New Drive to Boost Small Business Sector
23rd Apr 2008
A new drive to support the growth of Northern Ireland's small business sector is being launched this month (April 2008). Ulster Bank and the Centre for Competitiveness (CforC) have joined forces to roll out a programme of specially designed seminars intended to help businesses with up to 20 employees across Northern Ireland achieve their full growth potential.
The events, which will take place in Portadown, Londonderry, Coleraine, Cookstown, Bangor and Belfast over the next six months, will include case histories delivered by local companies that have experienced significant growth in recent years. Delegates will also hear from a CforC representative about overcoming barriers to growth and from an Ulster Bank representative about funding growth.
The first event will take place at Portadown's Seagoe Hotel on Monday April 21, beginning at 6pm.
Ulster Bank's Head of Business Centres in Northern Ireland, Kevin Kingston, says: "Enabling and equipping our small business sector to become more innovative in order to achieve sustainable growth is perhaps the greatest challenge and the biggest opportunity facing the local economy. These seminars have been created to address the issues that matter to small firms and to help equip them with the best information and knowledge to become more innovative and achieve real growth."
CforC's Dr Adrian Gundy says: "Firms attending the events will learn from the outcomes of a major EU-funded growth programme involving hundreds of local small companies. The events will also look at some of the challenges facing Northern Ireland's small firms sector and provide advice on overcoming barriers to growth. In addition, firms attending will hear from extremely successful Northern Ireland businesses that have grown significantly through innovative management and from Ulster Bank experts on funding growth. The seminars will also provide the opportunity for firms to meet with other ambitious local companies, potentially to discuss mutually relevant issues or to make business contacts."
Successful businesses presenting at the seminars are: FPM Chartered Accountants (Portadown); Singularity (Derry); McAtamney's Butchers (Coleraine); BA Kitchens (Cookstown); Munster Simms (Bangor); Springfarm Architectural Mouldings (Belfast).