One of Lancaster University’s founding Entrepreneurs in Residence has been rewarded for his work with small businesses.

The Chartered Association of Business Schools awarded a Fellowship to Joe Hall, who maintains his role as an Entrepreneur in Residence (EiR) in Lancaster University Management School (LUMS) some 12 years after the scheme began.

Joe is Chairman of bakery ingredients wholesale cooperative Bako NW Group and is Managing Director of Halls Bakery Ltd, a family business based in Chorley with bakery and corporate catering arms. He is the third generation of his family to run the business.

Joe was a founder member of the EiR scheme in LUMS, where he is also an Honorary Teaching Fellow. He received the Chartered ABS Fellowship in recognition his outstanding contribution to their mission over the course of several years.

LUMS EiR programme co-founder Professor Magnus George said: “This award is a well-earned endorsement of the work Joe has done to strengthen how business schools can leverage academic excellence to benefit business communities, as well as how universities can use business networks to provide students with real-world perspectives and enhance their graduate career opportunities.”

Joe has been a member of the Small Business Charter (SBC) Management Board since the Award's inception, and has used that role to full effect, reaching out to and working with small businesses. He is also an active Small Business Assessor for the SBC, and was instrumental in helping them receive a share of the £2m Government-backed fund to create the Leading to Grow programme.

“I am extremely honoured to have received this award,” said Joe. “My journey with Lancaster and the wider University sector through CABS has been invaluable in my personal and business development, allowing me to be involved with many different aspects of student support and SME engagement. Lancaster has been central to this journey, and I feel the award reflects the value of the wider EIR network.”

Presenting the awards at their annual conference, Chartered ABS Chief Executive Anne Kiem praised Joe and four other new fellows as "an integral part of the value we've been able to deliver for business schools".

She said: "We very much look forward to continuing to work with our new Fellows in the years ahead and hope this award can go some way to providing the recognition they deserve for their efforts and achievements."

Joe’s association with Lancaster began when he took part in the award-winning LEAD programme for small and medium-sized business owner/managers. He joined the LUMS GOLD programme, a non-executive board simulation, and was among the first group of EiRs brought in to enhance entrepreneurship teaching and activity at the University. The LUMS team piloted the ‘in-residence’ model in 2007, and the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy now hosts more than 60 active EiRs, who regularly attend campus events and engage with students throughout the curriculum.

Brian Gregory, Co-Director of the Entrepreneurs in Residence Programme in LUMS, said: “Joe is one of the original Entrepreneurs in Residence here at Lancaster, and over the past 11 years he has made a significant impact through his experience and input into the programme and other aspects of the Management School. It is great to see Joe’s contribution to the School being recognised with the Fellowship.”