A city of around 800,000 people like Leeds would require a network of around 16 coaches to provide access to person centred coaching support for everyone that really wanted it. To provide a city wide talent development programme allowing communities to play a full role in the success of their members.
- It would engage about 40 000 people in the process of providing direct hands on assistance to their peers.
- It would provide direct assistance to about 2000 beneficiaries a year, the vast majority of whom would make significant progress in their personal journeys as a result of benefiting from a coaching rather than a coercive approach.
- I would anticipate at least 500 sustainable business starts from this cohort every year. I would envisage business survival rates around the 90% rate after 3 years.
- It would make a very real difference to the perceptions of some 40 000 people a year about the extent to which they feel that they ‘belong to’ and ‘feel supported’ in their community.
- In addition to traditional ‘enterprise’ outputs I would expect substantial impacts on health and well-being as well as increases in volunteering, cultural productivity, mental health, fitness etc.
- It would help to integrate the dual priorities of economy and community rather than treating them as separate and often incompatible determinants.
- Within 3-7 years I would expect it to have made a sustained and measurable difference to the enterprise culture in the city region.
And it would cost about £800 000 a year.
For the price of a rich wo/man’s house we could build a city wide talent development programme that would help us become a true A City of Enterprise.