SFEDI Executive Chairman Honoured

Tony Robinson OBE has received an Award for Championing UK Entrepreneurship at the IAB’s Qualifications for Business Awards.  The presentation of the Awards was held at the House of Commons on Wednesday 13 June.

Tony Robinson, Executive Chairman of SFEDI, the standards setting and endorsement body for enterprise learning and support, is a chartered marketer and HR practitioner and a former Managing Director of a £35 million FMCG Direct Selling company.

Since 1986 he has co-owned and co-directed his own small business, which specialises in developing learning and skills products and services to entrepreneurs.  He champions the importance of meeting the learning and skills needs of prospective and existing small and home business owners and driving up the quality of learning and business support for them.  He received an OBE for services to small firms and training in 2001.

Since he co-founded it in 1995, he has developed the Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative (SFEDI), acting firstly as Chief Executive and then, since 1999, as Chairman.  SFEDI is a government recognised body, which carries out research and sets out principles for success in running a small business.  Through its licensed assessment centres across the UK, it accredits those providing learning and support to small businesses and endorses best practice by allowing the SFEDI logo to be carried by individuals, programmes and centres that meet its standards and principles.

Commenting on the award, Malcolm Trotter, Chief Executive of the IAB, said:  “Tony is undoubtedly a champion of entrepreneurship.  His achievement in terms of increasing the range and quality of support and training available to those setting up and running their own business makes him a very worthy recipient of this award.”