EUROPEAN BANK FOR RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT (EBRD)

The challenge

Early-Stage Ventures (ESVs) and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are an integral part of a country’s economy, driving growth, providing employment opportunities, opening new markets and championing inclusion. Empowering them is essential for sustainability and growth, serving as a key objective for government agencies and regional development banks.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) created the  Star Venture programme to facilitate economic development and transition to market economy. The programme targets promising start-ups, accelerators and consultants in 26 countries from North Africa to the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus and Central Asia to unleash their full potential. Through strategic workshops, world-class advisory, mentoring, and access to finance and market development, the programme helps start-ups develop and scale rapidly.

“EBRD has 73 national shareholders from around the world who support the Bank in achieving its mission of fostering the transition towards open market-orientated economies,” says Peter Templeton, Executive Director of Strategic Development at IfM Engage. “Start-ups play an important role in this evolution, facilitating increased investment, revenue growth, employment growth and the creation of businesses led by specific groups such as women and young people.”

When designing the programme, EBRD were looking for an approach to fulfil two main requirements:

• • To objectively assess and prioritise start-ups’ development needs.
  • Establish a robust basis for investment, revenue and employment growth.

Through meeting these objectives, the approach enables participants to:

• • Develop start-ups’ leadership team abilities and clear business goals.
  • Develop organisational capabilities and cohesion, enabling robust plans for growth.
  • Maximise the potential of the EBRD programme resources.

The approach

EBRD worked with IfM Engage, the knowledge transfer arm of the Institute of Manufacturing (IfM) at the University of Cambridge, to develop a solution to their needs. IfM Engage has been working with SMEs since 2003 and with start-ups since 2010, bringing a wealth of experience and knowledge to their development.

In 2019, IfM Engage and EBRD collaborated to create Strategic Compass – a service designed to enable growth for ESVs and SMEs. It uses tools and methodologies, including Topic Roadmapping and the Opportunity x Feasibility evaluation method developed at the IfM, that are specifically configured for early-stage businesses. This ensures they are applicable and beneficial for the stage the company is at and building the participants’ knowledge and skills needed to be successful long-term.

Through a series of five, two-hour online workshops, directors and key stakeholders from the start-up work with an expert facilitator to take a step back, determine strategic priorities and improve decision-making, all with the overarching goal of helping the start-up to identify priority areas for scaling-up, assessing market opportunities, improving operational effectiveness and mitigating risks.

“These robust and proven tools and approaches are delivered by the IfM Engage team of expert industrial practitioners – a group of experienced senior industry professionals, with deep knowledge and experience across manufacturing and other businesses of all sizes and sectors, this team possesses strong facilitation skills and works collaboratively with client companies,” says Peter.

The start-ups leave the workshops armed with a strategic vision for the future and robust plans to achieve it. The workshops empower business leaders to identify and mitigate the risks and barriers to the achievement of their chosen future, helping to ensure success.

“Strategic Compass is the first step in each Star Venture start-up’s journey to growth. Although many of the IfM’s methods originate from research into the manufacturing sector, Strategic Compass is completely sector-agnostic. Within the Star Venture programme, it has been applied successfully with start-ups focusing on ICT including AI, agri- and food-tech, fin-tech, commerce and logistics, and healthcare and life sciences,” says Peter. 

The fact that the Strategic Compass workshops can be applied across a wide range of sectors makes it ideal for programmes such as EBRD Star Venture, which welcomes high-potential applicants from all areas of business. Furthermore, the workshops can be delivered effectively online, making them accessible to all relevant organisations no matter where they are located and reducing travel costs and time for all parties.

 The workshops underpin the Star Venture programme, acting as a foundation and catalyst on which the rest of the elements build. By defining their strategic vision and plan, start-ups are better able to work with their mentors as the programme continues, leveraging their expertise to achieve their goals, and articulate the business priorities to investors, increasing their potential to secure funding.

The impact

To date, more than 250 start-ups in 26 countries, from North Africa to the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe and the Caucasus and Central Asia, have benefitted from the Strategic Compass workshops as part of the Star Venture programme, empowering them with knowledge and tools. From 2019 to 2023, the programme saw start-ups achieve 6x revenue growth and 4x employee growth, with 51% being youth-led, 34% women-led and 43% green.

The workshops facilitate a review of a wide range of options to identify priorities for the entire firm, requiring active engagement from the whole team, particularly the company’s senior leadership and management. This ensures that participants have ownership of the outcomes and are fully committed to the strategic plans they have created. The clear, visual outputs of the methodologies used help to build an effective consensus across the company, further fostering cohesion and building team unity.

Feedback gathered from participants reveals the Strategic Compass workshops have a huge impact on the success of the Star Venture programme, with participants finding them stimulating, highly valuable and indispensable in shaping the next steps of their business plan.

Reem Khouri, Co-Founder and Chair, Whyise, a beneficiary of the EBRD Star Venture Programme says, “The Strategic Compass workshops with the University of Cambridge really gave us clarity on what to prioritise and what strategy to go for. A beautiful, very scientific way of coming up with a strategy that makes a lot of sense.”

Our expert facilitators are instrumental in guiding the participants through the series to tools, tailoring their style to ensure all start-ups get the most value. They consistently receive outstanding feedback for their delivery and approach, allowing the teams to explore their ideas and goals and coming to a conclusion they felt satisfied they could take forward with confidence.

Nick Sullivan, IfM Engage Industrial Associate and Strategic Compass workshop facilitator says, “Participants leave the workshops feeling empowered by the skills they have learnt and energised to move forward with the business strategies developed. We consistently hear how valuable the workshops have been and how instrumental they are in shaping their future vision and goals. It is such a privilege to be part of these start-ups’ journeys and satisfying to see the great things they go on to achieve.”

In addition to direct feedback, a recent Impact Brief published by EBRD provided overwhelmingly positive response from the participants on Strategic Compass, with the vast majority of respondents agreeing the workshops helped them:

• • Develop a clear business goal
  • Identify and select strategic opportunities
  • Create a vision and action plan
  • Build a consensus on business priorities
  • Foster collaborative relationships.

These qualities are key enablers for business growth and highlight the importance and impact of the workshops to start-up success within the Star Venture programme.

The Impact Brief from EBRD shows start-ups involved in the Star Venture programme performed more favourably in funding received, number of employees and LinkedIn followers (used as a proxy for enhanced market access and brand visibility) than similar, non-participating start-ups. It attributes much of these achievements to the Strategic Compass workshops, emphasising their importance in the programme’s success.

“IfM Engage have been a fantastic partner for the programme, bringing extensive experience and insights in how to make the programme as valuable as possible for the start-ups and SMEs. We’ve been really impressed with the feedback we’ve been receiving from beneficiaries about the Strategic Compass workshops – they are delivering significant value,” says Nari Been, Star Venture Programme Manager, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.