What is PEER?

'People Encouraging Enterprise in Rossendale' was established in September 2003 and it is the UK's first Enterprise Facilitation project based on the SirolliTM approach to local regeneration that is now widely used in North America.

PEER's approach to enterprise support is to only go when invited, usually by a recommendation. To understand the needs of the client and then mobilise the community resources to meet those needs. It's a completely confidential, common sense approach, that empowers the entrepreneur to understand their options, make decisions and take action because nothing is done without them accepting ownership. Sounds simple but one of the big differences with PEER is the sheer amount of specialist resources that can efficiently be brought to bear on a problem.

At the heart of the project is a forty plus strong community Board made up of local people, some from business, some community leaders and others just interested in making Rossendale a better place to live and work. The Board share their knowledge, experience and contacts to help others succeed.

The Facilitator is an experienced business coach and years of experience in running a variety of businesses. But that's just the start. Within the volunteer board is hundreds of years of business experience and a great breadth of specialist knowledge which the facilitator can make use of at any time. Only by mobilising a community's social capital can such a high level of enterprise support be put in place (without spending silly money!).

The Facilitator meets people where they are most comfortable, in their home, at the café, down the community centre or at the office. This responsive approach recognises that many people are very wary of anything that looks like a public sector support agency. Often this is due to lack of confidence or trust or simply because they believe their business is too small to be of interest. PEER therefore goes out of its way to develop a network of direct contacts throughout the community and via hundreds of one to one conversations aims to get close to would be entrepreneurs and be trusted by them.

How does PEER achieve this?
Trust - comes from being networked into the community and highly visible. In the early days of the project the board put a huge amount of effort into introducing the facilitator to as many people as possible. If the facilitator does a good job people know about it and refer others to PEER. When working with a new client the facilitator's first priority is to develop an open, trust based relationship with the client. Only then can there be a really honest discussion of the issues facing the business.
Guiding not leading - It is always important to remember that it is the clients business and the facilitator is there to support them, but not to do it all, take charge or create a sense of dependency. The facilitator will react to the drive of the client - giving as much or as little support as they are asked for.
Responsive not pre judged - Every business is different and so PEER never pre judges what a client will need. It is the job of the facilitator to listen to the client, help them understand what needs to be done, and then support them in doing it.
Really good common sense business support - all this needs to be underpinned by a real knowledge of business and the experience to guide the clients in the right direction. The Facilitator is someone who has run his own business and managed others, with over 15 years senior management experience. He is backed up by a board with literally hundreds of years of experience in many different facets of business. And of course the facilitator will also be linked with other specialist business support initiatives that will be able to help him address particular issues.