Dr David Bozward

Tag: training

  • Bridging National Occupational Standards with Entrepreneurial Apprenticeships

    Bridging National Occupational Standards with Entrepreneurial Apprenticeships

    Entrepreneurship has long been recognised as a vital driver of economic growth, innovation, and job creation. Yet, one of the challenges in building an entrepreneurial nation is ensuring that entrepreneurs are not just inspired, but also supported with structured learning pathways that help them to grow sustainable ventures. This is where the UK’s National Occupational Standards (NOS) for enterprise provide a valuable foundation.

    Although originally developed nearly a decade ago, these NOS documents remain highly relevant today. They set out the core skills and behaviours entrepreneurs need – from scanning the business environment for opportunities, to engaging customers, managing ventures, and sustaining networks.

    By mapping these NOS to the three proposed entrepreneurial apprenticeships – Level 4 (Starting a Business), Level 6 (Growing a Business), and Level 7 (Scaling a Business) – we can translate a set of legacy standards into a modern, practical framework for entrepreneurial development. This approach ensures that apprenticeship pathways are not only aligned with employer and learner needs, but also embedded in a recognised skills infrastructure that government and industry can support.

    In this blog, I’ll show how each NOS element fits naturally into the journey of an entrepreneur, and how this mapping creates a clear, progressive route from startup through to scaleup success.

    Here’s a draft mapping of the NOS titles to the stages of entrepreneurial apprenticeship:

    Level 3 – Starting a Business (Foundation / early-stage venture skills)

    Focus: discovery, opportunity recognition, validation, and establishing a viable startup.

    • Scan the business environment for enterprise opportunities (CFAENTI&TA1)
    • Make sense of enterprise opportunities and their compatibility with organisational priorities (CFAENTI&TA2)
    • Identify stakeholders for an enterprise venture and evaluate their needs (CFAENTI&TA4)
    • Develop a vision and goals for an enterprise venture (CFAENTI&TA5)
    • Identify customers and how to engage them in an enterprise venture (CFAENTP&DB2)

    Level 5 – Growing a Business (Building operations, managing growth, developing resilience)

    Focus: customer traction, managing operations, proving business models, and developing organisational capacity.

    • Manage an enterprise venture (CFAENTP&DB4)
    • Plan to deal with uncertainties, ambiguities and contingencies relating to an enterprise venture (CFAENTP&DB1)
    • Review and sustain networks to support an enterprise venture (CFAENTP&DB5)
    • Demonstrate the difference created by an enterprise venture (CFAENTM&RC2)

    Level 6 – Scaling a Business (Strategic leadership, productivity, and impact)

    Focus: innovation, impact measurement, leadership, and preparing for independence or exit.

    • Monitor and evaluate the difference created by an enterprise venture (CFAENTM&RC3)
    • Demonstrate the difference created by an enterprise venture (CFAENTM&RC2) (relevant here too at a deeper, strategic level)
    • Plan to deal with uncertainties, ambiguities and contingencies (applies at scaling stage in terms of strategic risk and resilience)

    Read more about the Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs.

  • Unlocking Growth: Why the UK Needs a Coaching-Based Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs

    Unlocking Growth: Why the UK Needs a Coaching-Based Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs

    The UK economy thrives on entrepreneurship. Small businesses account for 99.9% of all enterprises and employ 16.7 million people, or 61% of private sector jobs (FSB, 2024). Yet the challenge is clear: while the UK is excellent at creating startups, too many fail too soon, and too few scale into productive, sustainable firms.

    In 2023 alone, 841,000 new businesses were registered. But the reality is stark—20% fail within the first year, and 60% within three years (ONS, 2023). This churn represents a huge loss of potential jobs, innovation, and tax revenue.

    A Coaching-Based Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs could change this picture—transforming startups into scaleups, widening access to entrepreneurship, and delivering measurable returns for the UK economy.

    The Case for Action

    1. From Startups to Scaleups – Closing the Growth Gap

    Research consistently shows that it is scaleups, not startups, that drive growth. Just 6% of firms that scale rapidly create over half of new jobs (ScaleUp Institute, 2023).

    The UK’s productivity gap with G7 peers—around 16% lower (OECD, 2024)—is partly due to a “long tail” of low-productivity SMEs that never professionalise. By embedding structured coaching, mentoring, and skills development into the apprenticeship system, entrepreneurs can be supported not only to start but to grow and scale sustainably.

    This approach directly addresses wasted effort, increases survival rates, and generates long-term tax revenues.

    2. Widening Access – Entrepreneurship as a Driver of Social Mobility

    Entrepreneurship is not just about economics—it’s about inclusion.

    • 1 in 4 students is already running or planning to run a business during university (Santander Universities, 2023).
    • Yet only 5% of equity investment goes to all-female founding teams.
    • Black entrepreneurs face over 60% lower median turnover than White counterparts (British Business Bank, 2022).

    For many groups—young people, carers, older workers, those excluded from traditional employment—entrepreneurship is a vital pathway to independence.

    A coaching-based apprenticeship would level the playing field, offering funded access to mentoring, peer networks, and structured learning. It ensures that opportunity is not limited by background, geography, or personal circumstance.

    3. Building Future Skills – Productivity and Innovation

    Apprenticeships traditionally focus on technical or trade skills. But the modern economy demands more:

    • Strategic thinking
    • Resilience
    • Digital literacy
    • Innovation management

    Poor management and leadership remain major contributors to the UK’s productivity lag (OECD). By formalising entrepreneurial development as a national standard, the government ensures founders are building not just businesses, but productive firms that innovate and compete globally.

    The Economic Impact – A High-Return Investment

    A recent economic impact assessment of the Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs programme shows the scale of what’s possible.

    3-Year Pilot Projection (1,000 apprentices recruited annually):

    • 8,100 – 9,180 net new jobs created
    • £505m – £572m in annual Gross Value Added (GVA) by Year 5
    • ROI of £8.43 – £11.93 for every £1 of public investment

    Wider Systemic Benefits:

    • Regional growth: Each cohort could inject hundreds of millions in GVA into regions outside London.
    • Innovation diffusion: Firms supported through coaching are more likely to adopt and spread new technologies.
    • Investor confidence: A pipeline of trained, mentored entrepreneurs de-risks early-stage investment.
    • Reduced economic drag: Higher survival rates mean less wasted capital, debt, and unemployment.

    This is not a marginal policy—it is a game-changing intervention.

    Why Government Support is Essential

    Without government backing, the Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs risks being an underutilised idea. With support, it can:

    • Maximise levy utilisation: Billions in unspent apprenticeship levy funds currently flow back to the Treasury unused.
    • Support levelling up: Creating viable businesses in every region, not just London.
    • Reduce welfare dependency: Making self-employment a supported, credible career path.
    • Boost competitiveness: Ensuring UK startups survive, scale, and thrive globally.

    A Call to Action

    The case is clear: this programme is more than an education policy—it is an economic growth strategy, a social mobility enabler, and a productivity booster.

    For a relatively small investment, the UK government can unlock:
    ✔️ More jobs
    ✔️ Higher productivity
    ✔️ Stronger regions
    ✔️ Greater inclusion

    It’s time to make entrepreneurship a recognised, funded career pathway. A Coaching-Based Apprenticeship for Entrepreneurs is the way to do it.

    👉 Share your support here: https://forms.gle/UR82nREk2gM92jEs9
    👉 Learn more: https://david.bozward.com/apprenticeship-for-entrepreneurs/