Research note · Rewiring Entrepreneurial Ecosystems · 5 min read
Enterprise Support After the Grant
What actually persists in a business two years after a support programme ends, and how to design for that from the start.
Most enterprise support is evaluated at the moment of maximum optimism: the end of the programme. Attendance is high, plans are fresh, and everyone in the room has an incentive to describe the experience as transformative. The interesting question is what remains twenty-four months later.
What tends to persist
Three things persist reliably. Systems that the business needs in order to get paid — invoicing, records, tax compliance, quality standards demanded by a buyer. Relationships that carry money — a lender, a buyer, a supplier who now extends terms. And confidence with capital: a founder who has completed one financing round knows how to run the next one.
What tends not to persist: generic business training, plans written for a facilitator rather than a customer, and networks that existed only because a convener paid for the venue.
“If the only thing holding a practice in place is the programme, the practice ends with the programme.”
Designing for persistence
Anchor every capability to an external obligation. If a business keeps records because a lender requires them monthly, the practice has an owner outside the programme. Build support around a live transaction wherever possible — a contract being fulfilled, a facility being drawn, a certification being obtained.
Charge something. Even a modest fee changes the relationship from beneficiary to client and filters for businesses that intend to use what they receive.
Finally, measure late. Evaluate at twenty-four months rather than at closure, and publish what did not hold. The sector improves only if the honest results are available to the people designing the next intervention.
