronbach’s α
.60
.67
.74
.55
.80
.76
.62
.78
11 | P a g e
Table 4. Correlates of entrepreneurial intentions in Greece.
1. Intentions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-
-.06
.48*
-.14
.19
.39*
-.05
.17
-
.02
.06
.58*
.26
-.01
.44*
-
-.03
.19
.13
-.02
.56*
-
-.03
-.01
.55*
.03
-
-.09
-.21
.27
-
.36
.34
-
.01
2. Communication skills
3. Openness/creativity skills
4. Community attachment skills
5. Planning/problem-solving skills
6. Attitudes
7. Social norms
8. Self-efficacy
-
M
4.46
4.57
4.26
3.74
4.31
4.14
4.06
4.02
SD
0.74
0.35
0.46
0.74
0.32
0.38
0.75
0.53
Cronbach’s α
.48
.48
.55
.75
.54
.12
.69
.74
12 | P a g e
Table 5. Correlates of entrepreneurial intentions in Poland.
1. Intentions
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
-
.29
23.
.16
.11
.44*
.35*
.38*
-
.54*
.31
.55*
.12
.14
.52*
-
.35*
.60*
.26
-.04
.31
-
.25
.29
.22
.43*
-
.38*
.20
.39*
-
.58*
.45*
-
.49*
2. Communication skills
3. Openness/creativity skills
4. Community attachment skills
5. Planning/problem-solving skills
6. Attitudes
7. Social norms
8. Self-efficacy
-
M
2.58
3.83
3.83
3.60
3.91
3.37
3.83
2.80
SD
1.29
0.76
0.75
0.71
0.59
0.88
1.06
1.08
Cronbach’s α
.76
.60
.65
.66
.84
.75
.67
.89
From the observed correlations it appears that different variables correlate with entrepreneurial
intentions in each country. For instance, in the UK the skills relevant to problem-solving and
planning, and creativity and openness are correlated significantly with entrepreneurial intentions,
and so are the social cognitive variables (attitudes, social norms, and self-efficacy). However, in
Poland only the social cognitive variables, and not the skills, correlate with entrepreneurial intention.
Overall, these findings suggest that there is between-country variation in the ways that selfperceived skills relate to the motivation to start an enterprise. This pattern of findings will be
synthesized with the findings from qualitative phase, in order to draw a more complete picture of
barriers and facilitating factors of enterprising in the identified target groups in each country.
13 | P a g e
Semi-structured / co-researcher interview phase
Basing our interview matrix on key findings from the quantitative data we developed a range of
questions that would allow us to explore in greater depth social and cultural barriers to enterprise
and employability. In many cases our interviewees had previously taken part in the quantitative
stage of the research and had volunteered to participate further in the study. We also recruited
additional participants where possible. Our questionnaire is designed to also be used as part of the
ongoing development of education materials and the training pilot. It provides significant
information for making a baseline assessment of social and cultural barriers to entrepreneurship and
enterprise, enabling training to be very closely targeted from a range of materials that will be
developed and it will also allow for the result of training to be measured through reapplication of the
questionnaire. However, the questionnaire alone will not be sufficient to unpack the detail of social
and cultural barriers facing people in groups vulnerable to social exclusion, and the detail is very
important in developing appropriate and tailored learning materials.
Eliemental is targeting groups vulnerable to social exclusion and our interviewees and focus group
participants included migrants, older women, young people not in education, training or
employment (NEETS), recovering substance abusers, disabled, long-term unemployed, ex-offenders
and BME groups. These were recruited via local community organisations, from reading posters and
leaflets about the project placed in communities, through outreach activities and by our coresearchers from within their own networks. Our co-researchers included long-term unemployed,
mothers and older women seeking to return to the work, disabled people, migrants, members of
minority ethnic communities including Roma in Romania and young people not in education, training
or employment. Our co-researchers acted as gate-keepers to a more diverse sample than we could
have otherwise obtained for the qualitative research phase of Eliemental .
Overview of qualitative phase of Eliemental
1. Interview matrix based upon findings of questionnaire (see appendices).
2. A sample of 40 (ten per country) were selected and interviewed
3. Content analysis of interviews
4. Our co-researchers conducted community-based interviews for WP4 and 5 (vox-pop style)
and provided additional data (12 interviews per country)
5. From all of the interview data six case studies per country were prepared to illustrate key
aspects of barriers to entrepreneurship amongst groups vulnerable to social exclusion (see
appendices).
Co-researchers and training workshops overview
1. We recruited a minimum of 3 co-researchers s in each country to work with other members
of their community and alongside the project team
2. A training workshop for co-researchers took place, this was planned by Lancaster and was
Ketso based (see appendices)).
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a. Ketso is an interactive tool for working with groups. It can be used for training, for
research, for education and in a wide range of settings. It enables all participants to
be heard equally.
b. Two workshops were held in each country. These were part of WP4 and 5 and
covered a) co-researcher training and b) what makes a community places
c. Six to eight participants attended each workshop although not all of these were coresearchers. Participants included unemployed disabled people, older women,
young unemployed people, recovering substance abusers, migrants and minority
ethnic groups as well as community leaders, enterprise educators working in local
communities and potential Eliemental mentors.
3. Co-researchers were be equipped with digital video recorders (small cameras, similar to flipcam) or digital sound recorders if required and they were able to keep these as a token of
thanks for their contribution to the project
4. They talked to and recorded the opinions of family and friends in their community, finding
out about knowledge of entrepreneurship, innovation, ideas, barriers to enterprise and
employability, local networks, community places and etc.
5. The video / sound data was analysed with the co-researchers where appropriate during an
interactive workshop where the nature of barriers to entrepreneurship were considered and
solutions and interpretations were proposed by co-researchers (Ketso based) (workshop
plan is a deliverable).
6. A spreadsheet was used as a flat-file database to collate interview data and allow themes to
be identified and interpreted. A second spreadsheet (developed by Ketso) was used to
analyse workshop data.
Summary of Main Findings of WP4
The main finding of our qualitative and quantitative studies was that a significant soft-skills
gap existed amongst our target groups. The interviews in Poland, Greece, UK and Romania built
upon the findings of the questionnaire, and noted that a soft-skills gap was present to varying
degrees. There was a clear difference in scale however, between the Greek data and that from other
countries. This was a result of the target group in Greece being older women and also the impact of
the high levels of economic uncertainty in Greece both of which impacted on responses in clearly
defined ways. Thus we found that amongst our Greek sample there was a smaller range of soft skills
that needed addressing and that this cohort were closer to entrepreneurship than the samples in the
UK, Poland and Romania. However, it was clear that given the identification of a significant soft skills
gap in most cohorts conventional models of enterprise support such as that provided for newlyredundant individuals via government schemes, or training schemes for enterprise running in Higher
or Further Education (such as enterprise boot camp) was not sufficient or suitable for most of our
sample. We were able to further break our data down to identify twelve critical soft skills that were
missing or not well developed amongst our sample (with a smaller subset of these not welldeveloped amongst our Greek cohort) and correlate these with the interview and questionnaire data
to establish three clear sub-groups of participants:
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The ten areas listed are the most prevalent issues, and are ranked in order.
1. Lacking confidence
2. Limited networking skills / restricted networks although our participants were often in
strong and supportive networks these were often made up of family, neighbours, and
people with very similar issues to those of the participants.
3. Socially constructed perceptions of enterprise that act as a barrier to considering it as an
option
4. Little adaptability and flexibility, set habits/set ways of approaching problems linking to
weak future-planning abilities
5. Creative thinking (problem solving) and critical observation skills very limited or present but
not recognised by individual in themselves
6. Lack of resilience
7. Weak Interpersonal and Negotiation skills (especially in new settings/situations) impacting
on ability to Collaborate
8. Poor general communication skills (Oral and aural) Poor written communication is a hard
skill but is relevant here as it links with confidence and the ability to access Eliemental)
9. Weak emotional intelligence
10. Issues with Personal accountability / work ethic
Soft Skills Gap
The interviews built upon the findings of the questionnaire, and noted that a soft-skills gap was
present to varying degrees. It was clear that given the identification of a significant soft skills gap
conventional models of enterprise support such as that provided for newly-redundant individuals via
government schemes, or training schemes for enterprise running in Higher or Further Education
(such as enterprise boot camp) was not sufficient or suitable for our sample. We were able to
further break our data down to identify twelve critical soft skills that were missing or not well
developed amongst our sample and correlate these with the interview and questionnaire data to
establish three clear sub-groups of participants:
a. Group A have the highest level of soft skills shortfall and lowest capacity to move
into either enterprise or employability over the medium to long term. This group will
need significant inputs into soft skills training to embed capability and considerable
social support if they are to make progress. Even then they might not be ready to
proceed into enterprise or employment without an externally provided mechanism
for co-operative enterprise or third-party supported enterprise or supported
employment. Group A included many with serious ongoing mental or physical health
issues and migrants with poor oral communication skills and those lacking basic
literacy / numeracy alongside other underlying vulnerabilities.
b. Group B (the majority) have moderate levels of soft-skills need and higher capability
to move into supported enterprise or employment in the short to medium term with
potential for minimally supported enterprise in the long term to ensure
sustainability. This group though would need a different and more sustained model
of support (mentoring +) than is usually provided for start-up entrepreneurs by
schemes such as Blue Orchid. These people were not ready for planning a business
for example, and even after training might not be ready to plan a business without
additional support. We found people in this group who were coping with mental or
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physical health issues, NEETS, recent migrants, some older women, ex-offenders and
some recovering substance abusers.
c. Group C (a minority) have some soft skills shortfall, which is hindering their ability to
move into employability or training but would not need significant levels of long
term support. A small group (mainly older women and younger migrants/BME
groups, and found in all partner countries) who were often well-educated were best
placed to be easily supported into enterprise. Whilst not being immediately
prepared for enterprise this group were interested in the idea and had put some
thought into becoming self-employed. The soft-skills gap amongst this group were
because many had never worked or had held a caring role for many years, this group
lacked confidence, were not able to clearly identify business ideas or mechanisms
for realising initial ideas and had restricted networks. This group would be rapidly
able to move from Eliemental training into a more conventional business-start-up
support schemes and would benefit greatly from education that included
signposting to business support organisations, knowledge about social and
cooperative enterprise and business planning skills (thus hard, business-specific skills
as well as generalizable soft skills).
Across all our three groups of interviewees mentoring is an extremely popular idea, but conventional
mentoring at the point of business start-up will not be useful, a more tailored approach is required
which is longer term and may require several mentors (changing over time) for each individual –
thus we propose in WP8 to develop a new model of mentoring, to support, grow, sustain (SGS
mentoring) individuals over a longer period of time than conventional mentoring models.
Interview Findings: The Soft Skills Gap
Building on the data from our questionnaire we found that aspects of soft skills were lacking across
all interviewees but that those in group C above were generally better equipped with a range of soft
skills, while those in group A were generally those whose soft skills gap would prove a significant
hindrance to employment or self-employment, with soft skills often only part of a more complex
picture of mental and physical health needs.
Group of Interviewees presenting with this
Shortfall
Common in Groups A, B, C
Category of Soft Skill
Common in Groups A, B, C
Weak Interpersonal and Negotiation skills
(especially in new settings/situations)
Common in Groups A, B,
Little adaptability and flexibility, set habits/ways
Common in Groups A, B, C
Creative thinking (problem solving) and critical
observation skills very limited or present but not
recognised by individual in themselves
Common in Groups A, B, C
Most common in Group A, less common but
present in Group B and occasionally in group C
Networking skills
Lack of resilience
Lacking Confidence
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Most common in Group A, less common but
present in Group B
Poor general communication skills (Oral and
aural) Poor written communication is a hard skill
but is relevant here as it links with confidence
and the ability to access Eliemental)
Most common in Group A (work and enterprise)
present in Group B (relating to enterprise)
Socially constructed perceptions of enterprise
that act as a barrier to considering it as an option
(and work with some group A)
Found in Group A but not common
Issues with Personal accountability / work ethic
Most common in Group A, but also an issue with
group B and C (linking back to confidence)
Poor emotional intelligence
Reflections
We had an extremely rich data set, with interviews lasting around one hour. Interviews were
conducted by the academic research team and alongside the interview matrix the interview team
worked from written protocols to help ensure consistency of approach. We interviewed forty
individuals across Poland, the UK, Greece and Romania. Aside from our Greek sample who
comprised older women not currently in employment our sample included young people not in
education, training or employment, minority ethnic women and men, male and female migrants
from communities under-represented in SME start-ups, people with mental and physical health
problems and recovering substance users. A breakdown of participant’s biographical details can be
found in the appendices. Data from all partners strongly supported our initial ideas regarding likely
social and cultural barriers to enterprise and employability but importantly also provided several
previously overlooked areas (that linked back to our questionnaire findings) where soft-skills training
could be tailored to assist in equipping those vulnerable to social exclusion with skills to support
them into enterprise or employment.
Confidence
This was the area of soft skills with the most serious shortfall across a majority of interviewees. We
found this could be split into two types of lack of confidence and that lack of confidence
(conventional and socially imposed) linked to a shortfall in resilience (as in the ability to believe that
problems could be overcome).
Conventional lack of confidence
We wanted to identify where people were proud of achievements as this might link to confidence,
particularly with regard to achievements that are externally recognised. The work of Mee, Sumsion
and Craik (2004) has shown that confidence in own achievements is an important stepping stone in
developing greater confidence across all areas of life. We took some time to unpack this question in
our interviews as some participants found this a challenging area to address. Some interviewees
simply could not identify any area of life that they were proud of, one Polish woman (SCB12) insisted
there was ‘nothing’ of which she was proud, and many interviewees at first would not be able to
think of an example, ‘That’s terrible, I can’t think of anything’ (Female, SEUK1). However, on further
exploration of this issue people were often proud of aspects of their life related to their education
(especially where achieved under difficult personal circumstances) and achievements such as
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managing family life in the face of adversity. However, it was very clear that once people identified
areas they were proud of these were also often areas where there was potential to develop ideas for
self-employment or employment. Examples include interviewee SCB5 who has not held a job for
over 30 years because of schizophrenia but has excellent skills at mathematics and is proud of the
units he studied and passed at a local university. He has previously helped his landlady with her
business accounts and was proud that she turned to him for help, as usually he would be the one
asking for assistance. Similarly, SCB3 had managed as a single parent to pursue training and
education, to care for a sick parent and to maintain house ownership despite difficult financial
circumstances. However, despite obvious evidence of skills and some evidence of practical business
ideas many interviewees were not at all confident they could be self-employed. The main barriers
here were perceptions of ability, with people generally citing their lack of expertise or experience in
business. ‘I don’t think I’m any good at business’ (SE1UK) despite this interviewee having a really
good business idea that was quite well-develop; e-cards. Interviewee SCB3 has often thought about
self-employment but said, ‘I have never had the confidence to make the leap’. Interviewee SCB6
would really like to have a pet shop, specialising in reptiles perhaps, but she feels this is a really big
step, a bit of a dream rather than a realisable ambition. She said she would not be confident to
borrow money to start a business, and is learning business skills to try and improve her prospects for
sustainable employment. Many older interviewees who were not able to identify something directly
related to their own achievements to be proud of were very proud of their children’s achievements,
and this is an aspect that potentially could be built upon, as children can act as a conduit for the
acceptance of new ideas or for trying out new ways of doing things, while conversely amongst our
young long-term unemployed they often expressed pride in parents or siblings. The need for
confidence-building amongst our target group is high, and in fact was specifically identified by
interviewees in Poland and the UK. Confidence-building was needed amongst all groups but was
particularly an issue amongst those experiencing mental or physical health problems.
Socially imposed lack of confidence
Lacking confidence because of external factors was found across all countries, and was marked in
our cohort of older women. It was often related to factors such as place (having a poor address or
living in an area perceived of by outsiders as having problems), ‘No one would take me seriously, not
living round here’ (NWUKSCB8). There was also the wider issue of actual mobility, which hindered
both employment and self-employment, ‘You need a job near home and there aren’t jobs round
here. It’s difficult to get out for work [talking about working off the estate] when they see your
address they won’t employ you.’ (CRUK2) and ‘If you live in the village it is too expensive to go
somewhere, too far from the city’ (PLSCB4) are some of the many comments that showed how lack
of mobility affected the more general ability to get a job, while the lack of confidence after some
years without work impacted on the ability to move into more local self-employment. Many of our
older women linked confidence to appearance, PLSCB7 ‘A woman of my age should be groomed to
take care of your appearance’, and they were candid about their need to appear well-groomed or
smart as a defence against judgements made on the basis of appearance, as well as being concerned
about ‘stereotypes that women are worse employees’ (GRSCB5) while young people experienced
very similar issues of stereotyping as older women, summarised by interview PLSCB9 with the telling
comment; ‘employers should not be afraid of the young’ and with this perception having a similar
impact on confidence levels.
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Both migrant and BME interviewees had experience of direct or indirect racism or hostility as a
result of their ethnicity described by one as ‘Polish antipathy towards Ukraine people’ which then
dented their confidence in approaching new people or situations. This was seen particularly in our
Roma community where confidence in ability and pride in having achieved a higher university
degree was tempered by the experience of hostility towards the Roma community and a lack of
confidence was generated as a result. Interviewees spoke of their experience of being exploited
(particularly migrants) which had dented their confidence in their abilities to manage their lives
working lives. (UK, Poland). Further there were comments that reflected their knowledge of the
potential of enterprise as a tool for earning a living, as the barter economy was well-recognised, but
people lacked the confidence needed to move into legitimate enterprise ‘No one from round here is
self-employed, they work on the side – everyone does if they can, but going legit is risky’
(NWUKSCB3). Where people have been engaged in the unofficial economy developing their
confidence so they can move into the legitimate sector can be a very cost effective strategy for
government as found in the study by Barbour and Llanes (2013).
Limited networking skills / restricted networks
There is a significant body of sociological work (such as that of Mark Granovetter) about the impacts
on individuals, families and communities on the role of networks and networking in supporting social
capital. In this project we have generally found that our participants have mainly very close but
restricted networks made up of family, very near neighbours or people with similar life experiences
(particularly the case with people living with health problems or recovering substance abusers) and
virtually no access to networks beyond these. Restricted networks lead in turn to lack of opportunity
for developing networking skills and where coupled with poor self-confidence it can be seen that we
have a significant socio-cultural barrier to enterprise and employability. Networks plus confidence
are essential in the process of developing and initiating a business idea and the combination of a
shortfall in networks, associated lack of networking skills plus low levels of confidence were common
even amongst our group C participants, the group closest to developing as entrepreneurs and then
becoming self-sustaining. Comments from participants indicate the level of difficulty faced. In
Greece we heard, ‘I live in a rather restrictive local community, in the suburbs of the city. The local
community could hardly support my ideas, and is generally not supportive of innovation (SCBGR1).
In the UK there were factors such as location (a large social housing estate with poor transport links
for example) that limited networks, or social factors such as ‘I come to the Job Club, that’s my realworld network, but I’ve Facebook for my family, they don’t live round here’ (SCBUK2). Financial
pressures also limited networks and opportunities for networking, and this was common across all
countries, ‘there is no money to go anywhere’ (SCBPOL2), ‘ because of my poverty, attending the
most important community places (that is, the village pub) is not possible (SCBPOL5). This links back
to the need for community access points to be in places that are really accessible and open. People
are frightened to enter places even if invited, where they feel they do not have the right clothes or
where they expect they may have to pay for something in order to be there.
Misconceptions about entrepreneurship
Our interviewees had a range of common misconceptions, very similar to those found in the original
ELIE (Employability: Learning from Immigrant Entrepreneurs). These were framed around the
perceived personal characteristics of entrepreneurs with positive characteristics identified such as,
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‘Very confident people, good at planning’ (SCBUK6), ‘Charismatic people, very ambitious’ (SCBGR2),
‘An efficient organiser, responsible, with highly developed skills of planning and communication’
(SCBPOL4), more ambivalent characterisations including, ‘They are affluent, intelligent and most of
them vote Conservative’ (SCB5UK) and ‘A large amount of money is necessary, and tons of
authorisations, there is no friendly information office, so only rich people are entrepreneurs’
(SCBROM5) and then a number of negative descriptions were offered, for example, ‘Usually stingy,
disrespectful, selfish, bitter’ (SCBROM1) and ‘Most are fixated on money-making’ (SCBGR5). As with
our findings in the ELIE project, there was a huge degree of commonality in the descriptions of
entrepreneurs, with ‘Self-determined’ a description heard in many interviews in all countries. It was
also very clear that for our many of our participants entrepreneurs were people who were not like
them, and also were seen as requiring skills, knowledge and attributes that our participants did not
envisage themselves as ever possessing.
Problems of adaptability and flexibility
This is a two-way problem, as one of the issues is a structural lack of adaptability and flexibility in
government or non-governmental programs to support entrepreneurship, while the invisible barrier
lies around areas of misconceptions on both employment and enterprise which lead to people not
being able to develop flexible solutions to the perceived difficulties of either working or being
enterprising.
Interviewee ROSCB5 commented ‘I imagine myself as unemployed and without subsistence means’
and went to explain that this would make it impossible for him to start a business as no business is
safe [from failing]. As he also had no role models to help him develop a more flexible attitude there
is an obvious block to progress. We also found amongst some older women who had held caring
responsibilities for a long time were so distant from the employment market that it was not possible
for them to identify their transferable skills, even though they had many skills of use, ‘I cannot
imagine working for someone else, sending in a CV’ (SCBUK5). The reverse side of adaptability
problems was also faced by our older women who were able to be adaptable and were considering
enterprise in that ‘governmental funds and programs to support female entrepreneurship are not
serious. They are not planned and designed according to the real needs of older women’ (GRSCB7)
‘A huge barrier is the large quantity of rules’ (PLSCB5), ‘I was offered job but did not meet my
requirements’ (SCBUK5) ‘I am afraid of an enormous amount of hard work and time it might take [to
start a business] (SCBPOL6).
Creative thinking (problem solving) and critical observation skills
It was noticeable that many of our participants had a good range of skills that could be developed
into a business opportunity. However, even when describing these they were generally unable to
recognise that they already had the capacity for developing a business. For example, one participant
in the UK was really proud of his skill with mathematics, he described doing part-time courses at a
local university, and of helping his landlady with her accounts and tax forms every year, but had
never thought that he could turn this skill to supporting small businesses with their paperwork, or
that he could take a book-keeping course and get accredited for this skill. Another UK participant, an
immigrant, described her skill at writing, but saw this only as a hobby, and even though wanting to
undertake post-graduate study in creative writing did not realise that authors are generally selfemployed. She had given up on an idea for e-cards as a business because she did not have any
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technical skills, though of course, if she had a good network she might have found a partner to help
her develop this as a business.
Lack of resilience
Resilience is an important soft skill – the ability to recover from adverse situations enables people to
plan for the future, and to adapt to new or changing situations. There is no doubt that the capacity
for resilience is linked closely to life experiences, social setting, levels or frequency of adversity
previously experienced and the availability of protective factors such as skills, abilities, knowledge
and individual characteristics. Rutter (1993) concluded that levels of resilience are not fixed but
change depending on developmental factors and social factors such as availability of support or
ability to understand and manage adversity. Within our sample resilience was generally fairly low, in
large part due to previous life experiences of adversity and sense of powerlessness engendered by
an inability to influence external stressors.
There were many report of ‘discrimination and prejudice’ (SCBPol5) amongst minority ethnic groups,
immigrants and those with mental health problems. Amongst interviewees with mental health
problems the impacts of prejudice were magnified by marginalisation through long term illness and
long periods in hospital; the lack of a supportive network was part of a feeling of powerlessness.
Older women generally had more resilience but still this was an area where they needed support to
develop. One interviewee in Greece listed a range of problems that together added up to a lack of
resilience, ‘there is ageism and lack of confidence that act together…I don’t know how to brand
myself, to sell myself in creative and innovative ways’, this interviewee felt powerless to resolve her
employment situation even though she was more confident in other areas of life. In Poland our
young interviewees had problems with being victims of aggression while for recovering substance
abusers in Poland and the UK resilience was closely linked with the recovery process. Developing
resilience amongst groups vulnerable to social exclusion cannot solely be managed through softskills education, although this can help. Our participants often experienced multiple factors that
impacted on levels of resilience and a holistic, multi-agency approach will be needed.
Weak Interpersonal and/or Negotiation skills
This soft-skills shortfall links very closely to confidence and was seen to be an issue where our
interviewees would be exposed to new settings or situations, such as presenting a business plan to a
bank, seeking premises for a business, contacting suppliers or potential customers or in dealing with
customers post-invoicing (requesting payment for example). These are all important areas for those
establishing a business to be able to manage successfully and are serious socio-cultural barriers to
enterprise. These skills were often linked to poor oral communication skills in migrants, and so
learning the language and gaining confidence in using it would undoubtedly assist this group, but
more generally it was also part of a lack of social capital. Our participants did not often encounter
opportunities to develop these skills because of their situation or their limited network of contact.
Communication Skills
In part this is a structural barrier related to access to opportunities to learn the language. For some
of our migrant participants being unable to communicate in the language of their new country
prevents them working or becoming self-employed outside of their own community. However, the
issue is wider and more complex than simply an inability to speak the language.
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a. For some women in immigrant communities cultural barriers to language learning
exist. These women were not able to travel to classes without a male to escort
them, or had no options for child-care. Government cuts have removed communitybased and free provision of language classes also adding to the difficulties of
learning the local language.
b. Significant numbers of participants who were native speakers also had poor
communication skills. These were linked to issues such as lack of confidence, poor
basic education or underlying mental health problems that impacted on ability to
communicate effectively.
Emotional Intelligence (EI)
‘Emotional Intelligence is found to be the single most important factor for superior performance at
every level from entry-level jobs to top executive positions’ (Watkins, 2000). There is a sense in
which emotional intelligence can be seen as underpinning many of the soft-skills within our
identified soft-skills gap. EI is the ability to recognise both our own feelings and also the feelings of
people around us plus having the ability to manage our emotions and respond appropriately to the
emotions expressed by people we interact with. Within our sample we noted that older women and
were generally scoring well on EI, but that most other participants did less well in this area. We did
not explore EI within our interviews as this would have required a different project structure with
more detailed interviews than were planned for. The potential for developing EI at any age is wellrecognised in the literature and this will be part of our learning materials.
Personal Accountability
This area is cited by the press and some policy makers as the reason for long-term unemployment –
the idea that many people prefer to receive state benefits and are not prepared to work. We found
no evidence that this is the case. However, in some instances we noted that there was a tendency
towards a fatalistic approach to their life situation that led a few of our participants to believe there
was nothing they could do to change things. Comments such as ‘no one round here is in work,
there’s nothing available’ (Co-research workshop P3), ‘I’m a single mum with three kids, it’s just too
difficult to work’ (Co-researcher workshop P1) suggest that there is a need for support to help
people understand that they have personal agency and can arrange their lives. As with some of the
communication problems this area links back to confidence.
Conclusions
The identification of a soft-skills gap in the research part of Eliemental is important as it enables us
to develop our learning materials to closely target the necessary skills. However, the needs of our
target groups are very complex and wide-ranging. It is very important to realise that for many people
in groups vulnerable to social exclusion while education can begin to support people into both
enterprise and employment it is likely to be only the very first step on a pathway. Across all our
groups of interviewees mentoring is an extremely popular idea, but conventional mentoring at the
point of business start-up will not be useful, a more tailored approach is required which is longer
term and may require several mentors (changing over time) for each individual – thus we propose in
WP8 to develop a new model of mentoring, to support, grow, sustain (SGS mentoring) individuals
over a longer period of time than conventional mentoring models.
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The Eliemental project is predicated on education and support through mentoring, plus the
development wider community networks and supported enterprise through raising awareness of the
potential of cooperative enterprise in particular so as to support people and communities in
sustainable solutions that help build resilience. However, in the partner countries and indeed,
throughout most EU countries there is little knowledge amongst our target communities of the
potential of cooperative enterprise and a lack of information and support for this type of
development. We have been fortunate to develop some links with the Transition Network, an EUwide organisation focussing on building resilient communities, and will be doing some additional
research on the potential for cooperative enterprise and the development of Community Access
Points (see our WP5 report) which will add to our knowledge of how to develop pathways of support
for groups vulnerable to social exclusion so as to better prepare individuals to move into a
sustainable enterprise that provides a reasonable standard of living. However, it is clear that policy
changes will also be necessary, most particularly in terms of provision for part-time or flexible selfemployment, as many of the people we are working with will be unable to sustain full-time selfemployment as a result of underlying problems such as poor physical or mental health, caring
responsibilities or other on-going factors.
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