Business Eye MarchApril 2018 by Buckley Publications

Issue 177 Mar/Apr 2018 £2.50 Voted best Business Magazine in Ireland 2005 and Magazine of the Year for Northern Ireland

Queen’s University Management School... Harnessing Academic Theory for Maximum Business Results Features:

Titanic Belfast… Driving International Business Tourism

Craig Walker… Revolutionising The Auction World

For more inFormation see pages 16 & 17

T i Ta n i c v e n u e s B e l fa s T t i ta n i c V e n u e s B e l fa s t. c o m

Belfast Met… A New Future For Apprenticeships

TiTanic venues BelfasT t itanic V enues B elfast.com

For more inFormation see pages 16 & 17

March/April 2018 ISSUE 177

Cover Story

Queen’s MBA & Mini MBA….Delivering Business Results

Laura Cowan….Driving International Business Tourism We catch up with Laura Cowan, Head of Business & Leisure Sales at Titanic Belfast, to talk about how Titanic continues to play a leading role in the rapid development of business tourism here in Northern Ireland.

Research clearly shows that MBA qualifications can help graduates to achieve tangible results, both career-wise and for their organisations. And Queen’s University Belfast has a growing reputation as one of the leading MBA providers on these islands. We talk to the Professor Nola Dundas-Hewitt of Queen’s Business School and John Healy, Managing Director of Allstate.

BEFTA’s 2018….Entry Deadline Is Approaching

The persuasive skills of professional barristers isn’t in doubt. But what’s often overlooked is the potential benefits businesses can gain by engaging the services of highlytrained legal professionals. We look at the fine art of of persuasion as practiced by Northern Ireland’s barristers.

Craig Walker... Helping To Revolutionise Auction World

Northern Ireland’s premier awards for small businesses, the Business Eye First Trust Bank Small Business Awards, will be staged for the fourth time on 31st May at the Crowne Plaza Belfast. And time is running out for companies and individuals to enter across the line-up of 14 categories.

Craig Walker is Group Operations Manager at Wilsons Auctions heading up the firm’s contracts and logistics department. But, in recent months, he’s been responsible for the development of a bespoke online web platform for clients and potential clients.

Cyber Security…..A Very Modern Threat To Every Business Business Eye turns the spotlight on the live issue of cyber security, examining how businesses of all sizes and across every sector can protect themselves against the ever-changing threat of cyber security breaches. We look at the threats and potential remedies with the help of experts in the field.

Rainbow, Northern Ireland’s largest independent supplier of telecommunications services, marks 20 years of business success this month. We catch up with Eric Carson…co-founder, owner and managing director of the company to talk about the Rainbow vision.

New Chef In Charge At Malone Lodge Hotel Michael Irvine takes over the reins as Head Chef at one of Northern Ireland’s hidden hospitality gems, the Malone Lodge Hotel in South Belfast’s university quarter. Experienced as a hotel chef and in local restaurant kitchens, he’s got ambitious plans for the food offering at the Belfast hotel.

Further Education Belfast Met...Apprenticeships the Key to Future Growth & Development

Aidan Sloane, Head of Apprenticeships at Belfast Met, talks to Business Eye about the rapid development of the apprenticeship concept from tradiitional ‘trades’ through to a wide range of courses aimed at students working towards employment in a range of different sectors. Apprenticeships, he says, are appealing to an increasing number of students and employers in today’s environment.

Peter Corry is one of the best known faces in Northern Ireland, and one of the most prolific singing talents to emerge from this part of the world. But, like a lot of other celebrity success stories to come out of Northern Ireland, he keeps himself firmly grounded.

Going For Gold At Productivity Nation The new Titanic Hotel in Belfast was the setting for Vodafone’s ‘Productivity Nation’ Conference recently, where over 100 senior executives gathered to discuss the issue of increasing productivity in the local economy.

Eye on Events

Gareth Dunlop Column

Eye on Entrepreneurs

Eye on Electricity

Eye on Motoring

Business Leaders Forum

Eye on Investment

Eye on Logistics

Moving On

Editor Richard Buckley Commercial Director Brenda Buckley

Business Development Manager Ciara Donnelly

Design Hexagon Tel: (028) 9047 2210 www.hexagondesign.com

Peter Corry… Singing Superstar Spreads His Wings

Eye on Agri Food

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The 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement gave all of us a chance to look back at what was achieved back in Richard Buckley April of 1998, as well as to take stock of EDITOR where we are now in political terms. Irish Magazine Editor of the Year 2005

Comment

“What no one can deny, even if they try, is that the Good Friday Agreement was the political catalyst for enormous progress on the ground here.”

t’s not a pretty contrast. Back then, and in April of all months, the messages were all about hope, about sharing, about a positive future for Northern Ireland. It’s important to note from the outset that the Good Friday Agreement wasn’t to everyone’s taste. It had its opponents. But we all came through a referendum campaign relatively unscathed and moved on to make sound political progress. There are those who harp that the Agreement wasn’t all that it has been cracked up to be. DUP politicians have called it ‘fundamentally flawed’ and, in Sammy Wilson’s case, a ‘shibboleth’. A curious choice of words from a curious politician! What no one can deny, even if they try, is that the Good Friday Agreement was the political catalyst for enormous progress on the ground here. The politics up at Stormont might have been stop and start since those heady days, but the progress has been non-stop. Take a walk around Belfast or Derry/ Londonderry. Look at the new developments, consider the hotels and restaurants, listen to the accents of the tourists. Feel the vibe and suck it all in. Then try to muster an argument that the Good Friday Agreement isn’t all that it’s been cracked up to be. Before anyone heads for their keyboard, the gloss of tourism, jobs and construction doesn’t hide the fact that we’ve got issues in areas like health, education and infrastructure. But stilll, with all of that, we’re in a much better place when we used to be. An entire generation have known nothing about the daily diet of violence that the older amongst us used to have to live with. That, in itself, is a remarkable achievement.

So we were right to celebrate the 20th anniversary of that remarkable achievement, an achievement which was the work of a group of politicians who look like giants alongside today’s pygmies. That might sound a bit harsh.....but it’s harshness doesn’t make it any less true. We were right, too, to celebrate those who gave of their time to achieve the Good Friday Agreement, people like Clinton, Blair, Mitchell and Ahern. The real shame is that there aren’t more of them around today. Imagine a US President interested enough in this small part of the world, and committed enough to give of his time? Or imagine a British Prime Minister with charisma and a dedication to the cause of progress in just one corner of his patch? Today’s incumbents just don’t cut the mustard, do they? And, as for local political leaders, do we have anyone to emulate Trimble, Hume, McGuinness, Mallon, McWilliams and Ervine? No, we don’t. And that’s a crying shame. What we do have in 2018 that they couldn’t have imagined in 1998 is the looming spectre of Brexit.....a piece of national self-harm so blatant that it almost defies belief. More importantly for this part of the world, it’s a Brexit that has driven a stake into the heart of the Good Friday Agreement. But let’s not end on a pessimistic note. We’ve conquered seemingly insurmountable obstacles in the past. We can do it again and we will do it again.

Image for illustrative purposes only ©Tourism NI

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Eye on News

Nigel Owens Speaks At IoD Event International rugby referee Nigel Owens MBE has told a business audience in Belfast of the importance of garnering life lessons to enhance their professional development as leaders.

he former World Cup Final match official was speaking at an Institute of Directors Northern Ireland (IoD NI) event, sponsored by BDO Northern Ireland. More than 120 business leaders from companies across Northern Ireland gathered at Ulster Rugby’s Kingspan Stadium for the lunch time event, which formed part of the IoD’s ‘In Conversation’ series. Addressing the audience, Nigel drew comparisons between leadership in the sports arena and the business world:

“When I take charge of a rugby match, my role is to ensure it remains within the parameters of the laws of the game and to do that, it is important that I have control. We’ve seen over the years when a referee loses control of a game, it can become a war. “To have that control, it takes referees to have had some experiences in life that help them manage the players and to manage the game. “It’s a bit like business in that you wouldn’t place an inexperienced person as a CEO of a large firm because they haven’t had the experience in that company or in dealing with people and managing people or had those life experiences themselves to help inform their leadership.” Nigel also told the audience at the sold-out event about his background, born and raised in a small village in south Wales, and the influence this has had on his career.

Nigel Owens with Kirsty McManus of IoD NI and Nigel Harra of sponsors BDO.

Having officiated at three Rugby World Cups, including at the 2015 Rugby World Cup Final between New Zealand and Australia at Twickenham, Nigel received an MBE in 2016 for services to rugby. Kirsty McManus, National Director, IoD NI, commented: “At the IoD, we believe very strongly in the importance of learning lessons from each other in our companies and sectors as we seek to raise our own standards and those in the economy as a whole. “The ‘In Conversation’ series aims to provide that opportunity and, hearing from those outside business, such as Nigel, further enhances our understanding of the skills required to be a truly great leader.” Nigel Harra, Senior Partner at BDO Northern Ireland, added:

“Nigel is probably the world’s best-known rugby referee so it was privilege to play a part in bringing him to Northern Ireland for this tremendously successful event. “A gifted communicator, Nigel has displayed extraordinary leadership skills in dealing, literally, with the giants of the rugby pitch and we look forward to taking some of his lessons forward into the workplace.”

For more information about the IoD including a calendar of upcoming events, visit www.iod.com/ni

Commercial Property Occupiers Urged To Prepare For Business Rates Revaluation

ll commercial property occupiers in Northern Ireland are being advised to provide Land and Property Services (LPS) with accurate information as part of the Business Rates Revaluation Process 2020 in order to avoid receiving an incorrect rates bill, according to a director at Lambert Smith Hampton. Businesses will receive electronic questionnaires from LPS this weekend – 1 April 2018 - which will request details on current lease agreements including rent, incentives and capital contributions. This information must be returned within a short time frame and will be relied upon in the valuation process. The next business rates revaluation for non-domestic

properties in Northern Ireland will come into effect on 1 April 2020. This will be five years since the last revaluation, and seven years since the antecedent valuation date of 1st April 2013. Mark Elliott, director of professional services at Lambert Smith Hampton, said: “A lot has changed in the Northern Ireland property market since the last valuation process. We have seen improvements across all property types and as a result of that we are likely to see an increase in most rates for the period from 2020. “LPS relies solely on the details it receives during this questionnaire process to apply property rates and we are aware of several appeals which are still ongoing from the last revaluation. The organisation will be keen to ensure that it is

working with clear and reliable facts. Due to a limited amount of available information following the last questionnaire a number of shopping centre schemes faced rates bills which were significantly higher than they should have been and following an appeal process they were reduced by up to 30 per cent.” He added: “Providing as much correct information as possible will support the integrity and reliability of the process to ensure that more businesses receive fair valuations which are reflective of the market rent of their properties. We are recommending that our clients take professional advice before submitting information, and we are providing detailed business rates advice in respect of all commercial property sectors.”

Eye on News

Belfast-Made Kids TV Series Bound for US and Canada Screens

Pablo, the groundbreaking Northern Irelandmade TV series starring for the first time a child with autism, is taking to the world stage, hitting US and Canada TV screens.

arking its transatlantic debut, Pablo, which is a live action and 2D animation series written and produced by pioneering Belfast company Paper Owl Films, has been snapped up by US network giant, Universal Kids, and Canada’s public broadcaster, CBC. Further global TV listings are in the pipeline for 2018 with distributor CAKE securing sales with Nat Geo Kids Latin

America, SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), ABC (Australia), Hunan (China), C&J (Korea), RTHK (Hong Kong), Majid Kids TV (Middle East and Africa), Showmax (Africa), and on Netflix in multiple territories. Pablo tells the story of a smart, funny and resourceful five-year-old boy with autism who handles his everyday situations in a novel way. Using magic crayons, he creates an imaginary Art World filled with playful animal characters which help him turn life’s little challenges into great big adventures. The result is must-watch viewing for all the family – a visually stunning, highly amusing and truly authentic representation of what life is like for a pre-school child with autism. Pablo is the first-ever TV programme to feature an all-autistic core cast. Additionally, every episode was inspired by the real-life experiences of children with autism and each one devised, co-written and voiced by young autistic talent. Pablo creator, Grainne McGuinness of Paper Owl Films, said: “We wanted to create an authentic

and compelling children’s TV series to encourage greater understanding and empathy around autism. We’re delighted that UK and Ireland viewers have so enjoyed the magic of Pablo and very proud that his exciting adventures are now going to be shared with millions of new children and grown-ups across the world.” Audiences in the UK and Ireland have already given Pablo a decisive thumbsup. Launched on CBeebies and RTEjr. in 2017, with the first half of the 52-part inaugural series televised over the peak autumn-winter season, the show has drawn record audiences and ratings. Series two is already in production. Ed Galton, CCO and MD of CAKE and Pablo executive producer, said: “Pablo has had a tremendous response from the international market. Entertaining, unique and sensitively produced, Pablo has inspired broadcasters to really get behind the series with campaigns aimed at increasing awareness and celebrating diversity among their audiences.”

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Eye on News

Well-Groomed Investment Sees Mccalls Of Lisburn Take Home Top Prize At Wedding Awards One of Northern Ireland’s leading men’s fashion retailers, McCall’s of Lisburn, has recently enjoyed a payoff after investing a substantial amount in its new look, in-store Wedding Room, which has increased bridal party sales by a massive 80% and earned the store the coveted ‘Grooms Wear Supplier of the Year’ accolade at the 2018 Northern Ireland Wedding Awards.

he store, which was first opened in April 1956 by Robert William McCall and is now in the capable hands of the third generation of directors - grandchildren Mark, Chris, Jill and Alastair - who ensure it continues to go from strength to strength, was also shortlisted in the nationally recognised Drapers Awards in the Independent Menswear Retailer UK & Ireland. Alastair McCall said: “At McCall’s it is important to us that grooms receive the same attention to detail which is usually reserved for brides. As a store, we pride ourselves in providing friendly customer service, so we were keen to offer a private and luxurious area where grooms could choose what can be the most important suit of their lives, and sometimes their own

biggest fashion investment – and we’ve seen how it has made a difference. Customers are comfortable and confident with our experienced and discreet staff who can look after every requirement for the groom’s big day.” Speaking of the Wedding Room, Mark McCall said: “Our long history in the trade means that between us we have a lot of knowledge and experience which we can share with happy couples. We are always looking for ways to improve our offering and The Wedding Room is something we are very proud of. We have had a brilliant start to the year and have already booked as many weddings in the first quarter of 2018 as we did for the entire last year. The feedback from grooms has been all about the excellent service and choice

we provide. And that’s nice to hear.” Boasting an extensive collection of contemporary suits with brands including; Magee, Carl Gross, Herbie Frogg, Tommy Hilfiger and Remus Uomo, the store offers both a buy or hire option for bridal suits at the Wedding Room.

To see the McCall’s grooms’ wear collection in its entirety, customers can call into the destination store at Market Street Lisburn, or make an appointment for the Wedding Room online at www. mccallsoflisburn.com/weddings

Eye on News

Wilsons Auctions announced as one of Ireland’s Best Managed Companies Wilsons Auctions, Ireland and the UK’s largest independent auction company, has been named as one of Ireland’s Best Managed companies in the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme.

he company, which demonstrated superior business performance for the ninth year running, was recognised at an awards gala dinner in Dublin. The Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme is celebrating ten years of recognising management excellence. The awards, in association with Bank of Ireland, culminated with the Best Managed Companies Awards symposium and gala, which was attended by over 1,000 people from the Irish business community. Spanning nine branches across Ireland & the UK, Wilsons Auctions is a progressive and forwardthinking company with a passion for continually finding new ways to offer first rate sales and services to both buyers and sellers alike. From property, vehicles, plant and machinery to general goods and highend valuables, Wilsons Auctions also manages the asset realisation process for private and public sector as well as law enforcement agencies. Dealing with the collection, valuation and auctioning of assets on behalf of its extensive client base, the auction company welcomes

over 500,000 physical visitors to its auctions on an annual basis as well as having an online bidding facility, welcoming customers world-wide. Commenting on the award, Peter Johnston, Wilsons Auctions Group Operations Director said, “We are delighted to yet again be named as a ‘Best Managed’ company in this year’s Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards. We are proud to have received this accolade now for nine consecutive years and is testament to the hard work and dedication given by the full Wilsons Auctions team ensuring we offer a first-rate service to both customers and clients.” In total 137 companies were recognised as Best Managed Companies and have a combined turnover of over €12 billion. Commenting, Deloitte Partner, Anya Cummins said: “2018 marks the 10th year of the Deloitte Best Managed Companies Awards programme, which has grown from 25 companies in year 1 to 137 in year 10. The programme represents companies from different industries with many industryspecific challenges but also common characteristics such as adaptability,

innovation and ambition. Their stories are the stories of Irish business this past decade, and they are stories of resilience, recovery and confidence.” Andrew Graham, Director, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “The Best Managed programme puts the spotlight on well managed companies that are generating strong returns, as well as growing their businesses through investment in technology, a customer centric approach and commitment to developing leaders of the future. The process and frameworks used by these businesses continues to serve them well in adapting to and succeeding in the dynamic and ever evolving global markets in which they now compete. We have been really impressed by not only the breadth of businesses

but also their ambition, drive and determination. I have no doubt that they will continue to set the benchmark for excellence in the years to come and we wish them continued success.” The Deloitte Best Managed Companies programme, in association with Bank of Ireland, promotes and recognises excellence in Irish/Northern Irish owned and managed companies. It is the only awards scheme on the island of Ireland that considers a business’ performance from every perspective. A family owned business, Wilsons Auctions was formed in 1936 in Northern Ireland and has grown to become the largest independent Auction Company in the British Isles with sites in the Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

Progressive Calls on Members to Have Their Say

A Pictured are Peter Lyttle, Society Secretary Progressive Building Society and Rosie Forsythe, Corporate & Community Fundraising Manager, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland

head of Progressive Building Society’s AGM in the Malone house on 26th April 2018 at 6pm, Northern Ireland’s largest locally owned financial institution is encouraging its Members to have their say on how the Society is run and cast their vote either by post or online.Progressive will be

donating 20p for every postal vote cast and £1 for every online vote to Cancer Focus Northern Ireland. Members can vote online at www. theprogressive.com or complete the Proxy Voting Form included in the voting pack and return it in the freepost envelope provided.

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Eye on News

Hotels Mark Expansion Milestone April will be a milestone month in the hotel sector as rooms break the 8,500 threshold with the opening of AC by Marriott.

s we mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the sector notes the significant growth it has undergone over the last two decades. In 1998 there were 4,903 hotel bedrooms. By the end of April 2018 this number will have risen to 8,577. This is a 91% rise in provision and a testament to the commitment of the hotel sector to the Northern Ireland economy. Janice Gault, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation (NIHF) says: “2017 was a strong year with consolidation in occupancy, growth in room rates and good trading conditions. We had a number of new openings and expansions over the course of 2017 and this expansion is set to ramp up in 2018 with two new properties already opened in the first quarter. We have had a reasonable start to the year with reports suggesting that

Easter has held up well. However, there are no official figures at this time.” Janice adds: “Tourism has continued to flourish with steady growth since 2012. The hotel sector has responded to this opportunity with an investment of over £500m in new product and a further £100m in refurbishment and upgrades. Job numbers will have grown by 25% by the end of 2018. It is important to note that hotel growth brings benefits to the wider hospitality industry. Increased guest numbers will bring more visitors to attractions and increase the number of meals and drinks consumed in local bars and

restaurants allowing these businesses to grow and prosper. More visitors and increased room sales are a really good news story for Northern Ireland.” However, there have been challenges and one of the greatest challenges for the sector has been the issue of staffing and skills. Recruitment of new staff and finding staff with suitable skills to take up supervisory and management roles has been difficult over the last eighteen months. New openings, competition from other sectors and a reduction in numbers of workers from within the EU have exacerbated an already difficult situation. Janice explains: “The NIHF is working

with a number of partners on addressing this situation but we recognise that as an industry, there are issues with image and we must adapt to the needs of an evolving society. Employers are working with staff on providing flexible hours. Many roles within the sector offer internationally recognised qualifications that allow people to travel, open their own businesses and have long and well-paid career paths. We just need to actively promote these aspects.” In the coming months, a further 800 rooms are set to open bringing the number of rooms in Northern Ireland to over 9,000 by the end of 2018.

The Slieve Donard Resort Is The Business With Events Up By 20% The Slieve Donard Resort & Spa has reported a 20% increase in its conference and business events.

estling at the foot of the Mountains of Mourne it is well known as one of Northern Ireland’s finest conference hotels boasting an extensive choice of banqueting and conferencing suites suitable for events of all sizes. Nora Hanna, business development manager of the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa said: “We have enjoyed a marked increase of 20 per cent in our conference and business events as the hotel remains first choice for local companies and organisations from around the world including USA and Canada. “As part of this increase, the average number of bed-nights has increased from two to four. This is not only good news for us, but for the local economy as a

whole. When we secure business events, especially residential conferences, the delegates have a busy itinerary including dinners and visits to the local tourist attractions which has a positive economic impact for Newcastle and Northern Ireland,” Nora continued. “We work closely with event organisers to help ensure all their requirements are met and can assist in arranging team building activities with the local outdoor activity centre which offers everything from coasteering to bouldering, field archery and mountain biking – ultimately adding to the overall experience,” Nora added. The Slieve Donard Resort & Spa offers the magnificent Grand Ballroom which is one of the largest function suites in Northern Ireland and the Chandelier Room which boasts stunning views over the mountains. In addition to this, business guests have the choice of six conference rooms within the purpose-built Centenary Conference Centre.

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Eye on News

Belfast and Portadown Audi Receive Audi UK Awards Belfast and Portadown Audi operated by leading vehicle retailer, The Agnew Group, is celebrating after winning three top accolades in an Audi UK-wide contest which recognises excellence among Audi centres.

his is the fifth year in a row that the Audi UK national awards have recognised the stellar work of the highly qualified teams in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland Audi won the overall number 1 market area in the UK taking into consideration all the major key business measurements. Portadown Audi won the top award for the best centre in their region, beating competition from Scotland and North East England. Meanwhile, Belfast Audi was rewarded the number 1 position nationally for their high levels of customer service and loyalty being delivered to their clients.

This is a remarkable achievement for a local company to come out on top in such a competitive environment. The awards were presented to the winning teams by Stuart Clarkson & Eddie Cassidy of Audi UK. Stuart Clarkson paid tribute to the work being done by The Agnew Group and in particular Audi Northern Ireland: “The consistency of The Agnew Group over the years is a testament to the professionalism of the Management Team and the businesses as a whole. These awards take into consideration key performance measurements across new and used car sales, service and parts

Belfast and Portadown Audi Receive Audi UK Awards: Celebrating success (L-R) Stewart Beattie, Head of Business; Richard Eakin, Managing Director and Richard Armstrong, Customer Services Manager.

performance, customer satisfaction measurements, staff training and retention. It is a competitive process and the Portadown and Belfast teams

have demonstrated their commitment and dedication to excellence which is driven by the ethos that the customer is at the centre of service delivery.”

An Exciting New Merger To Help Eradicate Global Poverty

Efforts to end extreme poverty will be taken to a new level with the merger of two of the longest established international development charities in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. 14

ar on Want Northern Ireland, which has 13 charity shops, are to formally re-launch as ‘Self Help Africa’, following a merger with the Dublin-based development charity. Self Help Africa also has offices in London, Shrewsbury, and New York. War on Want NI has been active for close to 60 years and is linking up with Self Help Africa to extend the reach and the breath of

its work in sub-Saharan Africa, where Self Help Africa is currently helping to improve the lives of close to four million people. War on Want NI supports agricultural development projects in Uganda and previously in Malawi, while Self Help Africa has projects in each of these countries, as well as farm and enterprise development activities in Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia and across several countries in West Africa. Self Help Africa merged with Gorta, one of the Republic of Ireland’s longest established overseas agricultural development organisations, in 2014. The combined organisation will have a total budget of close to £25m in 2018 and will provide agricultural, nutrition and income development support to over four million people in sub-Saharan Africa. The merger of War on Want NI and Self Help Africa was launched at Belfast City Hall with Claire Hanna MLA, chairperson of the All Party Group on International Development, and former Irish Government Minister Tom Kitt, who is chairperson of Self Help Africa, in attendance. Siobhan Hanley, Director of War on Want NI said that the merger would provide

renewed impetus and new opportunities for the organisation to reach more people, and make a more significant contribution to the work against hunger and poverty in one of the world’s poorest regions. “Both organisations share the same ‘self-help’ approach that provides marginalized farming communities with the resources they need to work their way out of poverty,” she said. “We have more than 200 fantastic volunteers who are the lifeblood of this charity, and who have been deeply committed down through the years. By coming together with Self Help Africa, we can deliver far more in our efforts to end global poverty, a task that we undertake on behalf of the people of Northern Ireland who support our work,” she added. As a former Irish Government Minister who was involved in negotiations at the time of the Good Friday Agreement, Tom Kitt said that he knew the power and impact that could be achieved from joint working. “This merger is a practical example of how we can continue to work successfully together to achieve more,” he said.

Eye on Business Tourism

Laura Cowan Driving International Business Tourism

Over the past six years, Titanic Belfast has played a fundamental role in Belfastâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s development, proving how significant tourism investment combined with passion and belief can be a catalyst for economic growth and help positively position a destination on the worldwide stage.

Eye on Business Tourism

itanic Belfast has been transformative for tourism in Northern Ireland and its recent phenomenal performance is proof that the attraction will continue to lead the way in attracting visitors from around the globe. It has not only driven leisure tourism but has been fundamental in reinvigorating Belfast’s event industry and has been a key driver for business tourism. Laura Cowan, Titanic Belfast’s Head of Business and Leisure Sales, has been with the company since prior to opening in 2012 and has overseen its growth as one of the city’s signature venues for events on a local, national and international stage. “The event offering at Titanic Belfast was always an integral part of the signature project, from initial idea, conception through to delivery. Our events have gone from strength to strength over the past six years, having hosted over 2,000 business and leisure events. These have ranged from the

G8 Summit Reception, BBC Sports Personality of the Year, Giro d’Italia Big Start and conferences across an array of sectors including Routes Europe 2017, European Federation of Animal Science to the World Conference of Credit Unions. We have served guests including Her Majesty The Queen, TITANIC director James Cameron and Presidential Candidate and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and have great events in the pipeline including BBC’s Biggest Weekend in May. These signature events really showcase Belfast and increase not only Titanic Belfast’s profile but the city’s presence nationally and internationally, and have been a key hook to drive growth.” Laura notes that these events, combined with a proactive sales strategy, have been a key driver for business tourism, and combined with constant innovation, improved air access, significant investment in local infrastructure and increased bedroom capacity has really made a difference.

“Since 2012, we have seen our outof-state business increase threefold. Belfast is becoming increasingly popular with event organisers. We know Titanic Belfast is a key driver but there is an intrigue factor about Belfast, as well as an authenticity and unique element that makes us stand out. Belfast has been transformed into an exciting and vibrant city with a warm welcoming feel. From an organisers point-of-view the city is compact and easy to move delegates around. There is a range of accommodation available to suit all budgets and we also have a fantastic choice of unique and interesting venues that help create truly memorable event experiences.” As a city, it has worked hard to build on this and is constantly evolving to meet market demand. “The hospitality, tourism and leisure industry will no doubt continue to increase in importance. We, as well as all the partners in the city, are working to keep improving and reinventing ourselves, as there is so much competition from other cities. We are committed to continuing to lead the way to ensure Belfast and Northern Ireland stays as the destination of choice for both leisure and business tourists. We, too, are constantly evolving. Last month, we added a new event space to Titanic Belfast - Hickson’s Point, a new shipyard themed hospitality space. With increasing visitor numbers coupled with the global awareness of Northern Ireland’s incredible hospitality offering, Titanic Belfast invested in Hickson’s Point, an authentic setting which will enhance both its visitor experience and event offering.

Laura commented, “Not only will Hickson’s Point shipyard fare build on one of the most popular themes in our galleries for visitors, but it will appeal to corporates, incentive travellers and tour operators for an array of events from breakfasts, drinks receptions to themed dining.” “This is not the only change we’ve made since opening. We have added two new venues to increase our offering for clients. The SS Nomadic, the last remaining White Star Line vessel, which is available for exclusive hire for a range of private and corporate events, from drinks receptions to fine dining, as well as The Titanic Exhibition Centre is a 6,000 square metre venue with space for exhibitions, community, sporting events and large scale banquets. We all need to continue to push the boundaries in service and innovation.” Although the outlook for the industry is positive, Laura acknowledges that there is still work to be done to address the skills gap with demand for quality hospitality staff outstripping the current supply. “With increasing visitor numbers, interest in local produce and more catering and hospitality outlets, hospitality needs to be seen as a career choice to sustain and grow our business tourism industry in the years ahead, especially as the outlook is so strong. Belfast’s renaissance is very much a reality reaping the rewards of a £1billion investment programme which has successfully revitalised, regenerated and renewed its tourism offering. It is firmly a destination of choice not just for leisure tourism, but business tourism too.”

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Eye on Cover Story

Queen’s University Management School.. Harnessing Academic Theory for Maximum Business Results Queen’s University lays a lot of emphasis on its strong links with the Northern Ireland business community, but those links are even more important at the university’s Management School, one of the highestrated of its kind around these islands.

ueen’s University lays a lot of emphasis on its strong links with the Northern Ireland business community, but those links are even more important at the university’s Management School, one of the highest-rated of its kind around these islands. Led by Professor Nola HewittDundas, the Queen’s Management School offers a wide range of courses for full-time, part-time and post-graduate students from its purpose-built base at the Riddel Hall campus on Belfast’s Stranmillis Road, ranging from accounting, economics, finance and management to its fast-growing MBA and Mini MBA programmes. Queen’s Management School has more than 20 years experience of delivering MBA programmes to executives from all over the island of Ireland. “Over those years, we’ve worked with a really wide cross section of business leaders from all sectors of the economy, and we’ve been able to see the growth in their knowledge, in their confidence and in their leadership skills over the course of their studies and beyond,” says Professor Hewitt-Dundas. “In fact, it’s been great to see our MBA alumni progressing to the very pinnacle of their careers. One recent student who I personally worked with is Suzanne Wylie, the Chief

Executive at Belfast City Council.” “But we’re definitely not complacent,” she continues. “Over the past year we’ve undertaken a review of our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and we’ve embarked on an accreditation process which will formally recognise our performance in the top 1% of business schools internationally. And that’s quite an achievement.” What’s more, the Management School is currently recruiting almost 20 new members of staff to keep up with fastgrowing student numbers. Today, Queen’s Management School has well over 2,000 students on its books, one third of them from outside Europe. The strong overseas student population at the Management School has been instrumental in helping to position Queen’s as a whole as the 24th more international university in the world. “I’m very proud of the fact that we have a vibrant and dynamic school which is always adapting to an uncertain economic and business environment.” Queen’s Management School recently launched its new-look MBA Programme, a qualification designed in consultation with leading organisations both locally and globally

“We work hard to ensure that the programme is kept up to date and that we respond directly to the needs of employers,” says Professor Hewitt-Dundas. “Our redesigned programme for 2018 including a distinct international focus, an emphasis on ethics and sustainability, big data and business analytics, entrepreneurship and personal development and leadership skills.” Each MBA and Mini-MBA at Queen’s is delivered through a well-honed teaching style in line with international best practice. Rather than standalone modules, the programme progresses through a series of developmental ‘mindsets’ in which academic topics are integrated through experiential learning. Students can choose their path around key areas such as strategy, leadership, finance, accounting, marketing and operational management. It differs from other programmes in its focus on the latest business trends including business and data analytics as well as its integrated personal development/ personal leadership element. “We believe that a Queen’s MBA will give our students skills for leadership in a really demanding business environment,” adds Professor Hewitt-Dundas. According to the Financial Times, the typical return on investment from a salary perspective for an MBA is 70-145% of pre-MBA salary. And Queen’s University is quick to add that its MBA is more cost effective than others available on the island of Ireland thanks to exchange rates and its part-time, full-time formats. Queen’s University is working

Eye on Cover Story

“ It’s vital that we work hard to develop the next level of business leaders here in Northern Ireland, and the Mini-MBA is a really effective way for managers to step up to that next level. Not everyone has the time or commitment for a full MBA... but everyone can manage a five-day programme.”

directly with business here on its innovative new Mini-MBA Programme, which is being supported by Allstate Northern Ireland, one of the province’s largest private sector employers. The Mini-MBA is designed and delivered by the Queen’s Management School’s executive education department, the William J Clinton Leadership Institute, also based at Riddel Hall in Belfast. As its name suggests, the MiniMBA is a condensed version of the full programme. It’s an intensive five-day programme delivered by experienced practitioners who set out to translate key business concepts and theories into the real world of business....via some tried and tested learning experiences.

Here’s the format.. Day One – Leadership & Strategy Day Two – Marketing & Sales Day Three – Finance Essentials Day Four – People & Performance Day Five – Case Study & Assessment

John Healy is Managing Director of American insurance giant Allstate’s Northern Ireland operations. The company employs some 2,300 people at its centres in Derry, Strabane and Belfast, where it is completing a new £30 million headquarters building beside Central Station.

He explains why his organisation is supporting the Queen’s Mini-MBA Programme. “It’s vital that we work hard to develop the next level of business leaders here in Northern Ireland, and the Mini-MBA is a really effective way for managers to step up to that next level. Not everyone has the time or commitment for a full MBA....but everyone can manage a five-day programme,” he says. “The programme ticks a lot of boxes. Aside from the actual learning in areas like finance and marketing, there is the clear benefit of networking and spending time with like-minded people. And there is also the fact that the programmes bring together different people from various backgrounds. “They learn almost as much, maybe more, from each other as they do from the formal teaching that is being provided as part of the programme.” John Healy also believes that it’s crucial for employers, and particularly large-scale employers like Allstate, to actively encourage its people to continue on the business education path. “That’s something that can only be positive. It doesn’t just help with personal and professional development. It also gives those who do it ownership of their careers.” That’s something that Professor Nola Hewitt-Dundas can readily agree with. “For us, it’s about building leadership capability, and that leads directly on to economic prosperity and to improved economic prospects for

this region as a whole,” she says. “But what is also important is the fact that our alumni tell us that it’s an enjoyable experience....a life-enhancing experience, if you like. Our programmes are interactive exchanges that everyone buys into, and they really do blend academic theory with enhanced business practice.” There’s no doubt, too, that the MBA ‘brand name’ also counts for a lot. And that is reflected through to the Mini-MBA. “Through the years, the MBA ‘brand’, if we can call it that, has increased so much in value and standing,” says Professor HewittDundas. “It’s not easy to get one..... and the business community here and elsewhere recognises that.” The next cohort of MBA students start their journey in this coming September. And these are students who have identified the benefits before signing on the dotted line. For maximum business results, career progression and individual and capability developnent, the Queen’s MBA and Mini-MBA programmes tick all of the boxes. Programme Dates for 2018 Mini MBA - 23rd-28th July 2018 MBA - commences September 2018 To apply for the Mini-MBA or MBA or for more information, telephone 028 9097 4394, email leadershipinstitute@qub.ac.uk or visit www.leadershipinstitute.co.uk

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Eye on AgriFood

Mid and East Antrim food and drink producers attend largest retail and hospitality event in Northern Ireland

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Cllr. Paul Reid visits Ann’s Pantry, one of the Mid and East Antrim food producers showcasing at IFEX 2018

A group of local food and drink producers represented the very best of Mid and East Antrim at the IFEX trade show in Belfast last week.

ith the help of Mid and East Antrim Food and Drink Network who had a stand at the show, visitors had the opportunity to taste some of the award winning produce on offer from Ann’s Pantry, Dairifresh Ice Cream and Hillstown Brewery. IFEX is Northern Ireland’s biggest and best food, drink, retail and hospitality event of the year. This year’s event took place at the Titanic Exhibition Centre from

20 – 22 March with over 6000 visitors through the doors. The show is a great opportunity for food and drink producers to showcase their products to over 5000 key buyers and retailers from across the world, with the hope of inspiring them to source their products. Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Cllr. Paul Reid said: “Mid and East Antrim is home to a vibrant agrifood sector with 1 in 5 people

working for the 1363 agri-food businesses based in the region. Agri-food is one of Council’s priority sectors, which we are committed to supporting and growing as part of Amplify, the Integrated Economic Development Strategy for Mid and East Antrim. This is an excellent opportunity to raise the profile of our local agri-food companies and the high quality of their products to people working within the retail and hospitality industry both nationally and internationally.” Mid and East Antrim Food and Drink Network aims to get agrifood businesses working together

to promote the sector, both inside and outside the Borough. The network offers a variety of networking opportunities and business mentoring support, informative workshops and an opportunity for businesses to showcase their products at a wide range of food events regionally throughout the year.

To find out more about the network contact amplify@ midandeastantrim.gov.uk or visit amplifymidandeastantrim.com

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Eye on Law

The Art of Persuasion Barristers are experts in the art of advocacy. They acquire their initial skills as students before honing and perfecting them at the Bar, where they undergo specialised ongoing training in Advanced Advocacy, and deploy them in the pressurised arena of the courtroom where the stakes are high and the ability to communicate clearly and persuade effectively is key.

n a daily basis, it is the role of the barrister to persuade a judge and jury to form an opinion based on the case and evidence that is put to them. However, last month, a team of female barristers from the Bar of NI, joined forced with the Women In Business organisation to host an event aimed at transferring these skills from the courtroom to the boardroom demonstrating that the skills of as barrister can be

transferred into other professions. The delegation from Women in Business, all highly skilled professionals within their own specialist areas visited the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, to learn from the experts in advocacy in how to be on top of your game when seeking to persuade and influence others and how to adapt your skills of negotiating. Three members of the Bar, Sarah Ramsey, Vice Chairwoman

of the Bar of Northern Ireland Jill Comerton, Marie-Claire McDermott all spoke at the event, which proved to be a huge success. Jill Comerton, who specialises in Commercial, Chancery and Planning Law and Mediation, said: “As barristers, we have a breadth of experience in exercising our persuasive skills in various arenas, whether in court, a tribunal, with clients, or negotiating with opposing Counsel

or solicitors. In our jurisdiction Counsel usually appear in a wide variety of cases involving a broad range of areas of law. Many of us are also qualified mediators or arbitrators. A barrister’s ability to be persuasive is not confined to a case’s unique circumstances. Our persuasive skills set is versatile and has been developed to apply to any situation. It is particularly useful in business. We have also acquired as Counsel a unique knowledge of the means by which we can be more persuasive and have seen at first-hand what does and does not work to persuade a decision maker. Our profession has a specific focus on advocacy, both written and oral, and we aspire to understand the essence of being persuasive and to excel in this Art.”

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Eye on Law Jill concluded: “The Bar of Northern Ireland’s training presentation to Women in Business was a fantastic opportunity for us to share our knowledge, experience and skills, and suggest practical ways in which the attendees could be more effective and irresistible in their persuasion.” Marie-Claire McDermott was also a key speaker at the event and understands how everyone in the business world should develop their skills in persuasion in order to be successful in their respective fields. She said: “This was the first of what we hope will be many events in which the Bar Council

of Northern Ireland has worked in partnership with the Women in Business organisation. We were particularly proud to welcome them into the courtroom of the beautiful Royal Courts of Justice. When the building was opened in 1933, the programme of the event did not feature a single woman. Things have thankfully moved on and there is increasingly greater equality in numbers of women at the Bar and the appointment in 2016 of Mrs Justice Keegan and Madam Justice McBride to the High Court Bench has started to address the issue of female representation in the judiciary, though more work still needs to be done.”

She continued: “Women at the Bar are Women in Business. At the Bar we perhaps don’t really appreciate the skill set we have and how it is transferrable to many lines of business. For all women in business, whether it be the electrician to the IT consultant, to the retailer, it is very important for them to put their best foot forward and present themselves well. “After the event, I spoke to a number of attendees and they all

mentioned how they thought that going into court was all about who could shout the loudest. We hope that we conveyed the message that there is much more to persuading a judge than simply being heard. There is an art in being persuasive. We hoped that last night was an encouraging and positive evening in helping Women in Business to promote and empower themselves, and we look forward to welcoming them in the future.”

“ Our persuasive skills set is versatile and has been developed to apply to any situation. It is particularly useful in business.”

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Eye on News

Hotel Launches Depression Initiative Mindfulness is at the forefront of a new partnership launched today by Belfast’s Bullitt Hotel and Northern Ireland’s depression charity, AWARE.

Frank Liddy, mindfulness ambassador, AWARE; Bullitt’s Yasmin Brown; and Petra Wolsey, group marketing director, Beannchor launch a new partnership between Belfast’s Bullitt Hotel and Northern Ireland’s depression charity, AWARE.

he partnership, which will run until 2019, will help to raise vital funds for the charity and educate customers and employees on the importance of checking-in on their mental health. As well as raising awareness around the charity’s work, Bullitt employees will host a range of fundraising activities and events, including a special mindfulness workshop this Friday, 30th March. Announcing the partnership, Petra Wolsey, group marketing director for Beannchor and a board member of AWARE said: “We are proud to support the work of this incredible charity, which is making great strides in raising awareness about depression and providing support to those in need right across Northern Ireland.” AWARE, which is the depression charity for Northern Ireland, works with people with depression and bipolar disorder and carers for people with the illness, through a network of 25 support groups in rural and urban areas. Bullitt employees are already stepping up to the fundraising challenge. Receptionist, Yasmin Brown will run the Connemara Half Marathon

and the full Belfast Marathon this year to raise funds for AWARE. The hotel is also giving customers the option to make a donation to AWARE by paying £1 for large bottles of its specially filtered still and sparkling water, which will be served in its Taylor & Clay restaurant and the Bullitt lobby. Bullitt will host a unique workshop with AWARE Mindfulness Practitioner, Frank Liddy, as part of AWARE’s Mindfulness Programme on Friday 30th March 30 from 7pm - 9pm. Welcoming the partnership, Frank Liddy, Mindfulness Practitioner for AWARE said: “Mindfulness is a world-recognised technique to help you reduce stress, cope with challenges and improve focus. It can help you to increase confidence, accept difficulties in your life using self-compassion, silence your critical self and gain peace of mind. This really is an amazing opportunity for people to check-in on their mental health.” Tickets for the Bullitt Mindfulness Workshop can be purchased for £10 with all proceeds going to AWARE. For more details, or to book your place, email: events@bullitthotel.com

Stephen Meldrum Takes Top Job At Grand Central The directors of Hastings Hotels have announced that Stephen Meldrum has been appointed General Manager of the new Grand Central Hotel.

r Meldrum joined Hastings Hotels in 2002 as restaurant manager of Ballygally Castle before working his way to become the hotel’s general manager. He has since held the role of general manager at the Everglades Hotel, the 5-star Culloden Estate & Spa and is currently at the Slieve Donard Resort & Spa having managed it to one of the finest awardwinning resort hotels in the UK and Ireland and is the incoming president of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation. Howard Hastings, Managing Director of Hastings Hotels said: “In order to find the best person to take the helm of the new Grand Central Hotel, the role was advertised heavily throughout Ireland and the UK and we are delighted to have appointed Stephen Meldrum as

the general manager. As one of the leading figures in Northern Ireland’s hospitality industry along with a wealth of experience and proven track record of excelling in luxury hotel management, Stephen is without doubt the right person to take on one of the top hotel jobs in Ireland and we wish him the very best in his new role.” Stephen Meldrum said: “I am honoured to have been appointed general manager of the Grand Central Hotel. The building programme is on schedule and I am looking forward to the challenge of working towards the opening in June of what will be Northern Ireland’s biggest hotel. At 23-storeys high, the views alone will be unbeatable, and I will bring my 20 years of experience to ensure the hotel

leads the way and that guests will enjoy a memorable stay every time.” The Grand Central Hotel will offer 300 luxurious bedrooms,

three restaurants and bars and the Panorama reception lounge for up to 100 people, making it the ideal base for leisure and business guests.

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Programme Portfolio 2017/18 Whether you are starting out and looking to fast-track your career or seeking that extra advantage in business, the William J Clinton Leadership Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Programmes are designed to give you the skills to succeed at every level. Wherever you are on your journey, our programmes are tried and tested to deliver effective results for both individuals and their businesses.

EMPOWER YOURSELF To find out more about our 2017/18 Programmes and to book your place: 028 9097 4394 leadershipinstitute@qub.ac.uk www.leadershipinstitute.co.uk

Eye on Technology

Craig Walker... Helping To Revolutionise The Auction World

Eye on Technology There are still plenty of those for whom an auction means eyeballing and touching the goods, sitting in the auction room and watching the auctioneer at his or her work. But, for increasing numbers of people, the auction experience means sitting in front of their laptop or tablet and deciding at their leisure whether to bid or not.

he world of the auction, whether it’s for cars, commercial vehicles, household goods, properties or even criminal assets, has changed. And Northern Ireland-based Wilsons Auctions, nowadays one of the biggest auction groups in the British Isles, is at the forefront of that change. At Wilsons Auctions’ Mallusk HQ, Craig Walker is Group Operations Manager heading up the firm’s contracts and logistics department. But, in recent months, he’s been responsible for the development of a bespoke online web platform for clients and potential clients. It’s a platform that allows clients to sell - and to buy - an unlimited number of items at one time, and in its first three months of live operation, it was responsible for selling assets worth well over £2 million. What’s more, Wilsons Auctions’ online success has been noticed both by international customers and by Government Agencies operating well outside of the British Isles. Craig Walker joined Wilsons Auctions 20 years ago after completing an outdoor pursuits qualification. “I had visions of a career spent in the great outdoors, but I came back from England, had a chance meeting with Ian Wilson (the founder and driving force behind Wilsons Auctions) and was offered some work experience. “That spell of work experience turned into a full-time job and I’ve done lots of different things around here... cleaning and preparing cars, helping out at auctions, clerking and – eventually – working as an auctioneer myself.” Craig went on to become Car

Auction Manager at the busy Mallusk auction centre, moving on to take responsibility also for auctioning government assets, HGV’s and the items which come up for sale through Wilsons Auctions’ contracts with various UK police forces and crime agencies. “And that can mean everything from houses and villas in Spain to luxury yachts, supercars, jewellery and everything in between. I’ve joked before that the only thing I haven’t sold is a train... and maybe that will happen some day.” Through his 20 years, he’s watched Wilsons Auctions grow as a company from its two branches in Mallusk and Portadown to nine auction centres and eight remote depots across Northern Ireland, the Republic, England, Wales and Scotland... and its headcount grow at the same rate, now crossing the 400 threshold. “But this is still every inch a family-run company and I think that shines through in everything that we do. It’s something that a lot of our clients notice. And that ethos runs right through to the decision-making process. If one of us comes up with a good idea, we go to Peter Johnston (the Group Operations Director) and it can be put into action very quickly.

and gold bullion auctions online. “It’s a process that suits a lot of customers and it can be good for us too in that it avoids expensive transportation, storage and other handling costs.” “But, for other Wilsons Auctions customers, it’s an idea that will never catch on. They enjoy the drama and the experience of the live auction.” One of Craig Walker’s responsibilities is contracts and Wilsons Auctions has some big ones. There are the proceeds of crime contracts with the Home Office and UK police forces, and there are also large-scale contracts with vehicle franchises like the Volkswagen Group, for whom Wilsons Auctions puts ex-fleet and contract vehicles under the hammer. “One of the big advantages of the online era is that we can cut back on transportation costs to move these vehicles. If a particular ex-fleet car is somewhere in England and the potential buyer is here.....it’s not a problem these days,” adds Craig Walker. The online offering, of course, has been made even more attractive by the advent of tools such as 360-degree walk-around imagery and high quality video content.

“ Nowadays anything can be sold online... we’ve sold luxury cars, jewellery, even helicopters. We also held successful movie memorabilia and gold bullion auctions online.” “None of us, including Ian Wilson, are afraid to get our hands dirty in the everyday running of the business.” Wilsons Auctions has been running a wide range of auctions for many years now. Online activity started some seven or eight years ago, and has grown steadily since then. “The concept of online auctions took a bit of time to develop in the public realm. People, after all, were wedded to the idea of seeing something in the flesh. But nowadays anything can be sold online... we’ve sold luxury cars, jewellery, even helicopters. We also held successful movie memorabilia

Continued online innovation means that new customers are being drawn in all the time. And those customers don’t have to come from local markets. Online auctions mean that the customers can be based anywhere. “For Wilsons Auctions, it’s all about having a ‘can do’ attitude. And we think that that’s something that comes naturally to us. It’s always been our ethos around here.”

Eye on Telecommunications

20/20 Vision Business Eye Q&A With Eric Carson

Rainbow, Northern Ireland’s largest independent supplier of telecommunications services, marks 20 years of success and growth in April 2018. We took time to sit down with Eric Carson, co-founder, owner and Chair of the company since its inception to talk about his career, his company and his vision.

Give a brief outline of your career to date. It is sometimes hard to believe I recently “celebrated” 50 years in business. My first job was at Belfast-based Telephone Rentals where I worked for 30 years, progressing through the company from apprentice to chief engineer before being appointed the company’s General Manager in 1983, the first person from an engineering background to do so. In 1988 the company was taken over by Mercury Communications, one of the first organisations to challenge BT’s monopoly of the market, and I stayed with them for a further seven years. In 1995, I joined TSI (Ireland), and in 1996 was concurrently appointed the head of Orange in Northern Ireland. TSI became Rainbow Telecoms in 1998 after Martin Hamill and I jointly purchased the company, a former colleague at Telephone Rentals, and while the rest, as they say, is history, it is the future of the company that we are equally excited about.

Eye on Telecommunications How and why was Rainbow Communications founded? Martin and I both felt that there was a valid gap in the market that we could utilise, namely being able to offer all our business customers a choice and provide cut-price calls by working with a variety of network suppliers. We pioneered the local installation of the Smart Box which allowed us to offer those lower prices, and while this didn’t go down too well with the competition, it was a significant step as it was one of the first times business customers had a choice. After two years as TSI (Ireland), together we rebranded the company to Rainbow Telecom and we worked with a team of five people out of the Dundonald Enterprise Centre on the outskirts of Belfast providing lines and call services What competition existed in the marketplace 20 years ago? Even though the telecoms industry had been deregulated in the 1980s, the sector suffered from a duopoly of power between BT & Mercury. This was subsequently abolished in 1991, and since then, competition has grown both locally and across the UK. What hurdles did you face? The possibility and opportunities for growth were not immediately apparent as BT and Mercury had a strangle hold on the market, so to establish a local brand and convince businesses to trust a new local telecoms business was challenging, but our business model proved successful. The wholesale markets were not as mature and there weren’t a lot of options in the beginning. Not like today where there are multiple wholesale suppliers and complimentary technologies. What does your typical day entail? I’m up early to walk my dog, before having a healthy breakfast and catching up on emails and the day’s business news online, which is certainly different to when I started out. Once in the office my day flies in, whether it be chairing a board meeting, or discussing business decisions with my managers and directors, I’m still very hands on. I also enjoy walking around the office saying hi to everyone and see how things are going. In the evening I enjoy spending time with my family and making sure the dog gets enough exercise. What are the most challenging aspects of your job?

With Rainbow essentially being a family business, we have a friendly and close relationship with all our staff. When things go wrong, which they do, it can be difficult to have a tough conversation with an employee. It’s certainly not an aspect of the job I enjoy. Another major challenge is evaluating new technologies that always promise the earth. At Rainbow we only add products and services that deliver value in terms of productivity and/or cost savings to our customers. It’s always a gamble bringing in a new technology to the business, but thankfully we haven’t got it wrong too often. What are you most proud of (work-wise)? • Reaching 50 years in the industry, as terrifying as that sounds! • Growing a successful local business that supports 10,000 businesses and we continue to grow. • Adding to the NI economy through the employment of over 100 employees, thereby supporting and championing successful business practices. How do you get the best out of the people who work for you? At Rainbow we operate in an environment of trust, so we like to let our employees get on with their jobs. This builds a relationship where they use their initiative to solve problems and issues without unnecessary escalation to crisis status. List three main attributes or skills that help you do your job. 1. A cool calm head – There’s no point in getting worked up, let’s just find a solution. 2. Analytical thinking – When dealing with multiple, and often new technologies and a plethora of suppliers, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with information. Clear thinking will always help you reach the correct decision. 3. Having a sense of humour – When everything is going wrong, a good sense of humour can always diffuse the situation and bring things back on track. And when things are going right, a good laugh can break the day up, work isn’t always about being serious. What piece of advice would you give a 20-year-old you? Give it a go. You don’t have to take major risks to be successful. Be true to yourself and the business you want to run and work in.

What piece of advice would you give a 20-year-old considering a career in telecoms today? a) Get your training. b) Get hands on experience, nothing beats it. Get exposure to all aspects of the industry before deciding on which area to specialise in. c) Once you’re an engineer, do every manufacture/supplier training course you are offered or can find. There’s nothing like learning from the people who made it. What’s next for Rainbow? a) Continued growth through the expansion of our service provision with new technologies and supplier offerings. b) Build the brand so that it’s even more recognisable What industry or technology developments are you most excited for in the immediate future? Where do you see telecommunications in 20 years’ time? With the end of ISDN in 2020 we have seen a stepped change in technology recently with the development of ‘Cloud’ and SIP trunk communication solutions. In the immediate future I expect to see virtual meetings and remote working become the norm and landline calls redirected to mobiles becoming an essential for the business person on the move. With the development of 5G, virtual reality and the ‘Internet of Things’, I think the next 20 years will be very exciting for the communications industry. These technologies will make science fiction a reality, just imagine being a hologram in a meeting, when you’re really at home. What’s your greatest passion outside work and family? As a founding member of the Milford Everton Football Club – now Armagh City, I have always had a keen interest in football. These days I’m an avid follower of Chelsea FC and enjoy travelling to Stamford Bridge as often as I can. Another love of mine is horse racing and I regularly attend Down Royal race meetings. Four years ago I took the plunge and bought a share in a racehorse which makes attending the races even more exciting when your own is running. And finally, if you could have done anything else for a living, what would it be? A successful racehorse trainer.

Eye on News

ABC Council Steps Up Tourism Focus After Solid Year Of Growth Tourism growth across Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council continues apace, with solid progress made delivering an annual 10 percent rise in economic impact by 2022.

hat was the message at the Council’s second annual Tourism Conference which took place at the stunning Brownlow House, Lurgan, which was attended by key partners from the thriving local tourism sector. Attracting more visitors and increasing tourism spend from local, national and international visitors are at the heart of the Council’s strategic tourism blueprint launched last year and which will help drive a significant drive in growth within five years. Lord Mayor of Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon, Alderman Gareth Wilson, said: “With a concerted, collaborative focus on driving our tourism economy forward, by raising our profile and by proactively seeking and securing opportunities on a global stage, the borough is firmly on track

to meet our ambitious targets for growth. “Backed by a compelling tourism offer and real commitment and enthusiasm, we have been actively out in the global market seeking opportunities to encourage even more business to the broad range of sectors within the hospitality industry here. “The environment and the conditions are right for further progress and we urge our local companies and the industry at large to think about how, together, we can continue to ensure that we have a marketleading product which more and more international visitors can experience.” Delegates at the inspiring event heard from a range of speakers across the tourism sector, including Tourism NI Chief Executive John McGrillen, who outlined his organisation’s target to double the value of tourism across Northern Ireland to £1.7 billion by 2030, creating around 20,000 jobs. ABC Council Chief Executive Roger Wilson also updated the sector on the significant breadth of activity delivered since the council’s first Tourism Conference took place last year. Since then, the Council has spearheaded the launch of a new destination website

Pictured attending Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council’s annual Tourism Conference are (l-r) Ghilian Campbell, Destination Sales Officer, ABC Council, John McGrillen, CEO of Tourism NI, Lord Mayor Alderman Gareth Wilson, the borough’s CEO Roger Wilson and Leona Hill, project manager at Edgeways Immersive Solutions, a local tech company specialising in virtual and augmented reality tourism experiences.

and integrated social media platforms and on-the-ground attendance at a variety of international tourism promotion events in association with partners Tourism NI and Tourism Ireland, reaching more than 1,500 tour operators across nine global markets. The Council has for several years been busily preparing the groundwork for growth by looking strategically into the future, examining its objectives, its priorities and its current and future investment needs in a process

was always about safeguarding its strengths and adapting to the future needs of increasingly discerning international visitors. Achieving a significant ramp-up in visitor numbers and, crucially, increased spend, a key focus will be on establishing Armagh City and the orchard hinterland as a destination centrepiece, in addition to pursuing new tourist accommodation development opportunities borough-wide.

FastHouse Lands 470-lodge Contract at Center Parcs Longford

Stephen Bell, Managing Director of FastHouse, Alan Gammon, Jackson Design Associates, Kevin Lagan, Chairman of the Lagan Group of Companies and Brian Kennedy and Cormac Fitzpatrick from Sisk & Son, the project’s main contractor.

imavady based manufacturing firm, FastHouse, has been awarded a major contract for the manufacture and installation of 470 holiday lodges at the eagerlyawaited Center Parcs in Longford. FastHouse’s Installation Teams

have already commenced work on the 10-month build programme at the 400-acre Longford Forest site in Ballymahon. It is set to open in 2019. It was awarded the deal by Ireland’s largest building company, John Sisk & Son, which is the Main Contractor of

the €233m project. Sisk will oversee the construction of the lodges, 30 apartments and the state-of-the-art centre buildings (including the iconic Center Parcs Subtropical Swimming Paradise, restaurants, bars and shops). Stephen Bell, Managing Director of FastHouse, said: “We are delighted to have this opportunity to be part of the construction of the first Center Parcs in Ireland. This is an exciting project to be part of and marks FastHouse’s first major step into the Irish market. “We have already completed numerous housing projects throughout Northern Ireland and England over the past 15 months and Ireland will now be a core market for the Company across our modular housing and leisure lodge products.” FastHouse manufactures modular open and closed panel timber frame systems for the construction industry. Its highly automated manufacturing facility extends to 200,000 sq ft with FastHouse’s closed panel product its primary focus for the housing market. FastHouse’s rapid

build system means it can construct a set of semi-detached homes to weathertight stage in just two days. Brian Kennedy, Sisk Project Director, added: “Following a detailed procurement process Sisk are delighted to award the timber frame package to FastHouse. We are looking forward to working together to deliver this exciting project.” The contract win represents the culmination of a very successful 12 months for FastHouse. In March 2017, the company completed its first high profile project – the manufacture and installation of 14 holiday lodges at the award-winning Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel & Spa in Enniskillen. Following that its production lines were utilised for a number of Northern Ireland and UK house-building contracts. Such has been the growth of the company, it has installed its third production line leading to a further recruitment drive to coincide with the introduction of a second manufacturing shift. By April the business will hire 30 additional staff to bolster its current team of 60.

BUSINESS EYE FIRST TRUST BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

Eye on Awards

BUSINESS EYE FIRST TRUST BANK SMALL BUSINESS AWARDS

Award Categories & Criteria

There are fourteen categories for the awards this year... AGRIFOOD BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

INNOVATIVE BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD

Northern Irelandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s leading small business operating in the agri food sector, to include food and drink producers, farm-based enterprises and companies providing products and services to the agri-food industry here.

Open to companies operating in any business sector, this award will go to the organisation which best illustrates the most effective use of innovation through investment in innovative practices, leading edge products and/or services to contribute to overall business success.

SPONSORED BY

START-UP BUSINESS OF THE YEAR AWARD This award will recognise Northern Ireland’s most promising start-up enterprise. The award will go to a young company of one year old or less since establishment which, in the view of the judging panel, best illustrates what can be achieved by start-up businesses across any sector here in Northern Ireland.

48 HOUR DECISION

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Lending criteria, terms and conditions apply. Credit facilities are subject to repayment capacity and financial status and are not available to persons under 18 years of age. Security may be required.We aim to provide a decision within 48 hours upon receipt of all required information (48hrs excludes Sat., Sun. & Bank Holidays) to fully assess and process each lending application. First Trust Bank is a trade mark of AIB Group (UK) p.l.c. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.), incorporated in Northern Ireland. Registered Office 92 Ann Street, Belfast BT1 3HH. Registered Number NI018800. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. *Sampled on 75 cases from 11.4.16 to 3.6.16. ***Call charges may vary please refer to your service provider.

Eye on Hospitatality

AC Hotel Belfast Now Open for Business AC Hotels by Marriott, the international lifestyle brand with over 100 properties world-wide, has opened the doors of its first hotel on the island of Ireland in Belfast on schedule.

he all-new AC Hotel Belfast brings 80 jobs and a ‘new way to hotel’ to the city. Situated on the waterfront in the heart of Belfast Harbour’s landmark City Quays development, with excellent transport connections and close proximity to the city centre, AC Hotel Belfast embodies the famous AC Hotels’ frictionless design ethos which has made it the hotel-of-choice for leisure and business travellers around the world. On the basis that purposeful design improves lives, every detail of the 188room AC Hotel Belfast has been mindfully curated to provide what guests most need and value. The result is a singularly guest-oriented environment with sleek, contemporary design features and an elegant, European-inspired ambience. “Belfast has established itself as a leading business, hospitality and tourism destination and we are delighted that Marriott International is entering Northern Ireland with the opening of AC Belfast,” said John Licence, VP Premium & Select Brands Europe, Marriott International. “As our portfolio expands, we continue to seek designdriven properties that offer our creative and entrepreneurial guests distinctive architecture and thoughtful design that is both affordable and accessible, and this hotel is a perfect example of that.” Owned and developed by Belfast Harbour, the £25million AC Hotel Belfast is notably the first built-to-specification AC Hotel in the UK. Among the custom-

designed features set to make it one of the brand’s most prestigious hotels, and a jewel in Northern Ireland’s hospitality crown, is its almost entirely glazed façade which affords 360-degree views of Belfast Lough and the wider cityscape. It is also the first AC Hotel to feature a signature restaurant, with the multi-Michelin-starred celebrity chef, Jean-Christophe Novelli, choosing AC Hotel Belfast for his Ireland debut – Novelli at City Quays. Lisa Steele, AC Hotel Belfast general manager, said: “The doors are open, and we couldn’t be more excited to welcome our Belfast guests in the inimitable AC Hotels’ way. Our mission is to provide guests with an elevated

stay, keeping things simple and stylish, paying mindful attention to the detail of what they actually want, and delivering thoughtfully designed moments of elegance throughout their stay. It’s a winning proposition, tried and tested in over 100 AC Hotels across the world, and – combined with our stunning new property, prime location, and bespoke local extras such as our Novelli at City Quays restaurant – will add a distinct and valuable new dimension to Northern Ireland’s fantastic tourism and hospitality offering.” With 188 guest bedrooms, AC Hotel Belfast is among the city’s largest hotels and will offer a complement of signature AC Hotels’ guest services,

including fitness room, library and meeting facilities. In addition to the 112-seater ‘Novelli at City Quays’ restaurant, the iconic AC Lounge, a creative hotspot by day and social hub by night, will serve tapas-inspired small bites and the AC signature Gin & Tonic.

Eye on News

Local Businesses Missing Out On Key Government Loan Scheme Northern Irish small businesses are missing out on the government’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee (EFG) scheme, after they received just 1% of the total lent through the scheme in the past year, down from 1.5% in the previous year, says Ortus Secured Finance.

report carried out for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) reveals Northern Ireland accounted for just £42.4 million of the £3 billion lent through the scheme in 2017, and had the lowest ratio of EFG loans of all the UK regions, with 23.8 loans per 10,000 businesses - compared to 54.5 in Wales and 60.1 in Scotland. Jon Salibsury, Managing Director of Ortus Secured Finance, commercial lending specialists headquartered in London and actively lending in NI, says that the figures don’t tally with his experience in the local marketplace. “I am surprised at the low uptake of the scheme in NI given the entrepreneurial culture and demand we’ve seen for finance here in the last two years,” says Jon. “Businesses may be missing out from EFG funding because they are unaware they are eligible for support. Some may

not even be aware of the existence of the scheme or that it is available in Northern Ireland. It may also be the case that some of the participating banks are still hesitant to lend.” He adds that no matter the reason for the scheme’s apparent lack of success in NI, ensuring businesses can access finance is critically important for a flourishing local economy. “Ortus has issued loan offers totalling more than £200 million to Northern Irish businesses since launching here in late 2015 and there are ample opportunities for lenders like ourselves to continue to help SMEs looking for the funding they need to grow.” Introduced in 2009 in response to the credit crunch, the EFG sees the Treasury act as guarantor on 75pc of individual bank loans between £1000 and £1m to small and medium sized firms finding it hard to access a commercial loan.

Northern Ireland had the lowest ratio of EFG loans per 10,000 businesses of all the regions covered by the EFG scheme

Take Care When ‘Droning’ On Law firm calls for clarity around drone privacy issues

reater clarity is required around what new droning legislation could mean for personal privacy says Belfast law firm O’Reilly Stewart Solicitors. “Changes to current droning laws are due to be published in Spring 2018 and will have a significant impact on safety but interestingly they remain largely silent on the issue of privacy,” explains Imelda McMillan, senior partner at the firm. No longer the preserve of military, corporate and civilian use of drones has increased dramatically as the devices become cheaper and more sophisticated.

However with increased access, comes an inevitable rise in cases of misuse. In November 2017, the British Airline Pilots Association stated that there had been 81 reported incidents of drone near misses with aircrafts so far that year, and in December 2017 ten individuals were sentenced for the smuggling of drugs and phones into prisons. “The new legislation is intended to strike a balance between enabling the revolution of drone technology and ensuring that drone operators act safely and legally. That is all well and good,” says

Ms McMillan “but it does not adequately deal with the controversial area of privacy rights and infringements.” “As it is a draft Bill being unveiled in Spring, we would urge those responsible to take the opportunity at the time of publication to shed some light on the issue.” She adds; “Until then, our advice to those flying drones - whether for personal or corporate use - is to be respectful of others and abide by the current laws, keeping at least 50m away from people and properties and at least 150m away from crowds and built-up areas.”

Spring into Business April 2018 Ulster University Business School invites you to join us for a Spring Into Business festival which takes place at our Belfast campus 16-20 April and Magee campus 23-27 April. Find out how we can benefit your business by attending one of our free events: 17 April - The Entrepreneurial Business in a Volatile Market (Belfast) 19 April - How to be Creative in a Changing World (Belfast) 25 April - The Entrepreneurial Business in a Volatile Market (Magee) For more information and to register for events, please visit:

ulster.ac.uk/springintobusiness

Business School 41

Eye on Entrepreneurs

Celebrating Northern Ireland’s Innovative Entrepreneurs Catalyst Inc were delighted to welcome Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle to Catalyst Inc’s Belfast campus to meet with some of the brightest and most innovative entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland.

t this showcase event, the couple had an opportunity to meet with talented entrepreneurs at different stages of their entrepreneurial journey, from forming original ideas, through to development of products and onto building successful, growing companies. The entrepreneurs shared their stories, demonstrated their products and talked about how the innovation ecosystem in Northern Ireland is supporting them on their journey. Chair of Catalyst Inc Mr Dick Milliken said: “This is an amazing opportunity for Catalyst Inc to shine a light on the

great innovation that is taking place in Northern Ireland. We are privileged to be able to provide this platform to showcase Northern Ireland’s talent and Catalyst Inc’s community-led innovation ecosystem that supports over 800 entrepreneurs and innovators each year to create and scale innovation companies. Everything we do is based on the simple belief that innovation has the power to transform NI into one of Europe’s most entrepreneurial and inclusive knowledge economies by 2030. The visit from Prince Harry and Ms. Markle will help our entrepreneurs to reach a wider audience and inspire others with their stories of how they

have succeeded and the support they have received from the network of experienced entrepreneurs, business professionals, top research talent and potential investors who provide their time and experience pro bono to support this next generation of entrepreneurs.” Fifteen entrepreneurs were involved in the showcase event, demonstrating a diverse range of products from a digital first aid kit, high performance surfboards and cyber technology, through to prosthetics, baby products, a nonverbal emergency service app, a unique sight loss simulator and an innovative approach to cemetery management. Prince Harry and Ms. Markle spent time talking to the entrepreneurs including Queen’s University student David Hatton, former winner of Young Founders from Catalyst Inc, who is developing a social enterprise webbased application to improve the lives of people living with dementia and

their loved ones. Speaking at the event, David said, “I have been working on the application concept, inspired by my experiences with my late grandmother, for a year and a half. Beginning in 2016 with Young Founders, I have taken my application through student Invent, Belfast Enterprise Academy and Queen’s Student Dragon’s Den. It has been a once in a lifetime experience to be part of a showcase event like today”. Also showcasing their innovation at the event was Becca Hume, Invent 2017 Category Winner who is currently building an app that will allow people to request the help of the emergency services in a non-verbal way. This will allow those who are deaf, hard of hearing, have speech problems or are in difficult situations to interact with greater ease. Becca commented during the event that “this has been such a unique opportunity to showcase Tap SOS and I am honoured to have been part of the day”.

Eye on xxx

Eyeon Cyber Security Sponsored by

Securely Enabling Business Eye on CyberSecurity

Making Identity Management Work For Digital Transformation

Conrad Simpson, Director of Cyphra highlights how organisations across Northern Ireland are being challenged to improve their tools and technology to keep pace with digital transformation.

he benefits of lower infrastructure costs, simpler service delivery and reduced time to market are compelling and as a result most businesses are embarking on a digital transformation strategy in some form or other. The adoption of cloud-based solutions, increased mobile working and innovative consumer services also present a series of additional or new cyber risks that need to be understood and addressed. Northern Ireland businesses of all sizes need to be prepared to withstand

the growing numbers of high impact cyber security threats, but especially need to be aware of the challenges that result from doing business in todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital market place. If these threats are not managed, the results can hit hard causing financial losses or damage to business reputation. New legislation in the form of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive, come into effect in May 2018 and will put additional emphasis on many organisations to

fully assess the data that they hold, the associated risks and to ensure that they have effectively managed these risks through the application of appropriate security controls. Finding the right balance between privacy compliance and the urgent business-driven demand to open existing IT infrastructures to entirely new classes of identities and applications is a challenging task that requires control and checks to be in place and calls for a well-defined and structured information security approach. Central to this approach, Identity and Access Management (IAM) is fast becoming the most significant control in protecting information, revenue and business delivery.

So, what is IAM? It is typically a combination of policies, processes and systems which assist in binding an individual (which could be a customer, supplier or staff member) to a set of access permissions within your IT systems which then allow them to perform a function, to access specific data or even to administer your systems. A good IAM implementation will comprise of a number of key elements. â&#x20AC;˘ Policy â&#x20AC;&#x201C; This will establish who is authorised to access your systems, data or roles, how access is requested/granted and when access should be revoked.

Securely Enabling Business Eye on CyberSecurity

“ 2018 will continue to present security challenges to the business community. Those who accept this in advance, understand their risks and apply appropriate controls and measures are less likely to be impacted than those that don’t – it’s really that simple.”

• Security Architecture – It is important that your IAM solution is properly designed, appropriate for your business and established as early as possible in the digital transformation process • Identity – There is a need to confirm the identity of a user, both initially and for each subsequent interaction with your systems. • Privileged user management - Additional processes and security controls that need to be implemented to protect sensitive operations in your systems • Audit and monitoring – It is vital to know when breaches of policy or controls occur, and this requires supporting processes and technology to identify, alert and support investigation of such incidents Today, most organisations have made considerable progress towards implementing identity and access management within an organisation’s on-premise application and data. IAM solutions can automate the provisioning and de-provisioning process, giving IT full power over the access rights of employees, partners,

contractors, vendors, and guests. Such automation can help the enforcement of strong security policies whilst helping to eliminate human error, however it also introduces the question of ‘who polices the police?’. Regulatory compliance concerns continue to be a major driver for control over identity and access to business data. Much of the onus to provide adequate corporate governance for existing and future legislative compliance can fall on the IT department. While the benefits of having control over identity and access are clear, the associated cost and complexity of implementation should be measured against the cost of a potential security breach or of the inefficiencies inherent to the manual provisioning and de-provisioning of system access. As identity and access management becomes increasingly complex, the ability to create policies based on granular, contextual information will become more and more important. IAM solutions that can collect and make decisions based on user identity, location, device, and the requested resource will allow enterprises to

deliver quick access to bona fide employees, partners, contractors, or guests—and easily revoke or deny privileges to unauthorised users. Enterprises can then enhance authentication where required, such as requiring multi-factor authentication when additional privilege is being requested or if the user is coming from an unusual location or device. This can help reduce user frustration by delivering seamless access to both office and cloud-based applications through policy driven single sign-on (SSO) and only presenting additional user interaction requirements when necessary. This strongly supports recent NCSC work on how to improve an organisation’s security culture which can be summarised as “security that doesn’t work for people, doesn’t work”. 2018 will continue to present security challenges to the business community. Those who accept this in advance, understand their risks and apply appropriate controls and measures are less likely to be impacted than those that don’t – it’s really that simple.

In 2017 every major breach had a common denominator: compromised privileged accounts. They are an essential element of most cyberattack lifecycles and securing them must be considered a priority. Cyphra work with a number of leading vendors to help businesses consolidate, control, and simplify access privileges, whether the critical applications are hosted inhouse, external data centres, private clouds, public clouds, or a hybrid combination of all these spaces. Cyphra help enterprises to answer the ‘policing the police’ question and demonstrate compliance by implementing ‘Privilege Access Management’ solutions. Enterprises can readily make password issues a thing of the past by federating user identity and extending secure single sign-on (SSO) capabilities to, cloud-based, webbased, and virtual applications. SSO can integrate password management across multiple domains and various authentication and attributesharing standards and protocols – in lay man terms user frustration diminishes and the costs reduce.

Securely Enabling Business Eye on CyberSecurity

CYBER THREAT TO PROFESSIONALS AT ALL TIME HIGH • • • •

Cloud computing Email fraud/phishing Ransomware Identity fraud

Firms are increasingly being advised to develop a cyber-aware business culture, by developing clear and efficient internal procedures for handling money and considering methods to avoid, for mortgage lenders, the two most prevalent areas of cyber fraud which are: 1 Identity Fraud 2 Friday Afternoon Fraud

Georgina Squire, Partner at solicitors Rosling King

Professional firms, particularly those handling money for mortgage lenders, are increasingly at risk of high level cyber-attacks, according to leading experts in the field of law, finance and mortgage lending.

peaking at the Mortgage Tech UK conference yesterday morning (27th June) Georgina Squire, Partner at solicitors Rosling King, warned professionals of the dangers that cyber-attacks impose to professional firms such as lenders, valuers, brokers and solicitors and advised on what steps should be taken to prevent and mitigate the fall-out when falling victim to a such an attack. A joint report by GCHQ’s newly-opened National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency published earlier this year, warned that the cyber threat to UK business is at an all-time high. Georgina Squire said: “Given that 2016 was the year that law firm data security came to the fore, by means of high profile events such as the Panama Papers and the rise of Ransomware, it seems reasonable to

suggest that the threat will impact professional services firms in much the same way as the wider economy. “Over the last year, professional firms such as my own, have been urged to take proactive steps to manage the risk posed by cybercrime to protect both ourselves and our clients.” Squire also encouraged firms to increase staff training and awareness and to build in additional security and protections to try to limit the potential harm, adding: “We have legal and regulatory obligations like all other professionals involved in the mortgage industry. Our regulators are increasingly taking on more hands-on approach to data security and publishing regular guidance.” Current threat areas for law firms and other professionals involved in mortgage origination are:

One aspect of identity fraud is “home high-jacking”. The value of this type of fraud is more than tripled since 2013 rising to nearly £25 million in April 2017, according to HMLR registers. Squire said: “It is now getting to the stage where criminals are paying people to pose as tenants and rent a property using fake identities. One of the tenant’s changes their name by deed poll to match the true owner’s name, put the property on the market and sells it to a cash buyer. It is only when the buyer goes to register the change of ownership with HMLR that the true owner, the landlord, is alerted.” To detect this type of fraud, firms are advised to consider the following: • If a tenant is hassling the agent saying they need keys and want to move in quickly, that might be indicative of them being up to something. • In these scams it is often the case that the tenants do not actually ever live in the property - which remains empty. This can be checked by the agents. Fraudulent tenants rarely move into the house, they are looking to sell it on quickly.

• Solicitors and professionals doing KYC on new clients may be alerted by the sight of a brand new passport or brand new driving licence or other ID. Fraudsters change their name by deed poll to the landlord’s name. • When doing KYC follow up on references. Maybe check phone numbers. • Owners can sign up for HMLR Alert service which informs you if someone is checking the register for your house… The second major type of cybercrime hitting professional firms acting in the mortgage industry, is what has commonly become called Friday Afternoon Fraud. “As solicitors, we see alerts from our regulator, the SRA, almost weekly now with stories of Friday Afternoon Fraud”, said Squire. To avoid this type of fraud, Georgina Squire suggests the following: • Beware of changes in bank details mid-transaction and beware of requests to do so during a transaction. • When someone asks for money to be sent to a particular bank account, call back on a phone number to double check those bank account details over the phone and verify them. Only the most sophisticated of fraudsters would be able to intercept that call and provide their own mobile phone number to verify the fraudulent bank details. • Never send out our bank details in open emails. They should be sent in a password protected attachment with the password sent by separate email. It may sound simple but it should act as an extra layer of protection and is something that is certainly worth doing.

Securely Enabling Business Eye on CyberSecurity

Cyber Security Exchange Program Washington DC and Boston Massachusetts were the destinations for a Strengthening Cyber Security exchange programme, for 27 delegates from Northern Ireland and Ireland.

unded by the US State Department, through the US Embassy in Dublin and expertly organised by Boston College, it was designed to foster a strong collaborative initiative between Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United States. The group consisting of cyber policy and practitioner experts from across the island were afforded the opportunity to have a wide range of conversations with US Federal and State organisations, private sector and academic institutions focusing heavily on addressing the continuing threat of cyber crime. The week in Washington DC enabled the group to meet,discuss and engage with a significant amount of very influential people who are working on and implementing cyber security policies as well as to examine U.S. and international initiatives to promote and protect information technology systems, interfaces, and assets within government, business, and the community. Boston College, in collaboration with the FBI hosts an annual Cyber Security Conference which coincided with the visit by the delegates to Boston.

The group at Gasson Hall Boston College

As a delegate from the private sector, it was of particular interest to observe the commitment and determination from across a number of high profile Federal agencies and organisations which are involved with cyber security, each having an interest and a particular way of progressing the cyber security agenda. The coordination alone between these agencies is an organisational challenge in itself. The program also examined how cyber security efforts work effectively across regions and borders and between institutions. For example, how Federal, state, and local actors and authorities interact with business and the community sector to focus on cyber security, ensure technological resiliency, and enhance the recovery plans and practices of institutions. This could be of particular importance over the coming months and years as the effects of the UK leaving the European Union become more pronounced. One of the most eye opening meetings was with personnel from the US Department of Defence in the Pentagon. Amongst other topics, they discussed the setup and implementation of their “Hack the Pentagon”, “Hack

The group at MIT

the Army” and “Vulnerability Disclosure Programs” which enables people from outside the Department of Defence to test and expose vulnerabilities with their infrastructure and applications. It is a very brave move to expose applications to this attention, especially so for a military organisation which is traditionally more conservative and cautious. The cost benefit was obvious from their results and it was fascinating to hear the value that the organisation obtained from working with groups who would normally not be involved. A spin off benefit is the profile given to potential careers in cyber and to demonstrate the opportunities for young people to contribute to national security through cyber. This is definitely something that we could learn from in Northern Ireland and potentially this is a program that could be implemented with our colleagues in the public sector. A key goal and foreign policy objective for the US Department of State in funding this program was to help facilitate collaboration on the island of Ireland relating to cyber security. The promotion of a safe cyber security infrastructure in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland

helps enable transatlantic business trade and ensures US firms can operate safely, and within the parameters of legislative requirements such as GDPR. In an effort to continue collaboration, there will also be a follow-on component to the program. Participants will select a U.S. expert (from the organizations with whom they have engaged) to visit Ireland and Northern Ireland on a program delivered by the delegates. This was a singular opportunity to meet people from different sectors who have an interest, expertise and passion for helping to secure their industry and nation, it is anticipated that this trip was merely the start of improved collaboration between people, organisations and institutions in Ireland North and South. Benefits are being realised already with the collaboration between the delegates and follow up contact with those we met in the States.

Simon Whittaker is a Director of Cyber Security with www.verticalstructure.com Email: simon.whittaker@ verticalstructure.com

Securely Enabling Business Eye on Business Leaders Forum

Sinead Dillon Principal Consultant, Fujitsu

“While hacker attacks tend to grab the attention of the media when it comes to breaches, the real villain is much more basic. A failure to keep up with rudimentary IT practices and processes is what is most likely to leave organisations open to cyber breaches in 2018.

Businesses should look to perform regular ICT ‘housekeeping’ to ensure all systems are up to date and resilient against threats by carrying out risk assessments and IT health checks such as reviewing password protection and implementing twofactor authentication. Research from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) points to human error as the main cause of data breaches from users accessing phishing email attachment, downloading from an unauthorised website or opening unlocked systems. A critical element of ICT housekeeping therefore should be educating employees on IT security protocol to avoid exposure to attacks. Findings from Fujitsu’s own 2017 Threat Protection Report identified that businesses with remote workers who access the computer networks will continue to pose a risk to security this year. With the pace of digital transformation and the evolution of our workplaces, the importance of

remote access will continue to grow so investment in secure workstation hardware and data should be a priority for those preparing for the workplace of the future. Companies should also be vigilant in managing banking applications, another hot favourite for criminals. We predict that the year ahead will see more attacks to banking payment systems and expect further growth in Trojans targeting older, more vulnerable back office applications. Artificial Intelligence (AI) however will become a game changer in enterprise security over the coming years. AI has the capability to immediately identify anomalies, for example in web traffic patterns, and will be instrumental in detecting problems early, allowing security professionals to take a proactive approach to eliminate threats before they become problems. A key role of ICT companies here will be developing these systems and working with businesses to co-create and implement bespoke solutions.”

Shane Haslem Head of Network Solutions, eir Business NI

“The most recent Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2017 reported that almost half of UK firms had been hit by a threat in the previous year with the most common attacks being fraudulent emails, followed by viruses and malware. In the 12 months since, cybercriminal activity has continued to escalate with attacks becoming more

sophisticated as attackers get smarter. The growth in Cloud, devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) brings more connections and for attackers, every connection is a doorway. With the cost of cybercrime to the Northern Ireland economy estimated to be £100m per year according to the Criminal Justice Inspectorate of Northern Ireland (CJINI), cyber defence must be strategic, multilateral and top of the agenda to deal with the evolving threat landscape. Firstly, businesses need to accept that they can’t predict and protect against every threat. Instead organisations should focus their attention on stopping the attacks that would most impact their business. Do invest in preventative measures - keep your firewalls, gateways and other critical devices patched and maintained – but drive more focus on detection, response and remediation around your organisation’s most important assets. On average, hackers stay hidden on a

network for 140 days – that’s nearly five months to learn the vulnerabilities of your infrastructure and access sensitive information. It is important therefore that companies can spot, identify and manage abnormal behaviour. With the rise in data and information however, it can be hard for companies to extract what’s relevant for them. The good news is Northern Ireland is now the number one location in the world for cyber security investment with the highest percentage of qualified IT professionals in the UK and Ireland - so businesses don’t need to go it alone. We have seen a rise in ‘security-as-a-service’ with companies bringing in outsourced professionals, from conducting risk assessments and governance procedures to full real-time analysis of security threats. Having a Cyber Security Incident Response Plan - such as localising malware infections, implementing counter-measures and communicating with users - will minimise losses and protect business continuity.”

Securely Enabling Business Eye on Business Leaders Forum

Andrew Maybin Managing Director Tibus The risk and potential impact of cyber threat to business grows every year. Too often this feels like a bottomless pit of Operating Expense, spending blindly on systems to protect against an undefined enemy of acronyms. All of us involved in the Internet must do a better job at explaining what we’re asking businesses to do and why it is important. We particularly need to help businesses weigh up cost against impact to them, rather than just the technical threat itself. We’ve seen the world’s largest Denial of Service attack (essentially flooding a website with spurious data, rendering it useless) in January this year. Executed well, that scale of attack could cripple even the very largest government body or business. But the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and Network communities are developing new defences within the Internet itself. This work is often deeply technical and largely unseen, but it is great. I expect to see more of that work coming through

too – there is real hope in that. Phishing probably worries our clients most, and understandably so. These new style attacks are now unbelievably convincing and even folks seasoned in email and computer use have fallen for them. Phishing seems to be more than a tiresome fad, unfortunately. Crypto-locker and ransomware is serious and it is real. We advise clients to take a regular, visually checked copy of core data (documents, work-in-progress, HR, designs, email, contacts) on to a physical hard drive and store it completely away from their network and cloud storage. This is counterintuitive to many IT folks, but it is just sensible given the utter carnage that crypto-locker can cause. What to do? Ask. Decide. Invest. Train. Ask again. Identify the impact of cyber risk to your business, by asking business questions (not technical ones). Create a realistic policy for computer, tablet and phone usage in your specific business’ situation. Invest in appropriate network and

software protection. Train and re-train your people to recognise threats for themselves and you will immediately increase your business’ best defence to cyber threats. Keep it on your Senior Management Team’s list of things you’ll ask hard questions about, month after month.

Simon Whittaker Managing Director Vertical Structure As security and penetration testers and cyber security consultants, we are often on the sharp end of security risks and see their impact on companies directly. Whether this is through assisting with the clean up after a compromise or having to inform a client that the brand new application they’re about to push live is vulnerable to the most basic forms of attack. The world we find ourselves in can be unforgiving and we face many risks; loss of data, theft of money or intellectual property and unprofitable downtime due to attacks. In our view there are some things every company can and should be doing: 1/ Be aware of your data – know what you have, where it’s stored and who has access to it. 2/ Train your

staff and test your response – what would you do if an incident occurred? 3/ Perform security and penetration testing of your sites and applications – whether this is initially through a basic automated vulnerability scanning service or more thorough testing process For some organisations it may also be of benefit to follow the lead of groups like the Department of Defence in the US as well as Google, Facebook and invite testers to come to you through bug bounty programs. On my recent cyber security exchange program to the US with Boston College, we learnt how the Pentagon had run a crowd sourced compromise program called “Hack the Pentagon” in 2016. This cost them ~$150,000 and produced 1,189

vulnerability reports, exceeding all expectations. Maybe we could we see a “Hack NI Public Services” event occurring at some point soon?

Eye on CyberSecurity

Business Email Compromise An Increasing Cyber Threat to Local Businesses Barclays is increasingly seeing regular fraud attempts on clients of all sizes in Northern Ireland, across both private and public sectors.

ocal organisations have a responsibility to be aware of the signs and tactics employed by scammers to prevent an attack happening to them. Paul Davies, Barclays, local Cash Management Specialist, explains Business Email Compromise – one of the most common scams. Business Email Compromise can occur at any time. Typically, an email will be sent from a scammer to a member of staff in a company’s finance department. The member of staff will be told by the scammer, who is purporting to be a company director or CEO, that they need to quickly transfer money to a certain bank account for a specific reason. The member of staff will naturally do as their manager has instructed, unknowingly sending money to a scammer’s bank account. This money is then redistributed into other mule bank accounts; with the original account being closed to ensure it is untraceable. This is just one of many examples of Business Email Compromise. Other scenarios we have seen in Northern Ireland include a scammer posing as the IT services department of a bank saying that they need to make a test transfer – but it’s not a test. Scammers might contact the accounts department and say that they are a supplier and ask for outstanding payments to

be made into a new bank account, or, employees might click on links within phishing emails containing malware that authorises small payments to the scammer’s account. No business is immune to an attack, no matter its location, size or sector. Many businesses incorrectly think that cyber attacks only happen to bigger companies, in other parts of the world, but this could not be further from the truth. Attacks are now costing local businesses significant amounts of money, with much of the lost funds irrecoverable. Sometimes this is due to businesses taking too long to discover that they have been victims of fraud and their money already moved into a series of mule accounts. Most businesses report that the initial contact from scammers came from email accounts with a ‘gmail. com’ or ‘yahoo.com’ suffix, so this is something to look out for. Business Email Compromise attacks are targeted phishing scams that are not mass emailed. The scammers behind them take the time to understand the target organisation and its relationships, activities, interests, travel, and purchasing plans. They identify staff members beforehand, and take necessary steps to make sure they can infiltrate the business seamlessly and without causing

alarm. In many cases, members of staff simply perform the requested duties as they believe them to be part of their day-to-day role.

How You Can Avoid a Business Email Compromise Attack To prevent falling victim to an attack, adopt a few key practices to protect your cyber security. Firstly, never, ever reveal your personal or financial data. This includes sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, PINs or ID numbers. If you receive a call from someone who asks you to cut off the call and phone your bank or card provider, locate your most recent bank statement or documentation and call the number found on these, using a different phone if possible. Be wary of emails that come from unknown sources. Never open attachments found in unusual emails, or readily click on links. Always check directly with the person you believe to have sent the email – pick up the phone if you have to. Finally, as an added precaution, consider setting up a dual process for payments, whereby two individuals need to authorise a transaction at any given time. Barclays regularly hosts workshops and seminars in

Paul Davies Cash Management Specialist Corporate Banking, Barclays E: Paul.davies@barclayscorp.com T: +44 (0) 7775 552 616* *P lease note: this is a mobile phone number and calls will be charged in accordance with your mobile tariff.

For more information, visit our business fraud hub at barclayscorporate. com/fraud

Belfast to educate our clients on the ins and outs of cybercrime. Being aware of potential scams is the best way to protect against them, and with attacks on the rise in Northern Ireland, all businesses should be prepared.

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Eye on Entrepreneurs

Start-ups must learn the rules of the game By Ian Browne, Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) at Ignite NI

he knowledge economy report named Northern Ireland as the second fastest growing UK knowledge economy and I’m lucky enough to have a front row seat. Working with the Ignite programme is a fantastic opportunity to help cultivate the organic talent that exists in Northern Ireland. After successfully founding, growing and selling my previous business, I’ve immersed myself in the local startup ecosystem, helping companies grow and develop their ideas into businesses. Getting the right advice at the beginning of your startup journey can be the difference between success and failure. Over the past few months we’ve been guiding early stage teams on the Propel pre-accelerator programme and with the Ignite NI Accelerator about to begin on 26th March, it’s an exciting time to be at the Ormeau Baths. As both programmes include free working space at the Ormeau Baths, we’ve seen a real hub of creative energy emerge. My role as EIR is to try to focus that energy and help the founders channel it into the lifespan of their start-up. Being an EIR is not about providing the secret of start-up success. We’ve had our own accomplishments but as mentors, we are trying to equip the founders with the tools to create their own successful businesses. Unfortunately there is no

Barry Rollins, CEO of Importwise

magic ingredient. It is a process of refining the product and ensuring it provides a solution that actually solves a problem. Take for example, Barry Rollins, CEO of Importwise, one of this year’s Propel Pre-Accelerator teams. Importwise is a web application helping SME’s manage the importation of goods into the UK. Barry’s first-hand experience working as a cargo pilot helped him accurately identify the problems that directly disadvantage SMEs. “The problem with the current market, is that there isn’t an alternative. Dependency on banks for financing, inability to provide accurate delivery dates, and uncertainty over the quality of the product arriving- these are all deemed an accepted part of importing, yet it leaves SMEs vulnerable and exposed. “By using the dashboard, Importwise takes all services under one roof giving SMEs more control over their own business, from pricing, financing, quality control and tracking. “Importwise provides practical solutions to the issues in the importing industry – users have saved £4,000 on an average quote. The video link allows our users to inspect products before they arrive, and the satellite tracking system enables users to pinpoint the arrival of their goods.”

Ian Browne, Ignite NI

Now used by over 100 companies, they have really embodied what we’re trying to instil in the teams – that it’s about creating solutions to problems that disrupt the current market. Again, I don’t have the secret to start-up success, but I think there are a few key questions that founders need to be asking themselves before taking their product to market.

What problem does my product solve? It might be a great idea, but the key to any successful start-up is about identifying both the problem and the solution. However, it has to be the right solution. That’s why end-user experience is an essential part of the process when creating a product. Customer experience will help shape your product, recognising and refining solutions that will ultimately enhance the functionality of our lives.

What should I take away from my product? An easy mistake people can make is that by adding more to the product, the value of the product will increase. That is not necessarily the case and diversification can be a dangerous path

to take. From my experience, the more you continue to add the product, the more confused the product can become.

Is the market big enough for your solution? This question is not just about market demand but also market mind-set. We are continually encouraging our teams to think bigger than the Northern Irish market. Limiting your product to one market only narrows the possibilities of further success. As part of the Ignite NI Accelerator Programme, the teams will be heading to San Francisco and New York for the chance to talk to global tech companies who have turned their start-ups into global players worth millions of dollars. We want teams to think bigger, solve problems with accurate solutions and continue to grow into the market disrupters they have the potential to be.

Eye on Energy

New Calor chief says BioLPG marks a new era of renewable energy for Northern Ireland Gino Vansteenhuyse, the recently appointed CEO of Calor, tells Business Eye how the arrival of Bio LPG to Northern Ireland marks a major first for the company and heralds a new era of renewable energy for local businesses.

r Vansteenhuyse joined Calor at the start of this year, from its SHV Energy-owned sister company, Primagaz, for which he was country manager in his native Belgium, before becoming the firm’s Chief Commercial Officer in France. He was a key driver of Primagaz’s BioLPG and LNG projects in Europe. “Energy is changing and Calor is the first company to make BioLPG (Bio Liquefied Petroleum Gas) available to businesses across Northern Ireland. “Whereas traditional LPG is made as a by-product of coal and oil extraction, BioLPG is made from 100% renewable materials including a mix of renewable feedstocks, recycled waste materials and sustainably sourced renewable vegetable oils, which would have otherwise been discarded. “The major difference is that this breakthrough product is certified as offering up to 90% lower emissions than fossil fuels. This will enable local businesses to use one of the lowest polluting energy sources in the world today. It will drastically improve their carbon footprint and potentially deliver cost savings, and green operating accreditations and benefits. “It’s a really exciting time for Northern Ireland’s longest established supplier of LPG and this new wholly sustainable product marks a major shift in gears for renewable energy here. “With heavy EU fines on the horizon for failing to meet Renewable Heat and Emissions targets by 2020, regardless of Brexit, there is a significant imperative for Northern Ireland businesses to focus on switching to renewable, lower carbon energy sources. “The results of Calor’s Business Energy Barometer survey carried out by Lucid

Talk in March 2018 stated conclusively that businesses in Northern Ireland are looking for renewable alternatives. “The survey revealed that 80% of businesses in Northern Ireland currently using fossil fuels are open to switching to a cleaner, greener alternative. 23% of businesses also stated that pressure from customers and suppliers is a major motivation to make the move to more environmentally-sustainable operations. “As Calor is available away from the natural gas network, supplied directly into on-site local bulk storage, it is potentially available to every home and business. We have a unique foothold in harder-toreach rural parts of Northern Ireland, with particular strength in the agri-food sector, hospitality, logistics and rural industrial applications where green credentials can really add to a business’s profitability.” This development is part of Calor’s parent company, SHV Energy’s ongoing commitment to reduce its carbon emissions whilst growing its business and, by 2040, it has stated its ambition is for 100% of its energy products to be from renewable sources. So, what can local businesses keen to up their sustainability expect from the new 100% renewable BioLPG compared to the existing product? Mr Vansteenhuyse explained, “Because BioLPG is virtually the same as conventional LPG, it works seamlessly with existing gas appliances and equipment. Boilers, vehicles such as forklifts and industrial appliances such as heaters will operate on BioLPG in the same way, with the same performance and energy output, but with a dramatically reduced carbon footprint. “The biggest environmental gain from the use of this very low carbon, clean fuel is when it replaces fossil fuels such as oil.

Traditional LPG offers a CO2 reduction compared to oil of up to 16%, but a switch to BioLPG can cut this by as much as 90%. “To put this in context: if 500,000 homes switched from using oil fired central heating systems to using BioLPG, it would

save 2.5 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per annum. That’s the equivalent of taking 1.25milllion cars off the road. “This is a truly revolutionary product and we are very excited that it has now arrived in Northern Ireland.”

Stephen Laughlin, Calor Area Sales Representative and Mary Coughlin, BioLPG Product Manager officially launch CalorBioLPG in Northern Ireland, the first certified renewable LPG for domestic and business customers.

Eye on Workforce

Belfast Met… Apprenticeships the Key to Future Workforce Growth & Development and development in a new role or completely change careers. “We have a very long-standing commitment to training and apprenticeships, a commitment that has developed from the traditional trades into a wide range of sectors,” says Aidan Sloane, Head of Skills & Apprenticeships at Belfast Met. Belfast Met provides a broad range of apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships from Level 2 through to the Level 5 Foundation Degree level. Subject areas include the following:Construction & Engineering • Civil Engineering / Electrical Engineering / Fabrication & Welding / Food Manufacturing / Joinery / Plumbing & Heating / Vehicle Repair & Maintenance Health & Life Sciences • Health & Social Care Digital & Creative Aidan Sloane, Head of Skills & Apprenticeships at Belfast Met

Apprenticeships and Higher Level Apprenticeships are helping shape the future of workforce development and succession planning, allowing businesses under the Skills to Succeed umbrella to develop and nurture their future workforce.

pprenticeships are an exciting concept that extends right across the business spectrum, IT, accountancy, financial services, leadership and management to name but a few, and it’s a model that is proving just as popular with businesses and

employers as it is with the young people who see apprenticeships as a highly effective route into paid employment from day one of their career journey. Apprenticeships are also a viable route for those in employment hoping to develop new skills to challenge their growth

• Cloud & Application Development / Cyber Security / IT Infrastructure / IT Software / Printing Business & Professional Services • Accounting / Business Administration / Customer Service / Financial Services / Hospitality / Leadership & Management / Retail / Sales & Telesales Here in Northern Ireland, the Department for the Economy supports apprenticeship training through the Apprenticeships NI and Higher Level Apprenticeship programmes. “The way we look at it, is that apprenticeships are a valuable investment for individuals, for

businesses and for the economy as a whole,” says Aidan Sloane. “They support increased productivity, reduce youth unemployment and are a sound financial investment for public money. “Our programmes offer a real alternative to the academic path into skilled employment as well as higher education and via the range of higher level apprenticeships available; Apprentices can earn a wage and gain higher level qualifications without the student debt.” Belfast Met works in partnership with the Department for the Economy on its apprenticeship and higher level apprenticeship programmes, engaging extensively with employers across a wide range of industry sectors to support the ongoing development of our curriculum provision. “The programmes we are offering are demand-led and are fully responsive to the needs of industry,” adds Aidan Sloane. “We proactively engage with local, national and international employers to identify and respond to their specific skills need, working with them to define their needs and designing and delivering the most relevant and effective skills and apprenticeship solutions. Our aim is to provide a total workforce development solution for our employer partners.” The growth of apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships at Belfast Met is directly aligned to government policy. The Department for the Economy is currently implementing reforms to Northern Ireland’s professional and technical education and training system in support of Securing our Success, the Apprenticeship Strategy and Generating our Success, the Strategy for Youth Training and Belfast Met continues to

Eye on Workforce

play a key role in the development and implementation of those strategies. “Core to these strategies is ensuring that employers are at the centre of the apprenticeship system, helping shape and design that system, and expanding the apprenticeship curriculum offering, and as a college we have a strong strategic commitment to engaging with employers as outlined in our Corporate Plan under the strapline: Leading the City to Work.” Evidence points to the fact that apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships are increasing in popularity across the college’s provision. “We’ve seen an increase in demand for our apprenticeship and higherlevel apprenticeship provision over the last number of years and we’ve responded to that demand by further developing more apprenticeships and higher-level apprenticeships offer. “And our engagement with employers is an ongoing process. We’ll continue to define their needs and to support the design and delivery of the most relevant and effective skills solutions and to help shape our curriculum to ensure that our apprenticeship and

higher-level apprenticeship offer meet current and future industry standards.” The increase in demand continues to be a two-way process. Aidan Sloane says that there has been an increase in demand for apprenticeships from employers. “In response, we continue to invest in and develop our curriculum offer. For example, as part of our recent prospectus launch for 2018/19 we have developed a range of new apprenticeships and higher level apprenticeships in areas like civil engineering, cloud & app development, cyber security and financial services.” The Centre for Skills and Apprenticeships plays a key role in the delivery of the College’s vision and mission through the future development and delivery of training, apprenticeships and higher-level apprenticeships provision, which supports the college to meet the commitment of delivering high quality skills and apprenticeship provision. As part of our ongoing strategic commitment to employers and apprentices, Belfast Met has injected significant investment into the skills and apprenticeships provision in the college including the

establishment of a dedicated team. “What we also do is to support employers to navigate the training and apprenticeships landscape, and to further develop longterm strategic relationships.” So what can students expect on a typical apprenticeship programme? An Apprenticeship is a job offering a minimum of 21 contracted hours per week with the same employer with a structured period of both on and off the job training leading to an industry-approved nationally recognised qualification. A higher Level Apprenticeship offers a new and exciting employed pathway for learners to gain professionally recognised qualifications at level four and five while in paid employment with partner employers. A HLA will take a minimum of two years to complete and the apprentice must work a minimum of 21 plus hours per week which includes time for ‘off-the-job training’. Apprentices must be employed or about to take up paid employment as an apprentice with a Northern Ireland based company. While its ethos remains the same, Belfast Met is a different establishment

now than it was in its early days. It provides a high quality, accessible and sustainable infrastructure which meets the needs of all so it can respond flexibly to market opportunities and changes in requirements. Belfast Met is the largest and longest established further and higher education college in Northern Ireland. We offer a broad range of innovative, high quality, economically relevant provision. Our modern, award-winning estate spans the length and breadth of the city of Belfast and comprises four main campuses – Titanic Quarter, Millfield, Springvale and Castlereagh. Belfast Met is committed to working closely with industry to offer increasingly flexible, employer led and peripatetic delivery solutions.

Any individuals or employers interested in finding out more can contact the Centre for Skills and Apprenticeships on tel: 028 9026 5219 or email apprenticeships@ belfastmet.ac.uk

Eye on News

Integration Is Key To Success Of New Prosperity Strategy

Pictured L-R are speakers from the event who join Council representatives: Neil McInroy, Chief Executive of the Centre for Local Economic Strategies; Susie McCullough, Director of Regeneration, Development and Planning ANDBC; Mayor of Ards and North Down Councillor Robert Adair and John McGrillen, Chief Executive of Tourism Northern Ireland.

that were identified through the research phase and help to make it a place of opportunity. These are: the natural landscape of sea, lough and land – a blue green space; the creativity of the people; and the proximity to places of opportunity including Belfast, the Republic of better place to live work and invest. Ireland and GB. It also conveys a Introducing the strategy, Mayor fresh approach to how the area of Ards and North Down, Councillor will be looked after, developed, Robert Adair, said: “I am delighted promoted and celebrated. to launch this new strategy for the The Strategy focuses on six Borough that will be a common thematic priorities: promote to point of reference for all those invest, connect places and people, contributing to the growth of equip with skills and spaces, our economy, the welcoming of excel in quality and value, nurture visitors and the improvement our assets and understand our of our places, both urban and progress and potential. These rural. Integration is at its core will be achieved by the delivery – integration of the drivers for of 19 integrated actions by the prosperity and integration through Council and its key stakeholders. collaboration with our private, Neil McInroy, Chief Executive public and community sector of the Centre for Local Economic colleagues who have supported Strategies and a leading its research and development.” commentator on economic The name ‘Blue: Green, Creatively development and public Connected’ summarises the unique policy spoke at the launch and strengths of Ards and North Down commented: “Innovation comes

Ards and North Down Borough Council has launched a new integrated strategy for the Borough setting out a vision for tourism, regeneration and economic development within a planning context.

he strategy, entitled ‘Blue:Green, Creatively Connected’, presents a vision for the pursuit of prosperity across the area over the next 12 years. The strategy contains a number of ambitious headline targets including the creation of 7,500 jobs, increasing economic productivity, doubling the current visitor spend to £82M and increasing overnight trips by 2030. However what makes it truly innovative and unique is that it’s the first strategy of its kind to take an integrated approach to strategic development – and not just for Council but for everyone in the Borough who has an interest in making Ards and North Down a

from collaboration. I am an advocate for economics and economic development to be at the heart of the community and tangible for as many people as possible. I believe this is what Council is seeking to achieve with this strategy that has been so collaboratively developed. It is ambitious but this too is to be welcomed as a reflection of the high degree of confidence placed in the Borough by the Council and its many partner organisations, businesses and communities.” The strategy was developed with the support of Tourism Northern Ireland, whose Chief Executive, John McGrillen, added: “Tourism NI is committed to working with the Council in the development of the tourism economy of Ards and North Down as it seeks to realise the ambitions put forth in this strategy. The development of the Borough’s tourism offer will enable us to better meet the needs of consumers in our key markets and bring new business to the area, which will create and sustain new jobs within the local communities of Ards and North Down.” It’s early days in this ambitious 12-year plan but already some of the initial steps to achieve the targets are underway. As announced at the launch event, a new Economic Development Forum led by the private sector and an Employability and Skills Forum are to be established to ensure the Borough has the right skills to meet business needs moving forward. Copies of the strategy can be downloaded from the Council website www.ardsandnorthdown. gov.uk/creativelyconnected. The Council extends its thanks to all those who have contributed to the strategy and looks forward to continued collaboration through the course of its delivery.

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Eye on News

FASTANKs HEAD NORTH TO ALASKA FOR OIL EMERGENCIES Fast Engineering Ltd in Antrim is supplying its patented FASTANK containment systems for use in oil spill emergencies in Alaska.

he company, an acknowledged global specialist in innovative equipment to protect the environment, is supplying 18 FASTANK systems to the remote Alaska Clean Seas (ACS) oil spill emergency response bases across the northern US state. ACS, headquartered in Anchorage, will use FASTANKs in fast response operations against any oil spills from the 800 mile Alyeska pipeline taking crude oil to the marine terminal at Valdez, the

most northern port in North America. The pipeline was revitalised last year by the discovery of 1.2 billion barrels of oil on government land in northern Alaska. Seamus Connolly, founder and managing director of Fast Engineering, an SME which has won many prestigious Export Awards, commenting on the new contract for FASTANKs says: “We’re delighted to have won this new ACS business for our emergency response tanks. Our tanks are now the preferred

option for ACS in its preparations to be able to deal quickly and effectively with any oil spills in the State. “Our FASTANKS proved their value in the huge clean-up operation associated with the infamous Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989. Our highly portable and versatile FASTANKs were transported swiftly to the spill site and used to help clean up the oil pollution. “When the 1989 spill from the stricken tanker occurred, we were under severe pressure to supply as many oil spill containment tanks as possible. So urgent was the need of the Alaskan State government they wanted to send a charter flight to Belfast International to collect all our available tanks. “However, by working through the night the company loaded a flight to Amsterdam the next morning with 50 FASTANKs which then connected directly to Anchorage. These emergency tanks were the earliest pieces of equipment to arrive to combat the massive spill almost 30 years ago. “The Exxon Valdez incident established FASTANKs credentials as

the best available product worldwide for oil spill recovery and containment. This prized marketing position the company has maintained to this day. “America now has more untapped oil than any other country on the planet and so provision to protect the environment from oil spills is critical. Our FASTANKs are now regarded worldwide as the best containment option. As a result, FASTANKs have been used in every major oil spill emergency,” Mr Connolly adds. Alaska has been a valuable market for FASTANK products since 1984. Not just sales to the oil industry but also forest firefighting and aquaculture. Fast Engineering, established in 1981, has developed a portfolio of highly innovative FASTANK clean-up and containment products for oil and hazardous waste in particular. The tanks. are highly portable and can be assembled in less than10 minutes without tools. FASTANKS are supplied in rotationally moulded EzeeBOX containers, designed by Fast Engineering, for ease of storage and transport.

IoD Northern Ireland Committee Boosted By New Members The Institute of Directors Northern Ireland (IoD NI) has boosted its Northern Ireland Committee with the election of several new members drawn from across the economy.

ewly elected to the committee are Clare Guinness, Chief Executive, Warrenpoint Port; John Hansen, Partner in Charge, KPMG Northern Ireland; David Henry, Managing Director, Henry Brothers and Bonnie Anley, Director, Mourne Country Park and Chairperson, Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners. Welcoming the new elections which, including representation from the Newry and mid-Ulster areas further boosts the geographical spread of the committee, Gordon Milligan, IoD NI Chairman said: “The IoD Northern Ireland Committee has a huge role to play in guiding the organisation as we seek to

IoD NI Chairman Gordon Milligan, third from left, welcomes the new members, from left, John Hansen, Partner in Charge, KPMG Northern Ireland; David Henry, Managing Director, Henry Brothers and Bonnie Anley, Director, Mourne Country Park and Chairperson, Londonderry Port and Harbour Commissioners.

develop better business leaders and improve corporate governance for the benefit of the whole economy.

“This work has taken on even greater importance in recent times amid the ongoing uncertainty around the continuing Brexit negotiations and caused by the political impasse at Stormont. “The new elections to the committee represent a cohort of directors that are among the most senior decision makers in the Northern Ireland economy and will help ensure that we continue to provide a strong voice for the local business community. “The organisation is growing and I am sure it will continue to do so with our new committee members as advocates.” The Northern Ireland Committee aims to reflect the broad and diverse nature of the IoD’s membership which comprises 950 directors from organisations across Northern Ireland. Meeting four times a year, the committee includes 14 elected members each of whom serves a minimum term of three years.

Eye on News

New Initiative Launched To Help Home Buyers

Alan Reid, Law Society of Northern Ireland, Kirsty Finney from the National Association Estate Agents, Sam Dickey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NI)

new initiative has been launched which aims to make the process of buying and selling a home in Northern Ireland much smoother for consumers. The new initiative, has been jointly

launched by The Law Society of Northern Ireland, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NI) and the National Association of Estate Agents (NI) who have agreed a new ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)’.

The new MOU commits to providing better and timelier communications between all parties involved in the conveyancing process to enable the identification and efficient resolution of any problems and issues at a much earlier stage in the conveyancing process. It is anticipated that the benefits to the consumer will include a more efficient conveyancing process which reduces delays and without impacting costs. This is the first initiative by the three professional bodies who have been actively involved in working together to identify ways to facilitate the smoother operation of the residential property market and the related necessary formal contractual and financial arrangements between Vendors, Purchasers and their Lenders in Northern Ireland. Commenting on the launch of the new Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), Alan Reid from the Law Society of Northern Ireland said:

“The Law Society of Northern Ireland is delighted to be working in partnership with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NI) and the National Association of Estate Agents (NI) on this important initiative which will seek to make the conveyancing process in Northern Ireland more efficient and effective”. Sam Dickey from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (NI) said: “RICS welcome this new initiative which underscores the need for cooperation and communication amongst all parties involved in the residential conveyancing process in Northern Ireland”. Kirsty Finney from the National Association Estate Agents (NAEA) said: “This initiative provides a template for best practice moving forward and continues to keep the consumer at the heart of the conveyancing process”. The new MOU will now be rolled out to the membership of each of the three representative bodies.

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Eye on News

Major International Award For TR Logistics In Belfast

Shauneen McConville, business development director, and Paul McKeown, managing director of TR Logistics

The TR Logistics Group in Belfast, a family owned Independent Logistics business, whose headquarters are located in Belfast Harbour Estate, has won the Specialist Services Award at the prestigious British International Freight Awards (BIFA) held at a gala lunch in London.

his is a national award recognised by the Industry, and the TR Logistics Group is delighted to have been presented as the leader in its field. TR Logistics, has been honoured with this award in recognition of its highly acclaimed Vendor Managed Inventory service. This was specifically in relation to one of their long standing customers whose manufacturing facility, situated in Northern Ireland, has attributed their partnership with TR Logistics and Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) as a main factor contributing to their success and competitiveness within global markets.

TR Logistics Group provides VMI and stores product in its warehouses for a high volume of vendors from around the world, delivering just in time to manufacturer’s assembly line. As part of that process TR Logistics Group arrange the transport of product from International markets and ultimately provide sub-assemblies at one of their bespoke facilities in Belfast Port. Essentially, TR Logistics Group has become a vital link in the manufacturing process for their customer. In its citation for the award, BIFA said: “The TR Logistics Group detailed a service which

went over and above for customers. TR has looked to develop more functionality – thinking outside the box, and beyond the normal offering.” Paul McKeown, Managing Director of TR Logistics Group, commenting on the award from the BIFA expert judging panel, says: “This is an immensely important recognition from our industry in the UK and internationally for an innovative service that we developed for our customer. This helps support their longstanding focus on productivity for global markets and contributes to the overall competitiveness of a manufacturing operation which makes a huge contribution to the local economy.” “This is important business for us, a service that we have developed and continue to, with our customer, giving them the ability to reduce costs yet retain flexibility. We arrange the import

of inventory, assemble and store at our p lant in Belfast for delivery as and when required by the manufacturer. The finished product is also held by TR Logistics Northern Ireland for onward shipment,” he adds. The TR Logistics Group operates 10 warehouse facilities throughout Northern Ireland and all are bespoke to their customer, product and HMRC requirements. A pioneer of logistics services in Northern Ireland, TR Logistics has a global presence. Their employee commitment and IT investment allows the company to offer total supply solutions on a 24/7/365 basis which has been recognised with this BIFA award. TR Logistics Group offers total supply logistic solutions and support for manufacturing NI and to all the Global and Indigenous companies to whom they are reliant.

Eye on Entertainment

Peter Corry... Northern Ireland’s Singing Superstar Spreads His Wings

e caught up over coffee in East Belfast in between dates on Peter’s recent ‘Call Of The Celts’ tour of venues around Northern Ireland, and just before he heads off on another signing tour of Holland....a country with plenty of Peter Corry fans. He’s also an accomplished West End performer, the man who sang at George Best’s funeral, the mastermind behind one of Belfast’s most popular Christmas shows and a regular performer at some of our larger corporate events. This year is shaping up to be a particularly busy one for Peter Corry. In between tours and a steady steam of one-off productions, he’s due to marry his girlfriend Fleur Mellor in rural Italy this early summer. The couple

form an impressive team. Fleur is an experienced dancer and choreographer from London making her an obvious partner in the Corry ‘family business’ going forward. “It’s going to be a very busy first part of 2018....there’s no doubt about that,” says Peter. “The secret in this business is to keep coming up with new and creative ideas and I think that’s something we’ve done very successfully over the years. “We tour, we do our Christmas show each year, and we get involved in a variety of other ventures throughout the calendar year.” One of the more eye-catching events in the coming months is Twilight At The Trust on 24th June. The event will see Peter performing alongside a line-up of accomplished musical performers

at dusk in the unique surroundings of Mount Stewart, the stunning National Trust property with its spectacular gardens a few miles south of Newtownards. Complete with drinks reception, canapes and a full line-up of entertainment, the event is expected to be popular as a corporate entertainment option. Full details are available by visiting www.nationaltrust.org. uk/mount-stewart/features/ twilight-at-the-trust When he’s not busy rehearsing for performances or performing, Peter Corry devotes a lot of his time to the Belfast School of the Performing Arts.....this city’s very own FAME Academy. BSPA is Northern Ireland’s leading performance and theatre school for 3-19 year olds, and sessions take place at weekends across a variety of venuues. Peter Corry is BSPA’s Artistic Director. “We focus on helping our students to grow in confidence so that they can excel in the performing arts, whether its acting,

dancing or singing. But the emphasis is on fun while the kids learn and we try to create a happy and creative environment at all of our centres.” Peter adds that it’s not all about being able to perform. “There’s no doubt that performance and musical theatre benefits young people as they grow into young adults. Being part of a theatre school offers a creative outlet for express personalities in a safe environment.” And full details of the Belfast School of the Performing Arts, its two Belfast centres and centres in both Bangor and Lisburn, are on thebspa.co.uk How does Peter Corry relax away from the pressures of touring, producing the performing? Not surprisingly, he likes a spot of the quiet life. A spot of cooking, a glass of wine and a meal with Fleur at their County Down home ticks all the boxes...

www.petercorry.com

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere

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Eye on Events

Diaceutics Raises Have Your Say At Progressive £3.75 Million A B

Pictured are Peter Lyttle, Society Secretary Progressive Building Society and Rosie Forsythe, Corporate & Community Fundraising Manager, Cancer Focus Northern Ireland

elfast-based laboratory, diagnostic and pharmaceutical specialists Diaceutics has announced that it has raised £3.75M in new mezzanine financing from WhiteRock Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank.

Pictured at the announcement are (L-R): Andrew Gowdy, Senior Portfolio Manager, WhiteRock Capital Partners; Peter Keeling, CEO, Diaceutics; and Clive Lennox, Director of Irish Business Development, Silicon Valley Bank.

head of Progressive Building Society’s AGM in the Malone house on 26th April 2018 at 6pm, Northern Ireland’s largest locally owned financial institution is encouraging its members to have their say on how the Society is run and cast their vote either by post or

online. Progressive will be donating 20p for every postal vote cast and £1 for every online vote to Cancer Focus Northern Ireland. Members can vote online at www.theprogressive.com or complete the Proxy Voting Form included in the voting pack and return it in the freepost envelope provided.

Celebrating life, every day, everywhere

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Eye on Events

Hotels Mark Expansion Milestone

pril will be a milestone month in the hotel sector as rooms break the 8,500 threshold with the opening of AC by Marriott. As Northern Ireland marks the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, the sector has been noting the significant growth it has undergone over the last two decades. In 1998 there were 4,903 hotel bedrooms. By the end of April 2018 this number will have risen to 8,577. This is a 91%

rise in provision and a testament to the commitment of the hotel sector to the Northern Ireland economy. Janice Gault, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation (NIHF) says: “2017 was a strong year with consolidation in occupancy, growth in room rates and good trading conditions. We had a number of new openings and expansions over the course of 2017 and this expansion is set to ramp

up in 2018 with two new properties already opened in the first quarter. We have had a reasonable start to the year with reports suggesting that Easter has held up well. However, there are no official figures at this time.” Janice adds: “Tourism has continued to flourish with steady growth since 2012. The hotel sector has responded to this opportunity with an investment of over £500m in new product and a further £100m in refurbishment

Janice Gault, Chief Executive of the Northern Ireland Hotels Federation

and upgrades. Job numbers will have grown by 25% by the end of 2018. It is important to note that hotel growth brings benefits to the wider hospitality industry. Increased guest numbers will bring more visitors to attractions and increase the number of meals and drinks consumed in local bars and restaurants allowing these businesses to grow and prosper. More visitors and increased room sales are a really good news story for Northern Ireland.”

Northern Ireland Hospitality and… Water? Lonely Planet describes Northern Ireland as ‘an exploding food scene, hip cities and the stunning Causeway Coast’.

ough Guide says, ‘Northern Ireland offers a diversity of attractions. Belfast now rivals any of the UK’s capital cities, but in addition, the country manifests superb natural heritage, remarkable cultural treasures, outdoor activities in abundance and an increasingly vibrant food and music scene’. Colin Neil, Chief Executive of Hospitality Ulster explains, “Pubs, restaurants, hotels, clubs,

Northern Irelands Hospitality sector is buzzing and growing and we need to keep it that way. Tourism is targeted to double by 2030 and our fastevolving hotel landscape will see around 1,500 new hotel rooms added this year.” Des Brown from NI Water comments, “Much of what NI Water does takes place underground or out of sight and as a result water and wastewater are far from top

Gavin McCready of NI Water (left) is pictured with Hospitality Ulster’s Colin Neill and Des Brown, also of NI Water.

of mind for many businesses. Working with Hospitality Ulster gives us a great opportunity to keep hospitality businesses up to date on how they can reduce both costs and risks through gaining water efficiencies, understanding water fitting

regulations, ensuring good practice in disposing of Fats, Oil and Grease (FOG) and making use of leakage allowances that may be available.”

Eye on News

Generators Gather to Learn About Impact of New Electricity Market

Siobhan Macmahon, Vayu, Ross McConnell, Vayu, Jonathan Buick, Action Renewables & Michael Doran, Action Renewables

Owners and operators of renewable electricity generating facilities across Northern Ireland gathered recently to learn more about the impact of the Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM), the new wholesale electricity market arrangement for Ireland and Northern Ireland, on their Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).

ed by Action Renewables and Vayu Energy, the seminar held at the Glenavon House Hotel, Cookstown, offered guidance for over 100 owners of wind, solar, anaerobic digestion and biomass technologies generating renewable electricity across Northern Ireland as the new Integrated Single Electricity Market is due to go live on the 23rd May 2018. “As EU legislation joins together various energy markets across Europe, the new Integrated Single Electricity Market (I-SEM) should provide opportunities, help to even the playing field for many renewable electricity generators,

delivering increased levels of competition and driving prices down. The I-SEM will also encourage a greater level of security of supply and transparency,” said Michael Doran, Director, Action Renewables. “In its new integrated format, transactions can take place across borders through intra-day trading.” In a climate facing uncertainty due to the impending Brexit, preparations for the I-SEM have been underway within the industry for a number of years, with the overall aims of I-SEM being to increase competition, lower energy prices, and create a more open, cohesive, European energy

market. The I-SEM is being grouped together with approximately twenty other countries, with cross-border trade available across three new energy markets: the day ahead, intraday and balancing markets. “To extract the best value from your PPA in the I-SEM, generators need to be firstly aware of the changes coming and also be much more proactive and this is where their suppliers can help. At Vayu we have been preparing for I-SEM for the last few years and we are committed to working with generators to find a solution that best fits their needs.” added Ross McConnell, Head of Power and Renewables, Vayu Energy. “Vayu and Action Renewables have been working together in partnership for a number of years developing and securing Power Purchase Agreements with local generators, which ensured the best possible payback and minimal hassle for ROCs and electricity. We will continue to work with clients to ensure that they get

the optimal revenues from their renewable generation.”, he added. With the assistance of a unique joint offering from Action Renewables and Vayu Energy, over 40% of renewable electricity generators in Northern Ireland are taking advantage of a solution which provides the best commercial value for ROCs available in Northern Ireland. The team provides excellent on-going customer service for renewable generators, ensuring maximum value with minimal hassle for those keen to achieve an attractive return on their energy produced. To arrange a consultation and learn more about how the joint offering from Action Renewables and Vayu Energy could help you benefit from your existing or planned renewables installations, contact techteam@ actionreneweables.co.uk or contact Action Renewables: +44 (0) 2890 727 760.

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Eye on Events

Northern Ireland Urged To Go For Gold At Vodafone ‘Productivity Nation’

Enlightening findings from Vodafone’s Productivity report

Host for the day: Danny Kelly, Regional Chair for Northern Ieland, Vodafone UK

The new Titanic Hotel in Belfast was the setting for Vodafone’s ‘Productivity Nation’ Conference on 25 January, where over 100 senior business owners, directors and managers turned up to hear from a broad range of inspiring speakers, including Olympic gold medalist and performance coach Ben Hunt-Davies. 66

he stimulating and thought provoking event was organised to coincide the launch of Vodafone’s Productivity Nation report which gave a voice to over 3,000 employees from across the UK to share their views on their personal productivity levels and the factors that influence it. Attendees heard about the opportunities for growth being afforded to Northern Ireland businesses by focusing on a variety of driving factors, including the multi-generational workforce, smarter ways of working and the technology that defines our working lives.

Speakers at Productivity Nation Belfast included: • Danny Kelly, Regional Chair, Vodafone Northern Ireland • Ben Hunt-Davis, Olympic Gold Medalist and Co-Author of “Will It Make The Boat Go Faster?” • Paul Duffy, Belfast NHS Trust • Dr Esmond Birnie, Ulster University • Benn Dixon, Samsung • Mark Huddleston, Former UKCES Skills Commissioner for NI • Kim Moran-Hogg, Head of Scotland and Northern Ireland Business at Vodafone

Eye on Events

Business people come together for Productivity Nation Conference at Titanic Hotel, Belfast

Guest speakers (L-R): Paul Duffy, Mark Huddleston, Ben Hunt-Davies, Benn Dixon and Dr Esmond Birnie Kim Moran-Hogg, Head of Scotland and Northern Ireland Business, Vodafone UK

Vodafone speakers (L-R): Gareth Williams, Kim Moran-Hogg and Danny Kelly

To find out more about how your business can make the most of digital technologies to boost productivity and unlock your employees full potential, please contact David Armstrong, Head of Business Northern Ireland, Vodafone UK (david.armstrong2@ vodafone.com) or visit http://bit. ly/2ySgjFz to download the report.

Eye on News

New Head Chef Takes Over At Malone Lodge There are big changes happening in the kitchens at Malone Lodge Hotel’s Knife & Fork restaurant, and many of these changes come down to the new head chef, Michael Irvine.

ichael, who has previously worked at the Hilton Hotel Belfast, Tedford’s restaurant, Flame restaurant and the Four Winds, now calls Malone Lodge Hotel home. A new addition to the team, Michael has big plans for Malone Lodge Hotel and in particular, for the menus on offer in the hotel’s Knife & Fork restaurant: “I recently joined the team here at the Malone Lodge Hotel, just before the Christmas party nights kicked off. After a very successful festive period, I’m now well settled in and am working on improving our Wedding breakfast menu, conference menus and changing the style of food served in our Knife & Fork restaurant.” Speaking about some of the culinary changes we can expect, he explained the desire to return to the original aims of the Knife & Fork restaurant: At the moment, we’re trying to return to our roots as a good value for money restaurant, so we’re hoping Knife & Fork will be more of a grill-style bistro going forward. With a style he describes as “traditional Irish”, Michael will be bringing his own personal touches to the new menu: “I appreciate traditional Irish dishes. Sometimes I feel that when we modernise classics we are losing a little of the original charm of the dish. For example, I’m trying to now use more pulses and recently designed a lamb dish with a lentil stew.” The new Knife & Fork menu will launch this month, as well as a new bar menu. Michael says the whole menu development process has bee “enjoyable to work on” and he’s looking forward to

seeing it in action, with a curried sea bass being one of his personal favourites on the new menu. While they’re still looking out for their favourite producers, supporting them is key: “I feel strongly that supporting our local suppliers is important for the industry; where possible we endeavour to use as much local produce as possible.” Now that he’s a head chef, Michael understands the pressures associated with the job, but also recalls the various steps that led him down this career path. I really enjoyed Home Economics at school and an encouraging teacher suggested it could be a career choice for me so I explored the opportunity further. On leaving school at 16, I completed a BTech and then continued to study at a business studies college. Remembering some of his earliest experiences in the industry, he said: “Starting off in catering wasn’t easy, with long hours and intense training. Some of my earliest experiences relate to working hard to stay focused and putting pride into what I did.” That hard work certainly paid off and Michael feels that a bit of pressure can go a long way in helping you thrive in your chosen field: “I really enjoy the pressure of the role and I feel like if you didn’t enjoy the occasional stressful and chaotic moments, it would be a lot more difficult to continue to thrive in a head chef position.” But he admits that “it is challenging to achieve a work/life balance due to the commitment of hours required.” The struggle to achieve this balance is not lost on Michael, who

puts achieving this balance down to “meticulous time management”: “When a working day is well managed, you can enjoy more quality time at home. This is greatly enhanced by having a strong kitchen team. Striving to ensure team members feel motivated and supporting their own work/ life balance is a priority for me.” Not blind to the issues facing the food industry, Michael offered his thoughts on the current chef shortage, saying: “I feel we can tackle the chef shortage by ensuring chefs are paid closer to the reality of the hours they are actually working.” It’s also important to ensure that younger members of the team are not overworked. Offering opportunities for development is extremely important, as well as moving away from a ‘sink or swim’ mentality while Chefs are training. On that note, he had some advise to offer young chefs who may be considering a career in the food industry: “I’d advise any young chef to invest time in gathering as much information as possible on the reality of the industry. “Talk to chefs from different backgrounds and really analyse whether your passion will compensate for the potential impact on your work/life balance.

Set goals and talk to your seniors regularly about what you want to achieve to help them establish an environment that will allow you to grow.” From young chefs to those with more experience, Michael offered some insight into his own personal interest in food, and the different ventures he’s most excited by: “I’m very excited about new high end tapas bar, Edo, which opened just last year in Belfast. I had the privilege of supporting Chef and owner, Johnny Elliot, with the openin and am excited for what the future holds for him. “I previously worked with Alan Foster at Tedfords and believe he offers the best fish restaurant in Belfast. Alan continues to trend set and raise the bar, despite being in the restaurant industry for over 16 years.” So, it looks like there’s a lot of good things happening for both Michael and Malone Lodge, especially given the changes afoot, and Michael is embracing these changes with open arms: “My future looks bright at the Malone Lodge Hotel and I intend to continue to invest a lot of my time and energy in developing and improving a strong kitchen team who bring passion to the food we deliver.”

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Eye on News

IOD NI ACADEMY IS LAUNCHED

Emma Jayne Mawhinney and Dr. Elaine O’Neill with James Jarvis from the IoD’s London headquarters

Increasing complexity of the role of modern directors and the heightened public interest illustrates that “there’s never been a better time to invest in professional development” a leading Corporate Governance expert has said.

he Institute of Directors (IoD) Corporate Governance Analyst James Jarvis, was speaking as the organisation launched the IoD Academy in Northern Ireland. Aimed at setting new standards of excellence among Northern Ireland’s business leaders, the academy is the first of its kind to be established by the IoD outside London. It will provide a broad range of courses to enhance the skills of local directors such as the role of a Director and the board, finance for non-financial managers, strategy, and leadership for directors as well as offering the flagship Chartered Director qualification. IoD NI Programme Director Dr

Elaine O’Neill, who will head up the Academy, commented: “The IoD has been at the forefront of promoting professionalism in Northern Ireland for more than 60 years, and has already established a reputation for extoling best practice across all sectors. “We are very proud to build on that legacy as the first branch of the IoD to launch a regional Academy as we aim set new higher standards and create a centre of excellence in professional development.” Speaking at the IoD Academy NI launch event, held in the Merchant Hotel, Belfast, James Jarvis, said strong leaders, supported by professional development, play a key role in

raising economic standards. James said: “Corporate governance has rarely been out of the papers for the past few years and sadly, this has in a large part been down to corporate failures and examples of poor governance. “While there is no magic bullet against corporate failure, being a natural and necessary component of our market system, the likelihood of failures occurring can be greatly reduced when directors adhere to good corporate governance. “Good governance is about more than regulation and corporate law however. It requires that directors fully understand their role and responsibilities as leaders within their organisations. The role of the modern director is increasingly complex and specialised and therefore requires specific training, mentoring and skills development.” The Academy builds on the success of the IoD’s Chartered Director programme which has resulted in more than 60 business

leaders in Northern Ireland achieving Chartered status. Among them are a strong alumni of some of the region’s best known figures from the private, public and third sectors. The IoD Academy will commence its professional development programme with the Award in the Role of the Director and the Board, running from 16th-17th April. An accelerated programme will also run at Lough Erne Resort, Co Fermanagh in June.

For more information about the IoD Academy and the portfolio of professional development programmes as well as the bespoke in-company training and board evaluations available, visit www.iod.com/academyni or call 028 9091 2829 or email Emma Jayne Mawhinney EmmaJayne. Mawhinney@iod.com

Eye on Motoring

Official Opening of the Porsche Centre Belfast new showroom by the Agnew Group The Porsche Showroom at 90 Sydenham Road in the heart of the Titanic Quarter, Belfast was officially opened on Friday 9th March by Alexander Pollich, the new Managing Director of Porsche Cars GB

he near 500 attendees had the pleasure of visiting the ultra-modern 28,000 sq. foot showroom, and at the same time previewing the New Cayenne, which was the first preview in the UK and Ireland. The new showroom is more than double the size of the previous one. Internally the showroom holds 16 display cars and houses two dedicated vehicle hand-over bays. There is also a Porsche Specification Lounge and comprehensive customer waiting and hospitality facilities. Externally it has triple the amount of customer parking and used car display facilities for 40 Porsche approved pre-owned models, and 7 e-hybrid charging points. The servicing facilities include, a 7-bay workshop manned by 7 technicians of which 2 are Gold Standard. Additional staff have been recruited and were fully Porsche-trained and experienced in advance of the opening, ensuring the entire 25-strong team can deliver the full Porsche experience. Entertainment on the night provided by the talented Innova Irish Dance Company, alongside the Longbeach band from Dublin who were accompanied by Zak McConaghy. Yuile Magee, Group Managing Director, The Agnew Group explains the reasoning behind this latest strategic development for the Group, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our opening of the Porsche Showroom is a

reflection not only of the success of the Porsche brand, but also of our strength and presence in the local car market. The Agnew Group is synonymous with premium brands and excellent customer service, and this new showroom is a natural progression for us, as we develop our business going forward.â&#x20AC;? RIGHT: Commemorative plaque presented by Alexander Pollich (Managing Director of Porsche Cars Great Britain) to Yuile Magee (Managing Director of Agnew Group), Carl Russell (Centre Principal Porsche Centre Belfast) and Bud Denker (President of Penske Automotive) BELOW: Entertainment provided by Innova Irish Dance Company

To arrange a test drive in one of the new Cayenne models or for any Porsche queries, please contact Porsche Centre Belfast on 028 9038 9999 or www.porschebelfast.co.uk

Eye on News

Siblings, Surfboards and Success – New Wave of Local Family Businesses Emerging

Darren McDowell (centre), Partner at Harbinson Mulholland is pictured with brothers Ricky and Chris Martin from Skunkworks Surf Co. The brothers from Coleraine will be guest speakers at the next NI Family Business Forum event on 24 April in the Europa Hotel, Belfast. To register and secure your place visit www.nifamilybusinessforum.com

Business owners and brothers, Ricky and Chris Martin of innovative surfboard producers Skunkworks, will speak at the next NI Family Business Forum on 24th April 2018 in the Europa Hotel.

kunkworks Surf Co is a business that inspires, takes the lead and shines the light for other entrepreneurs who are breaking the mould in terms of the traditional meaning of ‘family business’. Ricky Martin is the owner of Alive Surf School in Portrush. While he and his brother Chris were carrying out the annual chore of mending broken foamies, to prepare for the

season ahead, the brothers knew there must be a way to make surf boards which can stand the test of time and the test of waves. That moment in Ricky’s garage has led the brothers, from Coleraine, to where they are today - directors of Skunkworks Surf Co. Together they are now leading a team of engineering, shaping and sales and marketing teams who manufacture and distribute

Skunkies across the globe. Speaking about ‘Meet The Family - The Chairmen of the Board’, Chris Martin said: “Traditionally the term family business refers to a parent handing a business down to their children. Our family business is different in that we are two brothers who share a passion for surfing and manufacturing. We just happened to have a bit of a brainwave one day which has led to us starting a business which is creating employment, empowering new skills for a new workforce and we are now distributing our surfboards to surf schools globally. “Not only that but we are working with sustainable products so our focus is about contributing to a sustainable environment, job creation, growth and profitability.” With the focus of the Forum centred on leading and motivating staff in the unique setting of a family firm, the brothers will give an honest account of what’s it’s like to be brothers in business and explain how they approach managing the people who form part of the Skunkworks team. Darren McDowell, Partner of Harbinson Mulholland (HM) and Chairman of the NI Family Business Forum said, “A good business is built on the back of like-minded people coming together to get behind a common purpose. Family bonds are immensely powerful in this equation. Our work with Catalyst inc in Belfast underlines the importance of family businesses at all stages in our economy. A new generation of family businesses is emerging right under our noses and in due course they will become the mature businesses of our future. Nurturing a new generation of family businesses is critical to our long term success in Northern Ireland and something we at HM are very much behind. “Skunkworks represents this

emerging crop of new, successful first generation family firms. They also break the mould of the more traditional family business scenario with a paternal figurehead at the top of the business with the children in line to succeed their parent(s). For family businesses like Skunkworks it is expansion and growth rather than succession that is their main priority”, said Darren. The brothers will undoubtedly be a fascinating addition to the programme for the next NI Family Business Forum. During their session; “Meet the Family – the Chairmen of the Board”, Ricky and Chris will talk about their entrepreneurial journey, the dynamics of working together, their approach to creating a happy and productive workplace and how they protect the culture and values of their business as it grows. The overall title of the Forum is “Resilient & Ready: Leading & Motivating Great People in Family Businesses”. Gareth Loye, CEO of M&M Contracts and the current UK Family Business Director of the year, will explain how he leads and motivates great people in the business he took over from his Father in 2011. Mairead Mackle, CEO of Homecare Independent Living (HCIL) will talk about how the ICARE Charity, which is run entirely by volunteers from the HCIL team, helps build togetherness within their workforce. A panel discussion led by Michael McQuillan from Ulster University will then delve into issues around how to attract, retain and develop talent within family businesses.

To register and secure your place visit www. nifamilybusinessforum.com

Eye on News

CBI LAUNCHES SME NETWORK CBI’s International team were in Belfast recently to help launch the business organisation’s SME Network, which has rolled out across the UK to support small and medium sized members who are on a clear growth trajectory.

he forum will enable members to share experiences and best practice, and take away key learnings from expert speakers. Welcoming 15 CEOs and MDs on 21 March to the Merchant Hotel Belfast, Angela McGowan, CBI Regional Director said: “High preforming small and mediumsized businesses are the backbone of the Northern Irish economy - they played a leading role in our recovery from the global financial crisis and they will be even more important as we navigate the challenges and uncertainty posed by Brexit. “Not only is the SME sector continuing to grow and deliver jobs, it also provides the dynamic, reliable and adaptable supply chain that makes Northern Ireland such an attractive destination for companies to invest.

“Just over a year ago, the draft NI Industrial Strategy set ourselves the challenge of becoming one of the world’s most innovative and competitive small advanced economies. If that is still our ambition, then the SME sector will go a long way to powering progress towards that goal.” Introducing the theme of ‘Exporting: Barriers to Entry’, John Dickerman, Head of Group, CBI Washington said: “While the U.S. remains a hugely desirable place for foreign investment, the political environment presents unique challenges for companies looking to enter the market or expand their existing footprint. “To counter this challenge, the U.S. Administration must limit rhetoric and policies that are detrimental to global trade and show itself as an open market. This will encourage

Pictured at the launch of CBI SME Network on 21 March at the Merchant Hotel Belfast, is Sean Lavery, Partner, BDO; Angela McGowan, CBI Director, Northern Ireland and John Dickerman, Head of Group, CBI Washington

U.K. business to expand their already significant investment in the U.S.” Providing concluding remarks, Sean Lavery, Partner, BDO, said: “As the world around us continues to change, it’s important that small and mid-sized entrepreneurial businesses are encouraged to make bigger footprints on international markets. There are great examples that show how fleet footed businesses are rolling

up their sleeves and generating sales in markets, but this can and should be the norm for all businesses. “There is no reason why firms here cannot extend their reach and growth by making the most of technological and market changes. If we are to make the most of talents, skills and position, we need to foster an economy that puts high-growth, entrepreneurially spirited businesses at the heart of its thinking.”

Danske Bank Expands its Acquisition Team Danske Bank has expanded its Acquisition team with the appointment of Dominic O’Neill as Corporate Acquisition Manager.

ominic joins the team from First Trust where he spent over 20 years building and managing portfolios of corporate and business banking relationships. Led by Head of Acquisition, Rory Clarke, the team now comprises eight experienced Corporate and Business Acquisition Managers, based across Northern Ireland. Mr Clarke said: “We’re delighted to welcome Dominic, who brings a wealth of experience to the acquisition team. A combination of the expertise of

our people supported by excellent technology has allowed us to re-bank significant levels of new customers over the past number of years and we are hungry for more. We make more possible for local business by creating value and going beyond a normal banking relationship. The customer experience matters to us. “The team is very experienced and includes expertise in a range of sectors, such as Food & Drink, Healthcare, Manufacturing and Technology. We are focused on developing a deep understanding of a business and its banking requirements to build bespoke funding solutions that support funding structures for re-banking, working capital growth, capital investment or to support M&A activity. “The team is customer centric and we pride ourselves on being accessible to the customer and working with speed and agility.

Danske Bank Acquisition team (L-R) Jim Kirkwood, Mark Canning, Dominic O’Neill, Rory Clarke, Ciaran Rafferty, Ian Beattie, Peter McRoberts, Danny Hughes.

“2017 was a record year for business lending at Danske Bank and we’ve had a good start to the new year, securing new relationships with Errigal Contracts Limited, Finnebrogue, Orby Investment Limited, Willis Insurance and The Unicorn Group to name a few. “Our top priority for 2018 is to

further enhance the experience for our customers. With the uncertainty around Brexit, we’re also helping our customers to prepare for different scenarios and consider how they might be impacted in terms of trade costs, access to talent, foreign exchange needs, access to new markets and changing customer needs.”

Eye Moving On 1 Graham Fitzgerald has been appointed as Finance Director at the Irish Football Association. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG and has worked with the Kerry Group and with the logistics group DFDS.

1 Graham Fitzgerald

2 Anna Valli

3 Gareth Clarke

2 Anna Valli has been appointed Chief Marketing Officer at SureCert, an online recruitment platform which enables recruiters to source and process candidates quicker through the storing of pre-verified candidate data. Also 3 at SureCert, Gareth Clarke becomes Chief Technology Officer heading the development, integrating, and running of the SureCert platform. 4 And Polly Adgey has been appointed Nurse Advisor and Business Development Lead at SureCert, focusing on business development engaging with key audiences, such as data providers, recruiters and job seekers. 5 Aideen Conway has been appointed Compliance Director at Willis Insurance and Risk Management. Aideen has extensive experience within the insurance industry and has held roles at Zurich Insurance and Autoline Insurance Group. 6 Rob Tubman joins A&L Goodbody in Belfast as a Solicitor, Employment & Incentives, to advise public and private sector clients on all aspects of employment law. Rob trained with A&L Goodbody and spent 6 months with the Employment team prior to qualification.

4 Polly Adgey

5 Aideen Conway

6 Rob Tubman

7 Also at A&L Goodbody, Lauren Bishop becomes a Solicitor, Corporate and M&A, working with public and private sector clients on all aspects of corporate and commercial law. Lauren completed her training contract with the firm and qualified into the corporate team in September 2017. 8 Craig Routledge joins Cunningham Coates as a Senior Consultant â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Financial Planning. He is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Investment and Securities Institute and a post graduate of Heriot Watt University, Edinburgh and Strathclyde University, Glasgow. Craig joins Cunningham Coates after a 13 year financial services career at Danske Bank.

7 Lauren Bishop

8 Craig Routledge

9 Liam McGonigle

Barclays have bolstered their offer to commercial finance intermediaries in Northern Ireland & Scotland with the appointment of 9 Liam McGonigle to the role of Business Development Manager. Liam joins the team from Barclays Wealth, which has given him extensive experience of helping clients with their personal and commercial requirements. 10 Jonathan Topping has been appointed General Manager of the Clayton Hotel Belfast, part of the Dalata Hotel Group. Jonathan has extensive hotel and hospitality experience and has worked with many well-known hotel companies including Hastings Hotel, where he was General Manager of Stormont Hotel for 4 years.

10 Jonathan Topping

Eye on News

SUPERVALU & CENTRA INVESTS IN MAJOR VALUE-LED STRATEGY

Ciara McClafferty, Trading Director, Musgrave and Nigel Maxwell, SuperValu and Centra Sales Director

Leading retail group, Musgrave has announced a double-digit investment in its value offering in 2018 which they said will give their customers, at SuperValu and Centra stores, more opportunities to save on everyday items.

s part of a major new commercial strategy, Musgrave will increase its investment in value by 10% on the previous year, which will provide the best combination of value, customer service and quality fresh food in the market, explained Michael McCormack, Managing Director, Musgrave. “We have listened to our customers who are telling us they want better value now, without any compromise on quality. They want to see us respond to the uncertainty around Brexit and how it will affect prices by

committing to a value strategy that will allow them to make savings on quality food and drink ranges”, said Michael. He continued: “Our value strategy features over 200 special offers in SuperValu and Centra stores every week, alongside price checks, to ensure competitive pricing and the expansion of the SuperValu and Centra own brand ranges, which are up to 30% cheaper than the better-known brands.” The investment follows recent sales growth in value and own brand lines across SuperValu and Centra stores, which Musgrave

says demonstrates growing demand for these products from Northern Ireland consumers. There is a growing global trend towards affordable premium own brand options, with privatelabel brands now increasingly seen as equivalent or a suitable substitute to multinational brands. Global measurement and data analytics company Nielsen released stats at the end of last year showing that own brand sales had grown by 5.5% over a three month period compared with a 1.2% rise in branded sales; this has been described as ‘the tip of the iceberg’ with own brand sales predicted to increase further throughout 2018. As well as the expansion of its own brand ranges, Musgrave has hundreds of special offers across SuperValu and Centra stores every week, continued Michael; “In addition to special offers on hundreds of everyday products, we are also dropping the prices

of a large selection of fresh fruit and vegetables. We have increased by a third the range of our popular 3 for £10 ‘Prepared by Our Butcher’ offers and our ‘Fresh For You’ own-brand products have increased by a massive 50% on last year. These new promotions, which are already proving to be hugely popular with shoppers, are also part of a wider strategy to make wholesome, healthy food more accessible and affordable.” Michael continued: “With inflation on the rise and growing uncertainty around Brexit, consumers are increasingly sensitive to price increases. Thousands of products are price checked every week across our stores to make sure our customers are receiving the best value for money in convenience shopping and the growth in our own brand lines demonstrates increasing consumer demand for an expanded range of affordable grocery products.”

Eye on News

Asda’s Local Focus Generates Business for NI Food Companies

Janine Shilleto (c), Asda’s Snr Buying Manager, Local & Regional Foods, is pictured during a recent visit to Irwin’s Bakery with Brian Irwin (l), Chairman of Irwin’s and Michael McCallion (r), Buying Manager for Asda NI.

Sales of locally produced food in Asda’s Northern Ireland stores grew by 8% in 2017 – proving that customers are actively supporting the region’s agri-food industry.

nd the response to food from NI was also positive across Asda’s UK-wide store network where sales were up 4.1% year-on-year. The strong sales figures reflect customer feedback which associates locally produced food with quality, freshness and trust. The results come on the back of Asda’s renewed commitment to the local food sector, following on from the success of NI Year of Food &

Drink (2016). This message was also reinforced last month at the supermarket’s National Supplier Conference where regional food was a focal point. The growth is also an outcome of Asda’s Supplier Development Academy, a bespoke training programme which has helped local companies boost their trading potential by up to 30%. Food innovation and new trends in food and drink consumption are reflected in

Asda’s sales performance, • Locally produced ready meals have grown by 24% with companies such as Mash Direct, Morrow Foods and Cloughbane each introducing new product lines such as Irish Stew and Sweet Potato Fries. • Northern Ireland’s fast emerging craft-brewing and distilling industry has also influenced local sales with brands such as Jaw Box Gin, Tempted Cider and Belfast Ale up by 15%. • Demand for sausages from Karro Foods (Cookstown) and burgers from Doherty & Gray (Ballymena) have also contributed to the regional growth with sales up 6% compared to the previous year.

• Local bread brands remain a firm favourite with Asda customers, with over 1 million packets of Sunblest pancakes sold throughout 2017. Michael McCallion, Buying Manager for Asda NI said: “2017 was another great year for our NI supply base – both at a local and national level. We will continue to focus on the opportunities which will help our agri-food sector build their businesses with Asda by delivering the products and ranges which our customers want and trust.” Over £300million of produce is annually sourced by Asda from more than 100 suppliers across the island of Ireland.

Eye on Internet

Why Artists and Bad Designers Die Poor By Gareth Dunlop, Fathom.

(In)famously, Vincent Van Gogh sold only one painting during his lifetime, for the princely sum of 109 dollars. Despite blessing the world with masterpieces such as The Starry Night, Café Terrace at Night, The Night Café and various self-portraits, he died broke and destitute.

e battled mental illness for most of his life, notably cutting off one of his ears before eventually shooting himself in the chest. To his great credit, incredibly he never lost faith in the value of what he created, exclaiming “I can’t change the fact that my paintings don’t sell. But the time will come when people will recognize that they are worth more than the value of the paints used in the picture.” It was only after he died that his genius came to be appreciated. Van Gogh is the most famous name in the list of artists who died penniless, which includes El Greco, Monet and Vermeer. The wider list of tortured creative souls includes actors, singers, composers, comedians and sports stars. It seems when you make your living from amusing or entertaining others you tread a potentially lonely path. However, artists aren’t alone in producing works which no one wants in their lifetime. Like Van Gogh and his penniless peers, legions of designers indulge themselves in flights of fantasy which don’t get close to being fit for purpose in their lifetime. However, unlike Van Gogh there is no potential value in their work in any future life either. The promise of purpose-directed design is that with the right process and priorities, there is a virtually

linear connection between designquality and commercial performance. Or to put it another way, if you design well, you eat. If you design badly, you starve. The connection between design quality and ability to eat focuses the designer’s mind on

The response depends on how you define design. If design is understood as the role that a creative individual plays in giving an interface the wow factor, then yes – True North will save any venture commercially by rightfully emasculating a designer.

“ According to CB Insights, the number one reason that start-ups fail is that there is no market need for their product. To rephrase that in UX parlance, it means that a product has been built to solve a problem that no-one has.” the importance of True North – the problem the design needs to solve. Steered accurately, this bearing offers the promise of great riches. With wavering direction (as a result of compromise, dilution or diversion), however, comes the threat of penury. Why? Because the straight road focuses all design energy towards the customer and their needs. Subsequently, True North can only be navigated by the user constantly shining a light on design direction, or to rephrase, by the customer co-contributing to the design process. I regularly get asked the obvious follow-up question: “doesn’t co-designing an experience with customers emasculate the designer?”

If design is understood as the role which everyone involved in a digital product plays in helping to solve problems for users, validating solutions with customers, collaborating across teams, benchmarking against agreed KPIs (True North), applying the right tools and crafting a solution in a nimble environment, then no – rather than emasculate a designer, True North will empower a product team to great success. According to CB Insights, the number one reason that start-ups fail is that there is no market need for their product. To rephrase that in UX parlance, it means that a product has been built to solve a problem that no-one has. Whether the hard way (by losing their shirts a time or two) or the

easy way (by having the humility to solve real problems for real users) design professionals will recognise that commercial success is directly linked to True North and that only their users can guide them there.

Gareth Dunlop owns and runs Fathom, a user-experience consultancy which helps ambitious organisations get the most from their website and internet marketing by viewing the world from the perspective of their customers. Specialist areas include UX strategy, usability testing and customer journey planning, web accessibility and integrated online marketing. Clients include Three, NHS Scotland, firmus energy, PSNI, Permanent TSB and Tesco Mobile. Visit Fathom online at fathom.pro.

Eye on News

InterTrade Ireland Seedcorn Competition Is Launched

Ken Nelson, Chairman of InterTradeIreland is joined by 2017 Seedcorn winners Professor Helen McCarthy and Darach Neeson from Phion Therapeutics to urge start-ups from all sectors to enter the 2018 InterTradeIreland Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition which is now open for applications.

ntrepreneurs from Northern Ireland could get a huge cash boost for their business, thanks to a total prize fund of €280,000 on offer from InterTradeIreland’s 16th Seedcorn Business Competition 2018. The competition is the largest on the island in terms of the prize fund available and gives fledgling firms a cash injection of up to €100,000 to help their business grow and develop. Seed finance can be notoriously hard to attract and this competition is an opportunity for ambitious start-ups to get their new ideas off the ground. As well as offering fantastic cash incentives, Seedcorn provides invaluable support and advice from top investment

experts and the competition mimics a real venture capital investment process which builds the capacity and experience of all those participating. Competition elements include business plan submission, with valuable, constructive feedback given from entrepreneurs, investors and businesspeople. Other market ready aspects of the competition include the development of the business idea, making the concept ‘investor-ready’, gaining exposure to venture capitalists, other investors and senior business leaders, and increasing the credibility and profile of the business involved. Speaking about the competition, Ken

Nelson, Chairman of InterTradeIreland said: “The overall winner will take home a €100,000 cash injection to support the growth of their business, which will go a long way towards realising ambitious expansion goals. However, Seedcorn is about so much more than just financial support. Participants benefit in a host of other ways, receiving invaluable guidance, tips and advice from our experts, investors and other entrepreneurs, as well as refining business plans and pitch proposals to better demonstrate their offering to potential investors. Since its inception in 2003, companies who have gone through Seedcorn have raised in excess of €229m; last year

alone, in excess of €10m was raised.” Last year’s overall winner was Phion Therapeutics from Belfast which sells services (contract research) and licences (right-to-use-its technology for pharmaceutical development and therapeutic applications). Phion Theraputics Founder Professor Helen McCarthy explained: “The best thing for us about Seedcorn Competition was that it taught us to think big from the start. I would encourage companies to be ambitious, enter with an open mind and be prepared to implement suggested refinements. “We knew our technology inside out, but the process helped us develop a clearer business plan and understand what investors want from a start-up. It is a very intensive few months, but the work has to be done anyway and the competition is structured in such a way that, even if you aren’t a finalist, participants are left in a much stronger position. “Since our win, we have had interest from investors across the globe, from America to Japan. The prize money of €100,000 enabled us to take on another employee, attend important conferences attended by potential customers where we implemented full marketing programmes. This strategy worked much better for us than cold calling as, after we presented our technology at these, we had a queue of major players lining up to talk to us. We have hit all our Seedcorn milestones and we are now market ready and excited about what the future has in store for us.” This year’s competition is now open for registration at www. intertradeireland.com/seedcorn and businesses are encouraged to submit an entry. Deadline for submissions is 1 June 2018.

You can follow all the action throughout the 2018 competition by searching for and using #ITIseedcorn and following @iti_seedcorn

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Eye on Motoring

Motoring with Derek Black dbmotoring@btinternet.com

Audi Rs4 Avant Is The Practical Supercar - At A Price! Of course, most sensible buyers will go for an Audi estate with the well proven 2.0 TDI engine. But, imagine for a moment, that there is no company car budget limit and that you can get a powerhouse.

hat’s where the RS4 Avant comes in as a practical wagon with the performance of a supercar. The sad news is that the legendary V8 engine with its lovely throaty sound has been deleted. But there is much consolation in its replacement - a 3.0litre V6 twin turbo which is mighty quick too and uses less petrol whilst emitting half as much CO2. It’s a lighter engine too, which improves the feel of the car, which has quattro all-wheel drive for grip and stability. There is breath-taking performance in almost every situation from the 444bhp engine. You zap from rest to 62mph in just 4.1 seconds, top speed is limited to 155mph as with most German cars. (But you can ‘un-govern’ this one to release its true potential of 174mph!) Unless you are on one of Germany’s unrestricted autobahns, that top figure is academic. Yet

the sheer power and its constant availability can be enjoyed - responsibly of course - on country roads. The quattro system ensures that power is applied to the wheels that need it. The leech-like grip and stability are as remarkable as the outright performance. Steering is light and precise and braking is powerful as it has to be on this amazing driving machine. You can let the car get on with things which it does very

well, or if you like, you can adjust suspension stiffness, steering weight and engine response. Not only is it powerful, but the RS4 Avant is highly sophisticated in its engineering. Given that prices start on the wrong side of £60K, anyone serious about this car will not be too concerned about its thirst - said to be 32mpg combined - and its 199g/ km emissions. After all, this sporting estate is a sheer indulgence and such driving exhilaration has its price!

Maserati Moves Up Into The Luxury SUV World With The Levante The urge to drive tall knows no boundaries these days though it is still slightly surprising to find a Maserati SUV.

he Levante has been on the market for less than a year but already makes up at least half of the luxury Italian brand’s sales in the UK. Mind you, it did seem counter intuitive to be hustling a £75K car through the ruts on the offroad course in the Clandeboye estate. Yet, thanks to features like hill descent auto braking - and an expert off-road driver at my left elbow - I coped without the car coming to any harm. Ultimately, the Levante will be a road car most of the time and it is surprisingly good on the tarmac given its size and weight. The 275 horsepower V6 diesel engine can move this hefty machine from 0 to 62mph in 6.9 seconds and has a potential top speed of 142mph. There is

an eight speed auto gearbox with large paddle controls behind the steering - in sport mode it sounded like no other diesel I have driven! The wailing engine note and the lavish leather interior are key Maserati ingredients. Inside the plush and warm cabin there is beautiful stitched upholstery. An iPad style touch screen contrasts with an oval analogue clock. This car mixes tradition with technology in spadefuls. You get adjustable air suspension, which works well to lower the car at high speeds and to raise it in the rough. The car’s responsiveness can be adjusted for your driving style and the road conditions. Every modern driving and safety aid is there. The downside is, of course, the running costs with a claimed 34mpg combined and emissions of 189g/km that put it in the top company car tax bracket. The Maserati is competitive with its up-market rivals at prices from £55K before options. If you like and can afford the Maserati formula for a supercar that is usable everyday - and need or want an SUV - the the Levante is an indulgent and enjoyable option.

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Motoring with Derek Black dbmotoring@btinternet.com

Classy Koleos Takes Renault Into Tough New Fields T

Renault has added a flagship Koleos to its SUV line-up. With the option of four-wheel drive this is a larger and more serious machine that the trendy Captur and Kadjar. (Yes, it is very different proposition to the the previous Koleos!)

his car that is growing on me since my first drive last year. It has an easy-going nature and is very comfortable. With a seven-speed auto gearbox and loads of torque from its dCi 175 diesel engine, this is a very undemanding car to drive. Okay, it is not a sporty drive but then it is not meant to be. That means you can concentrate on the road ahead, which is no bad thing. There is plenty of room and comfort for those who need to carry stuff around as part of their job. At this point I confess that I have been driving the flagship Signature model with four-wheel drive and all the trimmings. There is a big touch screen and a digital speedo and an executive level of equipment. If you need to go off-road then you have all the technology so that the car does most of the work.

Of course, this is a top model car with its beefy performance and safety systems such as an ‘overspeed prevention system, lane departure warning and hill start assistance. It is claimed to return 47mpg combined consumption, emissions of 156g/ km emissions and has a 33% BIK rating. The price tag of is £34k plus. When it comes to a fleet car, there is a more prudent choice in the 1.6-dCi engine with front-drive only and a bit less kit. This offers 130PS everyday performance, 57mpg combined consumption and lower emissions of 128g/km. Prices for the ‘cooking’ models start from around £28K before discount. The new Koleos makes some headroom for Renault in the hotlycontested SUV sections but it will be a tough sell at those prices.

to 58mpg depending on whether you choose the 150 or 180PS output and two or all-wheel drive. BIK ratings range from 29 to 33% for the same variations. Even by Volvo’s high standards, the safety features are outstanding. They include a standard automatic emergency braking system that recognises cyclists, pedestrians and large animals. All XC40s come with traffic sign recognition and a system that can intervene if you drift across the centre line into the path of oncoming traffic. There is Intellisafe pack, which features a semiautonomous driving function that can

steer, accelerate and brake for you. The interior has an upmarket ambience with the obligatory large screen in the centre and solid sensible controls. Equipment on the mid-range Momentum models runs to a 9inch screen, digital instruments, 18-inch alloys, LED headlamps and rear parking aids. There is the familiar R-Design spec and the luxurious Inscription trim above that. The diesels are priced from £31,465 to £36,855 which is competitive with the predictable German rivals. Resale valuation predictions are positive which should keep down leasing rates.

Volvo Is On To A Winning Number With New XC40! I Chinese ownership is working well for Volvo. Not only are sales up significantly but their latest model, the XC40 is already picking up some Car of the Year awards. So what sets this compact SUV apart from its horde of rivals? 82

t looks distinctly different to the other premium carry-alls with an equally high quality interior. Comfort and space are plentiful and, of course, the safety package is excellent. The driving experience is pleasant. So far, there are two 2.0-litre D3 and D4 diesels plus some more spirited petrol alternatives. Top models come with all-wheel drive and an eightspeed automatic gearbox. Later, a three-cylinder petrol, hybrid and all electric versions will be rolled out. The diesels are frugal with combined consumption figures ranging from 51

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