User:David Irwin

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David Irwin is a social entrepreneur – and a consultant in enterprise and economic development working with clients such as DANIDA, Department for International Development, EBRD, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, OECD, Sainsbury Family Charitable Trusts and World Bank. He advises on, and supports, initiatives intended to assist people wanting to start and grow businesses and advises on regulatory reform and improving the enabling environment.

He is non executive Chairman of Cobweb Information Ltd, a business which researches, publishes and markets business information.

He is a trustee of Sunderland Youth Enterprise Trust and, until the end of 2007, was a non-executive director of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Investment Committee and a non-executive member of the Board of Oxfam’s Enterprise Development Programme.

From early 2000 till 2002, he was Chief Executive of the Small Business Service, an executive agency of the Department of Trade and Industry, with responsibility for managing all of the Government’s small business support programmes and a role as the “strong voice for small business at the heart of Government”. Before joining SBS, he co-founded Project North East (PNE), one of the UK’s leading enterprise and economic development agencies, and was its chief executive for 20 years.

David has an Honours Degree in Engineering Science and Management from Durham and then completed the Advanced Course in Production Methods and Management at Cambridge University. He completed his MBA in 1986. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Business Consultancy and a Fellow of the RSA.

Occasionally, he finds time to play squash and take photographs, though does not devote sufficient time to either.

You can learn more about David and his consultancy work by visiting his website

You can also e-mail David Irwin