Business First May-June 2015

northern ireland’s business magazine

BUSINESSFIRST INFORM CHALLENGE INSPIRE

MAY-JUNE 2015

MERCURY SECURITY MANAGMENT PIONEERS OF INTEGRATED SECURITY SOLUTIONS Guest Columnist

Thought Leader

Rising Stars 2015

Best Practice

What exactly is Digital Transformation? asks Niall McKeown CEO of Belfastbased Ionology

Maybeth Shaw, Partner at BDO in Belfast, looks at how family businesses approach innovation.

Northern Ireland’s most accomplished 40 under 40 gathered at Academy Restaurant in Belfast.

Anne Phillipson from the William J Clinton Leadership Institute looks at Authentic Leadership.

THIS MAGAZINE IS ALIVE INSIDE: click anywhere to visit pages, websites and videos. Be inspired!

CONTENTS

Putting your Business First

What’s inside this issue

CLICK ANY PAGE TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT THERE COVER STORY Mercury Security services meet all your security needs - and save your money, according to CEO Frank Cullen. page 10

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP 12 Is your business ready for the new

Commercial Property in Northern Irelnd What is the state of the Commercial Property market in Northern Ireland? We take an indepth look at the market from various angles.

This feature is in association with:

holiday pay rules

Emma-Jane Flannery, Employment Law Associate at leading law firm Arthur Cox

14 Authentic Leadership

How much should we borrow to end austerity?

That’s going to be the big question for whichever party or parties find themselves with the keys to Number 10 in mid-May. It’s a conundrum no matter which way you look at it: we have austerity because we’ve borrowed too much, but we have to continue to borrow before we can bring it to an end.

So do you keep the governmental foot on the neck of the citizenry to take the treasury into the black quickly, or do you instead lighten up on the hard stuff and wait a few more years before reaching the end of this long tunnel?

There is no question that the economy is headed in the right direction and the announcements from InvestNI - even the massaged ones - are of the higher skill, higher pay variety that we need. But at the same time the numbers of people dependant on food banks is rising. So for many people there’s a disconnect between the statements that say we’re on our way up and their reality.

Which would suggest that there is a sound argument for taking the foot off for a while and stretching the pay back over a few more years. After all, we’ve just recently paid off our First World War debts at the same time as we’re commemorating the centenary of the landing at Gallipoli so we have a reputation as a slow but dependable payer!

See you on the frontline.

Anne Phillipson, programme director William J Clinton Leadership Institute

20 Innovation and the family business

FEATURES 16 A time to reflect and look ahead David Fry, CBI Senior Policy Adviser

Maybeth Shaw, Partner at BDO in Belfast

24 Is there a place for property in Northern Ireland politics?

Ben Collins, director, RICS Northern Ireland

34 10 things employers should know

18 Time to refinance your business debtor time to spring clean your finances?

Michael McAllister co-founder and Director ASM Chartered Accountants

22 Positive outlook for Northern

about Shared Parental Leave

Ireland property market

Ciara Fulton, Partner And Head of Employment Law, C & H Jefferson

Mark Blair, partner, A&L Goodbody

46 What exactly is Digital Transformation?

Niall McKeown CEO of Ionology

28 Be inspired, be innovative, get digital

Accelerate your company’s digital strength through Growing the Digital Economy Progamme

64 Taking control of the throne – getting more creative to harness tourism potential through Game of Thrones Dr Peter Bolan, Ulster University

32 Internet of Everything breeds smarter business Shane Haslem, head of Network Enabled Design, eircom Business Solutions NI

68 Social Capital: an overlooked resource?

Prof Simon Bridge, Ulster University

38 Dialogic Telecom announce extension of Strategic Partnership with O2 Dialogic Telecom is delighted to announce it is the only Direct Partner with the O2 network in Northern Ireland

Subscribe to BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL Subscribing to your complimentary copy of BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL couldn’t be easier and we’ll send your copy of the magazine directly to your door or mailbox every time we publish. To subscribe, please visit our website at www.businessfirstonline.co.uk and follow the easy links to our subscription page.

Gavin Gavin Walker Managing Editor FRONT COVER IMAGE The management team from Mercury Security Management. See page 10 for the Cover Story

PUBLISHED BY: The Wordworks Partnership (Limited) Suite 60. Enterprise House Balloo Avenue, Bangor BT19 7QT Tel: 028 9147 2119 info@businessfirstni.co.uk www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

YOUR BUSINESSFIRST TEAM Editor Gavin Walker gavin@businessfirstni.co.uk Sales Jenny Belshaw jenny@businessfirstni.co.uk Finance Margaret Walker margaret@businessfirstni.co.uk Design Studio Tw2 studio@twworks.co.uk

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YOUR EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Articles from some of Northern Ireland’s most influential business leaders that will inform, challenge and inspire your thinking.

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO BE TAKEN TO THE ARTICLE

Emma-Jane Flannery, Arthur Cox page 12

Anne Philipson William J Clinton Leadership Institute page 14

Mark Blair, A&L Goodbody page 22

Ben Collins, RICS page 24

Sinead McLaughlin Londonderry Chamber of Commerce page 30

Ciara Fulton, C&H Jefferson page 34

Dr. Rob Hardeman MATRIX page 44

Niall McKeown Ionology page 46

Dr Martin McCracken Ulster University page 54

Gordon Gough Enterprise Northern Ireland page 56

Professor Simon Bridge Ulster University page 68

Chris Brown MCE Public Relations page 80

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IN THE HEADLINES

‘Innovation Founder’ search is on

he time has come: Which local entrepreneur do you think has contributed most to our region and shaped our local economy? Who do you think has improved our quality of life? And who do you think continues to inspire future generations of innovators and entrepreneurs?

The search is now on to find Northern Ireland’s next INVENT ‘Innovation Founder’ a person who has achieved distinction in founding, leading or building a celebrated local science- or technology-based business.

The prestigious award, run by the Northern

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Ireland Science Park and sponsored by Bank of Ireland UK, is given to those who demonstrate they have put innovation at the core of their companies - and are continually revolutionising their respective industries.

Previous winners of the accolade, which are part of the NISP CONNECT INVENT Awards, include the late Professor John Anderson of HeartSine Technologies (2010); Dr Hugh Cormican, founder of Andor Technology (2011); Tom Eakin of TG Eakin (2012); Dr Peter FitzGerald CBE, Managing Director of Randox Laboratories Ltd (2013);

and Dr William Wright CBE, founder of Wrightbus (2014) pictured.

Members of the public are now invited to nominate whom they think should be named the 2015 Innovation Founder, celebrating their pioneering and ground-breaking legacy.

NISP CONNECT Programme Manager, Peter Edgar, said: “Our INVENT Awards are about discovering and championing the newest and most exciting innovations from Northern Ireland, which have the potential to solve some of the biggest global problems.

“As an important part of this, we also acknowledge and credit those local entrepreneurs who have already achieved this world-wide recognition. For us, it’s about creating a community of innovation here.

“Innovation and new ways of thinking are the bedrock which has put all of these companies at the forefront of their industries. By celebrating their achievements, we hope to inspire the next generation of inventors to believe in their ideas and follow in their footsteps.”

Julie Ann O’Hare, director of Business Banking Northern Ireland at Bank of Ireland UK, said, “Northern Ireland has such a rich heritage in innovation. Bank of Ireland UK is very proud of its longstanding relationship with the many world class businesses led by local business men and women, operating and growing successfully out of the region.”

The winner will be announced following public nominations and an extensive peer-topeer judging process. The 2015 winner will be the guest of honour at the INVENT Awards Gala Dinner on 8 October 2015.

Nominations for the 2015 Innovation Founder of the Year Award can be registered online at www.invent2015.co The closing date for nominations is 11 May 2015.

Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards ewry-based Nautilus NI Ltd has won the IT and Telecommunications category at this year’s Irish Times InterTradeIreland Innovation Awards.

Nautilus NI Ltd, which is based in Newry, was nominated for its innovative anti-counterfeiting patented technology, Nautilus Tilt to View (T2V). This system is less invasive than holograms and features nano-embossing and printed hidden images. The company is already selling Nautilus Tilt to View in international markets.

Like a hologram, T2V changes colour when the user tilts the product or packaging. Its cost is minimal compared with holograms or colour shift inks, it doesn’t require any special device to be decoded, adds no extra raw materials,

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creates no extra waste, and doesn’t affect the recycling of packaging or product. The T2V feature is completely embedded into the product or packaging, making it impossible to be removed.

Michael McAleer, Innovation Editor at The Irish Times, said, “The Innovation Awards showcase and reward excellence in innovation across a range of groundbreaking products and services on the island of Ireland. Year on year, it is exciting to see companies big and small creating the next big innovation and this year is no exception with the high quality of winners in the awards.”

For more information on all the winners : www.irishtimes.com/business/ innovation/innovation-awards-2015

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Anthony Brabazon presenting the award to Joanna and Jose Calixto from Nautilus NI Ltd

Shaping futures for forty years – the Ulster University Business School

Pictured, from left, with Dean Marie McHugh, are some of the School’s distinguished alumni; Simon Hunter (Hunter Apparel Solutions), Jeremy Fitch (Invest NI), Colin Walsh (CBI), Gerry Mallon (Danske Bank), Jamie Delargy (UTV) and Julie Hastings (Hastings Hotels).

015 marks the 40th anniversary of the first business graduates from Ulster University’s Business School. Professor Marie McHugh, Dean of the School, outlines its important contribution to Northern Ireland and why it has cause for celebration.

“With over 6,000 students and over 60,000 alumni, the Ulster University Business School is one of the largest business schools in Britain, and in Ireland. We are an entrepreneurial, innovative and dynamic School that is committed to shaping futures: shaping the futures of our students; shaping the future of business; and shaping the future of our community.

“We are a research led teaching School that provides a very extensive range of programmes at undergraduate, postgraduate and post experience levels. Our award winning curriculum seeks to provide our students with professional education that prepares them for professional life.

“With a very strong regional presence, the Ulster University Business School is a major contributor to the development of the Northern Ireland economy. As a member of Harvard Business School’s Affiliate Network, and with strong links to the prestigious Babson College Boston (USA), the School has

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established itself as a major centre for management and business education of international standing.

“Our performance, in terms of the UK’s assessment of research that took place in 2014, the Research Excellence Framework (REF), reaffirms our position as Northern Ireland’s leading business School. The world leading economic and societal impact of the School’s research places it 7th in the UK, out of 101 business schools included in REF 2014.

“Given our very strong regional presence, the Ulster University Business School is a major contributor to the development of the Northern Ireland economy. Our annual economic impact is estimated at £41million.

“A key part of our teaching is that it should be professionally relevant so we work with a wide range of Professional Bodies such as, for example, CAI, CIMA, ACCA, CISI, CFA, CIPD, ICSA, IoH, CIM and CMI to ensure that our courses are professionally relevant, and that our students benefit from graduating with both an academic and professional qualification.

“We also have a placement and internship programme built into many of our courses so that students can develop their knowledge and skills, and employers can benefit from the knowledge, skills and dynamism that

students bring to the workplace.

“We have a highly talented team of 40 Visiting Professors within the Ulster University Business School who represent a variety of sectors such as agri-food, finance, health, marketing, SMEs, retail and hospitality.

“Our Visiting Professors bring their knowledge and experience to the School and play a key role in helping us to ensure that our students are kept up to date with the latest thinking and practice.

“For our 40th Anniversary years we have embarked on a series of events and activities which will highlight the achievements of our graduates and the impact that we have made within the local economy.

“Planning for this programme is being supported by a 40th Anniversary Alumni Group chaired by Gerry Mallon, CEO, Danske Bank. The highlight will be a Ruby Celebratory Lunch on Friday 20th November 2015 in Titanic Belfast.

“Our alumni have helped make the Ulster University Business School one of the most successful and highly regarded schools in the UK and we invite any undergraduate or postgraduate from 1975 onwards to register at www.business.ulster.ac.uk/forty to ensure inclusion in our celebrations.”

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IN THE HEADLINES

Lisburn City Business Awards celebrates excellence isburn’s business elite celebrated at a gala event at the Lagan Valley Island when the winners of the 2015 Lisburn City Business Awards were announced.

Now in their 10th year, Lisburn City Business Awards were organised and managed by Lisburn City Council in association with Hanna Thompson Chartered Accountants, and recognise outstanding businesses in the Lisburn City area.

The awards were presented across 16 individual categories, from business excellence in customer service, marketing and innovation, to outstanding performance in manufacturing and exporting.

Chairman of Lisburn City Council’s Economic Development Committee, Alderman Allan Ewart added: "Lisburn has a strong and thriving local business sector and the standard of entries this year certainly reflected this.

“These awards provide a fantastic opportunity for us to raise the profile of the City of Lisburn and say a big congratulations to all of our winners and finalists. The event itself has exceeded my expectations, as did the businesses represented who are setting new standards in business excellence, this was definitely a winning night for Lisburn."

Two of the biggest awards on the night were Lisburn Business Person of the Year and Lisburn City Contribution of the Decade Award.

Sandra Corkin of Oasis Travel was awarded the Lisburn Business Person of the Year and said “Winning this super accolade in the tenth year of the Lisburn City Business Awards is the icing on the cake for us, as the business has just celebrated thirty great years! I am very proud that Oasis Travel has expanded to five branches across Northern Ireland over the years, but I never forget that we have our roots – and now our headquarters – in my own ‘home city’ of Lisburn.

“Lisburn has grown and developed enormously in recent years and the vibrancy of the city has enabled businesses such as my

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Coca-Cola HBC Northern Ireland wins the Lisburn City Business Contribution of the Decade Award sponsored by Montupet (UK) Ltd

own to flourish. The business community here has a real passion for excellence, especially when it comes to customer service and the Lisburn City Business Awards is a great example of how we are all encouraged to strive for success.”

The Lisburn City Business Contribution of the Decade Award was a new award introduced this year to mark the tenth anniversary of the awards. The category recognised businesses that have made an outstanding contribution to both the wider Lisburn economic and local community in the last decade.

The award was presented to Coca-Cola HBC Northern Ireland and Gillian Shields, Community Investment Manager from CocaCola said “ To receive the prestigious accolade of Lisburn City Business Contribution of the Decade Award is an acknowledgment of the hard work and commitment of everyone

within Coca-Cola and recognition of their ongoing commitment to business excellence.

“We are very proud of our local heritage and have firm roots in Lisburn and a strong connection to the local community.

“Over the years, we have also developed a strong, long standing partnerships with Lisburn City Council and I believe that it is the strength and longevity of this partnerships which has been critical to our success to date.”

Other big winners on the night were Brookvent who took home two awards including the Innovation Award and Best Exporting Business Award. “Product innovation and developing export markets are at the heart of Brookvent’s strategy. We’re delighted to have achieved recognition in both these categories, and proud to accept the awards on behalf of the whole team at Brookvent” Dane Duffy, sales and marketing Manager, Brookvent.

Northern Ireland Science Park launches Summer Internships oung people across Northern Ireland are to get the chance to have a generously paid summer internship – in their own start-up business – thanks to a new initiative from the Northern Ireland Science Park.

The Science Park’s Generation Innovation programme has announced places for six interns this summer, each worth £2,000.

Through the Generation Innovation Internship Prize, young entrepreneurs will have a unique opportunity to progress their own start-up business throughout July and August.

At the end of the summer, they will then

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pitch-off against each other to secure a £10,000 prize to develop their business further.

Whilst developing their projects, the six teenage entrepreneurs will receive eight weeks of business coaching with modules including marketing, finance, legal and pitch training in order to maximise the full potential of their idea.

In September the six interns will pitch to a panel of judges and the teenager with the idea which is deemed to have the greatest commercial potential will receive an additional £10,000 prize fund to be used to

accelerate the growth of their company.

The internship is open to anyone across the province aged between 15-18.

Students must be available over July and August and the idea must be innovative with a potential commercial application.

The overall winner will not only receive the award of £10,000 to invest in their business, but an additional year of mentoring. Further details at www.generationinnovation.co.

The closing date for applications is 29th May 2015.

IN THE HEADLINES

Acorn IT Solutions introduces Sage 200 stablished in April 2002, Acorn IT Solutions are recognised by Sage as being one of the largest fully accredited Sage Business Partners. Based in Northern Ireland and deploying Sage Accounting software and CRM solutions to 300 businesses throughout the UK and Ireland. In addition to the core products we also offer to our customers bespoke development – ensuring that their software meets all their business requirements and providing training and support on the full range of Sage products.

With over 20 years’ experience our dedicated team of consultants and support staff, our dedication to our customers has received recognition with the Sage channel itself, with Acorn IT being awarded the prestigious Sage ‘Circle of Excellence’ on three different occasions. With our wealth of knowledge and experience across the Sage range of software, our customers receive the highest standard of service and communication through all levels of support.

Introducing Sage 200 v2015 One product in particular that we at Acorn IT Solutions are very excited about this year is the launch of Sage 200 v2015. The latest release will offer its customers – both new and existing a wide range of new and exciting features. Sage 200 v2015 promises to deliver to its users an extraordinary customer experience, as it was built in response to

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customer feedback. The three key themes that run from this release are: Improved Usability, Modernisation and User Flexibility.

Sage 200 software is a business wide software solution for growing businesses. It helps customers manage their finances, customers and business insights all in one easy solution. It is designed to help you share data easily, work smarter and ensure that your whole business works together efficiently. If you need the freedom to run your business your way, this solution will provide you with the needed flexibility to access your information – whenever, wherever.

Sage 200 is a full Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution and helps SMEs get full visibility of information across their entire business. Offering its customers a wide range of choices so you can choose the modules and features that are right for your business and it's fully customisable, so you can match the solution to the way your business works.

As a Sage Accredited Business Partner we are here to support you with any tailoring that needs carried out to your solution ensuring it meets the needs of your business.

For more information please visit www.acornitsolutions.com

C&H Jefferson Solicitors move offices & H Jefferson are delighted to announce their relocation to superb new office accommodation at Jefferson House, 42 Queen Street, Belfast, BT1 6HL. Their telephone number has changed to 028 9023 0230 but all their email addresses are the same. C & H Jefferson would like to thank the manager of the project and fit out works, 1080°, for their design flair, work and dedication which has produced outstanding results. C & H Jefferson looks forward to welcoming our clients to our new offices.

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Ham sandwich is Northern Ireland workers favourite new study commissioned by Lurpak into the lunchtime eating habits of 2,000 office workers found three in ten tuck into EXACTLY the same thing for lunch each work day without fail, with the ham sandwich the most popular choice.

The results showed 74 per cent of workers in Northern Ireland eat an identical lunch each day with 30 per cent doing so for an average of 5 years. This is an equivalent of eating over 1,000 identical ham sandwiches without mixing up the menu.

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Belfast International Wizz Air to Vilnius elfast International Airport added to its ‘basket’ of destinations with the start of Wizz Air’s direct flights to Europe’s basketball capital, Vilnius Lithuania.

The Lithuanian Honorary Consul, Bill Sinnerton, says that the flights are a ‘lifeline’ for the 20,000 Lithuanians who have made Northern Ireland their home.

Mr Sinnerton says the route, starting this week (Wednesday) will benefit both families and business people exploring new business opportunities in the Baltic state.

Last month, Wizz Air, which is the largest low-cost airline in Central and Eastern Europe, commenced a direct service to Katowice in Poland. The airline will operate a twice weekly service to both cities with fares starting as low as £39.99**.

Wizz Air last year carried almost 16 million passengers, up 18% on the previous year, and operates a network of 380 routes from 21 bases.

Mr Sinnerton said: “This service to the capital city will be a lifeline for the 20,000 Lithuanians and their families. It will mean affordable direct flights both for them and

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their relatives who wish to visit them in Northern Ireland.

“As the Minister for Finance, Simon Hamilton, said recently, increased air connectivity has the potential for significant economic benefits. It will help boost trade and there’s no doubt that tourism will greatly benefit.”

Wizz Air’s Daniel de Carvalho said: “Vilnius is an incredibly beautiful city with one of the largest surviving medieval quarters in Europe which is included in the UNESCO World Heritage site. The architecture is stunning but there are also many other attractions to visit and plenty of things to do.”

Belfast International Airport, Graham Keddie, said: “Vilnius will be a hugely popular destination, but it works both ways. We want to develop trade links with Lithuania, and now we can access the market direct from Belfast International and that has to tick a box as we strive to become more export-focused.

We will be working alongside Wizz to ‘sell’ Northern Ireland to drive up visitor numbers and boost local tourism.”

For more information please visit wizzair.com/en-GB/Search

Sign up to the Super Connected Growth Initiative and boost your business!

Businesses across Belfast are benefiting from being super connected... cross Belfast, companies are signing up to the Business Growth Initiative and maximising the benefits of having a superfast broadband connection to grow their business.

The popular programme is suitable for all SMEs and social enterprises in the city with up to 250 employees. It consists of 13.5 hours of free mentoring by Belfast Met digital experts for companies that have also availed of a Super Connected Belfast Connection Voucher as well as free masterclasses. The initiative is part funded by Belfast City Council, Invest Northern Ireland, the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland and is delivered by and suppliers has become paramount.

“In order to remain competitive and to Belfast Met. continue to attract such dynamic tenants, it is “Despite our location in a major industrial Belfast Met and Super Connected digital essential that we provide a high speed estate in Belfast, broadband access was a expert Sinclair Stockman have developed the solution for businesses by embracing the problem.

We used the Super Connected Belfast specialist masterclasses which are taking Super Connected Business Growth initiative.

Voucher Scheme to install an antenna and now place across the city.

The additional bonus of receiving mentoring have fast reliable downloads and uploads. We 247 Transnet Ltd is one local business has been instrumental in showing us how to are looking forward to engaging with Belfast taking part in the initiative. The courier exploit the benefits of the superfast Met in the initiative which in our case will be services provider is working with a mentor to connection which ultimately improves our targeted on effective use of online selling and find out more about digital marketing, eability to compete in the market place.” communication using social media as the commerce, paypal and website hosting. importance of this to our business grows.”

As part of the Super Connected Business Michael Maitland from 247 Transnet said: Growth Initiative, organisations are paired He added: “We are increasingly engaging “During the first mentoring session, I with a digital specialist mentor to help them with both customers and suppliers using discovered how little I knew about the way gain the knowledge and confidence to explore social media and are keen to develop our being super connected could help our the digital platform by learning more about Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin presence as business. The high speed broadband has been well as showcase our products and services to online basics, website development, social of immense help as our dispatch software and media and e-commerce. It also aims to assist a wider audience using web based resources. invoicing are web based and are now much businesses open up export markets through Employees have to travel regularly to meet more efficient. technology, online distribution channels and clients would like to explore ways in which “Phenomenon such as ‘The Cloud’ was trading platforms, supply chain management, staff can assess files remotely.” something new to me. I knew about email cloud computing or other digital Ormeau Business Park are using their 13.5 marketing, web design and how important opportunities. hours of mentoring to prioritise the use of these are to the business but I was put off due For any business in Belfast wanting to find cloud computing, focusing on cloud storage to cost. I am looking forward to finding out out more about the Initiative and sign up for and file sharing and the use of google how the continued advances in technology the mentoring and the masterclasses, contact analytics for search engine optimisation can help our business grow,” he added.

Belfast Met at scc@belfastmet.ac.uk. analytical processes.

Mojgan Esmaily from Asana Organic Belfast City Council supports SMEs across Patricia McNeill from Ormeau Business Healing has attended three of the the city with a wide range of business Park said: “We are a facility for start-up and masterclasses – ‘Digital Opportunities for programmes and events with free master growth businesses within Belfast. Attracting a your Business’, ‘Keys to Success’ and ‘Smart classes for any business eligible for a super high calibre of innovative technology Business Models’. connected voucher. businesses, the organisation has a strong “The knowledge and amount of research For more information, visit client base of companies whowho in turn and advice was impressive,” she said. “The www.belfastcity.gov.uk/business have clients such as Disney and Google. presentations were very coherent and informative and I feel that these masterclasses are of paramount importance for start-up businesses to grow.”

Steve Allen from the RP Group said: “RP has been at the forefront of engineering supplies and services for almost 50 years. As our business has grown This programme is part funded by Belfast City Council, Invest Northern Ireland, the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern internationally the need for reliable and quick communications with our customers Ireland and is delivered by Belfast Met.

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COVER STORY

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COMMENTARY

Is your business ready for the new holiday pay rules?

With the summer fast approaching, hundreds of employee leave requests are already being submitted to employers across Northern Ireland. However, whilst predicting and managing absence for most is fairly straightforward, there are new rulings around holiday pay which may have an impact on your business. Emma-Jane Flannery, Employment Law Associate at leading law firm Arthur Cox, outlines the facts. oliday pay is an issue that affects most businesses, and a number of recent rulings by the UK Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) will, potentially, have significant ramifications on how employers in Northern Ireland should calculate holiday pay going forward.

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Why were the rulings made?

The processes by which some employers and workers calculate holiday pay is likely to change. The first judgement is set to have the biggest impact in situations where non-guaranteed overtime is carried out by workers on a regular or consistent basis.

Emma-Jane Flannery

The rulings are a result of conflicts between the Working Time Regulations 1998 in the EU Working Time Directive. These came to light after two cases were brought before the EAT last year.

In the first case, the EAT recognised that regular non-guaranteed overtime should be considered in the calculation of holiday pay.

Non-guaranteed overtime relates to overtime which the employer doesn’t have to offer but if it does the employee is obliged to carry it out.

In the second case, the question was whether the same principles should be applied to a worker’s sales commission.

The worker argued a breach of the Regulations after realising that he only received basic pay whilst on holiday, despite his salary being made up of 40 per cent basic pay and 60 per cent sales commission every other pay day.

Unsurprisingly, the EAT concluded that since his commission was directly related to the work he carried out, it should be included for holiday pay purposes.

How does this impact local employers?

The processes by which some employers and workers calculate holiday pay is likely to change.

The first judgement is set to have the biggest impact in situations where non-guaranteed overtime is carried out by workers on a regular or consistent basis.

This can include any industry, but particularly those who have a significant number of hourly workers – from factories to shops; from construction to hospitality.

In addition, the ruling confirmed that if payments are usually made for time spent travelling to and from work as part of a worker’s normal pay, these may also need to be considered when calculating holiday pay.

The second decision will be of particular relevance to companies who employ sales

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teams, where commission schemes are regularly used to reward employees.

It still stands that no matter the working pattern, a worker should still receive holiday pay based on a 'week's normal remuneration'.

In light of the new standards, this now means that a ‘week’s normal remuneration’ may include items such as commission, bonuses and work-related overtime travel.

There is a cap on including all these additional payments in basic holiday pay, which means the inclusion of these only applies to the minimum four weeks’ holiday required by EU law.

What now?

Internal procedures, systems and policies need to be addressed, but they may also result in employees seeking back dated holiday pay.

In Great Britain, new regulations have been implemented, imposing a two year back claim period on holiday pay and other wage claims.

We are yet to see whether Northern Ireland will implement similar legislation.

The tribunal also ruled that workers can only make back claims if it has been less than three months since their last holiday.

However, these claims could potentially have a serious impact on businesses in Northern Ireland if handled incorrectly.

Employers are advised to seek professional advice as to how to handle any holiday pay claims to ensure any potential issues are identified and mitigated.

In addition, they may need to seek advice on how holiday pay should be calculated for their individual businesses moving forward.

These payments will vary from business to business depending on types of work patterns (shift, casual, full-time, part-time) and remuneration models (hourly paid, salary, commission, bonus schemes, overtime).

With a strong Employment Law team, Arthur Cox is well placed to advise employers on what actions are most appropriate to their individual business. For further information, call Emma­ Jane Flannery on 9023 0007.

BEST PRACTICE

AuthenticLeadership

by Anne Phillipson, programme director - William J Clinton Leadership Institute

spend most of my days working with leaders, either in one-to-one coaching relationships or with teams in facilitated workshops, helping them to uncover their authentic selves. Rather than provide a model of leadership to subscribe to or give them an ideal profile to measure themselves against, I believe we benefit from helping leaders to be their best selves and be authentic.

No one can be authentic by trying to imitate someone else. So how do you become an authentic leader? Leaders must devote themselves to personal growth and leadership development. The starting point is self-awareness.

At the William J Clinton Leadership Institute, we help leaders to build selfawareness through asking them to take time out to reflect on some ‘big questions’: • What is your life story? What key events and people helped to shape who you are today?

• What are your most closely-held values?

Can you articulate them and how do you demonstrate them?

• What motivates you? What environment / work / people help you to fully engage?

• What are your strengths? What are the things you love to do, just for the pure pleasure doing them?

• What brings you energy or drains you?

• What feedback have you received in the past?

•What is your communication style? What are your preferences in learning and communicating?

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These are questions that don’t come up in day-to-day conversations yet need to be answered so that you are clear on the type of leader you are. Reflecting on the answers pays huge dividends.

It is only by understanding ourselves that we have any hope of understanding others. A self-aware leader can anticipate their likely response to certain situations or people, which helps them to choose their response rather than react (and likely get unintended consequences).

An authentic leader builds trust with others because they are consistent in their approach and people know them for who they are. We all have experience of the unpredictable boss that keeps everyone around them on tender hooks, waiting to see which way the wind is blowing today before they approach (with caution)!

The value in being authentic is abundant; people perform better and are more engaged when they focus on being their singular, authentic selves. They build trust with their teams, and they encourage others to also be authentic. People follow authentic leaders with greater dedication.

There is value for the organisation as well.

When companies encourage and reward this kind of authenticity and genuineness among

their leaders, these leaders, in turn, are more likely to create real value for the organisation.

When people feel free to be who and what they are -- both privately and publicly -- they have more energy to create and innovate.

Authentic workers are more likely to bring their whole selves to the job, engage with the company’s goals and participate fully in the mission of the enterprise.

Think of your world like the rooms in a house; are you the same person in each room or do you play roles and act very differently depending on which room you are in? Some people think that in order to be successful at work they must conform and leave their true personality at the front door of the office, ready to pick up again on the way out at the end of the day.

It is such a waste of talent to not bring all the creativity, energy, and enthusiasm that some people reserve for their private lives to the workplace. And yet we know that to sometimes be the case.

There is a certain maturity to being an authentic leader. As the legendary jazz musician Miles Davis said, “Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself.” Often it takes some time for leaders to be courageous enough to come around to the realisation that ‘who I am is good enough’ (and I don’t have the energy to fake it anymore!).

Young leaders may believe early in their careers that they have to be imposters in order to get ahead and imitate the behaviours they see rewarded in the organisation to be promoted.

The earlier in a leaders’ career they begin to focus on building self-awareness, the better.

Leaders at all levels and stages of development benefit from taking time out to reflect on who they are and invest in further developing their unique strengths. The payback for developing a strength is much higher than it ever will be for trying to ‘fix’ a weakness, and it’s a lot more fun, too.

And the benefit of having authentic leadership dispersed throughout will pay dividends for the leader, their teams and the organisation’s results.

CBI @ 50

A time to reflect

and look ahead

by David Fry, CBI Senior Policy Adviser

Adrian Doran , Barclays (sponsor); Colin Walsh, CBI Chair, An Taoiseach Enda Kenny; John Cridland, CBI, Director-General; Sean Lavery, BDO NI (sponsor)

everal weeks ago we were delighted to welcome An Taoiseach Enda Kenny TD and our Director-General, John Cridland CBE, to our 50th Anniversary Gala Dinner.

Some 530 people gathered that evening at the Ramada Hotel to both take stock on the 50 years past, as well as Northern Ireland’s economic future.

Since the CBI’s establishment in 1965, the United Kingdom has seen immense change.

From the UK’s joining of the then European Economic Community, to the economic challenges and changes of the 1970s and 1980s, to the establishment of the National Minimum Wage, to the formation of the UK’s first post-war Coalition Government we can reflect on five decades that have had a transformative effect on the UK that we live in today.

Undoubtedly, for us in Northern Ireland, the past fifty years have seen us traverse from some of the lowest moments in our history to a substantially more peaceful era today.

With the Taoiseach in attendance, our Director-General opened his remarks by noting a hugely significant engagement in 1965.

The 14th of January that year saw the then

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Prime Minister of Northern Ireland Terence O’Neill and An Taoiseach Sean Lemass conduct the first formal meeting between the heads of the two countries in some forty years.

The landmark summit opened up a new period of economic co-operation between north and south. And it paved the way for joint initiatives in electricity, tourism and transport – these being some of the very first steps towards the north-south relationship as we know it now.

Great, seismic and welcome change has of course come to Northern Ireland in the 50 years since, but the modern era though continues to come with its own challenges.

Now that it has been given Royal Assent, the devolution of Corporation Tax powers to these shores has the potential to transform our local economy.

When it comes to maximising the potential that lower Corporation Tax rates could offer however, political stability stands high on a potential investor’s list.

While we stand in the middle of a three year election cycle, I do not doubt the challenge to our politicians in seeking to

maintain Executive stability and unity when it’s Ministerial and party occupants are out on the canvass trail.

So it is crucial that the goodwill and renewed positive working relationships that emerged from the Stormont House Agreement must be restored and again become the hallmark of our Executive.

Building on this, recent weeks have seen us, along with many others, responding to the Assembly’s Enterprise, Trade and Investment Committee inquiry into how best to maximise the benefits of a lower Corporation Tax rate.

Emerging from this there are two clear policy priorities that business believes must be addressed. It’s no surprise that these are Education and Skills, and, Infrastructure.

It is well known that, as determinants of investment decisions, both of these issues sit even higher on any business’s agenda than Corporation Tax. Within both, we see a number of key deliverables that must emerge as part of an Executive agreed strategy to maximise our potential.

From the UK’s joining of the then European Economic Community, to the economic challenges and changes of the 1970s and 1980s, to the establishment of the National Minimum Wage, to the formation of the UK’s first post-war Coalition Government we can reflect on five decades that have had a transformative effect on the UK that we live in today. David Fry On education Reflecting on our Step Change report that we published in December, it is imperative that: • There is speedy implementation of the recommendations of the Independent Review of Careers Advice and Guidance • That the study of maths and English should be made compulsory until 18 for all those remaining in education.

• That all schools should offer separate sciences as an option for GCSE, and faster progress on implementing computing as a core subject.

• That we deliver the new employer-led apprenticeship model in 2016 and • That we continue to prioritise investment nto our higher and further education systems.

On infrastructure There are three broad themes that we believe must be addressed: • The next Executive Investment Strategy should prioritise a series of projects that business sees as investment critical such as the York Street Interchange, the A5 and A6, and the much needed new North/South electricity Interconnector.

• There must be follow-through on infrastructure procurement and delivery reform.

• The Northern Ireland Investment Fund should deliver on its potential and make its first investments by the summer of 2016.

There is a clear and united business voice that to meet the opportunities and potential now before us, the Executive should take pressing steps on education, skills and our infrastructure to open the door to the investment than can be realised.

Over the recent 18 month period, Invest NI has done a magnificent job promoting a record total of almost 22,000 new - and well paid jobs - for our economy.

More of that is what will lead to growing living standards for all, less of a dependency on support from Westminster, not more, and a reduction in the number of people dependent on welfare.

Our European Future Returning to our Annual Dinner, a separate key theme was a major focus for both An Taoiseach and our Director-General – the UK’s future in the European Union.

As the only region of the UK which has a land border with another EU Member State, the business community in Northern Ireland, and therefore our medium to long term economic prospects, are particularly susceptible to the discussion that is now being widely had at national level as to the UK’s continued membership of the EU.

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny

With access to markets a very high priority for FDI, we believe remaining within a reformed EU will be a key determinant for potential investors in Northern Ireland – few investors come to Northern Ireland for our market of 1.8m citizens, rather they come here in order to access the UK and wider EU markets.

It is critical that, at every possible juncture, the Northern Ireland Executive makes clear to the UK Government (regardless of its political make-up) that our long-term economic future is set best within a reformed European Union.

This will be a key requirement for business investment in Northern Ireland, both local and foreign, long into the future.

Reflecting on our own 50th anniversary, these remain the critical challenges and opportunities that business wishes to see addressed.

For More information: www.cbi.org.uk/ni

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Time to refinance your business debt? or TIME TO SPRING CLEAN YOUR FINANCES? Leading corporate finance adviser Michael McAllister is co-founder and Director at accountancy and business advisory firm, ASM Chartered Accountants. In this article, Michael, who heads up the Magherafelt office, discusses the importance of taking the time to get your finances in order for the financial year ahead. ith the economy improving, interest rates remaining at an all-time low and lenders showing an increasing appetite to fund good businesses and projects, now could be an opportune time to consider a refinancing of your business’ debt.

Various events in a business’ life cycle can trigger the need or desire to refinance. As your business grows you may need additional funding for working capital or fixed assets to meet customer demand. Alternatively, if your business is facing challenges, uncertainty or cashflow pressure you may wish to reduce your ongoing repayment obligations to promote operational flexability. A refinancing can also be used to facilitate the release of equity, fund acquisitions or simply settle existing facilities which are due to expire.

During the downturn, the process of raising debt financing became more challenging due to reduced funding availability and stricter lending policies. Government schemes to incentivise lending had limited impact and some sectors quite simply became out of bounds for potential lenders. Some would argue that the priority for some lenders became debt recovery as opposed to new business.

In more recent times, the landscape has changed with existing lenders increasing available funding and external funders showing an increasing appetite to grow their presence within the region. Alternative funders have also become more established including crowd funding which is growing year on year. Although some sectors remain challenging, the general message from most of the region’s main traditional lenders is that they are ‘open for business.’

In order to determine if this is an appropriate time for you to refinance, it is important to identify your short, medium and long term business objectives and subsequently align your funding/ refinancing requirements. Raising finance remains more challenging than pre-recessionary times, with lenders undertaking significantly more prelending due diligence and requiring borrowers to jump through more hoops.

However, a robust business plan and/or proposal with supporting financial information underpinned by rationale assumptions will make the process of refinancing much more straight forward and approve the attractiveness of your refinancing proposition.

The most appropriate funding structure for your business will be determined by a

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number of factors including among other things availability of security, the nature of your trade (B2B v sale to end user) and funding purpose or objectives. An appropriately qualified independent adviser can help you analyse your current funding structure and advise on the most appropriate type of funding and subsequently the most appropriate lenders to target. Each type of funding/ facility has its advantages and disadvantages and should be considered in line with your specific business needs.

The following are some tips to consider in order to achieve a successful refinancing: 1. Market your proposal to existing funders – your existing funder should have a good understanding of your business and its needs. Build on the relationship with them but explore other prospective funders also; 2. Get your house in order – expect prospective funders to undertake a thorough examination of your business and its finances.

Anticipate queries in respect to weak areas of your proposal and ensure that you are well placed to respond to them; 3. Be realistic – both in terms of quantum and associated debt facility terms. Analysis of appropriate facilities should be based on (among other things) repayment affordability and anticipated security requirements (e.g. loan to value). Furthermore, any financial forecasts/ projections provided to prospective funders should to determine repayment ability should be realistic as opposed to representing a best case scenario; 4. Plan ahead - don’t leave it to the last minute to apply for funding. Allow sufficient time and anticipate an element of delay. A strong business plan and forecasts with clear explanation of underpinning assumptions will facilitate a more efficient process; 5. Know your exit fees – clearly understand the potential costs for settlement of your existing indebtedness. These can be substantial and could outweigh the benefits of a proposed refinancing; 6. Consequences of default - have a clear understanding of facility covenants and default clauses and the consequences of a breach. This could include implications for group/ associated entities including directors and shareholders who may be guaranteeing the indebtedness;

7. Plan B – although you and your advisers may be confident that funding can be sourced - a plan B is always advisable; 8. Costs – clearly understand the initial and ongoing fees associated with proposed facilities - this could include set up, commission and ongoing management fees; 9. Consider alternative sources – in addition to traditional debt funders it is also worth considering alternative sources of funding including crowdfunding, equity investment and grant funding. Grant funding can be particularly relevant where the business has potential to grow, create jobs and undertake export sales.

10. Ancillary services – your business may require a funding/ banking partner with the ability to provide ancillary services such as BACS, foreign exchange service or simply daily cash banking. Not all funders are in a position to do this throughout the region – therefore you may wish to consider alternative arrangements.

Michael McAllister can be contacted at michael.mcallister@asmmagherafelt.com or 028 7930 1777 to discuss your business finance needs or any other corporate finance matter.

ASM Chartered Accountants, has six offices, Belfast, Dublin, Dundalk, Dungannon, Magherafelt and Newry. The 120 strong team specialises in a range of accountancy disciplines including, corporate finance, Insolvency services, forensic accounting, Audit & accounting, consultancy services, internal audit, tax, hotel, tourism and leisure.

COMMENTARY

Innovation and the family business In the first of a series of articles focussing on issues specific to family businesses in Northern Ireland, Maybeth Shaw, Partner at BDO in Belfast, looks at how family businesses approach innovation and thinking outside the box. amily ownership is often considered amongst the most sustainable ownership models. And yet, despite their many strengths, research shows that family-owned companies can struggle finding the right moment to innovate and think outside of the box.

Innovation is certainly a theme that has dominated the business world – and more recently presented itself in the family business space with the mantra ‘innovation and successful succession are inextricably linked’.

Family Business strengths are well documented and written about. They typically enjoy an increased sense of ownership given success impacts everyone directly. Family co-workers also benefit from a level trust that is built into knowing one another genetically, emotionally and historically.

Working with family businesses on succession plans we often hear ‘fathers’ saying "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree". We have always seen this aspect as a strength and a weakness at the same time, especially when it comes to innovation.

Another strength of the family business is efficiency, given family business leaders are often able to anticipate other family members reactions and points of view. Finally, the constant on-the-job training that takes place from a very young age can be a great competitive advantage and can instil a deep knowledge of the business.

Usually, the family business talk continues outside of the office and at family get-togethers, which again can both be positive and negative as work blends into personal life.

Despite their strengths, family businesses face many challenges - one challenge that can be observed is the reluctance to innovate or disrupt the business process at the right time for growth. So how do family businesses traditionally innovate and how could that model be improved upon?

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How do family businesses traditionally innovate We have seen family businesses innovate through allowing an outside voice to have an influence and shake things up just a bit. This outside voice is often not a blood relative but someone who knows the family really well and shares a history with them.

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The key to innovation is to talk openly in the family about the need to progress, stay economically competitive, and explore where a business changing idea might come from.

Innovation can also come from the next generation, who step into a leadership position and contribute new ideas through University knowledge, exposure to new technology or from fresh, less biased curiosity. However, this can also be difficult, as the younger generation is often strongly influenced or might even be intimidated by the leading figure or patriarch of the family business.

In my view, ensuring that the family business leaders are connected to and have regular dialogue with outside organizations, sitting on various boards, university alumni groups, or diverse business associations is key for generative, nonlinear thinking.

While personality types have a lot to do with risk taking or aversion, innovating or preserving the status quo, it is often the senior leaders who are less willing to experience disruptive change. We suggest that teams and families have regular interventions where they bring in “outside” facilitators to check the climate of openness and receptivity to new ideas and how the business environment and culture is being shaped to allow for this happen.

Open dialogues, a suggestions box, brainstorming meetings, the "next big idea quarterly councils", etc. are all helpful tools.

We have also seen a family business invest in a non-related business, which turned out to be a great way for them to gain access to new ways of thinking and leading, to get outside of their comfort zone and successfully tap into diversity of thought.

Thinking outside the box So what can business families do to encourage more “out-of-the-box” thinking?

How can that thought process be captured to serve business growth?

The 21st century leader must be attuned to creating collaborative partnerships, to exploring new ways of reaching customers, and to solving problems in ways that haven’t been tried in the past. The smart new organization is focused on reducing blind spots when it comes to cultural norms, recruiting new talent, identifying new

customers, testing new product ideas and entering new markets. Blind spots are uncovered when there is a highly diverse set of eyes reviewing them.

At BDO we strive to support all aspects of the challenges that family businesses face and work hard to constantly challenge our own approaches and methodologies to provide innovative and practical solutions to the businesses we advise.

As part of this approach BDO is delighted to advise that it will be the premier sponsor of the 2015 Family Firm Institute (FFI) Global Conference to be held in London in October 2015.

The FFI is widely recognised as the world’s most influential network of thought-leaders in the field of family enterprise, with a primary objective to further the cause of family businesses around the world. Support of the FFI will further BDO’s development of best practice advice and support for our clients.

In addition to sponsoring the conference, BDO is also undertaking a Global research project to contribute to the understanding of family business opportunities and challenges.

Driven by a discovery questionnaire undertaken with family business owners, the collective data will provide significant input to further understanding of, and insights into, specific family business issues.

If you would like to take part in the Global research project, and receive a free report of your own family business results, please contact Maybeth Shaw to arrange a time to discuss the short questionnaire. at maybeth.shaw@bdo.co.uk or 9043 9009

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY in Northern Ireland A Business First feature sponsored by

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Positive outlook for Northern Ireland property market

by Mark Blair, partner, A&L Goodbody n recent times we have all seen the number of chunky retail investment transactions – driven by continued banking deleveraging exercises – and the associated property loan portfolio sales that are being publicised.

A&L Goodbody has been involved in most of the major property transactions in Northern Ireland in the past few years – whether on the selling, buying or refinancing side – so in many ways we have an unrivalled local perspective and overview of both GB and international investment into Northern Ireland. It would be wrong, however, to assume that our focus is entirely international.

There are further loan sales to come in the shorter term of course, but with a view to the medium and longer term, we are seeing some interesting trends that point towards a stronger and more diverse Northern Ireland property market comeback.

The need for new and modern office buildings and the refurbishment of Belfast’s secondary office space has been widely documented. In terms of some of the other sectors however we would highlight the following:

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Residential One only has to look at the competition for the higher quality sites which have recently come on-line, especially in South and East Belfast, North Down and Lisburn areas, to see a notable change in the residential market in Northern Ireland.

This could be a positive sign for the wider property market, too since it has typically been the case that where residential leads the rest of the market generally follows.

With the latest research from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors reporting price increases every month for the past half year and predicting that house prices in Northern Ireland will increase more that any other region in the UK in 2015, let’s hope that the rest of the market will indeed follow this trend.

In GB there has been move towards the major institutions investing in housing generally and social housing in particular. We are not there yet, but at A&L Goodbody we have seen an interesting trend in some Southern Irish private equity funding going into our residential sector now.

A real focus for us in the next 12 months will be to assist such investors and local builders in their collaborations.

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Student Accommodation Triggered by the new Belfast campus for Ulster University, we have seen a number of large city centre buildings being sold for conversion into student accommodation in the past year.

For me though, the most exciting project – not least because A&L Goodbody is involved in it – is the £300m Northside Regeneration project, which will have a mix of uses including social housing, retail, hospitality, purpose built managed student accommodation and city living.

A project of this nature can also create all kinds of other opportunities around it, including in the local job market.

Hotels & Leisure The Northside Regeneration is the Belfast regeneration project with the greatest potential since Titanic Quarter. TQ and the adjacent Harbour Estate however, if recent news is anything to go by, also clearly have exciting times ahead as well.

From our experience in selling the Premier Inn at Titanic Quarter to a local investor and acquiring the Belfast Holiday Inn for the home-grown Dalata Hotel Group, the most interesting potential from an A&L Goodbody perspective is around the hotel offerings that both zones are seeking to bring forward.

Regions Hotels and the wider leisure sector appear to be areas in which Northern Ireland has potential to provide more, both in and out of

Belfast, and our recent experience in acquiring the Tower Hotel in Derry-Londonderry, also for Dalata, has reaffirmed that there is an appetite for those types of deals.

With the recent high profile sales of shopping centres in Derry-Londonderry, Enniskillen and Coleraine, it does look like the money is now not just staying in Belfast. It will be interesting to see if the regional retail parks follow the GB trend and seek to develop their leisure offerings instead of concentrating solely on retail. We have seen some examples of this already in Northern Ireland.

The A&L Goodbody Property team At A&L Goodbody we have expanded our Property team in the past 12 months to prepare for the opportunities developing right across Northern Ireland, and are currently seeking to recruit at least another four lawyers at all levels of qualification given the level of activity we are now seeing across these diverse sectors.

We are far away from seeing spec funding or 90 per cent plus mortgages of course, but with residential leading the way are we in Northern Ireland now seeing some of the “new normal” which seems to have stabilized on the mainland?

Is there a place for property in Northern Ireland politics? asks Ben Collins, director, RICS Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland we believe that our politicians have a key role to play in enabling the local property and construction sectors to drive economic growth and build better communities.

Ben Collins

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Anyone who needed reminded about the importance of property and construction to the Northern Ireland economy should have read the recent Invest NI report on the availability of Grade A office space.

The economy is the Northern Ireland Executive’s number one priority, and a key strategy in developing the economy is to attract inward investment. However, one of the major impediments to doing this is the lack of suitable accommodation.

Speaking to the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Enterprise Committee, Invest NI officials said: "It is becoming apparent that the Northern Ireland office market is reaching the point where it will be unable to offer variety and choice to either potential FDI (foreign direct investment) or to those companies with growth plans."

It also says that there is "limited potential" for significant development over the next five years. The report points to just two new office building developments at the City Quays at Belfast Harbour.

Invest NI raised the prospect of market intervention, and we believe that there are things that can be done by local politicians to help create an enabling environment – for instance fast-tracking planning applications for strategically important office development.

This is just one of the issues that we at RICS raised with politicians from the main Northern Ireland political parties at a General Election hustings event recently.

We have called on all of the political parties to recognise the role property, across housing, planning and development, construction and infrastructure plays in driving the economic growth and building better communities.

Our event – part of a series called Property in Politics – was a conversation between property professionals and the political parties about building a vibrant property marketplace.

As part of Property in Politics, RICS has put forward 12 recommendations we believe should be implemented by a future UK government to make this vision a reality.

These include delivering a professional private rented sector, introducing a construction skills investment charter, and setting up an infrastructure commission.

In Northern Ireland we believe that our politicians have a key role to play in enabling the local property and construction sectors to drive economic growth and build better communities.

We are at a critical time for the property and construction sectors as we emerge from the impact of the property crash. Property prices are recovering and the construction sector is getting back on its feet, but there are issues needing addressed.

These include skills shortages in the construction sector and an infrastructure deficit, both of which have the potential to harm the economic recovery. We also face housing shortages in some areas.

These are some of the issues that our politicians have the potential to influence through good policy, and we were pleased to have had a constructive conversation between the parties and the property and construction sectors about them.

In terms of the infrastructure deficit, we understand that public money is finite and becoming more scarce.

But we would encourage the politicians to recognise the real importance of investing in infrastructure and to prioritise funding capital expenditure where possible.

Alternative methods of finance should be considered as one way to do this. Research tells us that Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) can be an additional viable solution to the current infrastructure investment deficit.

The PPP model has been increasingly advocated in response to the infrastructure investment challenge since the global financial crisis.

We were pleased with the engagement with local politicians on these issues, and we look forward to continuing to work with industry and government to share expertise and our members’ insight in order to address some of the biggest challenges facing the Northern Ireland economy.

RICS has some 4,000 members in Northern Ireland, employed in the land, property and construction markets and in associated environmental issues. Its members are employed across private practice, regional and local government, public agencies, academic institutions, business organisations and non­ governmental organisations. RICS has a Royal Charter which requires it to act in the public interest.

Tax Relief for Investing in Property the tax break that no one claims!

by Aubrey Calderwood, Capitus

K - “no one” might be a bit of an exaggeration but certainly many companies and individuals, particularly in Northern Ireland, do not claim all of the tax relief that the Government allow them to claim when they invest in a commercial property.

And by “invest” we mean buy, build, refurbish or fit out a property whether it be an office, a hotel, a car dealership, a nursing home or any other type of commercial property that you could care to mention.

But why would the Government give any tax incentives at all to commercial property investors and if those incentives exist, why are they not generally claimed to their full extent?

Well, in answer to the first point, the availability of a good supply of modern, fit for purpose commercial property is essential for any economy to grow and expand.

However, the financial risk for anyone investing in the provision of such space is significant so Governments give tax relief to encourage companies and individuals to press the “Go” button and commit to investing.

For example, we know in Northern Ireland and in Belfast in particular, that there are a number of requirements from US and GB based companies for office space but there is simply not an adequate supply of appropriate property.

Why? Because the financial risk of developing those offices compared to the rents currently achievable makes investors reluctant to take the plunge and speculatively construct the properties.

However, if they knew and actively considered that up to 100 per cent of the development cost attracted tax relief, assuming, for example, that the development was the refurbishment of a qualifying vacant property under the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme, they may be more comfortable taking the risk of investing.

The whole of Northern Ireland qualifies for the BPRA scheme so any expenditure on a qualifying vacant property anywhere in Northern Ireland will attract this relief.

Alternatively, if the investor was aware that anything up to 55 per cent of the development cost of a new build property could be offset against the tax arising on the rental income from letting the building, more investors would be encouraged to commence construction.

On a smaller scale, say a restauranteur wanted to expand and open new premises, there has never been a better time to do it, certainly from a tax perspective. Until December 2015, The Annual Investment Allowance allows a company or individual to claim an immediate tax deduction of up to £500,000 for expenditure they have incurred investing in “plant or machinery”.

When you realise that up to 70 per cent of the cost of a restaurant fit out is deemed to be “plant

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The whole of Northern Ireland qualifies for the Business Premises Renovation Allowance scheme so any expenditure on a qualifying vacant property anywhere in Northern Ireland will attract this relief.

Aubrey Calderwood

and machinery”, you can see this is a very valuable incentive.

After December 2015, the Annual Investment Allowance is due to be decreased again but George Osborne has not told us by how much yet. We shall have to wait until the next Autumn Statement to find out and who knows who will be in power then?

Other tax incentives that exist to encourage investment in commercial property include socalled Enhanced Capital Allowances for incorporating energy and water efficient technologies in construction projects and Land Remediation Relief which is designed to make long term derelict or contaminated brownfield land, economic to develop.

Some sources estimate that the value of unclaimed tax relief in the UK’s commercial property stock amounts to something in the order of a staggering £96 billion.

So with the Government apparently falling over itself to give investors such generous tax incentives to invest in commercial property and plant and equipment, why do so few claim what they are entitled to claim?

Why do so few claim the incentive?

The answer lies in many places. First of all, accountants are usually responsible for claiming all available tax reliefs on behalf of their clients.

Capital allowances for computers and vehicles are easy to identify and claim.

However, this particular suite of tax incentives requires a specialist knowledge of construction and property valuation skills to enable them to be identified to their maximum extent and claimed.

This is not your typical accountants’ forte.

Secondly, the legislation relating to these incentives is complex and unless accountants are dealing with it on a daily basis, it is very easy to misinterpret.

As a result, an increasing number of accountants are referring these issues to specialists like ourselves because they recognise that their client’s interests are better served by doing so.

Finally, the availability of these tax reliefs is not widely publicised by HMRC. They are contained deep within one of the world’s most complex tax codes and it is up to the tax payer or their accountants to trawl through that and realise what can be claimed so it is not immediately obvious what is available.

Property investors may be sitting on a veritable goldmine of unclaimed tax relief There is no time limit on how far back you can go back to claim this relief so we recommend that investors undertake a historic review of their property portfolios and claim what is rightfully theirs before it’s too late.

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COMMERCIAL PROPERTY

Investor interest drives Northern Ireland property market sales According to CBRE’s Capital Markets team key property assets across NI will continue to attract UK and international investment interest throughout 2015, Robert Ditty, senior director, Capital Markets explains why. nvestment activity in 2015 has got off to a strong start with Quarter 1 results indicating increased volumes ahead of an extremely successful 2014. As a result, we are anticipating an even higher value of investment activity in the months ahead, and in particular a large number of investment deals are due to complete in the 2nd quarter of 2015.

2014 saw a large improvement over 2013 in terms of direct investment sales volume, with total sales of £504million in 2014 compared to £160million in 2013.

In the first quarter of 2015 we are already seeing signs of growth, with sales volume of £62million – notable sales include B&Q Londonderry, The Linen Green Dungannon acquired by a private investor and a portfolio of public sector let offices totalling approximately £25million acquired by government.

The activity in 2014 seems to have sparked further investor interest for 2015, which is a key driver for the sales we have seen thus far, and the assets that are currently under offer.

Northern Ireland once again offers good investment fundamentals and is once again considered a desirable location.

The Northern Ireland market is capable of offering significant returns and with values still rising; properties are becoming increasingly sought after. Value added opportunities for investors can be seen across all sectors but particularly in the office and retail markets where we have seen the highest levels of interest.

The active investors we have been engaged with throughout 2014 and in the early stages of 2015 are from a broad spectrum but notably we have seen considerable interest from international buyers. However, in addition to the many international private equity investors, there has also been a rise in activity from local Northern Ireland high net worth individuals who are seeking opportunities for upgrading and developing properties. Many see Belfast offices as an attractive investment class and we forecast more activity in the office sector in 2015 compared to 2014.

In the last number of years, significant global occupiers have located key office functions in NI. Liberty IT, Citigroup, Microsoft, NYSE, Allen and Overy and Baker & McKenzie have acquired office space and many have expanded, considerably increasing their original workforce levels. A number of international investors are recognising that

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Andrew Coggins, Gavin Elliott, Brian Lavery, Robert Ditty, Tim Reid, the CBRE Capital Markets Team

Belfast is attracting global brand names and this factor is encouraging further investor activity.

Belfast has a competitive advantage over Dublin, which has much higher salary and rental costs. A reduction in corporation tax will further enhance Northern Ireland’s appeal to foreign direct office occupiers.

Belfast prime office yields will remain strong in 2015 with CBRE forecasting 6.25 per cent. This still compares favourably when benchmarked against other UK and Ireland locations, as well as similar sized European cities. We also forecast that rents will increase to £16-£18 per sq ft. Investment assets across all sectors still offer a yield arbitrage discount when compared to other GB cities and Dublin.

This means Northern Ireland will still remain a highly attractive investment location.

CBRE is predicting a strong investment sales pipeline for Q2 and Q3 in 2015. The office investment market is largely untested but we expect to see a number of high profile sales in Q2 2015 that will strengthen it. For example, 29 Clarendon Dock, a 47,500 sq.ft Government occupied office building with prime riverside frontage is now being marketed for sale. Investor interest is likely to be strong as new buyers seek to gain a foothold in the office sector.

The retail sector also continues to be a favoured asset class with clients and buyers

including UK institutions, property companies and private equity investors. Northern Ireland has seen a number of new retailers securing new representation including, Yo Sushi!, Michael Kors and Zara expanding its existing store. The retail investment market remains strong with recent sales including the previously mentioned Linen Green in Dungannon and B&Q Londonderry. CBRE will soon commence marketing of Valley Retail Park, Newtownabbey, a 100,000 sq ft nonfood retail warehouse scheme housing tenants such as Harvey Norman, Halfords and Harveys. With a lot size of c.£6.5million, this scheme offers a very attractive net initial yield of 13.50 per cent.

CBRE are aware of over £120million retail investments, currently agreed for sale and all due to complete in Q2 2015.

Following the rating revaluation many High Street and Shopping Centres locations have had rates reductions. This reduction in overall occupational costs should lead to increased tenant demand for these locations which will provide opportunities for rental growth going forward, ensuring that Northern Ireland as a whole, not just Belfast, is considered an attractive investment location.

City Quays: if you build it they will come I

t may be listed online as one of the ‘Ten film quotes we all get wrong’, but the oftcited “if you build it they will come” declaration in ‘Field of Dreams’ – borrowed from Theodore Roosevelt - is certainly far from wrong in the context of Belfast Harbour’s approach to its latest landmark project. A quick Google search reveals the actual film quote to be “if you build it he will come”, but “they” is definitely more appropriate when talking about City Quays Belfast Harbour’s £10m, 83,000 square feet City Quays 1office development – one of the largest of its kind in Northern Ireland since the property crash of 2007 – represents phase 1 of their wider 20-acre, £250m City Quays waterfront regeneration project which will support much-needed construction jobs.

Designed to Grade A specification to appeal to inward investors and growing indigenous businesses in the knowledge sectors, the fivestorey building is helping to address the shortage of high-end office space in Belfast.

Less than 18-months ago there was less than 150,000 square feet of Grade A office space available in Belfast, something which has been accentuated recently by new inward investment announcements. Belfast Harbour is working with Invest NI to take the lead in addressing this shortage and ensure that potential inward investors have high-end office space in which to locate.

And ‘they’re’ already coming, with one of the world’s largest law firms set to take up residence in City Quays this month. It was with great pride that Belfast Harbour announced before Christmas that Baker & McKenzie, a global firm employing 11,000 people in 77 offices across 47 countries, would be the first tenant in the flagship office scheme. The company pre-let two floors in City Quays which will be home to its new Global Services Centre - set to open in June and create 260 jobs.

Securing a tenant of the calibre of Baker & McKenzie was a major achievement for City Quays and a sure sign of the confidence which the project has already injected into Belfast’s commercial property market. Belfast Harbour is determined to ensure ‘they’ continue to come and are complementing the work of Invest NI in actively pursuing a number of inward investors and indigenous firms which have expressed an interest in City Quays 1.

Interest from prospective tenants in the financial and business services, technology and creative industries is currently higher than at any stage in the last five years.

Those prospective tenants not only have the remaining 25,000 square feet at City Quays 1

available, but also a further 124,000 sq ft of Grade A office space at City Quays 2. A £20m investment due for completion in mid-2016 which will help support 600 direct and indirect construction jobs, City Quays 2 will fully complement City Quays 1 by providing a major boost to the Northern Ireland economy and ensuring Belfast has the capacity to meet the growing demand from inward investors for energy efficient high-end office space. Like City Quays 1, it will provide open plan, flexible floor space designed to meet the needs of dynamic, modern enterprises.

To supplement the office space, City Quays 2 will also provide ground floor retail/cafe space and there are plans in train to build an accompanying waterfront hotel. Demand for hotel space in Belfast is strong and, if an operator of suitable experience capable of delivering a best-in-class internationally recognised product can be identified, then a new 150-200-bedroom hotel with supporting multi-storey car park could be open for business by 2017.

A further element of the vision for City Quays is that it will help finish the task of opening up Belfast’s waterfront to the public and create a seamless link to the city’s historic maritime district. To this end, work is set to start on a new 1.2km walkway which will form part of a continuous link from the Harbour to the Waterfront Hall and beyond to the Stranmillis Embankment along the river Lagan. Opening in June 2015, the 5,000 square metre walkway represents the first phase of the connectivity project which will support pedestrian and cycle access to City Quays as well as becoming an attractive new space for visitors and locals to enjoy.

For a modern, cutting-edge development such as City Quays, sustainability is vital. The credentials most certainly stack up, with 85 per cent of materials coming from within 25 miles of the City Quays 1 site, 97 per cent of waste being diverted from landfill and waste from the nearby University of Ulster site being used as aggregate. There is 100 per cent LED lighting, while a BREEAM Excellent rating places City Quays 1 in the top 10 per cent of the UK’s non-domestic buildings.

The next few months are set to be a landmark period for Belfast Harbour, as the final touches to City Quays are made and Baker & McKenzie open for business. The project is an exciting opportunity to progress the historic regeneration of Belfast’s waterfront, creating a rejuvenated area stretching from Clarendon Dock to Belfast’s Waterfront Hall. By meeting the demand for high-end office space Belfast Harbour is

fulfilling its mission of growing the economy and creating jobs, while the hotel, residential and retail aspects of the project will reinvigorate the city. Belfast Harbour is building it, now let them come.

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GROWING

Be inspired, be innovative, get digital Accelerate your company’s digital strength through Growing the Digital Economy Progamme ompanies hoping to establish or enhance their digital profile are being encouraged to sign up to a new programme in the Derry and Strabane area which can help transform your business.

The Growing the Digital Economy programme is run by Derry City and Strabane District Council and offers free tailored support to digital businesses and supports local companies in need of guidance when it comes to going digital. The project is part funded by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

The Growing the Digital Economy programme will play a key role in accelerating the expansion of the digital economy throughout the North West Region. As a thriving digital hub the North West already offers businesses access to a first rate digital infrastructure, host of creative talent combined with its trend for emerging start up companies the programme is the latest in a series of Consortium led by Integrity NI on these initiatives driving the local digital economy. initiatives linking up with UK Tech City.

Superconnected Cities scheme is one such A team of mentors have been selected initiative delivered by the Council and based on their relevant skills and experience Department for Culture, Sport and Media and are ready to be be assigned to your providing companies access to up to £3000 grants towards the installation of switching to company based on an assessment of your company's needs. As a digital company you a high speed broadband provider, allowing can access one-to-one specialist mentoring companies to take advantage of the benefits and technical consultancy as well as general of faster connectivity to compete in business support all free of charge. international markets.

The programme will also offer digital Local companies now have ability to literacy support and one-to-one mentoring efficiency communicate with potential for companies whose core business is not customers, with these added benefits digital but who could achieve significant extending also to existing customers, growth by increasing their digital capability partners, suppliers and staff. With increased in areas such as ecommerce, online sales and connectivity they are now better positioned social media. to receive the advantages of increased accessibility, reliability of service and reduced The scheme aims to open up new costs through more efficient working. opportunities for indigenous companies and boost investment for the digital sector by Combine this with the follow up support developing and promoting the region’s available with Growing the Digital Economy unique digital proposition. which is geared towards helping pre-start, fledgling and established digital companies, it The North West Science Park is already is ideally suited to advancing the creation of home to some of the island’s most forward aspiring digital entrepreneurs. thinking companies offering creative space with the built-in infrastructure, quality of life, Support will be delivered through a series investment support platforms synonymous of business boot camps, peer to peer with the NW Region. Soon Eighty81 the mentoring, meet the digital buyer events in creative hub will be opening its doors and the Derry and London, networking opportunities, city is already home to the Intelligent and concept clinics. Growing the Digital Systems Research Centre and C-TRIC. Economy is delighted to be working with NORIBIC, CultureTECH and the Fort George Growing the Digital Economy are delighted

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Sign up now www.derrycityandstrabanedistrict.com/growdigital 28 www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

to have over 120 companies registered onto the programme so far to include animation, software, film and tv production, digital design, digital marketing, digital publishing, e-learning and mobile apps and a host of nondigital companies across every business sector.

Become a member of the NW’s Grow Digital Network and keep up to date with fast emerging trends in your market. Enjoy collaborations with local like minded companies and create networks by partnering with companies across complementary sectors'.

Digital technology can ultimately transform any business and the strong benefits and relevance of the programme opens it up to all businesses in the Derry and Strabane Council area regardless of size, location or sector.

To find out more sign up to the mentoring programme at www.derrycityandstrabanedistrict.com/ growdigital or contact Rosalind Young, Programme Manager on 028 71 253253 Ex6662 For regular updates please find us on Facebook and Twitter:

www.derrycityandstrabanedistrict.com/growdigital

The NorthWest Innovation Centre

he EU INTERREG IVA-funded North West Regional Science Park will anchor the work of the Science Park across the North and West of Ireland and will cement a cross-border partnership with Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) where work is already underway to extend its successful CoLab business incubator.

The North West Regional Science Park provides 50,000 square foot of flexible workspace on the banks of the Foyle, on the site of a former army barracks. It has its own Data Centre and with 70% of space already let to 23 tenants, it will house specialists in software, telecoms, digital media, health & bioscience, clean tech and television production, among many others.

The high-tech, super-connected premises provide flexibility for start-ups and companies of any size, ranging from a single “hot desk” to large-scale workspace, as well as meeting spaces, a café, on-site parking and secure cloud data storage.

The anchor tenant is Derry-born 8over8, now a leader in contract risk management software for the global oil and gas industry.

The company has taken the top floor of the building, which will be home to more than two thirds of its global team, after expanding beyond its original home in the University of Ulster Magee campus. The company also now has regional offices in North America, Australia and the Middle East.

Dick Milliken, chairman of the Northern Ireland Science Park said, “It is a great pleasure to see this impressive facility up and running. With extensive European funding and the help and support of our colleagues in

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the North West Cross Border Group and the SEUPB, we have delivered this project on time and on budget.

“The Science Park is about much more than just bricks and mortar and office space: it’s about the people, the exchange of ideas, the sharing of experience and advice and the connections.

“One of the biggest challenges facing the North West is the drift of the most promising young people and entrepreneurs to other parts of Ireland and the world. These young people must be helped to build the companies within the region that will provide, and keep, the wealth for themselves and their peers. Today’s opening is a key project in this ambition.

“By bringing the Science Park’s ecosystem directly into Derry, we are creating links for the brightest innovators in this region with our global network of leaders in academic research, universities, institutes and colleges and an extensive collaborative network of national and international bodies.

“The Science Park also brings to the North West a mighty network of mentors, advisors and business leaders, known as NISP CONNECT. This fosters entrepreneurship by supporting and accelerating the growth of promising technologies and early stage companies. Growing businesses can benefit from access to our HALO Business Angel Network and our extensive contacts with venture capital funders, all of whom are on the look-out for exciting investment opportunities.”

The Innovation Centre at Fort George is an

important lynchpin in a wider cross-border project in partnership with the North West Region Cross Border Group (NWRCBG) and Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT).

The Department for Social Development NI is both the owner of the NW Science Park site and provided funding of £1.1m. In support of the cross-border significance of this project, match-funding has also been provided by both the Department of Finance & Personnel in Northern Ireland and the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation in Ireland.

Colette FitzGerald, Head of the European Commission Office in Northern Ireland, said: “This is another excellent example of the cross-border EU support for the North West and the Science Park will be an important boost to improving the competitiveness of the region and will hopefully create high-quality, new jobs.”

Commenting on the successful launch of the first phase of this cross-border project, Pat Colgan chief executive of the Special EU Programmes Body, which manages the INTERREG IVA Programme said, “This project represents a significant investment from the European Union within the North West of the region. It has been funded in recognition of the enormous entrepreneurial potential that exists on both sides of the border, which just needs some additional support in order to fully prosper and develop. This one of the core objectives of the INTERREG IVA Programme as it aims to help create a more diverse, sustainable and dynamic economy.”

For more information please visit www.nisp.co.uk/north-west/

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GROWING www.derrycityandstrabanedistrict.com/growdigital

Super Councils: can the reality match the hype? asks Sinead McLaughlin, chief executive, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce. orthern Ireland’s development opportunities have been held back for many years by the weakness of our system of local government. The historic inability of some councils to govern their areas fairly and competently in the 1960s and early 1970s led to them losing most of their decision-making power.

It is only now, with the creation of the new generation of ‘super councils’, that things are being put right. Hopefully the new powers and safeguards will enable councils to be strategic, far sighted and pro-active in searching out opportunities for major developments and working with the local private sector to deliver these.

We now have 11 large councils in place of 26, mostly small, district councils. Not only are the new councils operating across bigger geographies, but they also have more responsibilities.

At the heart of these is ‘community planning’, which will allow people living and working in the council area to have a say in important decisions – land use planning, economic development and the development of local services in their area.

Previously councils only gave advice to the Planning Service on individual planning decisions - now the councillors take the decisions on which schemes will go ahead.

(However, the Planning Service and ministers retain the ultimate decision-making role for major schemes of significance for Northern Ireland.)

Associated with this, the councils will lead on community development, urban regeneration and environmental improvement.

This builds on the community planning role and is intended to be undertaken through consultation and engagement with the community that councils represent - including the business community.

Alongside this, councils become the primary bodies promoting local tourism and business start-up support and promoting the economy more generally.

This is already being seen in practice in Derry and Strabane, where our new council is fully engaged with the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and other parts of local business in producing our Integrated Economic Strategy and Community Plan.

This is being shaped at present through an inclusive process. Local involvement is the key to developing a successful community plan and councils must engage with key stakeholders statutory agencies, private, community and

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voluntary sector organisations as well as local people living in the council area – to develop a community plan.

The Chamber is very focused on an 'Education and Talent' agenda. We are championing an enlarged higher education provision at Ulster University’s Magee campus, ensuring that the North West College provides courses relevant to the needs of local employers and supporting post primary schooling, so that every school is an excellent school, providing skills that mean that all school leavers have the opportunity for rewarding adult lives.

The Integrated Economic Strategy is also the means of connecting local government with Invest Northern Ireland. Until now it has been difficult for Invest NI to know what local communities see as their ‘unique selling point’. Perhaps our local communities have been unsure, too, and the process of consulting on the IES is creating a welcome and refreshing conversation on our economy’s strengths and weaknesses.

Through this we are developing a platform for economic growth, that not only provides the information for Invest NI, but also enables us to hone our aspirations and make them realistic, while fitting these into the Northern Ireland context. For us that means having a vehicle to achieve our aims for a much enlarged university, a stronger focus on skills and innovation locally, plus the improvement of our road links to Belfast and Dublin.

This underlines the fact that the key improvements we require for our local and sub-regional economy are not in the hands of our super council, Derry City and Strabane.

Instead, the council - like all the new councils - will have to prove its value by influencing and persuading others.

We hope and believe that by being one of a smaller number of larger councils, their ability to persuade ministers and other public bodies will be much enhanced. In this, we can promise our local council the full support of the Londonderry Chamber of Commerce and our members.

The fear must be that expectations of our new generation of super councils will be excessive. The Department of the Environment says: “The new councils will be stronger, more efficient and will deliver more effective services. They will be citizen focused, responding to the needs, aspirations and concerns of their communities. In partnership with others, they will guide the future development of their areas.”

We have good reason to believe that our

local council will live up to this billing, with many senior officers having previously held senior positions of responsibility in local government and elsewhere. Other councils may find it more difficult to deal with their enhanced roles.

To fulfill their expectations, councils and councillors will have to work in partnership and listen to their willing partners. This includes the local private sector. Our primary motivation is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of local public bodies, but many of our members are also in a strong position to provide services to local government.

Experience in England shows that councillors will need to consider carefully how to adapt to more responsible roles than they will have had before. While they will take advice from officers, they will also need to be independently and fair minded.

In this - as with many councillors in England - they are likely to find training in corporate governance and best practice in decision-making very helpful. Councils’ legal advice will also be very important for their future conduct.

This is especially true as councils will be given a new ‘power of general competence’ which means they can do almost anything that they want to do, that they are not specifically barred from doing.

This will enable councils to be engaged much more in a pro-active and strategic way in developing their local areas. Some of the decisions to be taken will involve very large sums of money and these will typically involve working very closely with the private sector. The responsibilities are great, but the opportunities are massive.

We are entering an exciting time for the rebirth of empowered local government in Northern Ireland. Councils will need help and support as they adjust to this improved environment. The business community is keen to help in every way we can.

SPONSORED ARTICLE

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Internet of Everything breeds smarter business The Internet of Things has been widely discussed for years, but for many casual observers it remains a futuristic trend seen mainly in scifi movies. The truth is, the Internet of Things, or rather, the Internet of Everything, is happening right now. But what does this mean for your business? asks Shane Haslem, Head of Network Enabled Design, eircom Business Solutions NI n 2010 12.5 billion devices were connected to the internet, in 2015 Cisco expects that to jump to 15 billion and by 2020 it will be 50 billion.

And these devices are not just smartphones and tablets, they’re everything – from cars, buses and household appliances to manufacturing machinery, medical devices and even animals. Let’s take a look at some examples:

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Smart cities for savvy citizens Today, we don’t need to go too far to see the IoT in action. Smart cities, including Dublin, now feature digital bus timetables at bus stops telling commuters when the next bus will be arriving. This data is coming from a GPS sensor on each bus which is transmitted via the internet to a system that can see how far the bus is from the next bus stop, calculate the expected arrival time and send that data directly to a screen at the bus stop.

Smart factories for leaner businesses The manufacturing sector was one of the earliest adopters of the IoT. Using sensors and actuators embedded in machines which are linked by a network via the internet, manufacturers have been able to create ‘smart factories’.

Sensors within devices indicate the health of each machine, while the actuators can be triggered to implement necessary changes, for example, a heat sensor shows that a certain part is in danger of over-heating, this information is sent to a central hub, which analyses it and triggers an automated command to the actuator to initiate a cooling down of the relevant part.

Smart homes and healthcare for better wellbeing Home automation is also becoming a reality; we’re already seeing products like Nest, a smart thermostat that adapts to a user’s preferences. And who can miss the

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wearable technology, like Fitbit, that’s allowing us to capture and analyse our own activity including exercise and sleep.

These aren’t the only industries making use of the IoT: the agriculture sector is using it to keep track of livestock; insurance firms are using telematics to monitor drivers’ behaviour for car insurance; in the retail sector, take the Egg Minder, a smart egg tray that tells you when you’re low on eggs; in the hospitality sector we’re seeing some hotels using ‘electronic keys’ that are sent directly to a customer’s smartphone. The possibilities are endless and for many sectors the IoT will likely have a completely transformative effect.

As the IoT becomes more ingrained in your business (because, make no mistake, this will happen), your reliance on a robust network grows. Ultimately, the IoT isn’t about the things but the data, applications and services that it enables.

Most importantly, it’s about the underlying network infrastructure that allows it all to happen through scalability, flexibility, reliability and intelligence. The impact on data storage demand goes without saying but the ability to scale the network up and down as needed without affecting availability or latency is vital to cope with the traffic.

What’s driving the Internet of Things?

The importance of security best practice

It’s not a new concept but only now have the necessary conditions converged to make the IoT a reality. The declining cost and size of devices and the mainstream adoption of RFID – a chip connected to an antenna to transfer data wirelessly – has opened opportunities for companies to embed smaller, common items with RFID chips and sensors.

The prevalence of IP networks is also a major factor, as are moves by industry and government to regulate technologies leading to accepted standards across industries.

In this hyper-connected world, security threats will grow exponentially. The more devices you connect to the internet, the higher your exposure to the risk of malicious cyber-attacks. To deal effectively with this increased risk, you will need to put a model in place to address what Cisco calls the “attack continuum” – before, during and after an attack. Your network partner will be able to help you develop a robust security plan.

Embracing the Internet of Things It’s important to take a measured approach to IoT now. Research your market and industry to identify the opportunities for implementing the technology. Then, look inwards at your business - what areas could benefit from an intelligent network of things communicating with each other to deliver real-time, accurate data that could add value to your bottom line, customer satisfaction and other significant KPIs? Once a plan is framed, you need to ensure you have the right infrastructure in place to support the growing volume of connectivity and resulting data.

Robust network lays the foundation

eircom Business Solutions NI is at the forefront of network advances. Our layer three IPVPN with its MPLS core is an intelligent, resilient network that supports the adoption of advanced technology like the Internet of Things. We’re already working with companies in Northern Ireland to provide a platform for the future including Wrightbus, who is currently piloting an RFID strategy.

Shane Haslem is Head of Network Enabled Design, eircom Business Solutions NI. Contact Shane at uk.linkedin.com/in/shanehaslem www.eircom.co.uk

ZERO PERCENT INFLATION what does it really mean for Northern Ireland business?

Nigel Crawford, Head Of Office for investment management company Quilter Cheviot in Belfast, tells Business FIrst what zero inflation really means. arch 24, 2015, will go down as a little piece of history in UK economics – the first time inflation fell to zero per cent since records began.

So should we be concerned? And what are the impacts?

We expect to see inflation bobbing around the zero per cent rate – with the potential for a little deflation in some months – in the short-term, or at least until oil prices fall out of the annual price comparisons at the back end of this year and start of next.

We’re not overly concerned but such rates do come with risks, as any geopolitical or economic shocks could deliver the kind of deflationary momentum which would be a matter of serious concern. Even mild deflation for any period of time will be a worry.

However, there is no sense that the UK is careering towards a Japanese-style deflationary spiral and no sense, either, that consumers or businesses will be putting off spending decisions in order to take advantage of cheaper prices months down the road.

In fact, the medium and longer term will see some strategic drivers applying upwards pressure on rates. Strengthening economic activity and job creation (both in the UK and the US) will boost wages, for instance, and the ECB and Bank of Japan’s QE programmes will unquestionably continue.

There’s little joy for savers in the continued low interest rates, however. For those with long-term debt, who have been accustomed to seeing the size of that debt reduce in real terms because of inflation, there’s similarly little to shout about.

The zero sum inflation game means there is little prospect of a rise in interest rates until certain factors which are baked into the system and driving global economic patterns begin to dissipate: fiscal austerity, rapid Chinese growth, and the drawing-in of banking activity.

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But that may not be too far into the future, as several of those underlying issues are starting to melt away.

As they do, we should expect sustained growth in demand, with interest rates and bond yields tracking above inflation and delivering a positive real interest rate.

So in the short to medium term, active investment (largely in the form of equities) is the name of the game for those who wish to protect and grow their wealth.

Among those with new-found liquidity, of course, will be the over-55s whose pensions are being unlocked this month. Whilst the state of the industry means many will not actually be able to access their pots immediately (and the tax implications will require careful consideration), all must be thinking about the best course of action with those funds. Hold, spend or transfer into a different investment vehicle?

In light of the picture we’ve painted above (which is a largely positive one of sustained growth, despite concerns round the edges) annuities begin to look less attractive than ever.

One of our areas of particular expertise is managing SIPPs on behalf of private clients – we’re currently managing upwards of £2 billion of SIPP investments – and it’s an area where we predict serious growth over the coming years as people see the benefits of taking a bespoke approach to pension planning.

They’re not for everyone, of course, but most clients with a decent pension pot should consider that option, which delivers the kind of proactive fund management that can make the most of what looks set to be a period of sustained market growth.

Investors should remember that the value of investments and the income from them can go down as well as up.

About Quilter Cheviot Quilter Cheviot is one of the UK’s largest discretionary investment firms, which can trace its heritage to 1771.

The firm is based in twelve locations across the UK, Jersey and Ireland. It focusses primarily on structuring and managing discretionary portfolios and funds for private clients, charities, trusts, pension funds and intermediaries.

The business’ Belfast Office works closely with independent financial advisers to assist individuals with their investment strategies, delivering a bespoke service built on robust research and lasting personal relationships.

BEST PRACTICE

10

things employers should know about Shared Parental Leave

The long awaited changes to family leave are now in force in Northern Ireland. The Work and Families Act (Northern Ireland) 2015 allows parents to share rights to leave from work and statutory pay in connection with caring for children, by Ciara Fulton, Partner And Head of Employment Law, C & H Jefferson addition to Keeping in Touch (KIT) days available during maternity or adoptive leave.

1. When do the new rights to Shared Parental Leave (SPL) apply from?

The new rights apply to parents of children whose expected week of childbirth (EWC) was on or after 5 April 2015. It also applies to adoptions and births on or after that date.

8. Terms and Conditions of employment during SPL During any period of SPL, employees will be entitled to the benefit of all terms and conditions of employment which would have applied had they not been absent from work, except those related to remuneration.

2. Who do the new rights apply to?

SPL is only available to employees who are parents (whether by birth, adoption or surrogacy), or the partner of a parent, and who satisfy certain qualifying conditions, including - One of the couple must be eligible for maternity leave/pay, adoption leave / pay or maternity allowance; - The employee seeking to take the leave must have at least 26 weeks continuous employment by the end of the 15th week before the EWC and remain in employment with the same employer in the week before SPL is due to start; - The partner of the person taking the leave must have worked for at least 26 weeks (not necessarily continuously) in the 66 weeks prior to the EWC and have earned at least £30 on average in 13 of those weeks (Employment and Earnings test).

3. How much SPL can be taken?

Employees may take the balance of any unused maternity or adoption leave as SPL. The maximum amount that may be shared is 50 weeks. The first two weeks of a mother’s compulsory maternity leave following birth (four weeks for factory workers) cannot be shared.

4. When can SPL be taken?

SPL can only be taken when maternity or adoption leave has been brought to an end.

SPL must be taken within 52 weeks of the birth/placement of the child. Parents may take SPL at the same time, or consecutively, provided the total time taken does not exceed the amount jointly available. SPL must be taken in blocks of one week or more subject to a maximum of three blocks of leave per person (unless an employer agrees different arrangements). The leave can be taken continuously or discontinuously.

9. Returning to Work after Shared Parental Leave i. The employee must curtail her maternity/adoption leave by serving a Curtailment Notice or returning to work before the end of her maternity/adoption leave. This must be served at least eight weeks before they want their leave (or pay) to end. ii. At the same time, the employee must serve either a notice of entitlement and intention to take SPL (an Entitlement Notice) or a declaration that their partner has served such notice to his employer. This must be served at least eight weeks before the start of the first period of SPL. iii. The employee must then give their employer a separate notice setting out the start and end dates for each period of SPL (a Period of Leave Notice). This must be given at least eight weeks before the start of the relevant period of leave.

6. Can employers reject requests to take Shared Parental Leave?

Employers must grant requests for one continuous period of SPL. However, if the employee requests discontinuous periods of leave, the employer may, within two weeks of the date on which the Period of Leave Notice was given, agree to the request, propose alternative dates, or refuse the periods of leave requested. If it is not possible to reach agreement on alternative date(s), the employee may take the total amount of leave requested as one continuous period of leave, unless he/she decides to withdraw the request.

7. SPLIT Days 5. What are the notification requirements?

Notification requirements for SPL are complicated but in summary, three steps are required:

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Parents are entitled to work up to 20 Shared Parental Leave In Touch (SPLIT) days each without bringing their SPL to an end.

These days can be used for work, events, or other work related activities. These are in

If an employee returns to work having taken Statutory leave (including SPL) of 26 weeks or less, they are entitled to return to their old job on the same terms and conditions of employment. If they have taken more than 26 weeks leave they are entitled to return to their old job, or, if that is not reasonably practicable, to another job which is both suitable and appropriate for them to do in the circumstances.

10. Entitlement to Statutory Shared Parental Pay. To qualify for Statutory Shared Parental Pay (SSPP) the employee must qualify for SPL and have a partner who meets the Employment and Earnings test set and be entitled to Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) or Statutory Adoption Pay (SAP). Where a mother is only entitled to Statutory Maternity Allowance (SMA) she will be entitled to SPL but not SSPP. An employee’s partner may be entitled to SSPP if he qualified for qualify for Statutory Paternity Pay and his partner qualifies for SMP or SMA. SSPP is available for up to 37 weeks. It is paid at a flat rate (currently) £139.58 per week, or 90 per cent of average weekly earnings if lower. Unlike SMP there is no higher rate in the first six weeks of leave.

Conclusion Employees in Northern Ireland now have the right to take SPL following the birth/adoption of a baby. Employers need to be ready to deal with queries and requests to take SPL and should consider amending existing maternity/adoption leave policies or preparing an SPL policy and precedents for various notices required.

For further information or advice on amending your policies and procedures to reflect these changes, please contact Ciara Fulton : 028 9023 0230 www.chjefferson.co.uk

Helping you sell on Amazon.com ith over 20 years of online sales experience across a range of sectors and platforms David Steele and Patrick McDonald have just launched an entirely new product into the UK and Ireland Market, enter AmazinSales.

The company are the first dedicated Amazon specialist training organisation and David advises that despite the dynamic growth of eCommerce in the UK and Ireland over the past few years, there has been a noticeable lack of accessible training for those joining the industry.

Their hands on tailored training seeks to address this by granting access to some of both Amazon and eBay’s top selling tips.

The company believe that if you aren't including Amazon.com as part of your online business strategy then you are missing out on the majority of online shopping activity that is happening online.

To back this up Amazon have reported that one in five Internet users globally had visited Amazon.com.

Ultimately, AmazinSales.com believe that your goal should be to establish a long term

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brand and use Amazon to further that goal.

So with that in mind, the ability to be successful on Amazon will depend on your products and your margins.

By placing your products for sale on Amazon, opens up a whole new customer base to you, leveraging Amazon’s prestigious brand to sell your products.

Selling on Amazon, if done right, can be both exceptionally easy and profitable The company who are already working with businesses across Northern Ireland the Republic of Ireland and more recently India believe that successful sellers on Amazon and eBay today learned through trial and error, and made plenty of mistakes along the way, including themselves. However well structured education can remove some of the uncertainty and risk associated with any business.

However David states that “the standards demanded by Amazon tend to be much higher than eBay, that means fast shipping, great pricing and excellent customer service. Unlike eBay, you are representing their buyers”.

Patrick advises that “Amazon should be part of a multichannel approach by you as an

online retailer, to either complement your eBay sales, website sales or other sales mediums. From experience, most businesses tend to weigh heavily in one direction, whether that be towards eBay, Amazon or website sales”.

Recent research carried out by the company has outlined that only 12 per cent of retailers and manufacturers across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have an eBay or Amazon store.

Therefore their business is perfectly positioned to be your critical partner and send your sales into orbit. For further information and for a free FREE no obligation consultation please contact David on 028 9058 7044 or email info@amazinsales.com and quote BUSINESS FIRST

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dialogictelecom.com

Understanding how VOIP can work in your business I

n a nutshell, VoIP allows you to make and receive telephone calls via an internet connection irrespective of your geographical location, as opposed to a traditional fixed telephone line.

If you aren't very computer savvy, don't panic – you can still make and receive calls on a VoIP phone that sits on your desk if you would prefer to continue pressing buttons on a keypad and picking up the phone when it rings.

However, if you like the idea of embracing cloud technology there are a number of apps and softphones (software phones) you can use on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile.

However, the problem for so many people is they don't understand exactly what VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) is and how it can benefit their business. If this is you, don't worry; just read on.

How does it work?

VoIP allows you to create virtual phone lines using an internet connection, to connect calls via a network of VoIP servers which are hosted by a provider.

Voice signals from an ordinary telephone, which are carried over the PSTN (public switched telephone network), are converted into a digital signal which travels over the internet, and is converted back. And what's more, because it's all in the cloud there's no kit to worry about installing and maintaining; simply buy, plug in and you're ready to go.

But enough of the technical details, what can it do for your business?

More and more people – and businesses – are migrating from traditional fixed lines to IP services. The 2014 Ofcom Communications Market Report revealed that call volumes from fixed lines fell by 10.7 per cent in 2013, an even higher rate of decline than the 7.7 per cent drop in 2012.

The report also disclosed that the total number of fixed business lines fell by 0.4 million in the same year. This equates to a fall of 4.7 per cent year on year, and 2.3 million (21.8 per cent) fewer fixed business lines than there had been at the end of 2008.

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So how can businesses benefit from VoIP?

and your business complete flexibility.

The reasons for this migration vary from business to business, but below are some of the typical benefits that attract new users to a VoIP system.

Features available VoIP brings with it a whole load of features readily available whether it be to make your business appear more professional, larger than it actually is, more flexible or more costefficient.

If you spend a lot of time on the road visiting clients you may find Call Forwarding a useful feature, as this allows you to configure certain calls to ring on any external device such as a mobile phone – you may choose to divert all calls if you know you're going to be away from your normal place of work, or only calls that aren't answered after a custom amount of seconds. Other popular features include Call Recording, IVR and Hunt Groups.

Simplicity and flexibility Wouldn't it be great if you were moving office and instead of having to get an engineer out to install a pile of hardware and telephone lines, you simply unplugged your phone and plugged it in to its new location and everything worked as normal? With VoIP you can do exactly that.

Also, don't forget about the costs involved in moving or expanding if you use a traditional fixed line including porting numbers, installing new lines and the labour costs involved in these, which can be quite significant. With a VoIP system, all that is required if you wish to add new locations or new phones is a simple account upgrade, which is often free of charge and can be implemented within minutes.

Disaster recovery VoIP acts like any other IP-based application, in that it is not tied to a fixed location. What this means is that in the event of a disaster, whereby your normal place of work is closed or out of bounds, you can still access and use your normal business phone.

One way to think of it is to think of the same way in which you use email. Regardless of where you are, as long as you have internet availability you can access your emails. VoIP is no different, allowing you to extend your office to any location you choose giving you

Save money Likely to be the trigger that prompts most people to research VoIP providers in the first place, is the cost saving ability VoIP has over traditional fixed line providers. In relation to call costs you can expect to make savings of up to 50 per cent in comparison to traditional fixed line providers, while of course there is also no line rental fee with a cloud-based VoIP system.

Aside from these operating costs, you've also got to factor in the ability to save money on what it would cost you to upgrade or maintain any equipment associated with a traditional PBX phone system, compared to VoIP which only requires an internet connection and a VoIP phone.

CONNECTING YOUR WORLD

From unbeatable mobile quotations to advanced Cloud and Digital solutions, Dialogic provides you with a service you can trust, throughout Northern Ireland Whether your organisation is large or small, our Account Managers will happily visit you at your premises to comprehensively assess your business and tailor a customised and cost effective solution to fit your ever changing requirements.

Our solutions include: • Business Smartphones and Mobile Devices • Mobile Device Management and Data Security • Business Landlines, Broadband and VOIP • Cloud Solutions, Online Storage and Security • Digital IT Solutions, Office 365, Box, McAfee • Full Account Management Our focus is on trust, security and integrity, providing you with the latest technologies ensuring your team is mobilised, productive and costs are kept to a minimum.

To obtain an initial appointment with us, please contact our team on: 028 9521 5600 or 028 7134 1111 dialogictelecom.com

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dialogictelecom.com

Dialogic Telecom announce extension of Strategic Partnership with O2 Dialogic Telecom is delighted to announce it is the only Direct Partner with the O2 network in Northern Ireland

Dialogic’s founder and Managing Director, Richard Craig

We were delighted when Richard told us that he had come up with a solution to our problem.

It works smoothly and reliably and we have found installation to be extremely simple and efficient.

John Coyle, Metro Surveillance Group 38 www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

n April 2015 the O2 Direct Partner Network replaced the brand’s Centre of Excellence Scheme. O2 Business announced that the new programme will allow it to focus on developing deeper relationships with selected Direct Partners.

This is an exciting initiative which marks the biggest change to the partnership approach for a number of years.

Dialogic’s founder and Managing Director, Richard Craig has been dedicated to the network for almost 20 years. This trusted relationship began when he owned a number of retail outlets.

In 2001 Dialogic was awarded Distribution status and, as the only O2 distributor in Northern Ireland, became influential in the development of the O2 network throughout

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the province. The company has evolved and now focuses on the provision of telecom solutions solely for the business sector.

A corporate account manager will meet with the customer in their own environment, assess their communication needs and provide a bespoke solution for their business.

Dialogic Telecom is looking forward to offering the benefits of the new Direct Partner relationship to all businesses in Northern Ireland.

Richard says he is confident that the combined experience, expertise and reputation of Dialogic will give customers the assurance of a service that is professional, affordable and up to date with technology trends.

O2 has increased its focus on digital solutions for business by releasing a strong portfolio of new products. Adam Craig, a Corporate Account Manager from Dialogic Telecom has recently undertaken full training and accreditation via the O2 Digital Trusted Advisor Scheme.

dialogictelecom.com

We have been dealing with Dialogic for a number of years now and are extremely happy with the service they provide. They visit us on site regularly and keep us up to date with the latest deals and offers which we can avail of.

We would definitely recommend them to other users.”

Leona Kirwan, McCloskey International Adam says, “We are excited by the opportunity to offer our customers new and innovative digital services to partner their telecoms package. At Dialogic we understand that businesses constantly look to keep up to date with new trends and stay ahead of the competition.

“It is increasingly more important for them and their personnel to be mobile and able to access their information at any time.

Combined with O2’s 4g network and the newest handheld devices the digital products will enable customers to be more efficient, more flexible and more secure.

“We are confident to recommend these products to customers as we see their value when using them in our own working environment. Microsoft Office 365 allows easy access to emails and to synchronise staff calendars making us even more productive and efficient. Box enables us to collaborate and share files inside and outside of the company while still allowing for the security and content control that is increasingly more important in a digital age. This is all done reliably from any device, anywhere, using the Cloud.”

Richard encourages his team to embrace the challenges that change and innovation bring. Technology is evolving rapidly and a

growing company cannot afford to be static in this environment.

Such a challenge arrived at the door of Dialogic Telecom last year when a retail solution was required to improve communication for customers visiting unattended Petrol Stations in Northern Ireland. Dialogic provided a state of the art VOIP system to enable all of the petrol pumps to link to one control room.

John Coyle from the Metro Surveillance Group said, “We were delighted when Richard told us that he had come up with a solution to our problem.

“It works smoothly and reliably and we have found installation to be extremely simple and efficient. Actually the best part of the system is that all of the call traffic is free, with no costs associated with the transmissions.

“We are expanding rapidly and so, from our perspective, having Dialogic Telecom as our partner has been the obvious choice. Their service is exceptional in a market where such suppliers can lack integrity. With Richard and his team, I have no such anxieties.”

Richard is looking forward to the next phase of expansion and feels that this is an exciting time for Dialogic. He is confident that O2’s commitment to a strong 4G data network will further increase efficiency in business communications Integrating workflow management software with existing mobile devices will also become more accessible and will streamline interaction between the field and the office.

We know how to keep our customers happy and our renewed partnership with O2 will allow us to build and enhance this relationship.

Leona Kirwan from McCloskey International recently said, “We have been dealing with Dialogic for a number of years now and are extremely happy with the service they provide.

“Their technical knowledge is outstanding, they provide a high standard of customer service and the staff are always happy to deal with

our queries however small or large.

“They visit us on site regularly and keep us up to date with the latest deals and offers which we can avail of. We would definitely recommend them to other users.”

Dialogic Telecom would be delighted to offer their services to your company also. We will comprehensively assess your needs and tailor a customised and cost effective solution to fit your requirements. Our staff are regularly trained and updated to ensure your business receives professional advice on the latest technologies alongside outstanding account management.

For further information please contact our Customer Service Team on: 028 9521 5600 or 028 7134 1111 or visit us at www.dialogictelecom.com

Adam Craig, Corporate Account Manager

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dialogictelecom.com

Power to the people Richard Houdmont, Network Manager (Wales, Ireland and Isle of Man), CIM

igitising marketing has completely transformed how we interact with our customers.

Through the internet customers now have access to a wealth of information, comparison sites and peer reviews. We can no longer pay lip service to ‘listening to our customers’.

Their views are loud and clear and made in abundance via social media. We no longer have absolute control over our brands.

Increasingly our brand is in the hands of the public.

Jez Frampton from Interbrand recently presented a webinar for CIM members in which he described the progression of branding that has defined and reshaped business starting with The Age of Identity, moving on to The Age of Value, The Age of Experience and the Age of You. Originally a brand meant just that, a stamp on a product which said ‘this is mine’ to easily help customers to identify the products they prefer.

We then moved to a time when the brand itself added value and became a valuable commodity in itself, Apple being a prime example.

We’re currently in the Age of Experience where technological change has firmly put the power back into the hands of the customer.

That can mean ensuring that the customer experience of the product or service is absolutely first-class.

Your people and their behaviours have to be consistent with the brand, which is why individual scandals can have a very damaging impact on the brand value.

You also have to ensure that the physical presence of the brand, the in-store environment and experience matches customers’ expectations of the brand. Lastly the way you communicate with your customers has to be absolutely aligned with the brand.

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We’re all individuals Jez argues that the next Age will be The Age

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of You, where technology allows us not only to analyse so-called big data, but then to enable brands to deliver an increasingly individual experience.

Marketers have talked about segmenting the market, but in the future we may be talking about segments of one.

When talking about individuals I can’t help but think of The Life of Brian where Brian speaks to the throng below “You've got to think for your selves! You're all individuals!”

To which the crowd reply as one “Yes! We're all individuals!”

We’ve said that more than ever brands are in the hands of customers. But do all these customers have equal power? Do all individuals have the same power or ability to ‘engage’ with brands and influence?

In March a really interesting report was published based on a UK-wide survey. The Consumer Empowerment Survey , published by the Westminster Government’s Department for Business, Innovation & Skills looks at how consumers go about making major purchases.

It identifies five different groups of consumer: the constrained strugglers; the consciously unengaged; the worried indecisives; the traditional value-seekers; and the leading edgers. The report examines the attitudes, motivations and behaviours for each group.

Markets require empowered, active and informed consumers in order to flourish but the report states "There is strong evidence that many consumers do not engage fully in their transactions; failing to shop around for major purchases such as home improvement or holidays, or find the best product in complex markets like utilities or communications.

“Reasons for this are many and complex; some consumers may lack motivation or knowledge, some may not have the confidence to negotiate with suppliers, some may lack the time to research the market or prioritise their expenditure."

"Whatever the barrier, it is the least

engaged groups of consumers that are likely to miss out on the best deals, overpay for basic services, or even get ripped off. It is also thought that the more engaged consumers are those likely to avoid problems later in the process, by doing research prior to making the transaction."

Marketers are quick to say that today’s consumers are ‘marketing-savvy’. The report suggests that we cannot rely on such generalisations. Professional marketers need to consider the impact of their activities, especially on consumers in vulnerable situations and/or on low incomes.

CIM (The Chartered Institute of Marketing) exists to develop the marketing profession and those who work within it for the benefit of the economy and society. It sets the professional standards for marketers and provides resources to help marketers stay ahead of the game. For further details see www.cim.co.uk, follow us on Twitter @CIMInfo_Ireland and join our LinkedIn group ‘CIM Community, Ireland’.

IN THE HEADLINES

Hilton Paris Opera chooses Sonet Communications n 2014, the prestigious Hilton Paris Opera hotel embarked on an 18-month refurbishment and upgrade programme throughout the entire building.

A key element of this process called for the installation of new structured cabling for all data, telephony, wireless access and fibre optics throughout the landmark property.

The client initiated a process of competitive tender, which attracted a global response from cabling specialists. However, based on its proposed methodology and price, plus extensive prior experience, the contact to complete the new cable install was awarded to Sonet Communications from Lisburn, in Northern Ireland.

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appropriate Hilton hotel IT staff.

• Full signoff completed on time.

Our approach By drawing on our prior experience of work within hotel environments, including those in the Hilton Group, the Sonet team was able to respond quickly and effectively to the challenges of this project: • Careful pre-planning meant that all issues relating to compliance with French health and safety issues were successfully addressed.

• Excellent relations were established with other contractors and language barriers were overcome.

• Rigorous testing of each phase ensured that exacting quality standards were maintained throughout.

• Full training on the new data and fibre network was delivered on time and to all

Choosing the Right Solution At Sonet Communications we opted for the Excel range of products, one which we had much experience of installing.

Sonet have a long established relationship with Eurocables in Belfast who are an approved Excel Cabling Partner, so they provided the Excel end-to-end Category 6 solution.

Outputs Complete customer delight is always our aim, and this was achieved on the Hilton Paris Opera project. However, in addition to fulfilling all of the requirements laid down in the brief, the Sonet team was also able to

resolve a number of long-running technical issues which had plagued the data and telephony systems within the hotel.

Furthermore, there were no hidden costs or surprises for the client. Any changes or additional works were carefully explained and costed, so that the benefits resulting from them became self-evident to the overall Project Managers.

In response to the professional and diligent manner in which Sonet Communications undertook their role in this project, the French construction programme managers, Artelia International, awarded Sonet additional work on the site.

For further information on how Sonet Communications can resolve your cabling issues, contact John Robson on: 9262 2299

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SCIENCE & IT

Northern Ireland IT industry would benefit from the triple helix model

by Michael Boble, CEO, Momentum

y the time you read this the elections will be done and dusted and we will know the shape of the parliament and have an idea of how our relationship with Europe is going to change (if any) over the coming term.

Computing in Northern Ireland is an unusual profession with export markets spanning the globe and surprisingly little trade with the rest of Europe.

Our sector is dominated by inward investor cost centres supplying goods and services to their parent organisations mainly in North America, so is our relationship with Europe important ?

Momentum has been working in Europe for many years and gaining valuable experience in EU research and innovation projects which are fiercely competitive but very valuable.

Indeed the executive has a target for participation in these projects but sees them more as a mechanism for ‘drawing down’ funds rather than exploiting new markets and learning new things.

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Perceived wisdom The perceived wisdom in computing is grow big and grow fast (the Silicon Valley model) despite the fact that our biggest

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indigenous success stories come from small companies exploiting niche markets which is closer to the German Mittelstand model.

More than 99 per cent of all German firms are part of the ‘Mittelstand’ and they account for nearly 40 per cent of the overall turnover of German companies and employ 60 per cent of German employees.

There is also a growing European consensus as to how clusters like Momentum operate and we’ve seen this in a number of our EU projects.

The ‘triple helix’ model The ‘triple helix’ model of industry, policy makers and academia working in partnership under a single umbrella organisation is central to growth policies all over Europe and is driving new and innovative approaches.

The key to this is a single organisation not a separate research, industry and policy system which is what we currently have in Northern Ireland.

This produces a fragmented, mainly policy driven top down approach with disparate groups pulled together in an ad hoc basis to address the issue of the day.

Much of the coming EU funding for research and innovation is already being targeted

towards triple helix organisations and if we ignore this as a region then we run the risk of disadvantaging ourselves in both attracting EU funds and working more closely with our European partners.

As part of our EU project BeWiser, Cork IT have been evaluating the performance of cluster organisations across Europe and the linkages between actors within and outside each region. The results were clear – the regions with triple helix clusters are already operating on a different level to those without (the UK and Ireland).

Our latest consortium meeting was held in Belfast alongside the 5th Global Cybersecurity Technology Research Summit at CSIT and these results were discussed as part of a workshop attended by delegates from all over the world.

Our Digital Summit in 2013 highlighted the need for joined up thinking and a reduction in fragmentation of collaboration and while we are taking many of these ideas forward actually the answer may be closer than we think – not in North America but Europe.

Sage 200 v2015 The software solution for growing businesses

For more information contact

Acorn It Solutions 028 7964 4975 info@acornitsolutions.com www.acornitsolutions.com

SCIENCE & IT

Advanced materials: Building the future Y

Dr. Rob Hardeman, chair of the 2015 Advanced Materials, Engineering & Manufacturing Panel

Generally, any material which has engineered properties created through the development of specialized process or technology is considered to be an advanced material.

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ou may not know what advanced materials are, but you can be sure you use them every day. They are in your car, your kitchen, your office and even your clothes. And while they often keep a low profile, they form a high value, high growth global industry.

So what are advanced materials? Generally, any material which has engineered properties created through the development of specialized process or technology is considered to be an advanced material.

Developed to outperform conventional materials with superior properties such as toughness, hardness, durability and elasticity, they may have novel properties, such as the ability to memorize shape or sense changes in the environment and respond to it.

The development of advanced materials can even lead to the design of completely new products, including medical implants and computers, so it has close links with other manufacturing sectors.

Advanced materials are also extremely versatile - so for example the non stick properties of Teflon can be used to coat frying pans, windscreen wipers or stain resistant carpet. As you can imagine, the area of advanced materials research is very broad in scope and potential applications.

Back in 2008 MATRIX published its first advanced materials report which looked at Northern Ireland’s capability in the sector and concluded that while local advanced material businesses were seen to underpin all sectors ranging from Agrifood to Aerospace, the quantity of local R&D was not sufficient to support the full range of activity across all sectors within the region.

The analysis of the industrial and academic strengths showed that a rich focus area for Northern Ireland would be the convergence area between traditional material sectors and a focus on the interdisciplinary and multidiscipline areas of advanced materials specifically biomaterials, nanostructured materials, multifunctional materials , composites and computational science.

A partner study on advanced engineering with a focus on transport identified a need to build upon existing capabilities and relationships focusing on the aerospace and automotive industries to transform the sector into one that is focused on higher value-add activities.

Both reports made broadly similar recommendations - the development of a

sustained funding mechanism, the creation of expert networks in specific focus areas of advanced materials and for specific framework conditions to be put in place to support the sector.

Seven years later, as we prepare to revisit the sector, we will examine how it has developed in Northern Ireland in the intervening years. We will review the conclusions of the previous reports and consider how the recommendations made in 2008 have played out.

We will also look at key infrastructural support within the region for the sector, including the universities, their development plans in relation to, recruitment, research centres and significant funding opportunities for the sector.

This, when taken alongside external and internal global market trends will allow us to set a vision for the next ten years. The vision will be set within a strategic context, taking on board the current policy position, fiscal landscape and regional government spending constraints.

The chair of the 2015 Advanced Materials, Engineering & Manufacturing Panel will be Dr. Rob Hardeman, a deputy chair on the main MATRIX panel and Technologist (Senior Director) at Seagate’s manufacturing facility in Springtown.

Rob will chair a panel of experts from across the sector, to secure a broad range of business, government and academia representation. In future articles he will be sharing his expertise and enthusiasm for the advanced materials sector.

The new MATRIX website at matrixni.org will also be publishing regular updates as we develop the study and we are also working to curate a substantial online library to support our research which will be accessible to all users.

This is an exciting, high growth area with real potential for Northern Ireland businesses so we look forward to producing a report which will set the scene for the sector for the coming years.

BYOD: What does it mean for the business network? ring Your Own Device (BYOD) is an increasingly common practice in the workplace. Staff use their own laptops, tablets and smartphones on your business network as part of their day to day work.

However, what does that mean for the business, infrastructure, management & security?

Some studies suggest that approximately 90 per cent of businesses allow some form of personally owned technology to be used in the workplace and some employers partially fund the purchase of an employee’s device to encourage them to use it as a business tool.

With this in mind it is important to remember that with the increased use of personal devices such as smartphones and tablets there is also an increase in traffic passing over your office wireless network, in particular as the devices brought by your staff increasingly eschew wired connections.

A common statement by BYOD users is that ‘I get faster access at home’ but the reality is home networks are built for three or four users and almost exclusively for Internet access. Your business tends to have more

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users that access internal resources such as files as well as the Internet. Enabling employees to use their own devices therefore needs some thought to your own office network.

Whatever the advocates of wireless say, the most reliable are by wire and the largest amount of bandwidth for users to share on your network is by wire. Large numbers of users sharing the office wireless connection will eventually bring issues with performance as the wireless bandwidth available starts to get used up.

Compatibility is another consideration. The company network should be designed with the largest variety of device capabilities in mind. In particular Apple devices, so popular in the consumer market are much less used in the business market dominated by Windows.

Can people with Apple devices get easily logged on to your network?

A final consideration is security. With the blurring of personal and business use, questions emerge about what business sensitive data the user may access. What type of data is being held, where is it being stored,

how is it transferred? What happens if the person who owns the device leaves employment? What happens in the event of theft or loss?

These are not your devices so how do you ensure that they are safe? In a data network wholly provided for by the business, issues such as systems updates and anti-virus are dealt with within your IT setup in a structured manner. With BYOD, there is no guarantee what the employee may bring that could end up on your network. A clear understanding of policy and responsibility is vital.

Richard Simpson, Managing Director of Atlas Communication. Atlas provides in­premises and hosted data and telephony solutions to businesses across Northern Ireland and can be contacted at 028 9078 6868.

SCIENCE & IT

What exactly is Digital Transformation?

by Niall McKeown CEO of Ionology hree worlds are colliding. They are that of the marker, the technologist and the organisational leader. All are being tasked with bringing about ‘digital transformation’ yet none of them even share the same definition of the term.

The early 1900's saw the introduction of electricity generation and distribution systems in Europe. The use of this new power spread rapidly in industry and almost every innovative company had someone in charge of electricity. Today, that’s not necessary. Electricity is just there. It’s used for every single duty we perform. It’s part of the fabric of our lives.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a complex business to generate and transmit, but there’s no competitive advantage to be had by claiming to have electricity and having an onsite dedicated electrician would seem odd.

Everyone has it, it’s ubiquitous, it comes in one colour and one flavour and no one even mentions it anymore.

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The internet is the new electricity.

Since the 1990s there has been a need for digital marketers and technologists either within, or close at hand, to our businesses.

We’ve needed them to handle the emergence of the new digital power and tasked them with creating new competitive advantage. But does having digital marketers or technologists create competitive advantage?

At Ionology we have worked on some of Ireland’s most successful digital business transformation projects and it’s rare that it’s the digital marketing team that create a digitized business.

More often they create a digital environment that services the shift in customer behaviors toward using the web.

Gaining new customers often eludes them as competitors perform similar tactics using similar technologies.

Ulster University’s Professor Mark Durkin argued this very point in his recent open lecture entitled Digitising our marketing future: an obituary for 'Digital Marketing Unlike the on-site electrician however who has been banished, we are starting to see the reemergence of “The Marketer”. No longer the 'digital marketer’, the digital part is simply assumed. And the technologists are now assigned to source on-demand platforms to solve business tasks, not keeping PCs and servers running.

So if ‘digital marketing’ isn’t in most cases able to create competitive advantage on its own and technology is accessible to all with little cost, who’s in charge of creating and maintaining competitive advantage in the digital age? That would be the organisational

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leaders. The senior members that have lots of knowledge but have felt a little at sea when it comes to talking about all of this tech stuff.

In the past senior managers assigned IT and digital marketing budgets. They hired graduates and keen young professionals, gave them a laptop and encouragement and asked them to carry out the task of getting the business ‘digital’. With a shiny new website and chatty social media activity they would proclaim “We are digital - We’re engaging with customers”. But for most the profits and anticipated growth didn’t arrive.

High performance digitized business So it begs the question - what does make a high performance digitized business? The answer starts and ends with the organization’s leadership. Keeping a business relevant and growing in the digital age is not the responsibility of the digital marketer nor is it the technology officer’s job.

High performance digitized businesses treat the internet as electricity. They seek competitive advantage by aligning their strategy, people, processes, culture, innovations and customer engagement. It just happens that it all uses the internet and electricity too for that matter.

The leaders needs the help of marketers and technologists but more than anything else, the business needs leadership to help it transform its operating system, to remain relevant and grow. The competitive advantage is fundamentally a combination of its people and how they are led. Technology is the enabler it is not a differentiator. Getting the business to align to this new kind of operating system is digital transformation.

What does digital first mean?

The new super councils in Northern Ireland have a mantra of “Digital First” and “Citizen Engagement”. The problem is no one had defined what that actually means. It’s easy to guess and deploy essential services like dog license renewal and planning applications but technology is only the customer front end.

How do those systems and the people behind them align?

Does “digital first” mean fire everything onto a website and hope the citizen can find it? Does “citizen engagement” mean pumping stuff onto Twitter? It’s not going to work unless the leadership defines what it means, creates alignment, changes the processes, seeks to plug educational gaps and creates new ways to engage the citizen.

No amount of digital marketing or technology will solve these near-term challenges. It’s up to the new management to give direction. They must put ‘digital transformation’ at the top of their agenda as soon as they steady their ships and they must bring their marketers, technologists and everyone else with them on a journey of transformation.

To find out more about Digital Transformation - download Ionology’s latest ebook The Step by Step Guide to Digital Transformation at www.Ionology.com resources section.

Ionology is a Digital Transformation consultancy who have developed our own software, transformation framework and educational materials to empower the C Suite to deliver digital transformation.

i3 Digital breaks into American market with unique Augmented Reality App Platform B elfast Technology firm, i3 Digital Ltd, has announced that it is deploying one of the most advanced and holistic digital marketing and communications platforms in the United States.

The team at i3 Digital is delivering a customised version of the company’s Immersive Communications and Engagement (ICE) platform, which will support up to 25,000 businesses and attractions in the City and greater Worcester area in Massachusetts.

The cutting edge app platform will enable participating organisations to promote, target and interactively engage with visitors and local residents. The company is also in advanced discussions with five other flagship cities across the United States.

The platform provides a dynamic and interactive experience for visitors attending events, conventions, or meetings, and for residents seeking exciting experiences or simply local offers and deals.

Worcester’s Chamber of Commerce President, Timothy P. Murray stated, “While i3 Digital’s app platform will greatly enhance the new visitor’s experience in our region, we hope it will also help Worcester’s residents enjoy the many opportunities available to them including arts, sports, nature, retail, and all our other activities.”

Via the app, users can view nearby attractions, buildings, streets and districts including historical information via i3 Digital's unique "Time Capsule" feature, which includes an interactive timeline. The

app also simplifies finding local businesses, deals, news, and events.

“Worcester is vibrant—with 80 arts and cultural destinations, restaurants, retailers, hotels, and transportation providers,” said Christina Andreoli, Executive Director, Destination Worcester, and Vice President, Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce. “i3 Digital’s app provides an easy and convenient way to find exciting venues, take advantage of discounts and deals, and share information with friends and family. It will also help our retail, destination, and entertainment communities, which is a

huge benefit.”

Erin Williams, Executive Director of Worcester Cultural Coalition and Chief Cultural Officer for the city of Worcester, said “The new app provides an immersive experience for users, informs them of deals and offers, and assists businesses with their marketing. It’s a win-win for everyone. i3 Digital was the most qualified vendor for this initiative based on an extensive and longrunning RFP process.

Their communications skills, quality, and proven ability to deliver this product in a timely manner made them the right fit.” i3 Digital’s CEO Adrian Bradley stated, “Our hard work is now starting to pay off! We knew we had created something world-class that could transcend markets and even continents. This is just the start of our journey, and with our new office in Boston, we intend to push into the market aggressively”

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BEST PRACTICE

Community Shares – an alternative way for local enterprises to grow W hat do two new community-based micro-breweries, a woodland burial site, a solar energy initiative and a wind energy co-operative have in common?

They are all new Northern Ireland social enterprises that are being part-financed by the use of Community Share offers – the sale of shares that allows members of the community to start, grow or invest in a business with a socially-minded ethos. The end goal is to achieve business profitability with the greatest social and environmental impact.

There have been many successful Community Share offers in Great Britain in recent years – last year more than £30million was raised by this method - but it only now gaining ground in Northern Ireland in a bigger way.

One organisation, Co-operative Alternatives, is working to spread the word that in these difficult times when start-up capital and grants are hard to come by, there may be another way to do business. .

Co-operative Alternatives was commissioned by the Building Change Trust in 2013 to run its Community Shares, Ready! pilot project to increase awareness of Community Shares in Northern Ireland, identify a number of community led enterprises and help them develop a share offer.

Despite the name, community shares should not be confused with ordinary company shares. These are a particular type of shares – only available to Industrial and Provident societies such as co-operatives.

“Co-operatives appeal to committed members who want to be involved in something alternative to the individualist model of many modern businesses . Because members of the community are literally buying in to the business, they have a vested interest in the enterprise and are incredibly supportive of it,” said Tiziana O’Hara, manager of the Community Shares Ready!

Project.

Share offers have been used to raise capital for a huge range of community-led businesses: for example, for buying a building for a new community hall or a stadium for a fan-owned football club; to develop a local renewable energy project that needed finance to collectively buy wind turbines or solar panels; for the purchase of rural and urban shops and many pubs at risk of closure.

Drumlin Wind Energy raised £3.9 million with two share offers and Northern Ireland Community Energy (NICE) – a new solar power collective, plans to launch soon.

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Jo Bird, from Cooperative Alternatives which is delivering the support to potential enterprises, Mark Langhammaer from Seaview Enterprises/Crusaders, Andy Walsh from FC United of Manchester and Bill Osborne , Chair of the Building Change Trust.

Brewery share offers have proved popular in Northern Ireland with Lacada Brewery and Boundary Brewing both putting out share offers. Boundary Brewing has just ended its community share offer, raising an impressive £100,000 in just eight days. Lacada closes its offer in March with an aim of raising £60,000.

Matthew Dick from Boundary said: “The board all have different reasons for wanting to be a cooperative. For me, Boundary was something that I wanted to share. It was also something that felt I had to share. You are fighting a lot of battles opening a brewery in Northern Ireland and offering beers which are different than what is available locally. As a cooperative, we now has 450 members, most of whom are local, who are thirsty to buy our beer!”

Co-operative Alternatives offer free support and tailored training to any group wanting to explore this option. “We can introduce you to organisations that have gone down this route, help with business plans and community engagement strategies and will help you write the share offer document – any practical advice and expert guidance that is required,” Jo Bird from Community Shares, Ready added.

A Down to Earth Share Offer Down to Earth NI plans to develop Northern Ireland’s first woodland burial site while

simultaneously creating a beautiful native woodland in the Lecale District of County Down. This type of burial offers a dignified alternative to traditional cemetery burials and supports the environment.

Their share offer was launched in January 2015 with the target of raising £40,000 with shares sold at £1 each and a minimum investment of 800 shares. Ultimately, the investor can “cash in” their share to obtain a burial plot on the site.

The group originally applied for grant funding but was unsuccessful as it was a new start for a concept that was untested in Northern Ireland. The directors chose to form a Community Benefit Society and opt for a share option to give them start-up capital to be used for the planning and development of the site.

“It’s a highly feasible way to raise capital finance. We like the co-operative model as the community then has ownership and a strong Community Benefit Society is a democratic way to run a business,” explained Gill McNeill of Down to Earth.

For more information about community shares go to: www.coopalternatives.coop or email Tiziana O’Hara on tiziana@coopalternatives.coop

SPONSORED ARTICLE

LANDFILL TAX - are you ready?

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n 1 April 2015 landfill tax increased from £80 to £82.60 per tonne as a result of Budget changes. This may not seem like a big increase but look at your waste disposal cost all year round. You are probably paying your waste management contractor around £110/tonne possibly with an uplift fee or service charge.

75 per cent of this is tax!

Every business could avoid this tax by ensuring that where possible resource wastage is minimized and materials recycled legally and appropriately. In the past year over 100 businesses have achieved real cost savings by participating in Invest Northern Ireland’s Industrial Symbiosis (IS) service.

International Synergies NI deliver the Industrial Symbiosis service for Invest NI and employ a team of experienced industrial practitioners.

These practitioners have proven industrial and business experience. They are available to businesses of all sizes and in all industry sectors and will complete a site visit, audit waste streams and provide introductions to other companies that may be able to reuse or recycle your wasted resources.

Where solutions might be more complex, practitioners can signpost to appropriate research and development organisations.

The Industrial Symbiosis service has helped companies such as Greenville Energy, an operator of an Energy from Waste (EfW) plant in Strabane to find sources of food waste as a feedstock for their Anaerobic Digester (AD).

The plant produces electricity for the grid and natural fertiliser as a valuable by-product.

This synergy has provided a solution for production waste, out of date product and sludge from food processors.

Even a coffin maker has benefited from being a member of the Industrial Symbiosis service.

Charles O’Doherty & Sons Ltd export coffins across Europe and were looking for an alternative to textile trimmings for the padding in coffins and coffin pillows.

The Industrial Symbiosis service introduced them to Confidential Shredding Ireland and now confidential documents are not just shredded but buried as well.

Know what your hidden costs are Over the next six months the Industrial Symbiosis service is planning to hold two “Synergy workshops”.

These events are practical and informative networking opportunities for businesses actively looking to divert materials from landfill as a way of reducing the burden of Landfill Tax. Delegates are asked to share information about the materials they want solutions for with all the other delegates.

This information is shared at round tables

facilitated by Industrial Symbiosis practitioners and potential solutions are initially sought from other workshop delegates.

Following the event a report of all the resources is distributed to all delegates and the practitioners are on hand to assist with discussions and where possible identify alternative solutions.

The Industrial Symbiosis service and its events are free to businesses in Northern Ireland. Its achievements since 2007 illustrate that collaboration can and will achieve cost savings, increase profitability and secure existing and new employment.

The Invest NI publication Industrial Symbiosis: Improving productivity through efficient resource management provides an explanation of the Industrial Symbiosis service and some examples of Industrial Symbiosis in action.

To request a copy of the Industrial Symbiosis booklet, find out more about our synergy workshops or for help and advice contact the Industrial Symbiosis service by telephone on 028 3833 3438, by email on info@international-synergiesni.com or register your interest on our website: www.international-synergiesni.com

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SPONSORED ARTICLE

firmus energy – ‘meating’ the needs of business customers f irmus energy has connected thousands of businesses across Northern Ireland to natural gas and, as it continues to build its network throughout the province, more and more local businesses are reaping the benefits.

David Fusco, sales representative for firmus energy, explains how switching to natural gas can deliver monthly savings and many other benefits for a wide array of businesses.

“In my role I work with many local companies, both current customers and potential new customers. I am always on the go which is great as I get to meet lots of new people and enjoy touching base with customers on a regular basis. firmus energy is a very proactive, positive company and this is an ethos I build into my daily dealings with people.

“Natural gas is a convenient and low-cost energy solution and this is something business owners like to hear! With natural gas, organisations have the benefit of having a cost efficient fuel on tap, 365 days a year, without the need to ever have to think about reordering or making space for storage facilities, as the fuel is piped directly into each company’s premises.

“Larger businesses can also make use of online billing and projections, which can assist with budgeting. Organisations with more than one location using natural gas can also have an overview of energy usage per site at any point via dedicated online programmes.

“Natural gas remains a cost efficient fuel and customers watching the bottom line can save money each and every month on their energy usage.”

One such business was Fred Elliotts Butchers, on Banbridge High Street which firmus energy connected to natural gas in 2013. Fred Elliotts has grown in size over the years, since it was established in 1966.

It now employs 20 people in the town and continues to serve the community with the very best cuts of meat, tasty pies and deli items. Since he converted his three-storey premises, Fred and his team have more controllable cooking and instant hot water, making it easier than ever to create their delicious products.

David Fusco explains: “Fred chose to convert when he saw the savings that could be made from switching to natural gas. He had previously used bottled gas which he found quite inconvenient due to having to change the cylinders regularly as well as remembering to order them.

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“Fred Elliotts Butchers is even more popular today than ever before within the community and I know that people come from far beyond the town’s borders to sample his award-winning meats. With around 18 varieties of sausage and seasonal cuts, there is a lot to choose from.

“We were delighted to be able to switch Fred’s butchery to natural gas. It is usually Fred who is doing the ‘cutting’ but we are pleased that we have been able to offer a ‘prime cut’ to his fuel bill.

“Natural gas is an ideal fuel source for businesses of all types but is particularly economical for those who carry out an element of cooking on the premises or are large energy users.

“As well as practical benefits, there are also environmental advantages to using natural gas, such as reduced carbon emissions, which is becoming more pertinent for many businesses.”

From a business owner’s point of view, Fred found the conversion process very straightforward, which will hopefully reassure other company owners considering

switching to natural gas.

Fred adds: “It was great that we didn’t have to close while the conversion was taking place as it was very important to me that we kept trading throughout the switch-over.

“It was a very smooth process and I don’t think customers even noticed that something was happening, which is a great reflection on the professionalism of the firmus team.

“I would recommend natural gas to other businesses. I am really pleased with the savings that I have made and the added convenience of a fuel which never runs out.”

For more information on firmus energy please visit www.firmusenergy.co.uk or contact 0800 032 4567.

10 reasons why a virtual office could be your ideal business solution F or years, the visual representation of the working environment has always been an office. To many, this is still the case.

While the physical office space has its advantages, times are changing and nowadays technology allows us to run entire businesses from a computer.

But with the growth of choicein the market, here are ten reasons why a virtual office is an excellent solution for your SME.

altogether. Transport, office equipment, rental fees, wages, etc., all come under operating costs and if you don’t have enough finance to cover them, your business will fail.

Virtual offices significantly reduce these fees.

Since you won’t have a physical workspace, you completely alleviate transportation costs and only use specific services and facilities as and when you need them.

5. Flexible contracts 1. Access to facilities When you start a new business or need to expand, you’ll need access to certain facilities such as office equipment and meeting rooms.

Many virtual office operators allow you to hire these facilities on a pay-as-you-use basis, which can save you money on equipment and rental fees. For example, if you need a one-off, large quantity of copies you can pay to use a machine; or if you want to hold a meeting in a professional environment, you can use a conference room. In addition, many operators will have computers with Internet access already set up and ready to use if you simply want a change of scenery.

2. Automated services Hiring a full time employee to partake in mundane tasks around the office such as answering telephone calls and opening mail isn’t always worth your investment. Virtual offices provide telephone answering services which will respond to your calls in a professional manner, take messages and forward calls directly to you. In addition, they will also be able to scan the contents of your physical mail and email it to you. Having access to these reception courtesies can do wonders to your company profile.

3. Fewer overheads Overhead costs will determine whether or not you can effectively conduct business.

Spending too much money on office equipment and premises could leave you with little money for marketing, general upkeep and wages. A virtual office has fewer overheads as you don’t have to purchase anything upfront. This can leave you with more money to distribute amongst other departments. It also means that you don’t have to acquire as much finance in order to get your business up and running.

4. Reduced operating costs Having enough finance to get started in the first place is one thing, but having enough to keep your business afloat is something else

Traditional office spaces will often require a long-term lease agreement. Virtual office agreements can last for as little or as long as you need. This means if you have a financial shortfall, you can cancel your agreement for as long as you need to. You are also free to change the terms of your contract. For example, if you’d like add or remove anything – such as telephone answering or a mailing address – you can arrange to change the terms of the agreement.

6. Expansion opportunities Whether you own a small business or a corporate empire, expansion is always difficult. Expanding can actually drive you out of business if you don’t have the finance and manpower for it. If you are unsure about expanding and want to limit your risk, virtual offices can provide workers and facilities on a temporary basis for a significantly lower price than an employee on payroll.

7. Improves corporate identity The way your company is perceived can make or break your business. Many contractors won’t want to work with you if you work from home and don’t have your own office. Virtual offices allow you to place a prestigious office address on your business cards and website, etc. This alleviates any problems regarding your professional image and being taken seriously within your field.

In addition, this can help you if you want to establish yourself in a particular location that’s associated with your industry.

8. Helps build credit Meeting compliance demands from creditors, lenders and suppliers isn’t always easy. Sometimes you will be refused credit if you work from home or don’t have a traditional office space. With a virtual office you can register all of your business information to your virtual office address, allowing you to bypass certain legislations relating to your premises.

9. Research opportunities Researching new markets is one of the most important elements of business expansion.

Before you delve straight into setting up a new branch, it’s always a good idea to test the market and determine whether or not it will be beneficial. Virtual offices can be used to establish your company in a particular geographic location without having to move there physically.

10. Increased productivity Many of the world’s most famous brands – such as Virgin and Google – favour hiring remote workers as it can significantly increase productivity. If you hire somebody to work from home, you’ll judge them by the quality of their work, rather than how they work. This can yield positive results for all parties – workers feel more relaxed and have increased morale, and employers get better results.

Virtual offices can be scaled up or down at short notice without any long-term commitments, making them versatile and cost efficient regardless of your industry.

Therefore, if you’re looking for a safe and secure way to progress your business, they can be an ideal solution.

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Virtual offices a great start for any business And if you are going to opt for one, why wouldn’t you go for the finest address in town?

n a nutshell, a virtual office gives you all the benefits of renting office space, without the associated costs of the office itself. In its most basic guise a virtual office can be a mailing address, i.e. you benefit from having the prestigious business address to use as your company’s own, giving your business a far greater professional image.

For instance, you might want to give the impression of a larger, well-established company even if you are a sole trader working from home. Other companies who can benefit from a virtual office are those wishing to venture into new territory - test the water in a new city without the overheads of taking physical office space. But there’s no better way to get a step up onto the professional business accommodation ladder for new start up companies than with a virtual office.

Almost all business centres offer virtual office packages and there are a plethora of online services offering call handling or basic reception services. But they don’t come more prestigious in the city centre than at the very

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exclusive Scottish Provident Building next to Belfast City Hall. Prices for a virtual office start from as little as £55 per month.

Why so reasonable for what is probably the most luxurious and talked about office venue in the city? Managing Director, Chris Johnston explains; “We truly believe that anyone with the desire and drive to start a business needs all the help they can get. They deserve to be able to position themselves directly in their market place with the best possible presence.

“For the established businesses it may be an easier decision to move directly into the building - after all, the offices and meeting rooms look a million dollars, but they also make excellent commercial sense once the beans have been counted.

“But we understand that our virtual clients have more basic needs from the outset and also need to keep a watchful eye on the cash flow. We also appreciate the important role they play not only in Belfast’s future economy, but also in the future of Scottish Provident Building when they hopefully make the move into the building itself once the time is right.”

Almost all business centres offer virtual office packages. But they don’t come more prestigious in the city centre than at the exclusive Scottish Provident Building next to Belfast City Hall. Prices for a virtual office start from £55 pcm.

Chris went on to describe their virtual offer; “As with most ‘address only’ virtual packages you get professional mail handling i.e. your post arrives and is sorted by our reception staff. Virtual clients can either pick it up at their convenience or we can arrange to have it sent on to them.

“Our Bronze package does this but they also get access to our meeting or boardrooms at preferential rates - which is the perfect way to impress their clients and for a very small cost per month.”

“The next level up - and an extremely popular choice - is the call answering package or Virtual Silver. This gives the user a virtual assistant - our professional receptionists - to answer their calls on their behalf.

“And it’s not just a matter of saying hello and passing it through - it will be answered as if it’s their staff working in their office and seamlessly passed through to whichever number they want - usually a mobile so they take the call wherever they are.”

“With our Virtual Gold package they really get the executive, VIP experience. As well as the mail and call answering services, clients get an increased level of access to the building itself.

“With included hours office or desk use per month you can really get a good sense of what Scottish Provident Building is about - we liken it to a five star hotel and the emphasis really is on a VIP service.

“And what’s more, ALL our clients receive invites to our regular Friday night gettogether where staff from all levels and all industry types can meet for a beer and talk about the exciting times ahead for businesses in Belfast.”

So it really does seem to offer the perfect sense for a start-up company who perhaps don’t need manufacturing space, but would benefit from a prestigious address to show the marketplace they mean business.

And with the success story of Scottish Provident Building bringing incredible companies to the city centre, it seems rubbing shoulders with industry giants can surely only be a good thing?

So now everyone can feel special no matter what size the company, with a virtual office from Scottish Provident Building.

If you’d like to find out more speak to Chris direct on 028 9091 8200.

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BEST PRACTICE

Oh no … not another LEADERSHIP ARTICLE! Dr. Martin McCracken, Ulster University Business School

I think the key thing that I have discovered during almost 20 years of teaching and researching in this area, is that for those who aspire to become truly effective leaders it is essential to take an honest and critical retrospective analysis of their leadership.

Dr. Martin McCracken

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he leadership issue, more than any other management subject, has been written about and poured over by management academics and commentators.

Indeed if we perform the now ubiquitous ‘google test’ we find an astounding 28,400,000 hits on the term ‘effective leadership’. Now we all know that if we click on a great many of these links we will be whisked off to the websites of the modern day ‘snake oil’ salesmen selling their potions, charms and recipes (advice) on how to become more effective leaders.

In the face of such an overwhelming avalanche of information, it is perhaps not surprising that many managers feel swamped or turned off when it comes to leadership advice, not knowing where to turn with new (and often contradictory) theories or perspectives emerging almost weekly.

Indeed many readers, possessing the perhaps understandable ‘tell me something I don't already know’ attitude, may have already passed over this article and moved on to the next feature containing something they hope will be more tangible and relevant to them.

I think the key thing that I have discovered during almost 20 years of teaching and researching in this area, is that for those who aspire to become truly effective leaders it is

T

essential to take an honest and critical retrospective analysis of their leadership.

For me the key to becoming more ‘effective’ will not be found in the latest advice from management gurus or thinkers, but from within yourself. If you are to become a better leader and increase your knowledge, skills and attitudes (KSA) you need to ask some searching personal questions about yourself and what you do everyday in work and increasingly in life.

In this brief article I try to cut through some of the more opaque perspectives relating to leadership and encourage you to practically reflect on your leadership role and how you can become a more effective leader in the future. A key aim here is to give you a number of ‘take aways’, so as you read through the following paragraphs I want you to think about what these issues mean for you in terms of developing as a LEADER in the future?

Continuous learning Perhaps the most important element in effective leadership is understanding that you are never the finished article – there is always something new to LEARN. In a recent article from O’Connell (2014) in the main academic leadership journal Leadership Quarterly it was argued that leaders have to learn continuously because of the

So it is the ‘real you’ that is important and the ultimate question you need to ask yourself is: Does my team see the real me? If you find it difficult to answer that question in absolute terms and you have said ‘sometimes’ then I would say you are fairly normal. increasingly uncertain and turbulent world in which we live.

Having the capacity to acquire managerial and practical wisdom, integrate it into practice, and gain more advanced skills EVERYWHERE and ALWAYS, throughout your career is vital. Learning everywhere and always requires being open to considering new realities, problems, and solutions in every experience and every sphere of life in which you find yourself.

You must also be looking to transfer new knowledge and understanding across domains, functions, and contexts. Learning in this framework embodies being actively aware of your developing self and responding flexibly to what is learned.

So you have to ask yourself: do you make sure that you get value from every experience that you encounter, are you aware of the potential for learning to enhance your leadership ability?

Knowing the team As well as Learning Everywhere and Always, you will need to implicitly know and understand the strengths and weaknesses of your team.

Given the practical changes in the workplace, leaders increasingly lack physical interaction with their team, so the traditional leadership functions of motivating and directing become more challenging. With this in mind you will need to implicitly understand the importance of effectively DISTRIBUTING responsibilities, roles and tasks across your team.

Ultimately you will have a team of leaders comprised of individuals who can use their initiative, are self-motivated, committed and feel attachment to ‘something’ (given the increasingly fragmented nature of work this may not be to your organisation, but perhaps to their role or profession).

So again you need to think about what kind of team you are assembling and developing, but perhaps more important you will need to understand the importance of truly empowering key members which means distributing real power and decision making authority. You will have to ask if you are really prepared to do that.

Earning respect Although understanding the importance of building your team through the effective distribution of power will become more vital, the fact remains that there will always be a place for you as a leader.

However, effective leaders cannot take this role for granted and need to continuously work to EARN RESPECT from all stakeholders.

Your team will want to be led by someone who has vision and purpose but also possesses moral fibre and who will do the right thing for them and the organisation’s stakeholders.

Earning universal respect in an increasingly ambiguous world where your decisions will never satisfy everyone is becoming ever more difficult.

To help navigate through this ambiguity perhaps the best advice is to take a back to basics approach and ask some fundamental questions: • Do I really communicate my purpose and vision to the team?

• Do I really inspire trust?

• Do I really focus on what is feasible?

• Do I really listen to my team members and express confidence in them?

As you can appreciate the common word in all these questions is ‘really’.

Perhaps more than any other stream of research authentic leadership has received the most coverage in the leadership journals recently.

In essence this research argues that authentic leaders know their real selves and their beliefs and behave according to their convictions.

So it is the ‘real you’ that is important and the ultimate question you need to ask yourself is: Does my team see the real me? If you find it difficult to answer that question in absolute terms and you have said ‘sometimes’ then I would say you are fairly normal.

Being authentic and real is difficult; there are very natural fears about becoming exposed if we are shown ‘warts and all’, especially to a group we are responsible for managing.

However, increasingly we need to appreciate that employees want to understand where they really stand in your team and are becoming more adept at spotting fakes!

So to conclude this piece I hope to have left you with some food for thought. In terms of takeaways I hope by remembering the following mantra the real LEADER in you may emerge: Learn Everywhere and Always, Distribute and Earn Respect.

Dr Martin McCracken, Senior Lecturer, Ulster University Business School

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ENTERPRISE NORTHERN IRELAND

ENTERPRISING

Northern Ireland Gordon Gough, Chief Executive of Enterprise Northern Ireland, explains how the local enterprise agency network is helping to support small businesses across Northern Ireland. over 1000 enquiries resulting in 233 loans s I travel around the local enterprise being dispersed at a value of over £1,100,000. agency network and talk to local Enterprise Northern Ireland Start Up loans businesses I get a real sense that are unsecured personal loans for the “enterprising Northern Ireland” is alive and purposes of starting a business. well. Business activity and consumer confidence are all improving.

Loans of up to £10,000 are repayable between one to five years at a current fixed We still need to grow the private sector and interest rate of six per cent. In addition, loan move away from an over-reliance on public recipients receive up to fifteen hours sector job creation but I get a sense that we mentoring support from their local enterprise are heading in the right direction. Against this backdrop Enterprise Northern Ireland and the agency. local enterprise agency network is responding Northern Ireland Small Business to the needs of the small businesses across Northern Ireland. Since our launch in 2000 as Loan Fund the umbrella organisation representing The Invest NI Northern Ireland Small Northern Ireland`s 32 local enterprise Business Loan Fund, which forms part of agencies we have played a significant role in Invest NI`s Access to Finance Strategy, was stimulating economic growth and private established in 2013. Enterprise Northern sector job creation. There is a local enterprise Ireland delivers the Northern Ireland Small agency in every local council area in Northern Business Loan Fund on behalf of Invest NI in Ireland, all delivering a range of business partnership with Ulster Community services to help people set up and grow their Investment. So far we have disbursed more businesses. than £3.0m to 150 new and established small In terms of access to finance Enterprise businesses.

Northern Ireland is a member of the The Northern Ireland Small Business Loan Community Development Finance Association Fund provides loans to small businesses Consortium, an official delivery partner of the within the start-up and growth phases of Start Up Loans Company. The Start Up Loans development. There is a maximum loan scheme provides mentoring and financial amount of £15,000 to start-up businesses support to businesses that cannot normally with potential for follow on lending up to a access traditional business finance. maximum of £50,000. Existing businesses can In 2013 Enterprise Northern Ireland was apply for loans of up to £50,000. Interest rates appointed a delivery partner to provide starttypically range from six per cent-10 per cent. up loans in Northern Ireland. Start Up Loans Mentoring support will be offered were formed part of the economic pact for loans of less than £15,000 are availed of. Loan Northern Ireland announced by the prime purposes include working capital, business minister. Since the scheme commenced expansion, commercial premises, plant and Enterprise Northern Ireland has dealt with

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machinery and stock purposes.

And in terms of the complexities of setting up a new business it is very encouraging to note that in the first two years (2012-2014) of the Invest NI Regional Start GO For It programme, over 6500 start up business plans were assisted at local enterprise agencies right across Northern Ireland.

This will translate into approx. 4500 new business starts many of whom will be looking for business premises. And that’s where the local enterprise agency network comes into play. Across Northern Ireland local enterprise agencies provide workspace for over four thousand small businesses.

The spirit of enterprise is holding up well in Northern Ireland judging by these new business start-ups. People in their thousands are spotting gaps in the market or turning

Since our launch in 2000 as the umbrella organisation representing Northern Ireland`s 32 local enterprise agencies we have played a significant role in stimulating economic growth and private sector job creation. Gordon Gough their hobbies into a way of making a living.

Social economy businesses Social economy businesses are also big business in Northern Ireland. The local enterprise agency network has helped to set up almost one hundred new social enterprises and created 220 new jobs since the Social Entrepreneurship programme started in 2012.

In terms of employment opportunities for the long-term unemployed then Exploring Enterprise is the ENI programme of support.

Exploring Enterprise provides one to one advice and training leading to an award in Understanding Business Enterprise.

Local enterprise agencies have helped 1700 people to attain the award with many going on into full time employment or selfemployment.

Social Enterprise Hubs complement existing support from Invest NI by providing

advice and support to individuals and community and voluntary groups. Social Enterprise Hubs develop social enterprises.

Several local enterprise agencies manage social enterprise hubs across Northern Ireland. Each hub services areas of deprivation to help address unemployment and to assist with setting up new social enterprises. Free workshops, training and advice are offered in each hub.

Looking forward So, what is the outlook for Northern Ireland plc for the rest of 2015? Are we on track to grow the private sector? Certainly enterprise support organisations like the local enterprise agencies are well positioned to assist the Northern Ireland Executive to meet its social and economic goals.

If the sector is given the financial investment it needs to continue to deliver the

range of services which I have detailed, then, its contribution to the economy and local communities will be immense.

For further information on the full range of business support programmes available through Enterprise Northern Ireland log onto www.enterpriseni.com

Pictured at the launch of the Western Zone Social Enterprise Hub are:L-R Gerry McKibben, DSD; Eithne Mcnamee, Invest NI; Arlene Foster, Enterprise Minister, Dr Nick O’Shiel, Omagh Enterprise Company and Mary MacRory, Omagh Enterprise Company.

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ENTERPRISE NORTHERN IRELAND

Doing business the Ballymena way

Minister for Social Development Mervyn Storey MLA with PJ Mc Avoy, Councillor Audrey Wales MBE and Melanie Christie Boyle.

n March this year Ballymena Business Centre opened a fifth business hub in the town centre. Representing a £1million private sector investment this enterprise hub, located on Church Street, Ballymena, will provide business advice to start ups and growing businesses; retail space supporting 30 businesses from the creative industries; office facilities supporting social and community interest organisations; the Rankin training and meeting room; and exhibition space for the voluntary, community, education and business sector.

Ballymena Business Centre recently received a Recognition Award from Ballymena Borough Council for Outstanding Contribution. This prestigious event hosted by the Mayor of Ballymena in March of this year marked the legacy of Ballymena Borough Council as it becomes part of the new Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Since its formation in 1989 Ballymena Business Centre has attracted approximately £5m investment into the local area. It also manages enterprise hubs in Galgorm, Ballykeel, Ballee / Harryville and Cullybackey.

Chief Executive Melanie Christie Boyle said: “Ballymena Business Centre supports in the region of 500 individuals each year. The recent addition of our fifth hub in Church Street Ballymena means that we can further expand our reach to those people who are starting up and those who require further assistance to grow their business. We have an excellent team of people and it’s testament to them that we have such a wide range of thriving entrepreneurs and businesses across all our enterprise hubs.”

“With the creation of the new Mid and East Antrim Borough Council we look forward to continuing to provide a first class service throughout 2015, and continuing to demonstrate that Ballymena is a place to do business - successfully.”

028 2565 8616.

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The Foundry co-working space in East Belfast

he Foundry Belfast is a co-working space in east Belfast, created to provide an energising environment that fosters collaboration in a shared and supportive environment.

Offering the flexibility of a range of Coworking options designed to facilitate part time and full time entrepreneurs, the Foundry will deliver real benefits to the SME sector, not only within East Belfast, but within the wider Belfast business community. These benefits include peer engagement, synergy and increased productivity amongst a community of service providers, early stage start-ups and independent professionals who often find themselves working in isolation.

A Virtual Office package will also be offered alongside business support and mentoring packages tailored to suit each client’s needs.

As with everything in life, having the right people around you can make a fundamental difference to the success or failure of what you do. A social enterprise, The Foundry is focused on its mission to support entrepreneurs to start up and grow businesses, building a rockbed of successful, local companies to grow the Northern Ireland economy.

At the Foundry we provide our companies with regular access to mentors who have been there and done it, offering up one on one personal business mentoring to all our tenant companies and if we don’t have a mentor on our list that fits, we’ll find one whether it be from BitCoin to Web Design or Manufacturing to Catering.

With a new council infrastructure coming into place, not to mention a raft of changes happening within local government funding, there’s never been a better time for local SME’s and aspiring entrepreneurs to come together and support each other through what will be somewhat confusing and at times choppy water for the business community. By providing the support and infrastructure to navigate these potential storms, The Foundry will undoubtedly play a major role in helping these companies set sail for success.

To discuss your requirements contact Ann Trueman ann@eastbelfast.org, or call 028 9094 2010

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NEWTOWNARDS 028 9181 9787 serena@ardsbusiness.com www.ardsbusiness.com Ards Business Centre has been providing support to businesses since its establishment in 1988 through advice to those forming and growing their businesses and through the provision of reasonably priced office space and industrial units. ABC also offers excellent conference and hot desking facilities boasting free parking, wifi/projector and catering.

ARMAGH 028 2766 6133 eileen@abcarmagh.com www.abcarmagh.com Armagh Business Centre offers affordable workspace in a convenient location for small businesses and manages three rural area business centres with office space and industrial units. Conference and training facilities provide free car parking, Wi-Fi and catering. We offer expert business start-up advice and business development support.

BALLYMENA 028 2565 8616 info@ballymenabusiness.co.uk www.ballymenabusiness.co.uk Ballymena Business Centre is a registered Northern Ireland Charity operating as a Local Enterprise Agency in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council. Embedded within the local Ballymena community the Business Centre is at the forefront of entrepreneurship and enterprise development.

BANBDRIGE 028 406 62260 info@bdelonline.com www.bdelonline.com Our excellent facilities can provide the ideal setting for all your conferencing needs in a relaxed and professional environment.

Our rooms can cater for 100 at a seated conference down to 12 in board room. Onsite catering helps to ensure the most productive meetings are held at Banbridge Enterprise Centre.

CRAIGAVON 028 3839 6520 concepta.heagney@cido.co.uk www.cido.co.uk CIDO manages a portfolio of high quality workspaces across 3 sites located close to the M1 motorway in Portadown and Lurgan. The premises on offer range from high specification turnkey offices at the i2 Innovation Centre to office, warehousing, retail and industrial units at the CIDO Business Complexes in Carn and Lurgan.

EAST BELFAST 028 9094 2010 Allen@eastbelfast.org www.eastbelfast.org East Belfast Enterprise provides office accommodation, meeting room and hot desk facilities from City East Business Centre without city centre pricing, super-fast broadband and 24 hour secure access, all from £145 per month. Units are also available on flexible terms at the Albertbridge Road site

NORTH DOWN 028 9127 1525 lynne@nddo.co.uk www.nddo.co.uk NDDO Business offers • Office and workshop space available • Hire of Board Room & Training Room • Business Start Up • Business Development Programmes • Business Counselling & Advice • Accommodation address & answer service

CARRICKFERGUS 028 9336 9528 Info@ceal.co.uk www.ceal.co.uk Our purpose built Conference and Training Facilities provide a professional and modern training environment. Carrickfergus Enterprise is an ideal venue for training courses, seminars and conferences. Two large rooms are available with seating capacity of up to 60. Rooms can be set up in a variety of styles to suit your specification.

COOKSTOWN 028 8676 3660 info@cookstownenterprise.com www.cookstownenterprise.com Cookstown Enterprise Centre has 25 years’ experience supporting business start-up and delivering business development programmes within the Cookstown District.

Offering industrial units, offices, conference room facilities and a fully equip ICT Suite at competitive rates. CEC is the ideal setting for all your business needs.

DERRY 028 7135 2693 info@enterprisenw.com www.enterprisenw.com Enterprise NW provide business start-up and support programmes, fully serviced office accommodation & light industrial work units.

Meeting, training & conference facilities for up to 100 delegates. Tenants can avail of 1,000MB broadband connection, free car parking, CCTV security, 24/7 access, onsite caretaking, administration back up & flexible easy in easy out leases

NORTH BELFAST 028 9074 7470 mailbox@north-city.co.uk www.north-city.co.uk North City Business Centre has a portfolio of 45k sqft of business space to let for small to medium size enterprises operating in all sectors. Units range in size from 150sqft to 2,000sqft. Our site has 24hr accessibility, with manned security staff and out of hours remote security monitoring.

COLERAINE, MOYLE & BALLYMONEY 028 7035 6318 info@causeway-enterprise.co.uk www.causeway-enterprise.co.uk Causeway Enterprise Agency offers business premises and free business support including: • Business start-up training • Business planning & free advice service • Business Development Programmes • Business seminars and networking events • Help accessing funding. • Flexible leases.

DOWNPATRICK 028 4461 6416 business@downbc.co.uk www.downbc.co.uk Advice and support for new and existing businesses in the Down District area.

Industrial and office accommodation available with free parking.

Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/ pages/Down-BusinessCentre/337781645485?ref=hl

LARNE 028 2826 9973 info@ledcom.org www.ledcom.org LEDCOM is an award winning business and enterprise centre serving businesses and communities across Larne and Antrim for almost 30 years. With high quality business advice, training and managed workspace and incubation facilities LEDCOM staff provide wrap round business support to help entrepreneurs to overcome challenges and seize opportunities.

NEWRY & MOURNE 028 3026 7011 info@nmea.net www.nmea.net Newry & Mourne Co-Operative and Enterprise Agency has the primary objective of promoting jobs and creating wealth in the Newry & Mourne area.NMEA was the first Enterprise Agency to be established in Northern Ireland and has evolved to offer a wide range of services to its clients.

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ENTERPRISE NORTHERN IRELAND

OMAGH 028 8224 9494 info@omaghenterprise.co.uk www.omaghenterprise.co.uk Flexible, modern, well equipped and with more than a few extras. We are home to some of the best-value business premises around.

• Easy-in, easy-out flexible lease agreement • 24/7 access • Superfast Broadband • Secretarial support available • Conference & meeting rooms

ROE VALLEY, LIMAVADY 028 777 62323 / 65655 info@roevalleyenterprises.co.uk www.roevalleyenterprises.com Roe Valley Enterprises Ltd can provide new and existing businesses with business advice, support and with a solution to their accommodation problems in the form of modern turnkey offices to industrial units ranging in size from 140sq/ft to 4,000sq/ft.

For further details please contact Gillian.

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ORMEAU, BELFAST 02890 339906 info@ormeaubusinesspark.com www.ormeaubusinesspark.com Ormeau Business Park is a key provider of business support in the South Belfast area providing rented workspace, conference facilities and enterprise training and mentoring. Our facilities, available to hire, are an ideal location for training seminars and hosting board meetings in a modern environment.

STRABANE 028 71382518 info@seagency.co.uk www.seagency.co.uk • Business Advice • Business Support Programmes • Access to other Business Finance • Easy in Easy out lease • Conference & training room & Boardroom • Business Accommodation Address • Full Secretarial Services

WEST BELFAST 028 9031 1002 hq@ortus.org www.ortus.org Twin Spires Complex, 155 Northumberland Street Belfast, BT13 2JF Ortus was established in 1988 to actively promote sustainable social, economic and environmental regeneration by providing property and business development support.

Today, Ortus has developed to become one of the UK’s largest, most successful enterprise agencies.

Aghanloo Road, Limavady, County Londonderry BT49 0HE 028 7776 3555 www.enterpriseni.com

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SPONSORED ARTICLE

Do you know which are the financial responsibilities of company directors?

by Peter Martin, Director Development Typical non-statutory reserved matters would include: • Approval of Treasury, Risk Management and Capital Policies • Approval of Capital Expenditure in excess of agreed levels, acquisitions, joint ventures and disposals • Approval of significant changes in Accounting Policy (normally recommended by the Audit Committee and noted by the Board) • Consideration of Budgets, and regular review of progress against them, and the delivery of strategic milestones

RECORD-KEEPING

ne of the best known management training videos is The Balance Sheet Barrier by Video Arts and starring John Cleese. At the start John Cleese, managing director of some huge corporation, proudly declares, “I leave finance to the finance people, just as I leave the canteen to the canteen people. I believe in trusting people!”

Unfortunately for Cleese all directors have financial responsibilities and so the rest of the film is spent educating him. The Institute of Directors (“IoD”) endorse a useful publication called “The Effective Board” (by Barker and Bain, published by Kogan Page). This is what it says about the financial responsibilities of directors and the board.

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RESERVED MATTERS – the things that the board cannot delegate There are two types of reserved matters – statutory and non-statutory.

The statutory reserved matters are: • Approval of the Interim Report and Dividend • Approval of the Annual Report and Accounts • Approval of the Final Dividend • Approval of Press Releases relating to the above

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Directors are legally bound to keep proper accounting records and to timely file the required information with the authorities.

For example private companies have to file annual accounts within nine months of yearend, whilst quoted companies have to file with a shorter period – six months. Failure to do this can lead to quite severe penalties.

Conversely, consistently meeting these requirements could in a court case be taken into consideration and paint an individual in a positive light.

MONITORING THE BUSINESS The directors should adopt measures that show what the company needs to do to provide the right returns to shareholders (e.g. by using Kaplan’s “Balanced Scorecard”).

The board should compare the financial results with the business plan, with a description found for reasons for variances.

THE AUDIT COMMITTEE The UK Corporate Governance Code (downloadable free from www.frc.org.uk ) principally applies to large quoted companies, on a “comply or explain” basis, but is also seen as best practice for all companies. The board also needs to ensure that an appropriate relationship with the company’s auditors is maintained.

Of particular importance is the Audit Committee – a feature not just of commercial enterprises but also of many public and third sector bodies – and a committee in which non-executive directors play a central role.

The Code says the Audit Committee should be comprised of at least three non-executive directors, one of whom should have recent relevant financial experience.

The finance director and head of internal

audit will always be in attendance, and the committee secretary is normally the company secretary or head of internal audit. Meetings are typically quarterly – two of which will coincide with the interim and annual results.

The work of the Audit Committee typically includes • Providing a direct link with the auditor • Approving and annual internal audit and external audit plan • Ensuring the auditor’s independence and agreeing terms under which the audit firm can accept non-audit work • Appraising the auditor’s effectiveness • Having a direct reporting relationship with the head of the internal audit function • Reviewing and monitoring the control environment, and in particular ensuring that an appropriate risk assessment and control process is embedded in the business • Reviewing and agreeing any changes in accounting policy • Scrutinising the accounts and financial reports to shareholders and, if satisfied, recommending them to the board for approval.

BE UP TO DATE! One of the best ways of ensuring your skills and knowledge are up to date is to undertake the IoD’s Chartered Director Programme, which helps delegates obtain professional qualifications in company direction.

The next Northern Ireland programme starts on 15/16 September.

CHARTERED DIRECTOR PROGRAMME Better directors, better boards, better business!

The Institute of Directors (“IoD”) sets the standards for leadership in the UK and Ireland. Our highly acclaimed Chartered Director Programme is designed to ensure that the directors of today and tomorrow from all sectors can contribute effectively to major organisation-wide decisions. With a current all-Ireland annual demand for around 120 places, we are clearly the leader in our market segment – and all 6 current cohorts were oversubscribed.

We offer 12½ days of face-to-face tuition over nine months including five two-day residentials on the themes of Role of the Director and the Board Strategy and Marketing Finance Leadership and Change Developing Board Performance Our programme leads to the IoD Certificate (“Cert IoD”) and Diploma (“Dip IoD”) – afterwards we help many go on to become Chartered Directors – the “gold standard” for professional directors in the UK and Ireland and increasingly adopted worldwide.

We draw upon the IoD’s unrivalled resources – approved facilitators who work internationally and understand the implementation issues rather than simply the theory, state-of-the-art programme materials and highly accessible on-line support. The modules are delivered in an engaging, enjoyable style. Aimed at busy people there are no tedious assignments or dissertations. There are however two exams, for which our delegates are well-prepared, consistently excelling in terms of both pass-rate and number of Distinctions. The opportunities for networking and peer learning, during the programme and in our local Alumni group, feature highly in delegate feedback.

The next Northern Ireland programme starts on 15/16 Sept 2015 and finishes in June 2016. If the local dates for a particular session do not suit we have alternatives in Dublin. Some financial support towards fees may be available.

For details and endorsements call Peter Martin on 028 9064 1131 or email directordevireland@gmail.com PS: it’s fun too! www.businessfirstonline.co.uk

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ON TOURISM

TAKING CONTROL OF THE THRONE – getting more creative to harness tourism potential through Game of Thrones

by Dr Peter Bolan, Ulster University eason five of Game of Thrones has recently commenced its broadcast run on television around the world.

Anticipation for the new season of the show has been incredible, reaching fever pitch amongst legions of fans - trending on twitter, dominating facebook comments, receiving media coverage on national television and radio news segments, profiling across numerous newspaper and magazine publications.

Quite simply, Game of Thrones has become a cultural phenomenon. We’ve seen how its influence has already attracted tourists here to Northern Ireland and we have also witnessed some good tourism initiatives.

However, in tourism terms it is all a bit ‘slow’.

We’re still not truly grasping the potential, keeping pace with the momentum and dynamism of the show and its legions of fans.

Why a special world premiere for episode one of the new season took place in London (at the Tower of London, featuring the cast and considerable media attention) is something of a mystery however, worthy of the kind so inherent in Game of Thrones itself. Surely such a high profile event could have taken place in Belfast? or at least somewhere in Northern Ireland given that we are so well established now as the home of the show.

We have certainly proved in recent years beyond a shadow of a doubt that we can host a diverse range of high profile events in an exemplary way. Instead however, on this occasion, London got the media attention and spotlight cast upon it and was sprinkled with a little of the Game of Thrones magic. From a tourism perspective that shouldn’t have happened.

Our institutions here should have been lobbying strongly to have the season premiere event here. Time to start planning now, that next year’s season six premiere takes place in Northern Ireland.

Such issues aside however, the great momentum of the show continues to build and for Northern Ireland tourism that can only be a good thing. Type ‘Game of Thrones tourism’ into Google and every result on the first page is Northern Ireland focused.

That’s incredibly encouraging to see that at last we are cemented as the base of the show in a way that is reflected properly online.

Other Thrones locations such as Croatia and Iceland only manage to make it on to search

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results on page two.

As such, word is getting around and the awareness is now rising about the strong Northern Ireland connection. So in tourism terms, where do we go from here? The tourism throne is within our grasp, but how do we seize control of it and more importantly hold on to it to make a really significant impact to our image and our economy?

I’ve recently led an Ulster University research study to investigate these very aspects in depth, a study which initially has examined the habits, thoughts, views and opinions of the Game of Thrones fans themselves.

Utilising a form of netnography to engage the fans on a global basis through a diverse array of online forums and platforms has revealed some highly interesting findings which provide a basis for how we can leverage maximum potential from Game of Thrones tourism.

Firstly, awareness levels that Northern Ireland is the main location is growing amongst the fan base. There is a strong desire amongst the fans to travel to what they have seen on screen. The ‘Game of Thrones tourist’ is passionate and demanding however, in what they seek in terms of tourism experience.

They are escapists searching for an immersive experience that captures some authenticity of ‘Westeros’, its characters and storylines, as well as the scenery, sets,

costumes and even food. In addition, they want a themed activity-based experience and they are willing to pay for it.

This all paints a highly encouraging scenario for developing Game of Thrones tourism in Northern Ireland. However, ‘developing’ is the key word. We are not there yet.

The Game of Thrones tourist is passionate in their interest of the filming locations and their desire to travel to them. They are demanding however and expect an authentic quality experience related to the show that has influenced them. As such, we cannot have these film tourists come to Northern Ireland and merely look at scenery.

As spectacular and dramatic as much of our scenery is, these particular tourists want something more tangible connected to what has influenced them.

Therein lies the secret to true success, there lies the magic ingredient that can ensure these tourists have an incredible and fulfilling experience and will in turn then market Northern Ireland and such an experience for us (through the plethora of social media platforms they inhabit – spreading the word online to the legions of fans out there).

We do have pockets of good practice addressing this already. Winterfell Tours Castle and Demesne are a superb example of providing exactly the kind of immersive experience these film tourists clearly seek.

Andrew Porter and the team there have

been highly proactive and creative in their approach and have kept developing the type and level of Game of Thrones experience on offer. Cemented by the authentic location of having been Winterfell in the show this really does fit with what recent research indicates will bring success.

Of course, we need to make it easy for visitors when they come here to find all the different locations and adding to this, we have seen a number of businesses offer coach based tours around the various Northern Ireland locations.

Examples such as McCombs have been highly proactive and successful in developing such tours and providing these film tourists with the means to visit their dream locations in an organised and professional way.

These entrepreneurial examples show we can do what is necessary, but we need much more of this coming through from the private sector (particularly addressing the experiential aspect) and much more strategic direction and evidence of creative and proactive thought coming through from our tourism bodies who thankfully are at least at the table on film tourism now, even if they have arrived at that table somewhat late.

Game of Thrones has brought something special to Northern Ireland (thanks in no small part to the excellent work of Northern Ireland Screen) and provided us with an enormous and lucrative type of tourism potential.

The throne, so to speak, really is within our grasp but we have to listen to the market, creatively and innovatively provide experiences to what the fans clearly seek.

We need to ride and develop the Game of Thrones momentum right now but not just maximise current momentum, actually nurture and develop something truly significant that can be carried forward and continue to grow in a sustainable way for wider film tourism growth in Northern Ireland.

That’s how we take control of the film tourism throne and how we hold on to it. New high-profile television dramas are being filmed here right now, such as ‘The Frankenstein Chronicles’ (staring ‘Ned Stark’ himself – Sean Bean) which can also provide huge tourism potential.

So let’s use the power of Game of Thrones to build the right film tourism platform and strategy so that other productions such as this can then also be more easily tapped into and utilised to attract tourists and ensure

they have significant and meaningful experiences when they come here.

Game of Thrones airs on Sky Atlantic who have generously allowed us to reproduce stills from Series Five.

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THOUGHT LEADERSHIP ON TOURISM

While global events are great for Northern Ireland business, APD is still a concern FSB Northern Ireland he eyes of the world will once again be focused on the stage of Northern Ireland, as County Down hosts the Irish Open Golf Tournament.

Last month it was reported that all accommodation, ranging from hotel to selfcatering, had been booked within a fifteen mile radius of Newcastle, for the event.

While the accommodation sector is the primary beneficiary of the prestigious golfing tournament, there will also be profitable benefit to small businesses throughout the area, including restaurants, food suppliers and gift shops.

Once again Northern Ireland is providing the backdrop to a globally regarded sports event, following the recent Giro D’Italia, World Police and Fire Games and World Championship Boxing Matches, all of which have attracted visitors to the Province as spectators for the duration of these events.

However, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has stressed the need to create an all year round tourism programme, that will innovate and grow.

Wilfred Mitchell, FSB Policy Chair for Northern Ireland (pictured) explained: “Small businesses need to sell their services and products day to day throughout the year, and not just during big events, in order to survive.

“These small businesses, including many FSB members, can meet the varying needs of tourists if encouragement is in place to promote innovation, product/service diversification and new business start ups in the tourist areas.”

In their recently published report entitled Rural Roadmap: Unlocking the potential of local businesses, the FSB in Northern Ireland recommends that the new supercouncils, in operation from this month, support their local small businesses in working together as clusters to improve visitor experience.

Mr Mitchell commented: “Given that our local economy is focused on small and micro businesses both rural and urban, it is vital that the new supercouncils will take the lead in delivering tourist experience of their local areas and in doing so establish the unique character and marketing of Northern Ireland.”

Despite the growth of visitor numbers to Northern Ireland, tourism only generated 4.9 per cent of GDP in Northern Ireland last year.

This is almost half of the nine per cent GDP that tourism generates in the remainder of the UK. Action is required as Northern Ireland competes with not only the rest of the UK but also its closest neighbour and

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competitor, the Republic of Ireland.

Tackling Air Passenger Duty One such measure that has long been campaigned for by Northern Ireland’s largest business organisation is the benefits to tourism and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) that would be brought about by the abolition of Air Passenger Duty (APD).

In Northern Ireland, APD has only been abolished on long-haul routes and remains £13 per passenger per flight to short-haul destinations.

The Northern Ireland Executive argues that it will lobby Westminster for the reduction in APD, as otherwise it will lead to a reduction in the block grant to Northern Ireland. Presently the UK’s air tax is one of the highest rates in the world.

This places Northern Ireland at a unique geographical disadvantage in terms of competition.

In 2014, the Republic of Ireland abolished APD on all flights, which led to a substantial expansion of air routes and an increase of 1.1 million visitors.

Additionally, during the settlement of the Referendum debate, Scotland was granted power of APD, suggesting its intention towards eventual abolishment or reduction of the tax for Scotland; creating another competitive disadvantage to Northern Ireland.

Figures for the period of 2013/14 from the Department of Enterprise Trade and Investment (DETI) revealed that there were 4.32 million overnight stays in Northern Ireland.

However, 51 per cent of these overnight stays were made by local people, for instance someone in Belfast travelling to stay for a night in County Fermanagh. Additionally, 38 per cent of these overnight stays were visits to family and friends.

Mr Mitchell continued: “Air connectivity is vital to all FSB members, whether in terms of their own individual businesses or the contribution it makes to the economy.

“The FSB want to see existing routes protected as well as new routes developed. It is disappointing that seat capacity on Northern Ireland routes decreased by 7% in summer 2013 and a route development fund is therefore an absolute necessity.

“Competition with the Republic of Ireland, and potentially Scotland, is obviously a central consideration.

“They have scrapped air tax in its entirety and there has been a six per cent increase in

seat capacity from last summer. In order to help redress this position, the issue of short haul APD is a priority.”

Recently the Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy (NICEP) was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Executive to look at the benefits of devolving and reducing shorthaul APD. NICEP concluded that there was a not a strong enough case to devolve and reduce ADP for short-haul travel, though this is challenged by Northern Ireland’s two main airports. George Best Belfast City Airport and Belfast International Airport both advise that in discussions with airlines keen to increase routes to and from Northern Ireland, what prevents them is primarily APD. Whilst APD exists, airlines will choose nearby airports, such as Dublin, where they can grow direct air services which offer attractive fares to visitors.

Mr Mitchell concluded: “The FSB believes that short-haul APD should be abolished immediately for those customers flying from Belfast to Great Britain and then internationally.

“A business case should also be prepared as soon as possible for the devolution of short-haul APD with the intention to reduce the rate to zero, so small businesses across the whole of Northern Ireland can benefit from inbound tourism.”

GALGORM CASTLE GOLF

Galgorm Castle Golf Days W

ith an extraordinary history dating back to 1618, Galgorm Castle is a beautiful location in the heart of Northern Ireland. Look no further than Galgorm Castle for a great corporate experience; the golf course is one of Ireland’s finest Championship parklands and is the home of the Northern Ireland Open, set in the grounds of the historical estate.

A Championship golf course, awardwinning Garden Centre for non-golfers and the wonderful Eagle Bar & Grill to satisfy your food and beverage needs, a great Corporate Day is guaranteed at Galgorm Castle. Our resident PGA Professionals are also available to provide a Golf Clinic before play, or a Beat The Pro Competition to keep things interesting on the course.

Prices start from as little as £33.50pp for Tea/Coffee on arrival, Bacon Rolls following registration, 18 holes of golf on the Championship Parkland and a Meal & Tea/Coffee in the Award-Winning Eagle Bar & Grill to complete the day. Corporate days are open to groups of all sizes.

For many businesses a corporate golf membership is a great benefit in today’s fastpaced commercial world. Whether the

membership is used for business or pleasure, Galgorm Castle has the range of facilities to Fulfil every requirement.

Utilise a corporate membership to host on the course meetings with clients or alternatively rewarding top performing employees with access to a Championship golf course.

There is a range of Corporate Golf Memberships available, starting from as little as £450. As well as use of the Championship course, Corporate Members benefit from members’ discount in the Pro-Shop, 10 per cnt discount in the Eagle Bar & Grill and the opportunity to bring guests at a special members guest rate.

Europe’s leading professionals who come back to the perennial home of the Northern Ireland Open every year highlight Galgorm Castle as one of the standout venues on their international schedule: “The best Challenge Tour event I’ve played in, simple as that. It’s everything you’d expect from a European Tour event. The facilities are first class, as good as you will find anywhere,” enthused Oliver Wilson, the 2008 Ryder Cup player who lost the 2013 Northern Ireland Open in a play-off to Daan Huizing.

This year’s Northern Ireland Open takes place from August 6-9 where members and supporters from across the province will enjoy another week-long festival of golf and food with something for all the family to enjoy.

Don’t worry, you don’t need to be touring professional standard to play Galgorm Castle, all levels are welcome, especially with our dedicated team of PGA Professionals on hand to help you every step of the way.

For further information, please contact the Galgorm Castle team: golf@galgormcastle.com 028 2564 6161

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

Social Capital: an overlooked resource?

by Simon Bridge, visiting professor at Ulster University n the 1950s it became apparent that the population of the town of Roseto, Pennsylvania had significantly better health than the average for the USA as a whole and roughly half the death rate from heart disease than people in neighbouring towns.

In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell calls this ‘the Roseto Mystery’ and explains that it could not be attributed to factors such as smoking, diet, exercise or genetics because, in these respects, the people of Roseto did not seem to be significantly different from their neighbours.

Eventually it was concluded that the reason for the good health of Roseto was the nature of the social relationships within that community. Roseto was named after a town in Italy from which the ancestors of many of its residents had come, and the relationships between the residents were still like those of the Italian town and very different from those

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things to different people but there doesn’t seem to be a good alternative term to use and it does have the advantage that it conveys both that it is about social connections and that it is like financial capital which has to be accumulated before it can be used.

The case of Roseto exemplifies the impact social capital can have on people. Although in that case it was people’s health which benefitted from social capital, other aspects of life can also be affected – and once we have learnt to appreciate the nature of social capital we can see that it is often also crucial for successful enterprise and business.

It has long been recognised that social contact is very important in society of neighbouring towns in Pennsylvania.

People in Roseto talked more to their neighbours, often they had three generations living together, they attended church regularly and there were at least 22 civic organisations in a town of just under 2000 people.

It was concluded that it was Roseto’s personal relationships - its social capital which had made its citizens healthier.

Social Capital is littleunderstood This example shows that social capital can be important but nevertheless, as a concept, it is still relatively little understood. Also the phrase ‘social capital’ can mean different

Nearly four hundred years ago John Donne famously commented that: ‘No man is an island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, a part of the main’ and our understanding of the interdependence of people has been reinforced recently by studies of the social nature of human society. As has been observed: ‘when people are free to do as they please, they usually imitate each other’.

However it also seems that social capital is not just one thing but encompasses a number of aspects of social interaction. For instance one commentator on social capital, James Coleman, has suggested that: ‘It is defined by its function. It is not a single entity, but a variety of different entities

In enterprise and business social capital can be as important, if not more important, than financial capital – but it is rarely included in business textbooks, taught on business courses or assessed in business plans.

Professor Simon Bridge having two characteristics in common: They all consist of some aspect of social structure, and they facilitate certain actions of individuals who are within the structure.'

In keeping with this view it has been suggested that social capital acts in the enterprise mix rather like vitamins in a diet.

Vitamins are necessary in our diet if our bodies are to function well and to use the rest of our food properly – but there are different vitamins and extra supplies of one will not compensate for a deficiency in another.

Also we didn’t realise that vitamins were needed, or even that they existed, until we found that sailors on long ocean voyages eating preserved food lacked something in their diet even though they were not hungry.

If social capital, like vitamins, comes in different forms which cannot usefully be substituted one for another, what are those forms? Coleman again is helpful because he implies three categories of social capital when he proposes that the ‘useful capital resources’ it can provide include ‘information channels’; ‘obligations, expectations and trustworthiness’; and ‘norms and effective sanctions’.

Networking as social capital Examples of the first of these categories can be relatively easy to find. Social capital can help individuals and organisations to access relevant information either from inside or outside their organisations or communities.

This is the aspect of social capital most readily associated with ‘networking’ and it can be used to find many types of information useful to enterprises including where and how to find suppliers or customers, where to look for sources of finance or other assistance, what are the requirement of particular markets or customers, what are the legal stipulations for certain activities, or to whom to go for advice or guidance on specific issues.

Trust as Social Capital The second category is also a crucial aspect of social capital and its importance is illustrated by Francis Fukuyama in his book Trust, in which he describes how high-trust counties have built stronger economies, and by Tim Harford in his book The Undercover Economist, where he suggests that in many underdeveloped countries it is a lack of trust in economic dealings which makes them so poor.

This category of social capital encourages

and facilitates the provision of support and/or co-operation, often on a mutual/reciprocal basis. Of course trust has to be earned but, once it is built up, it can be used to establish credibility and even obligations.

This aspect of social capital can include cultivating people who will vouch for your reputation, provide you with references, or otherwise act as an advocate for you or a mentor – because they trust you and you trust them.

Bonding as social capital The first two of the categories of social capital described above might seem to be the more obvious, not least because it may be easier to see how they can contribute to enterprise and because their use has been relatively widely highlighted.

But Coleman’s third category can be just as important and might merit a little extra attention because it is less obvious. The sort of social capital which establishes and maintains norms of behaviour provides the ‘social glue’ or bonding which can be found in family or ethnic groups and also underlies the maintenance of trustworthiness when transgressors are ‘punished’ by social disapproval.

It can be seen in patterns of behaviour which can be ‘caught’ from other people, rather like catching germs. Many young people take up smoking, not because it is the logical thing to do, but because their peers are doing it.

Therefore, because this aspect of social capital is particularly important in encouraging, or discouraging, specific behaviours, it is a form of social capital relevant for increasing productive entrepreneurship – because without such social encouragement many people will not do it. This may be therefore be the missing ingredient in economic regeneration policies which appear to tick all the boxes but nevertheless fail to work – rather like sailors apparently having plenty of food but still falling ill from a diet deficiency.

It might be argued that some of the things identified above are not actually social capital.

For instance an alternative view could be that, if the suggested components of social capital have different, non-substitutable effects, then only one of those components is really social capital and the rest are something else.

But in that case, what are they?

It is the contention of this article that they are all very relevant to enterprise so, if they are not to be considered to be social capital, what name should be given to them - because they are still important components of the enterprise mix?

Identifying only one of them as social capital would allow the amount of social capital to be totalled validly into a single index, but that would not help in identifying the other components - which have been identified as forms of social capital by many commentators.

In conclusion it is suggested that a recognition of the importance of social capital is long overdue. In enterprise and business social capital can be as important, if not more important, than financial capital – but it is rarely included in business text-books, taught on business courses or assessed in business plans.

However our understanding of it is still incomplete and its nature is still being explored. In taking about this, one authority comments on ‘the relative immaturity of social capital as a concept’ but offers the view that: ‘Social capital has several adolescent characteristics: it is neither tidy nor mature; it can be abused, analytically and politically; its future is unpredictable; but it offers much promise.’

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Business First Rising Stars network lunch orthern Ireland’s most accomplished 40 under 40 gathered at the Academy Restaurant in Belfast to enjoy an outstanding opportunity to meet and do business together.

Sponsored by Willis Insurance and Risk Management and in association with Ulster University Business School, the 40 under 40 event is in its second year and is proving to be a very popular addition to the business diary.

Richard Willis, managing director of sponsor Willis Insurance & Risk Management, said: “As a company with a progressive outlook on business, we are pleased to be a part of the Business First Rising Stars – 40 Under 40. We encourage our young team to be dynamic, outward looking and innovative in our business and we feel that the Business First Rising Stars – 40 Under 40 concept celebrates young business leaders from across Northern Ireland.”

Speaking at the event Professor Marie McHugh, Dean of the Ulster University Business School said: “The Ulster University Business School is delighted to be associated with Business First Rising Stars – 40 Under 40. . This is especially poignant for us as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Business School in 2015.

“It is particularly delightful that many of

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rather than take the Rising Stars are Alumni of the Business flight across the School. I extend my warmest congratulations Irish Sea. to them, and to all of this year’s 40 Under 40, on their achievements to date, and wish them “That’s why every success for the future.”

Business First is leading in this Business First publisher, Gavin Walker, celebration and added that “this event is the only one of its it is a pleasure to have the Ulster University kind in Northern Ireland. It’s not a Business School and Willis Insurance & Risk competition but rather a celebration of Management as our partners in this event.” everything that is positive about our business community.

“Many of the Business First’s Rising Stars – 40 Under 40 have only experienced business undertaken in adverse economic times.

“They represent a resilience that we will all have to embrace if we are to rebalance our economy for the future and encourage our young people to look to business as a career and retain their knowledge, expertise Richard Willis, Willis Insurance and Risk Management, Prof Marie McHugh, Dean, Ulster University Business School, Dr Martin McCracken, and enthusiasm in Keynote Speaker, and Gavin Walker, Publisher, Business First Magazine Northern Ireland

Graham Waring, Jackie Wilson, Stephen McCann and Riki Neill

Lydia McClelland and Christine Adams

Janet Kerrigan, Wendy McKnight and Helen Blackley

Lisa Boyd and Andy Hill

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WIBNI CONFERENCE

Leading Global Ambition at Women in Business Conference I t’s less than one month until this year’s Women in Business Northern Ireland Conference, sponsored by Ulster Bank, on Thursday 21 May. Keynote speakers will focus on ‘Leading Global Ambition’ by exploring global trends, technologies, markets and mentors to encourage delegates to achieve their ambition irrespective of the size of the organisation which they own or operate in.

The seventh annual Women in Business NI Conference will be held at the Hilton Hotel in Belfast and will be hosted by Broadcaster and Journalist, Claire McCollum.

Rosaleen Blair, Entrepreneurial Global CEO of Alexander Mann Solutions, which has become one of the world’s leading providers of integrated and innovative talent acquisition and management solutions, with a turnover of £617 million and over 2,800 staff operating across more than 80 countries globally, will open the one day conference with a keynote speech.

Another guest speaker will be Chairman of Communications Clinic, media expert, popular commentator and author, Terry Prone, who has written novels and practical guidebooks, including This Business of Writing. Terry Prone will be joined by Grainne Kelly, CEO and inventor of Bubblebum UK Ltd, manufacturer of the world’s first inflatable car booster seat.

New to the Women in Business NI annual conference is this year’s ‘Mentoring Market’ which will be led by some of Northern Ireland’s most high profile and successful business women and is designed to enable and empower delegates with knowledge and skills to grow and develop their businesses and careers.

Delegates will have the opportunity to be part of a small group in which the mentors will inspire delegates to reach their full potential whether they are sole traders, women wishing to climb the corporate ladder, leaders hungry for growth or small, medium and large business managers, leaders or owners.

Mentors include a diverse mix of both selfemployed role models and inspirational business women from the corporate world.

Those delivering the unique mentoring sessions include Ellvena Graham, Ulster Bank Northern Ireland; Patricia O’Hagan, CEO of Core Systems; Tracy Hamilton, Owner of Mash Direct; Heather Cousins, Deputy Secretary, Resources in the Department for Employment and Learning; Jackie Henry, Senior Partner at Deloitte; Angela Moore, Managing Director,

Rosaleen Blair, Entrepreneurial Global CEO of Alexander Mann Solutions

Ravensdale Capital Investments LLC and Anne Higgins, General Manager of Boots, Belfast.

No Women in Business NI event would be complete without facilitated networking to build sustainable business relationships and delegates will have opportunity to link with likeminded business women throughout the day.

Roseann Kelly, Chief Executive of Women in Business NI, said: “Each year we encourage our members to challenge themselves both personally and professionally to reach their full potential.

“This year is no different and we have enlisted world class, inspirational role models and speakers who have taken a simple business idea and developed it into a global brand.

“Each of our speakers is at the top of her game yet each has taken a very different route in achieving the success they are enjoying today.

“We are also thrilled to be joined by some of Northern Ireland’s most successful and prominent business women who are leading the way in business and will take part in our unique ‘Mentoring Market’ to deliver intimate

mentoring sessions to delegates.”

To book a place at the Women in Business NI seventh annual conference and exhibition, log onto www.womeninbusinessni.com, emaillaura@womeninbusinessni.com or call 028 9022 4006. Price ranges from £80.00 for members to £100.00 for non-members plus VAT. Women in Business NI is the largest and fastest growing business network for female entrepreneurs and business leaders in Northern Ireland. Established 12 years ago, the network has more than 1,000 members spread throughout all industry sectors.

You can join Women in Business NI online at www.womeninbusinessni.com, follow the organisation on facebook at www.facebook.com/womeninbusinessni or on twitter @wibni.

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ON THE MOVE

Business First celebrates your success [1]Cathy Noade has been appointed Business Development Executive – Food to Go with Henderson Foodservice. Her new role will be growing and developing business within Food to Go sites and providing support and training for retailers. Cathy has previously worked in management roles in the hospitality and retail sectors.

[2] Grant Thornton hasappointed Francis Shields as Head of Professional Practices in Northern Ireland. With more than 13 years’ experience in the UK and internationally, Francis specialised in partnership taxation, and will advise businesses across the professional services sector in Ireland and the UK, on taxation matters.

[3] Grant Thornton Northern Ireland hasappointed Michael Barnett as Audit Director. With over 18 years’ experience in the local market. Michael will provide hands on assurance and business advice to a diverse portfolio of local businesses. He has a particular interest in advising cross-border and export businesses.

[4] Claire McKee has joined JPR as a Junior Consultant. Claire spent 18 months working in a marketing role for one of Northern Ireland’s largest utility companies before joining JPR in April 2015. She completed the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Introductory Certificate in Marketing and the CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing. At JPR, Claire is working on a range of blue-chip accounts, including Ulster Bank, Specsavers, and Henderson Group. She is also providing support for Community Relations Week, a major programme of events across Northern Ireland.

[5] Steven Grimason joins eircom with responsibility for managing relationships within the public sector throughout Northern Ireland. He holds a degree in Marketing & Advertising and has 19 years' experience in sales and business development in the UK & Ireland ICT market.

[6] Clare Guinness has been appointed Director for Corporate Services at Fane Valley Group, Northern Ireland's biggest farmers' cooperative. She will be responsible for M&A activity, corporate governance, board administration, human resources, health & safety and marketing/ communications across the group. She was previously regional business manager in Bank of Ireland and has a successful career in corporate and business banking, which spanned 17 years, over which time she was based in London and Dublin.

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[7] Una Bradley has joined the international development organisation Concern Worldwide in Belfast as Senior Fundraising Data Analyst.

She was previously a Systems Development Manager in Charles Hurst NI, managing a team of 20 software developers and database administrators. A key focus of her work with Concern will be analysing how the aid charity uses its data in order to promote growth and identify savings.

[8] Turner & Townsend, the global programme management and construction consultancy, has appointed Colm Lavery as Director of project management and cost management services in its Belfast office.

Colm joins the consultancy with over 20 years’ experience of delivering professional services in the commercial, education, healthcare, retail, residential and government sectors. Formerly leading EC Harris LLP in Northern Ireland, he oversaw the delivery of some of Northern Ireland’s most prestigious projects, including Titanic Belfast, the Lyric Theatre and Bangor Aurora

Aquatic & Leisure Complex, together with a multitude of education projects across the province, leading on successes with Ulster University and Magilligan Prison.

[9] Sarah McAndrews joins eircom as Service Delivery Manager and is responsible for overseeing a number of key Government and Enterprise customer projects. With 20 years working in the IT industry and over 15 years service management experience, Sarah is accredited with ITIL Foundation Service Management v3 and v4, and is a Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Practitioner.

HOTEL REVIEW

The Everglades Hotel, LegenDerry Damaged in a bomb attack in May 2014, The Everglades Hotel in the Maiden City has been sympathetically renovated and is as busy as ever before. Gavin Walker visited the hotel to see just what the best of the North West has to offer. ast time we had stood in the diamond in the centre of the walled city, Derry/Londonderry (from here on simply LegenDerry) the town had seemed small, mean and depressing.

But after what was an exciting year as the UK City of Culture in 2013, the City now exudes a feeling of expansiveness and there is a new found confidence in the streets.

From the Diamond you can glimpse the City Walls on all sides and see the four original gates that made this place so impregnable.

And with Austens, the world’s oldest

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department store in the world to our right, and Ireland’s largest Primark five minutes down the hill, our Maiden City visit promised to be... well, expensive!

But while our visit to the City was a definite success and we would encourage you to visit - or return - soon, the main reason for our travelling to Legenderry was to visit the Hastings Everglades Hotel which has returned to its full glory after the bomb attack of May 2014.

It’s often little things that make a visit to any hotel memorable. We expect comfortable clean rooms and friendly staff. The quality of

the food is guaranteed thanks to Hastings award-winning policy of sourcing as much produce as possible from Northern Ireland suppliers. But when you walk into the dining room at breakfast and are greeted by name by the dining room manager who wasn’t on duty the night before - that’s pretty impressive, and memorable.

Set about five minutes from the City Centre, the Everglades Hotel was a perfect choice for our family - and we would recommend it as a great location not only for visiting the many events planned for the City during the summer, but the easy access to the hinterlands of Donegal and south toward the Fermanagh Lakes adds to the value of the location. And of course there is free parking on site.

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BUSINESS IN COMMUNTY

Arts, Culture & Technology go hand in hand C ultureTECH has grown to become the biggest event of its kind in Northern Ireland bringing together the worlds of arts, culture and technology.

A number of local partnerships have formed with the festival to include, Seagate Technology, BT, Invest Northern Ireland, Learningpool, Arts & Business NI and iConnect.

Seagate Technology was the first sponsor to come on board in CultureTECH’s inaugural year, however, the firm upped its commitment in 2013 as it became the principal sponsor of the Junior programme continuing that level of commitment into 2014.

CultureTECH says Seagate’s commitment is integral to the junior programme, without Seagate, CultureTECH could not have established itself so quickly. The Sponsorship goes beyond cash injections with Seagate staff members volunteering to support the event.

The commitment of the staff was obvious with over 100 of its employees and their families attending an open Saturday activity during the festival.

Both partners established their goals at the outset of their partnerships. CultureTECH

understood Seagate’s strategy and how the festival fitted into it. The partnership creates a positive culture branding for Seagate with over 30,000 unique visitors to the CultureTECH website last year, and it received coverage from a number of media, including UTV Live and BBC NI. With some 43,446 people attending the 2014 festival, a whopping increase of 83% the CultureTECH Festival has become a huge success. Celebrating creative innovation with the themes of its events including, arts, business, design, education and skills, gaming media, music, science and technology, three quarters of those attendees were under the age of 25.

As part of the 2014 programme it featured, Minecraft Edu, a Women who Code event, 1,000 Digital Champions which worked with 1,500 students in schools to get them involved in technology and The starry Messenger, which brought work by seven filmmakers together.

Seagate know that creative industries are very much tied into technology and as a producer of storage technology see that underpins all the digital and creative industries.

The partnerships with Culture TECH allows Seagate to be associated with a very high profile and exciting event, which in effect is exposing families to STEM in a way that the

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company wouldn’t be able to do themselves.

As Derry~Londonderry celebrate the City of Science in 2015, CultureTECH plans on ramping up the education programme even further to reach over 30,000 young people.

Accordingly to festival organisers, it will potentially include a significant gallery exhibition combing arts and science, stage shoes devoted to creativity and technology, as well as a new Marker event, to rival the Dublin equivalent Dublin Maker Faire. This partnership has been incredibly successful for all parties and is a fantastic example of how arts and business can work together to create creative collaborations that are truly mutually beneficial.

The arts are a fantastic route to follow if you are looking to inject creativity into your business from employee engagement to public relations to cultural branding and staff development. Arts & Business NI can guide you in creating your perfect partnership.

E; info@artsandbusinessni.org.uk or T: 028 9073 5150.

Why Rewarding Good Business is the right thing to do

by Gilian McKee, Business in the Community here are doubtless many reading this article who would contend that it is the duty of business to be responsible and that this is not something that should be singled out for recognition.

In theory, that is a hard position with which to argue. The whole point of having a responsibility is that it should be addressed.

It’s a little like someone fulfilling all the duties of their job role; they’re only doing what is expected of them, so reward them for doing their job?

And yet, like so much in life, things are rarely that black and white. Any good manager knows that recognising and acknowledging a job well done is likely to ensure it is completed to an even higher standard next time around. It is also likely to mean that colleagues of the employee who has been praised will ‘up their game’ in a bid to win the same favour themselves.

The same holds true for companies that are committed to doing business responsibly.

Recognising one is likely to encourage others to follow suit. That has certainly been our experience over the last decade of Business in the Community’s Responsible Business Awards in Northern Ireland.

Launched in 2006, these awards have been a key driver of responsible business in Northern Ireland over the past 10 years.

Whilst we would never advocate the winning of an award as a good reason for undertaking a corporate responsibility initiative, we have certainly witnessed the power of the awards to inspire companies to implement or

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improve good practice around current activities.

Who could argue that recognising this is a bad thing when it leads to tangible benefits for wider society?

Whether it is the improved aspirations and self-esteem of a child who is given a reading partner from a local company, or the local manufacturer who implements an environmental management system and through the efficiencies it brings, can grow the business and provide more jobs in an area of high unemployment, or the employer that saves the life of an employee by providing cancer screening as part of a wellbeing programme – these are all small acts, but small acts that have a big impact and in our view, deserve recognition.

If that recognition drives other companies to take action, that outcome can only be positive. That’s exactly what rewarding responsible business is all about and why we hope to celebrate and share responsible business stories at our 10th Gala Awards Dinner at the Waterfront Hall on 4 June.

With almost 50 shortlisted entries from a range of companies across eight categories, the event will be an outstanding showcase of all that is good about business in Northern Ireland.

Join us and we know you’ll be inspired to do more to meet and exceed your own responsibilities. That’s not just good for business. It’s good for Northern Ireland.

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Who will win?

Northern Ireland Responsible Company of the Year sponsored by Allstate Northern Ireland Resource Efficiency Champion in partnership with WRAP Northern Ireland Business & Biodiversity sponsored by AES Employer of Choice sponsored by Arthur Cox Employability Champion in partnership with Citywide Employers’ Forum Community Impact Champion sponsored by firmus energy Education Partner sponsored by Allen & Overy Marketplace Leadership in partnership with Ulster Business

Gillian McKee

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MOTORING

Awesome Q3

by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINE motoring correspondent

ore crossover than traditional SUV, the Q3 is a rather more shapely chip off the Q7 the big brother in the Audi SUV line up, as far as styling is concerned.

Under 4.4m long,- the Q3 is a full 250mm shorter than a Q5 for urban drivers - this SUV has much to recommend it in terms of packaging.

And although the Q3 still has plenty of visual presence, it is of an understated Teutonic kind. The Q3 is in its own way quietly handsome because it’s so smart and discreet. It might offer the option of fourwheel drive, but it is an unashamedly road-biased SUV. I drove the 184 bhp diesel engine version which also had a brilliant seven-speed S tronic gearbox which is an automatic gearbox that can be used as a manual if you prefer. I found it a lot smarter than me so I left her in Drive mode and it was perfect for urban driving.

The 2.0 litre diesel engine is a beauty. Very quiet from inside and extremely responsive, it is capable of 136 mph and propels you to 60mph in just shade below eight second whilst returning a very respectable 50 miles per gallon.

In its mechanical layout, the Q3 has more in common with a regular five-door hatchback than a larger Audi SUV. There’s no six-cylinder longitudinal engine or Torsen-based quattro four-wheel drive system here.

Instead, a four-cylinder engine is mounted transversely, with the gearbox in line with it and, in all-wheel drive forms, the latest Haldex front-biased four-wheel drive system attached. It drives more like a conventional

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hatchback than a mud-plugging SUV. Excellent body control and rigidity ensure that the penalty for the car’s high-sided nature is minimal, and it responds with obliging agility to most demands made of it.

The interior is typical Audi. Fit and material finish have long been Audi strengths, but the firm has added an impressively fine-tuned aesthetic to its interiors in recent years. The Q3 typifies this effort to meld function and premium feel in a clean-cut, purposeful environment.

The dashboard is set high and its upper and lower sections are subtly canted away from the occupants. Soft-touch trim and brushed

buttons feature throughout much of the handsome matt black centre console. In daylight, it’s all pleasantly appealing, but at night the peerless use of subdued LED spotlighting bathes the cabin in a mesmerising glow. The rear of The Q3 is quite snug and moderate-sized adults should be able to fold themselves into the space adequately enough, but tall passengers might feel short-changed by both the legroom and the lack of headroom caused by an evenlower-than-it-looks rear roofline. If you are carrying a large load the rear seats fold down, although not completely flat, but this leaves you with plenty of space.

Voluptuous Volvo V40

by Ian Beasant, BUSINESSFIRSTMAGAZINE motoring correspondent

ften overlooked and in some cases often underrated – what a pleasant surprise the new Volvo V40 D4 SE Lux was.

It has the low slung shark face which features throughout the Volvo range – okay, it maybe is not a head turner, but it is a good looking and nicely understated car.

Volvo has introduced radical new engine technology into their cars, in the interest of lowering emissions and fuel economy.

The new technology means all Volvo engines will be limited to four cylinders and 2, 0-litres but without loss of performance the power with economy combination is the result of a new advanced fuel injection system called i-Art, as well as refinement in the turbo boosting system to give instant torque.

The V40 automatic I tried, which had a sixspeed manual gearbox, the increase in performance of the engine over its predecessor was obvious from the outset.

Using two turbochargers ensures that the power is there from take off and continues as speed builds.

The small turbo is designed to help at low speeds but as speed increases the larger one kicks in to ensure smooth and efficient performance.

The result is a 2.0-litre diesel that will accelerate from rest to 62 miles per hour in an impressive 7.2 seconds, on its way to a top speed of 142 mph And despite this sports car-like performance the D4’s CO2 emissions are just 109g/km which means you now only have to pay road tax of just £20 per year.

Volvo claims the average fuel consumption

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is now 67.3mpg (although during a week with the car I only managed to average around 52mpg.

Nevertheless the new V40 is an impressive all round vehicle which comes with a lot of nice touches The Interior is simply a very well laid out the driving position is excellent and the front seats really are probably the best you can buy, they offer comfort and support in all the right places whatever length of journey they feel just great. The whole car is bolted together well. The qualities of the materials are very and inside the V40 is a nice place to be.

My test car had some £9,000 of optional extras on it – proving just what Volvo has to

offer – ranging from a panoramic glass sun roof stretching the whole length of the car to Park Assist Pilot, which will park the car for you with you just controlling the accelerator and foot brake.

But it’s the new engines which are the biggest plus point for the company, especially as they are designed and built in Sweden, assuring it of technical independence.

The V40 is a prestige car which does everything well, it is fun to drive if a bit lazy on turn in, but that aside for a five door five seater hatchback the V40 should not be overlooked.

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MOTORING

Fiat Crossover

es – that is correct a reasonably small 4x4 beefed up Fiat Panda fitted with a 0.9litre 2cyinder turbocharged engine, a six speed gearbox and a very smart transmission that is superbly capable off road and comfortable on road. It certainly is a bit different and a niche car but for a change it is not a niche car with no point –hats off to Fiat

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for this one.

On first sight you can see the Panda Cross is dressed for the rough and tumble of outdoor pursuits with its red tow hooks and white running lights adding to the fussy look. But when you take in the plastic protection around the headlights, and matching armour around the flanks and rear, the Panda Cross

does wear its rough-and-tumble suit well.

The Panda is certainly well built and feels strong.

On the road, the Twin Air has to be worked typically hard to give its 89bhp – decimating the fuel economy – but it is at least characterful sounding, and easily punchy enough to pull the Panda Cross along, growing on you the more you drive it.

The Panda sits quite high on the road and for off-roaders ground clearance is as good as many of the larger 4x4’s on the market. The Panda Cross comes fitted with all-weather tyres which are excellent and make real sense. When you are using the Panda on daily road journeys the power is sent through the front wheels, so as soon as it gets slippery the transmission sends the power to wherever it is needed most. The Panda is even fitted with a hill descent feature; this means you can engage the transmission to take you safely down a slippy hill without even touching the pedals. You really have to go upmarket in the 4x4 game to get that as standard.

The driving position is elevated and with a height adjustable seat and steering wheel it is not hard to get comfortable.The interior follows the exteriors funky theme, featuring natural fibres and eco-leather bolsters that combine to give a Barbour-ish outdoorsy feel.

The controls feel strong and practical and are made to last. Passenger room is good, the boot is a little small but then again The Panda Cross is not really a shopping car but I would have no hesitation in recommending it as it really is good fun and very practical.

Hello Celerio!

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he latest addition to the city car class is the new Suzuki Celerio. With 84,000 units sold in the UK last year, the city car segment is now at its highest ever level – and growing like never before. In the last three years we’ve seen all-new models from no less than eight manufacturers, with countless others destined for release in the not-too-distant-future.

Suzuki has the latest arrival to the Asegment party, and is hoping to capitalise on the market’s growth with the addition of its all-new Suzuki Celerio. With it sees the demise of two Suzuki city cars – both theAlto and the Splash. When you look around you on the road the majority of new cars seem to fall into this segment.

The Celerio has been designed as a City car with a three cylinder 1.0 litre engine that is punchy around town and offers an average of 65 MPG. I also tried it on a longer motorway run and it performed well.

As you’d expect, the small Suzuki feels at home around town. The well-weighted steering gives confidence when negotiating tight streets, but doesn’t feel too heavy for parking. The turning circle is impressive too,

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while the slab-sided shape offers great visibility thanks to its large glass area.

Up front it’s easy to get comfortable. Every model gets a height-adjustable driver’s seat, which goes some way to compensate for the lack of reach adjustment in the steering wheel.

There’s enough room in the back for a sixfoot passenger to sit behind a similarly-sized driver, and if you’re prepared to squeeze there’s even a three-point belt for middle seat occupants.

There are various cubbies dotted around the cabin, including two cupholders and a decent-sized glove box. The boot is probably the biggest in the city car class, offering room for two decent sized suitcases.

The Celerio is a practical well-built city car that is fun and easy to drive, add in Suzuki’s excellent reputation for reliability and with prices for a car which has all the extra’s you will ever need at £8,999 it has to be a winner.

HOTEL

The Final Word Councils gear up to ensure community involvement in planning

by Chris Brown, MCE Public Relations

he return of planning powers to local councils and the creation of a two-tier planning system in Northern Ireland has been completed in the last few months to establish greater local democratic accountability.

The reform of planning has also set out to create a system that is more open, accurate and inclusive. The vast majority of planning applications will now be dealt with and determined by local councils, giving local politicians the opportunity to shape the areas they are elected to serve in.

Last month, the Department of the Environment released a practice note to the Councils on ‘development management’ specifically relating of Statements of Community Involvement (SCI). The note is designed to guide planning officers and local super councillors through the preparation of the SCIs that is required by each supercouncil.

It is now a statutory requirement that the local development plan for a particular area must be prepared in accordance with the corresponding SCI. The SCI for each council will set out to establish how a council proposes to engage the community and stakeholders in exercising its planning function and how it also sets out the steps that a council will take to facilitate community involvement. It is designed so that everyone knows with whom, what, where and when participation will occur in the planning process. When finalised, they are expected to present a vision and strategy for involving the

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community and stakeholders at various stages of the planning process.

Councils through the guidance note are encouraged to involve the community at an early stage with the likes of, but not confined to, local residents, elected representative, business interest, developers, community forums and voluntary groups. Particular mention is made of under-represented groups. This front loading of engagement is expected to facilitate a higher level of meaningful involvement and is a key objective of the local development plan system.

Forthcoming SCIs are expected to set out the policy for community involvement which meets the statutory requirement for consultation while at the same time being tailored to a council’s circumstances. The guidance also outlines that community involvement should use methods which are relevant to the communities concerned such as: • Local newspapers, TV and radio to carry stories about local development plans; • Marketing collateral to help promote and publicise outlines of plans and further opportunities to get involved; • Public exhibitions to bring people and groups together to allow them to air their views; • One to one meetings with selected stakeholders to identify specific issues and achieving alignment; • Focus groups and workshops which are useful for area based discussion and to explore issues in-depth.

Also important in the guidance is that opportunities should be provided for ongoing involvement as part of a continuous programme, not as a one off event which means there is always an open dialogue during the formative stages of a planning application.

The councils have been advised that the SCI should be fit for purpose recognising the limit of their resources. Any complex processes are being actively discouraged.

Once each council drafts their SCIs and has it signed off by resolution at a local level they will be sent to the Department of the Environment for agreement. The onus will then be placed on the Department to respond within four weeks to agree. Once agreed, it is likely that each council will publish via local advertisement that the SCI is available for inspection and also published on its website.

Clinton back in the White House?

Last month Hillary Rodham Clinton announced her intention to seek the Democratic Nomination for President in a low key video released on twitter. This was in stark contrast to her high-octane launch back in 2008. This time around Hillary’s campaign staff have been told to stick to a “we are humble” mantra. There can be no room for complacency when so much is at stake.

So the question is can she become the first Female President of America? Stateside the Clintons divide opinion. Many cite the fact that Hillary is too old to be President, that she is part of a by-gone era of American politics and exudes a sense of entitlement.

Of course there is no doubt that she is warmly regarded in this part of the world.

Indeed it is nearly 20 years since President Bill Clinton and the First Lady appeared behind bullet proof glass outside Belfast’s City Hall. It was 1995 and the Power Rangers (they were ‘a thing’ then) were supposed to turn on the Christmas tree lights but President Clinton beat them to it.

With a long list of foreign policy headaches it was and still is remarkable that the Clinton administration invested so much time and energy in the Northern Irish Peace Process. That interest and support has continued up until today. In fact, one of Hillary’s last engagement’s as Secretary of State was at the Titanic Centre in Belfast, when she urged calm following the flag protests. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if she stepped foot back into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.