Rural enterprise support: evaluation report

6. The Views of participants: Qualitative findings

Key Points

Focus groups and interviews were done with 18 participants who had received support during the project.

Overall, participants in the research viewed the pilot favourably. For those who had received support from multiple sources, the pilot was generally viewed as preferable to the other support they had received.

Participants viewed the support they received from GrowBiz as more personal and bespoke compared with other support.

6.1 Overview

As part of the evaluation, we undertook focus groups and interviews with 18 participants who had received support during the project. The focus groups and interviews indicated a number of clear benefits from an integrated, place based approach to business support.

Overall, participants in the research viewed the pilot favourably. For those who had received support from multiple sources, the pilot was generally viewed as preferable to the other support they had received. They viewed the pilot as provided a highly personalised, flexible and tailored to individual need, supportive service with an emphasis on practical advice. A key dimension of this was that the pilot helped people access social connections and support, increased their confidence and helped them to understand the practical dimensions of business in an accessible way.

Additional benefits included networking and peer learning, which facilitated collaboration and greater awareness of other businesses in the area, as well as providing business support and addressing the problems of rural isolation. Networking with other businesses had multiple benefits: as well as helping participants learn more about their local area and feel embedded in the community, it supported peer based learning, opportunities for collaboration. Improvement in IT skills were also noted, which were typically tailored to the business persons’ specific needs. Finally, participants noted that the pilot had helped them cope during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis in both practical and personal terms. The views of the participants are presented below, analysed thematically.

6.2 The personal dimensions and nurturing nature of GrowBiz support

In the first instance, many participants were able to contrast their experiences with the pilot and other support services. Often participants were familiar with the other available business support, but in several cases had only limited engagement with them, often because they found their first encounters unsatisfactory. By contrast, the pilot was perceived as responsive, personalised, invested and welcoming:

“I didn’t feel like I got anything from them [other business support services]. But as soon as I contacted GrowBiz, it was completely different. They’re really dynamic. They mould what they provide based on what the bigger picture is – the Covid thing – or what your individual needs are. And nothing has been too much trouble. They’ve all phoned up just to see how things are, whereas [with other business support] I felt completely unsupported, and anything that I was gonna get was gonna come with a big price tag as well.

Participant 1

As noted, a consistent finding here was that participants viewed the support they received from GrowBiz as more personal and bespoke, as opposed to the slightly more ‘once side fits all’ approach sometimes seen elsewhere. As another participant noted:

“…services [other business support services] have been in touch…but it tends to be much more ‘I’ll just send tonnes of stuff to your inbox’, as opposed to this more personal approach of ‘what do you really need? So it was still important to me, but it was slightly different’.

Participant 6

This learning process, which involves slightly more steps than simply developing a business plan and having it approved, was felt to be a key benefit of the approach taken in the pilot. As another participant described the process, this time at the level of when they began to take their ideas more seriously:

“I was saying this [my business idea] to other people, other business people, and none of them thought it was a daft idea. They all took me seriously, and it helped me to take me seriously, if you know what I mean?...There was a confidence building process behind it.”

Participant 4

An important dimension of this was feeling listened to. As another participant noted:

“It wasn’t just giving advice. They were listening. I think in communication the most important thing is listening…”

Participant 3

The importance of supporting people and emphasising confidence was also emphasised specifically in the context of the sorts of rural businesses discussed here, which may be more likely to be led by a sole person, may involve people starting businesses for the first time, and in many cases based on a project they are passionately attached to.

6.3 Practical support

In addition to being nurturing, the focus groups and interviews emphasised the highly practical nature of the support offered in the pilot. As the quotations below indicate, there were several components to this, including the tailored and specific nature of the support, the pragmatism of the approach, the flexibility offered, the sense of having someone ‘on their side’, the fact that they could provide help with a range of issues and the inclusive nature of the support, which participants experienced as welcoming.

In one instance, a participant spoke about her detailed engagement with a mentor in relation to identifying her customer base, leaning to source market research and develop a sales strategy. Practical support in this case also involved learning from another retailer by viewing their shop, having layouts explained and learning what they ‘didn’t know they didn’t know’.

“There is definitely a role in that extremely practical advice…you need a customer facing policy, here is my set of policies, copy/paste, adapt it for what you want to do, but you need to think about what you’re going do when somebody comes in and wants to exchange something. Really, really practical advice that I hadn’t thought about….”

Participant 4

Further examples of highly practical support include:

“He gave me a template that he used for his own business, on how he kept track of people he’d made contact with, so whether they were targets, when he’d e- mailed them, if he’s had a response, etc….so it felt like really practical, nuts and bolts practical advice, and helpful.”

Participant

Other examples emphasised the multi-faceted forms of support that was provided on a case by case basis:

“They’ve helped in loads of different ways. I’ve been successful with grant applications that they’ve helped me with. For extending my business outwith Scotland and to the rest of the UK and hopefully internationally, so they’ve helped me get funding… [They’ve helped me] to acquire some essential equipment, a new computer, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it all, so that’s been great.”

Participant 9

Finally, it’s worth noting the value of this support in the context of the disruption caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19), where being able to move quickly was important in providing businesses with adequate support. As a participant noted:

“I contacted them [GrowBiz] for a couple of really immediate pieces of advice about using the furlough scheme and applying for the business grants…initially the information coming from the government was a little bit unclear…but they [GrowBiz] were really immediately able to help me and answer my questions.”

Participant 8

6.4 Training and networking

Another key part of the practical support were the trainings, which were frequently led by people with relevant industry experience and emphasised key business skills, particularly IT related ones. Numerous participants described the online skills they had acquired as a result of working with the support pilot.

“I knew I had these great ideas, but I couldn’t push forward….my biggest barrier was that I couldn’t get online and I couldn’t make my computer work…A lot of it was on the social media, internet accessibility, and I didn’t know where to start. So I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Participant 2

At the same time, it’s worth noting that, in line with the observations above about the need for practical support, participants greatly appreciated the fact that help and training could also be provided on an ad hoc basis, rather than having to proceed through a formulaic training approach. In relation to the need to apply for an intellectual property right, a participant noted:

“I hadn’t got a clue where to start to follow the government guidelines on that…So within, I think it was in two or three very quick conversations with [my advisor] and then I literally filled the form in, just sent it back to him, he checked it…Practically, it’s quick. You don’t want to wait for a ten week course to learn how to do it. You’re doing something there in your business and sometimes you need a quick response, we don’t want to be waiting weeks to do something because we’ve got a plan of something we want to do now.”

Participant 8

Another benefit of the Enterprise Pilot was the use of networking events to build connections between rural business people. Participants viewed it as beneficial being able to meet other people and potentially learn from their experiences:

“Networking and seeing people in other small businesses – particularly women – that was really helpful...If you are trying to work on your own, it’s actually so helpful being in groups of people and seeing how other people are doing things.”

Participant 2

As well as learning from each other, the networks offered the scope to develop links with local businesses and learn about what’s going on in the area, as the following comments indicate:

“Being able to join the Kinross partnership for the business breakfasts. That opened up different opportunities where I wouldn’t have known where to start or where to look for all of these things.”

Participant 6

6.5 Inclusiveness and support in an isolated context

Another benefit noted regarding the networking was how inclusive the atmosphere was. As one participant, who had recently moved to the area, noted:

“When I went to the first GrowBiz meeting, you wouldn’t believe, it was like ‘I’m among friends’! I’m being made to feel as one of them! No one looked at me as a foreigner or a weirdo or any such thing, no matter how I was dressed or how I spoke, they were very welcoming.”

Participant 5

Participants also emphasised that they had found the approach to women in enterprise helpful:

“I think the work that they’ve done around the women’s enterprise network is interesting. It hadn’t occurred to me before that women approach business differently – or tend to, I don’t want to make generalisations – but there were a few things I hadn’t appreciated and I think that was quite helpful.”

Participant 6

In another context, a participant emphasised that GrowBiz, in delivering the pilot, had been highly supportive in helping them participate despite a disability that could make this difficult. Participants also emphasised that the peer learning was highly inclusive, and maximised the contributions of the participants:

“You’re encouraged to chip in with your experience and advice. As an attendee it’s not all about just the teacher telling you this is how it is. They really involved everyone there, because everyone’s got a bit of experience.”

Participant 10

This inclusive approach, alongside the emphasis on networking as noted above, was perceived to assist in addressing the isolation businesspeople potentially faced in a rural context, as noted below:

“As a rural business, it can be quite a lonely existence…for me, I’m quite happy with my solitude a lot of the time but it’s good to know that the peer support is there. I think for a lot of people, that has been a really big part of what GrowBiz offers. You know, that connection.”

Participant 5

Addressing isolation was valuable as an end in itself, but was also particularly helpful in the context of having people to discuss business ideas with:

“I think just the discussion, the fact that I could then just discuss ideas about how to extend my business, someone I could go to that I could throw around ideas with and they could then either suggest that that could be useful, or had I thought about this? It’s just been a really good discussion, whereas you can feel really isolated if you’re a small business in a rural community you sometimes feel like you’re working on your own. So actually just having an ear has been really useful.”

Participant 1

The pilot also played an important role in brokering information, which can also add to the broader community context:

“GrowBiz sent out a weekly newsletter through mailchimp, which is invaluable. And much of the information is either dispersed to small businesses…it’s a great source of information about training and funding. So they’re very present.”

Participant 8

Given the disruption caused by Coronavirus (COVID-19), this emphasis on the social dimension of business were valuable:

“Just from a mental health aspect, I think it was a really valuable source of communication, and just hearing other people’s problems and anxieties about what was happening. So, yeah, just on a social level, it was quite a nice thing to be able to drop and have chats with people who weren’t whoever lived in your house. So I think that was really helpful…under the radar, the fact that it was keeping people on track with their emotional stuff was maybe something that wasn’t talked about.”

Participant 9

6.6 ‘Getting’ rural business

Finally, it’s worth emphasising the specific rural dimensions of the support. As above, micro-enterprises are more common in rural contexts, and evidence indicates this influences the goals of the businesses in question. A recurring theme in the data collection was that, for many rural businesses, GrowBiz, in delivering the pilot, ‘got’ the specific and passionately-held aspirations of business people in this context. As one participant noted:

“I think that’s GrowBiz’s point of difference is that, for rural small businesses, they get it. They really understand what they’re about…I think rural business can be a bit ignored…”

Participant 10

Another participant emphasised the point that identifying the aspirations of participants was a key feature of the approach:

“In a rural business setting, I don’t think that that many people come in and want to be a big monster in the countryside that takes over every other café or whatever in the area. But people have aspirations, and I think GrowBiz make a lot of effort to see what your aspirations are and see what the potential is within your market or your sector.”

Participant 11

It’s important to note that, while participants all wanted to improve their business, this was not necessarily the same as growing the business. While some were interested in, in certain contexts, potentially employers others, the goals of the participants were often less straightforward than growth in conventional terms.

“I want to grow the business in that I want to make it more individual, I’d like to enhance the offer, I’d like to target customers with specific requirements. So I want to develop the business, and I’d like to make it less seasonal…but I’m not looking to start a chain!”

Participant 1

Finally, participants often emphasised the sense in which being a rural business meant being part of a community, and seeing the proliferation of small businesses as being an important part of developing the community as a whole.

“Opening a shop in a small town is one thing. Adding to the range of independent retailers in a growing town, where you’ve got specialisms that can work together, and actually using local, that’s why we’re going to be here in ten years’ time…the continuing piece is about fostering community businesses.”

Participant 4

As another participant put it:

“It’s making people realise the value of business in rural locations to the economy. Because, individually, turnovers won’t the same as in the city but, combined, there is a serious amount of value.”

Participant 11

6.7 Conclusion

The participants in the focus groups and interviews clearly articulated a range of benefits they had received from participating in the rural enterprise support pilot. These benefits, and the manner in which they were reported, has in turn greatly influenced the development of the rural business support principles outlined in the next chapter.