Five minutes with Louise Doyle

Tell us a little about Mesma and its overarching mission

Mesma is here to take the pain out of quality improvement and turn it into something purposeful.

We work with education and employability providers to diagnose performance, streamline messy processes and create the conditions for sustainable improvement.

Our platform is backed by people who’ve run and inspected provision, so we can offer solutions that work in the real world.

Ultimately, it’s about giving organisations the confidence and clarity to keep raising the bar for the people they serve.

These are exciting times, with Mesma having merged with Kent-based Strategic Development Network (SDN) earlier this summer. You described the move as “an exciting new chapter” for both organisations. What prompted the alliance, and what opportunities does it present?

We’ve worked alongside SDN for many years, with complementary products and services that already benefited clients.

If we were going to merge with anyone, it had to be with a business that shared our philosophy and where ‘doing good’ sits comfortably therein.

SDN holds ‘doing good’ firmly in its mission – and we’ve seen them live that in practice.

We wouldn’t have entertained merging with a business that didn’t.

That said, no matter how well you know each other beforehand, bringing two businesses together is still a big undertaking, owing to the people, systems and processes involved.

The strong relationships we’d already built became the cement that allowed us to tackle those trickier decisions with honesty and openness.

You highlight Mesma’s use of technology. How is the firm’s software used in practice, and how does it help education and employability providers strengthen quality assurance processes?

The platform acts as a diagnostic toolkit, using recognised standards as a reference point, so everyone starts with the same understanding.

From there, we connect those insights to the hands-on support we can provide; we’re not just pointing to problems, we’re helping solve them when an extra pair of hands is needed.

It strips away the complexity from processes that can be time-hungry, without losing the value they bring.

And because the sectors we work in are high stakes, we never lose sight of the human impact behind the work.

Despite data use continuing to rise exponentially, many organisations still struggle to transform statistics into meaningful action. How does Mesma support providers to make smarter decisions?

There’s more data out there than ever, and the sectors we work in operate from data overload.

The real differentiator is knowing which bits matter and how to act on them.

Too often, organisations start with the data they have, rather than the decisions they need to make.

The result is time and energy poured into tracking indicators that don’t move the needle for learners or jobseekers.

The same issue is relevant in other sectors too.

We flip that on its head; we begin with the outcomes our clients care about, then identify the evidence that will help them get there.

It’s a mindset shift from collecting data because you ‘should’, to using it because it’s the fastest route to making the right change at the right time.

We help leaders and quality teams ask the right questions first, spot the story the data is telling and turn that into action that improves delivery.

Our digital tools and sector know-how work hand-in-hand to make sure decisions are grounded in reality.

Can you share any examples of how Mesma has helped clients overcome challenges and improved service delivery?

We’ve worked with hundreds of training providers, colleges, universities and employers where provision was struggling, helping them embed strong governance and quality practices so the whole culture shifts over time.

Seeing their work recognised – whether by Ofsted or through learner or jobseeker success – is hugely rewarding, because we know the effort it takes to turn things around.

I still get emotional seeing clients achieve their goals or turn provision around, because I know how much it matters to them.

Not all our work is regulation-driven, though.

For example, we co-created a sector-led quality improvement framework with the Institute of Employability Professionals and The Good Employability Company.

It’s increasingly used globally to raise standards in employment support – proof that quality done well can ripple far beyond one organisation.

What are your ambitions for Mesma over the coming years?

The creation of SDN Mesma Group is a powerful foundation for UK and international growth.

SDN has deep programme management expertise in the education sector, including large-scale change projects with governmental departments.

Combining that with the Mesma diagnostic platform and consultancy experience gives us huge potential to de-risk scaling.

As founders of the Quality Professionals Awards for Further Education and Employability, we want to extend the reach of the awards and build a body of evidence-based good practice, as an outcome of supporting practitioner-led research projects.

The merger will support this goal, by drawing on the SDN team’s experience of sector action learning projects.

And as an employer, our ambition is to keep building on what we’re already known for – showing that small businesses can create real opportunities for people from all backgrounds in regions we care deeply about, including the North East.

Whether through apprenticeships, industry placements, work experience or internships, we want careers in our group to be meaningful, rewarding and accessible.

That matters to all of us.

 

Mesma

www.mesma.co.uk | LinkedIn: Mesma