Setting the standard for quality assured business support
SFEDI sets the Business Support Standards and recognises the business advisers and other support professionals who meet them.
What we do
- Explore the Standards
Set the Business Support Standards
We develop and maintain the SFEDI Business Support Standards, which set out what good business support looks like and what professionals need to know to provide it.
- See the qualifications
Recognise qualifications
We recognise qualifications as evidence that a professional meets the Standards. Your qualification is your proof.
- About Specialist Certification
Certify specialist practice
Coming soonThrough Specialist Certification, we will recognise professionals whose practice meets one of the twenty-four Specialist Standards.
- About Recognised Programmes
Recognise programmes
Coming soonTraining and CPD providers will be able to map their programmes to a Specialist Standard and apply for recognition. Learners who complete a Recognised Programme will gain Specialist Certification.
Standards for business support since 2007
SFEDI, the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative, was established in 1996 to set standards for enterprise and business support. It has worked on the skills of small business owners, and the people who support them, ever since. SFEDI also delivered the government-funded Get Mentoring project, which recruited and trained 15,000 volunteer business mentors from the small business community.
SFEDI developed the national standards for business support between 2007 and 2010: Introduction to Enterprise Support (2007), Business Information (2008) and Business Support (2010), and they were updated in 2013. For nearly two decades they have underpinned qualifications, recruitment, appraisal, CPD and the contracting of business support.
In October 2026 we published the SFEDI Business Support Standards, version 1.0. They keep what has stood the test of practice, remove what has dated, and add what business support professionals need now, including AI and digital adoption, sustainability, data protection and evidencing impact.
SFEDI and SFEDI Awards
SFEDI Awards is our awarding organisation. Regulated by Ofqual, it offers qualifications in employability, enterprise, start-up, self-employment and business support through approved centres.
SFEDI recognises SFEDI Awards qualifications as evidence that a professional meets the Business Support Standards. Specialist Certification, and the Recognised Programmes that lead to it, will be awarded and recognised by SFEDI itself.
Working with the sector
SFEDI is a member of the National Business Mentoring Council. Supported by government, the Council brings together organisations involved in business mentoring, finance, entrepreneurship and academia to improve the quality of business mentoring and make it easier for businesses to find.
[PLACEHOLDER: any other bodies, partnerships or networks you want named here.]
Free and open by principle
Standards only work if people can use them. We publish the Business Support Standards free and open under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives licence (CC BY-ND 4.0). Anyone can read, use, share and refer to them, including commercially, as long as they credit SFEDI.
The NoDerivatives term means altered versions can't be published. That keeps one version of the Standards, so a requirement code means the same thing in every contract, programme and development plan that uses it.
Talk to us
Our Business Support Team can help with questions about the Standards, recognition and qualifications.