Enterprise Facilitation® - Independently Assessed Since 1988!

The independent assessment of Enterprise Facilitation started immediately. When the Western Australia Government agreed to finance the first ever pilot project in the towns of Esperance and Geraldton in 1986 it demanded that an independent assessment of the pilot be conducted by the Department of Economics of the University of Western Australia. Funded by the Western Australian and the Federal Government the study titled:

“LOCAL ENTERPRISE INITIATIVES: BETWEEN STATE AND MARKET IN ESPERANCE”
by Dr. Jeremy Moon and Dr. Kelvin Willoughby was published in 1988.

According to the Australian Journal of Public Administration: ISBN #DOI:101111/j.1467-8500.1990.tb02249.x

This paper draws on the findings of Moon and Willoughby (1988) commissioned by the Commonwealth Office of Local Government and the WA Department of Regional Development and The North West, but it remains the sole responsibility of the authors.”

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of the Esperance Local Enterprise Initiatives Committee, which is at the heart of an archetypal emerging pattern of local economic development distinct both from top-down statist models and from market alternatives. The model is composed of a mixture of state resources (notably finance, information and legitimacy), elements associated with entrepreneurialism, grass-roots orientation, bottom-up implementation, the pursuit of profit, and a network system which interlocks the ELEIC with different government departments and agencies.

That first publication was followed, during the years, by a number of independent studies and the aim of which has been not only to understand the model but to come to a decision to invest in it. We have decided to list the Independent Reports on our website to make them available to all who wish to peruse them. The reports are published in their entirety and we have made no corrections or alterations to the text.

Here is the list of the Independent Reports that we have found in our library, as others will become available we will post them. http://www.sirolli.com/Evidence/IndependentReports/tabid/189/Default.aspx

The reason why we have not displayed this material in a prominent fashion before has been my fault. I was under the misconception that one should not be focused on trying to satisfy critics, skeptics and naysayers. After all, every single new community that has established an Enterprise Facilitation project over the past 25 years had at its helm capable people who conducted extensive due diligence before paying good dollars for our training. To imagine that hundreds of civic leaders have been negligent over the years seemed to me absurd.

Now however I see things differently. We are publishing all these independent reports not to satisfy the disbelievers but to honor our friends. To all who have believed in the value of Enterprise Facilitation and have used the approach over the years, here is additional evidence that your story of success was not an isolated occurrence but the natural consequence of believing in the intelligence and resourcefulness of your own people.

“When I tell the truth, it is not for the sake of convincing those who do not know it, but for the sake of defending those that do.” William Blake

author:Dr.Ernesto Sirolli