Identifying good practice in advising entrepreneurs: the case of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Globalization, the rapid and great advances made in the field of technologies and the digital economy, high unemployment rates, aggravated by the current pandemic situation, have changed the world of work as we knew it. It has gone from a job for life to a situation of continuous instability. The individual must face a large number of transitions and demands from the society in which he or she lives. In this situation entrepreneurship comes into play and becomes an emerging field of study in recent decades. Career development as an entrepreneur becomes a viable option in response to an employability need or opportunity. However, a large number of competencies and needs accompany the person who decides to become an entrepreneur. In order to respond to these needs, policies and entities that offer advice and support to the person in this transition towards entrepreneurship have emerged. Among these responses, some are more valued than others when it comes to developing the aforementioned competencies and needs, those considered good practices. These actions are a reference when designing new ones and, in addition, they can be transferable to other entities or geographical contexts. This research aims to identify these good practices in entrepreneurship from the hand of professionals who advise entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurs themselves. All of them belonging to one of the cities in the United Kingdom with great entrepreneurial impact, Newcastle upon Tyne. A qualitative – descriptive methodology is developed, through the application of interviews to 21 participants; 8 professionals and 13 entrepreneurs, who are in the process of ideation or in the development of their entrepreneurial project. A content analysis supported by NVivo 12 Plus software is carried out. The results indicate that, despite the wide variety of programs and resources implemented by the different entities in terms of support and advice for entrepreneurs, the most valued by professionals and entrepreneurs are events, funding, mentoring and networking. These results can serve as a benchmark for prioritizing the design and development of entrepreneurial advisory programmes and practices, both in formal and non-formal contexts. These practices will favor the development of entrepreneurial competencies and will respond to the needs that arise in the development of these projects, improving their chances of success.

Palabras clave