Creative Business Catalyst

Creative Business Catalyst teams-up business school MBA students with creative businesses to stimulate innovation and business growth.

The programme, run by NESTA and the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) aims to tap into the skill-base of UK business schools to exploit their expertise in supporting growth in the creative industries sector.

Barriers to growing creative businesses

The creative industries face many of the same problems affecting small businesses across the economy and therefore there is a need for them to:

• Develop better business management skills;
• Better understand how they can exploit their potential assets;
• Communicate more effectively to potential investors and partners.

Business education for creative businesses

Although a growing number of business schools now offer MBA modules and executive education courses for business leaders working in the creative sectors, this only represents a small part of the expertise available to creative businesses from within business schools.

Collaborating with MBA students

Creative Business Catalyst links up with mainstream MBA teaching by providing students with access to growing creative businesses and the creative company with access to business advice.

During the autumn term in 2008 the MBA students received training in the principles of business growth and were then linked up with creative businesses in early 2009.

Business mentors with experience in the creative business sector will also be engaged at key points to provide strategic input.

The business placements conclude with the production of a Business Assessment report as part of a formal review for the creative business as well as counting towards the MBA programme for the placement student.

For the creative business the assessment report will prepare them with advice on the next steps in growing their business. These steps could involve further accelerator programmes, financial advice or specialist support in key areas.