ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANCY

Support for small businesses, enterprise promotion and economic development have been a major part of my working life for this last quarter century, starting when David Irwin and I set up Project North East in 1980.

Part of my portfolio has in the past included economic development consultancy. Assignments have included:

• Looking at future trends and what these might mean for small business and for the help needed by small firms, on behalf of a leading High Street Bank;
• Chairing a series of Think-Tank sessions over five years, for the small business banking division of another major bank;
• Periodic evaluations and mentoring for a small business loan fund in the Middle East over a twelve year period;
• Reviewing how enterprise promotion can work in distressed urban areas for an international agency;
• Advising a major, professional trade association on how to support enterprise promotion in British education.

My economic development assignments are carried out through Irwin-Grayson Associates: