Skip to: Site menu | Main content



Welcome to EOA

EOA offers both direct project delivery and consultancy. Having been a highly successful local regeneration agency EOA now operates across the UK and in Europe.

The role of enterprise and entrepreneurship in regeneration

street trader

Developing enterprise and entrepreneurship is at the heart of EOA’s approach to regeneration.
EOA believes in releasing the latent enterprise spirit that exists in all communities,
especially disadvantaged ones.

To that end EOA has developed a variety of services: business start-up and enterprise support
for disadvantaged communities, training for such businesses, and local economic
development strategy based on these approaches.

A major issue for communities is the decline of the high street in the face of out-of-town developments and the rise of internet shopping. EOA approaches this decline through a combination of training and support, positive area branding, the use of cultural activities and a focus on ethnic minority business.

EOA offers training and consultancy, including partnership working.

EOA has produced a briefing document downloadable here:

Entrepreneurship and regeneration (pdf format)

Business start-up & support

EOA has developed an approach to providing business start-up support to disadvantaged groups and communities, which it has been delivering for six years, first as part of the regeneration programme and then under contract to Business Link. This support is provided by SFEDI accreditted specialist business advisers drawn from the communities themselves and trained by EOA. Business advice is available in a number of languages, including Bengali and Urdu. In the last three years EOA has supported 254 such businesses. Additionally EOA provides on-going business support and training (see below).

One area of specialism has been assistance to ethnic minority food businesses - a key plank of EOA's local regeneration programme.

For more information contact business@eastoxford.com


Training for businesses

Food hygiene training
EOA offers specialist language-specific training in licensing, food hygiene, and other
retail related skills, initially through a highly successful ESF-funded project and now as a
service sold directly to businesses or part of contracts. Training offered includes:

For more information contact business@eastoxford.com.

Social enterprise

EOA offers specialist consultancy and training on setting up and managing social enterprises. EOA's specialism is in understanding the needs of and problems faced by social enterprises which are being developed out of the public sector or which are serving the public sector. EOA's expertise is based on our own experience of evolving from a public sector partnership. EOA has produced a briefing paper on the subject, based on a workshop which EOA ran at a SEEDA social enterprise conference:

From Public Sector to Social Enterprise (pdf format)

EOA also has specialisms in procurement and tendering. EOA has delivered training on the subject including for the Skoll School of Enterpreneurship (Tendering for Health Social Enterprises).

EOA offers evaluations on social enterprise subjects - recent clients include SEEDA and City University.

For more on EOA's evaluation approach:

Empowerment evaluation (pdf format)