Talking about Makesfive

Thank you for your interest in Makesfive!

Solihin Garrard founded Makesfive ltd in 1999 following four years' experience in the UK as a self-employed consultant, and before that 15 years as a teacher and project manager in education in the UK.

Makesfive's purpose is to help organisations achieve their objectives
Our main business is partnership and organisational development, strategic planning and project development and implementation.
Target clients are organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Our Core Principles are:

¨ helping clients to gain maximum benefit
¨ working with our clients as partners
¨ treating each client as unique
¨ expanding our own knowledge and understanding
¨ working with other organisations to mutual advantage

………and our values

¨ develop and maintain relationships as paramount
¨ ethical basis to contracting with clients and associates
¨ quality standards
¨ respect for existing good practice
¨ partnership approach to running the company
¨ courage in seeking new opportunities
¨ highest levels of professionalism, leadership, business and ...people management

Makesfive has supported a wide range of partnership and collaborative initiatives in the public, private and voluntary sectors. Solihin himself has delivered keynote speeches for senior policy makers; undertaken national evaluation projects; helped develop effective collaborative working within Local Strategic Partnerships. Makesfive has also helped individuals to develop their partnership skills; developed the Voluntary and Community section on the IDeA Knowledge website for local government, and also researched and written "improvement journeys" that accompany it.

We have led European Social Fund projects to support business partnering, and projects to help develop the project management capacity of public, voluntary and private training providers.

Following a review of "what works" for data sharing for LSPs with EDuce ltd (with which Makesfive has had regular association), Solihin worked in the team evaluating the Supporting Evidence for Local Delivery pilots for the UK Department for Communities and Local Government. Solihin has also published research (e.g. on performance management) and journal articles.

Makesfive leads the Facilitating Effective Partnerships service within the Learning and Skills Network Solutions and has been supporting Further Education and Adult Education strategic partnership developments.

Together with EDuce, Makesfive also developed Essentials of Business Partnering, a significant online resource for the private sector, accessible from the menu above.

Solihin lives in Canterbury in the UK and has five children and nine grandchildren.

© Makesfive ltd, 2007

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As a consultancy Makesfive is committed to continual learning, and improving the services of Makesfive.
We welcome feedback and are always keen to look for new and different ways of working, and to work with others on a mutually beneficial basis.