She says she was "shocked" to win the Queen's Award for Enterprise Promotion Lifetime Achievement Award in April. But Joan Richards, who currently provides support for young entrepreneurs in the Neath Port Talbot area of Wales, represents one of many unsung heroes doing their bit to promote enterprise in the UK. The award was to celebrate her "truly outstanding contribution to enterprise" over 10 years or more. She does it, she says, because "I've always liked helping people".

Richards got the taste for championing the self-employment model in the early 1980s when she worked as development officer and then chief executive of the Port Talbot Co-operative Development Agency (CDA), which was set up to establish co-operative enterprises in the socially and economically deprived Upper Afan Valley. When the Co-operative Retail Society closed its doors in 1983, she says she was moved to act, to prove that businesses can be run successfully in deprived areas.

"Honestly, I feel like I was born to do it," she recalls of the decision to help establish the Gwynfi Community Co-operative. A board was elected—"which consists of the same directors today"—finance was raised and the original Co-op store was purchased for the community to run itself.

"There was massive unemployment, all the shops had closed," says Richards. "But the local people all bought shares. They were good people who wanted to help improve and regenerate their community and it's still going strong."

The older citizens buoyed the Gwynfi initiative, but Richards is just as impressed with the younger residents of the Neath Port Talbot borough.

"More young people are inclined to start their own business these days. The decline in the local steel and coal industries means they can't depend on those sectors for jobs," she says. "They do everything themselves. One 18-year-old boy started his business [Glamorgan Glazing] and now employs 80 people. He's bringing jobs into the area and supporting the economy through his dedication and hard work."

Richards believes directors have a part to play in encouraging enterprise, especially in disadvantaged areas, by becoming mentors. "Business Connect runs a mentoring service, as do organisations such as the Prince's Trust, to keep young entrepreneurs going, to give them answers and confidence. Despite what they think, they don't know everything," she says.

Richards still serves on the board of the Gwynfi Co-operative, and is vice chair of Neath Port Talbot Young Enterprise. She remains involved because she finds it so rewarding. "Everything that I've done has been a highlight," she says. "The Glyncorrwg Ponds Co-operative has transformed an ex-mining village into a major tourist attraction [it has two world-class mountain bike trails]. I used my contacts to source voluntary labour on that project. Now the valleys are getting their life back."

What she enjoys most of all, though, is inspiring tomorrow's future leaders. "When a business is successful, they come and thank me for my help and give me a kiss. We care about the people we work with. I like to think I've succeeded in engaging young people in enterprise."

www.bcnpt.co.uk