BIG Integrate Programme

Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Overview

The BIG Integrate Programme was an ambitious initiative delivered under the BIG South London partnership to support SMEs in strengthening supply chains, with a focus on procurement, and embedding the principles of Community Wealth Building (CWB).

BIG Integrate is a fully funded supply chain management training programme for South London-based businesses and third sector organisations. It is a programme of support designed to give SMEs the knowledge and skills to develop their supply chain management, networks, and strategies with a focus on procurement and social value.

🔗 BIG Integrate Programme Website

📆 Duration and Funding

Funded by BIG South London partnership via the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, the programme commenced in April 2022 and concluded in September 2023, with a total funding envelope of approximately £100,000.

Powered by the South London Partnership, a subregional collaboration of five London boroughs: Croydon, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Richmond upon Thames and Sutton.

🏢 Lead Organisations

The programme was co-designed and delivered by:

London South Bank University (LSBU) Business School, providing academic leadership, student consultancy placements, and workshop delivery.
Crystalisr Co-operative Ltd., embedding community wealth building practices into procurement and platform design to establish a community of practice and market place for socially sustainable procurement practice.
Kingston University and Roehampton University, contributing to the student consultancy placements and supporting the Community Wealth Building pathway.

This multi-partner approach ensured the integration of academic expertise, practical delivery, and applied procurement knowledge.

🎯 Project Objectives

BIG Integrate was designed with a dual focus:

Supply Chain Optimisation – supporting SMEs to strengthen and sustain their supply chains, proving their role through the creation of social value, which enhances their competitiveness and makes them more attractive to Anchor Institutions.
Community Wealth Building – enabling SMEs to access public procurement opportunities and embed social value, overcoming barriers linked to complex tendering processes and limited resources.

Specifically, the programme aimed to:

Equip SMEs with practical tools in bidding, marketing, stakeholder engagement, and project management, with a focus on how to showcase social value.
Provide structured training to improve procurement readiness through the Fit to Supply and Fit to Bid models.
Place students within SMEs through small scale consultancy projects – acting as ‘mini-KTPs’ – to support growth and procurement development plans.
Establish a South London CWB Network, linking SMEs with anchor institutions and fostering collaboration across sub-regional supply chains.

Programme Structure

The programme was structured into three integrated elements:

1. SME Training and Development

Six workshops were delivered covering:

Supply Chain Fundamentals and the context for CWB
Supply Chain Readiness
Customer-Responsive Supply Chain and Product/Service Positioning
Fit to Bid (tender and bid writing)
Growth Planning
Networking and Meet-the-Buyer Event

2. Student Consultancy Placements

Postgraduate students from LSBU worked as junior business consultants (supervised by LSBU business school academics) with SMEs for five-day placements. These consultancies supported the development of bespoke business improvement plans, acting as short knowledge transfer projects.

3. Community Wealth Building Pathway and Network

A blended package of workshops, diagnostics, and mentoring enabled SMEs to join the Crystalisr Marketplace and become part of a Community of Practice. This pathway was closely aligned with the South London Anchor Network (SOLAN) and the London Anchor Institutions Network (LAIN), providing SMEs with real opportunities to pitch to anchor institutions and integrate into local procurement ecosystems.

📚 Theoretical Framework

The design of the programme was underpinned by several theoretical and applied frameworks:

Supply Chain Optimisation Theory – emphasising efficiency, responsiveness, cost reduction, and competitive advantage.
Community Wealth Building (CWB) – based on the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) model of progressive procurement, fair employment, socially productive use of land, and the redirection of wealth locally.
Public Procurement Theory – acknowledging the structural barriers that often exclude SMEs from institutional procurement and reframing access through training, mentoring, and anchor networks.
Fit to Supply / Fit to Bid Models – adapted from earlier pilots, demonstrating how targeted training and support can significantly increase SME confidence and success in competitive bidding.

🧑‍🏫 Delivery Team and Speakers

LSBU Internal Speakers and Facilitators:

Guest Speakers and Specialists:

Dr David Randall (also acting as facilitator for Crystalisr)
Mr Stephen Lamont
Jasbinder Sandhu (London Universities Purchasing Consortium)

Crystalisr Facilitators: Loic Autret and Alfred Widman

🚀 Impact, Outputs and Reach

Online Platform and Community of Practice (CoP)

A major output of the programme was the launch of the Crystalisr online platform and Community of Practice (CoP), which went live in the week beginning 21 November 2022.

Platform Functionality

The platform offers:

Community of Practice Tools – SME profiles, working groups, coordination tools, and model terms of reference.
Fitness-to-Supply Status Indicators.
Resources and Opportunity Listings.
Membership information, courses, events, open resources, and news.

Driving activity on the platform are Working Groups, partly aligned with BIG Innovation networks:

Business Services (Leader: Nicolle Anderson)
Health and Social Care (Leader: tbc)
Arts and Creative Industries (Leader: Loic Autret)
Built Environment and Low Carbon (Leader: tbc)
Markets, Data, Trust and Participation (Leader: David Randall)

Participation in the Programme

The BIG Integrate Programme was delivered in three distinct cohorts, ensuring that a diverse range of South London SMEs and third sector organisations could benefit from the training and support.

Across the three cohorts, more than 50 participants engaged with the modules delivered by LSBU Business School under the leadership of Dr Ficcadenti. Each cohort took part in the structured sessions on supply chain optimisation, procurement readiness, and business improvement planning.

Participation patterns varied: on average, Cohort 1 members attended around 2.5 sessions each, while Cohorts 2 and 3 recorded averages of 1.5 and 1.2 sessions respectively. Individual session attendance ranged from a maximum of 6–8, reflecting the varying capacity of SMEs to commit time during challenging trading periods.

Following the completion of the training modules, participants were channelled into two complementary pathways:

Some SMEs progressed to the Community Wealth Building (CWB) Pathway, where they were introduced to the Crystalisr online platform and the wider network of anchors and working groups.
Others were directed into the student consultancy pathway, engaging postgraduate students from LSBU in tailored consultancy projects. These acted as “mini-KTPs”, providing direct business improvement and supply chain development support.

This dual pathway ensured that every participant could benefit from a tailored form of support, depending on their readiness, needs, and opportunities within their supply chains.

Impact and Legacy

The BIG Integrate programme generated significant outcomes for SMEs and the wider South London economy:

New Service Design: Launch of a CWB procurement and CoP service integrated into the Crystalisr platform.
Collaborations: A foundation for long-term partnerships between SMEs, councils, and anchor institutions.
Student Consultancy Impact: Consultancy projects delivered, providing tailored growth and procurement readiness plans.
SME Benefits: Participants reported strengthened supply chain capacity, greater bidding confidence, and increased access to opportunities.
Network Legacy: Establishment of a South London Community of Practice, supported by Crystalisr’s platform and working groups.

🧩 Key Conclusions

BIG Integrate successfully combined academic expertise, practitioner facilitation, and anchor institution engagement to create a unique programme of SME support in South London. By addressing both supply chain efficiency and the principles of community wealth building, the programme enhanced procurement readiness while embedding social value within local economies.

The legacy of BIG Integrate continues through the Community of Practice, the Crystalisr platform, and strengthened relationships between SMEs and South London anchor institutions.

Wider Progress and Next Steps

Beyond the delivery of workshops and consultancies, Crystalisr has progressed in:

Anchors and Procurement – capitalising on the London Mayor’s target for anchors to procure 20% from London SMEs. A network of 16 anchor institutions has been created, representing £1.3bn in contracts.
South London Anchor Network – planned to create a shared document and vision for a coordinated South London Anchor Network.
Finance Pillar for CWB – developing mechanisms to attract patient capital and co-investment from pension funds, building societies, foundations, and family offices. Discussions were underway with CSBA and Banc Cambria to explore co-operative financial models.

Supply Chain | Valerio Ficcadenti