The Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME) was established by Aston Business School in 2004. It is a joint venture between a group of Aston researchers committed to making a difference at ground level, and the East Midlands Development Agency, which has a passion for promoting enterprise amongst all communities.
CREME delivers leading expertise on business support for ethnic minority entrepreneurs and has transformed perceptions by working with business policymakers and influential organisations to engage collaboratively with overlooked or disregarded business communities. Headed by Professor Monder Ram OBE, CREME has built up an international reputation for its pioneering research and business engagement activities, promoting diversity and enterprise.
In 2022, CREME secured the commitment of stakeholders at a national scale to implement the recommendations of its report ‘Time to Change (TTC): A Blueprint for Advancing the UK's Ethnic Minority Businesses (EMBs)’. The report, sponsored by NatWest, sets out ten evidence-based recommendations to promote greater success and inclusion of EMBs in finance and business support in the UK. Those committed to implementing the recommended changes include: UK Finance, the Federation of Small Businesses, Business in the Community, Innovate UK, and Be the Business. The impact of this report is predicted to increase the contribution of EMBs to the UK economy from £25 billion to £100 billion.
CREME has also experienced success with its ‘Productivity from Below’ (PfB) project. Funded by the government’s Economic and Social Research Council, PfB is a collaboration between CREME and practitioners from business and community groups (ACH, Bangladeshi Network, Citizens UK (CUK), and Punch Records). Its successes include:
Shaping three successful bids (each worth £1 million) with ACH and CUK using PfB design principles: Pathways to Enterprising Futures (PEF), an initiative to support 600 women into employment; the Migrant Business Support project to provide business support to 500 migrant-owned businesses; and the MILE project on migrant integration in Europe.
Supporting Bangladeshi caterers to implement social media to increase takeaway trade during the pandemic.
Establishing a peer support and leadership development programme, ‘The P Word’, which provides commercial guidance to creative businesses, now two years running.
Helping local retailers and community groups improve business practices through the launch of a Business Leaders Group. NESTA identified the Business Leaders Group as an exemplar of ‘grassroots innovation’.
Building future capacity of practitioners to support businesses through £400,000 of additional funding for four PhD students.
Stakeholder engagement to promote business growth is central to CREME’s mission of ‘making diversity and enterprise everyone’s business’. This was recognised at the first-ever Small Business Charter Excellence Awards where the school won the category ‘Outstanding Stakeholder Engagement’.
The judges commented that “Aston are ‘living the mission’ broadening and deepening their engagement as an anchor institution.”