Patrons Make the Most of Your

Make the Most of Your NI Chamber Membership

Ambition talks to Valerie McConville, head of business development, about how organisations and individuals can extract maximum benefit from membership of NI Chamber.

Valerie McConville, head of business development, NI Chamber.

As the many long-standing members of NI Chamber will know, the more involved you become, the more benefits you realise. We are in the business of helping your business to thrive and want to ensure that every single member, at every level, is making the most of the huge range of opportunities being part of our network brings. Helping business across the province to do just that is the job of Valerie McConville and her Business Development team.

At NI Chamber, our approach to helping members starts with understanding them.

“As a business support organisation, we are uniquely rooted in Northern Ireland – from our Board and Council, to the Executive team, NI Chamber is led and run by people who have a deep understanding of the particular challenges that local companies have faced historically, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and, of course, due to the enormous changes brought about by Brexit.

“We have been helping companies to trade locally and export internationally since 1783, so supporting business is in our DNA. NI Chamber is agile and fleet of foot – we pre-empt our members’ needs and establish new services quickly and effectively to meet these” says Valerie.

That agility has come to the fore over the past 12 months, when services were quickly pivoted to reflect fast changing business needs. A swift response to the COVID-19 pandemic saw the organisation quickly roll out a raft of new initiatives to help members through a tumultuous year.

“Our services have always focused on business growth: driving sales, innovation and exports. In 2020, almost overnight, our members’ priorities changed from growing their businesses to simply surviving, by navigating their way through the deepest economic recession on record. Supporting thousands of businesses in many different industries through that was no mean feat. And at the same time, the wider team was working extensively to build the capacity of our business support services ahead of Brexit, to be certain that we had the resources and expertise to provide a comprehensive advisory, training and documentation service.”

While 2020 brought challenges for all, Valerie explains how, thanks to robust forward planning, the whole NI Chamber team worked to ensure that services in 2021 are right on the money, delivering exactly what members need now, in a way that is fully accessible to them.

“Membership of NI Chamber has probably never been more relevant or beneficial and we want to ensure that all businesses are accessing all the services that are available to them.

“As well as a suite of international support, including enhanced export documentation services, international trade advice, customs processing and technical training, NI Chamber offers members free access to a range of events on leadership, skills, energy and sustainability, business support programmes designed to help

Ryan Bell Promote your brand

Use our platforms to showcase your organisation, tell other members about your business growth, new contracts or expansion plans. Uploading news articles and events to the members section of the website also means they will be considered for inclusion in our digital newsletter, Ambition Weekly.

As a member you can also buy a promotional e-zine, which is circulated to over 6,500 subscribers, including like-minded business professionals who could potentially use your services.

Don’t know your membership login? Call Ryan Bell on 07711 493190 Our personalised Account Management Service is for Corporate and Growth members. It enables us to be responsive to your organisation’s needs by building deeper relationships across your team and gaining a thorough understanding of your business. Your account manager will be there to make personal connections from across the NI Chamber network. They will ensure that you are made aware of appropriate events and programmes, whilst making sure you enjoy maximum exposure across digital and print platforms.

To find out how to upgrade your membership, call Caroline Morris on 07860 703595 All members get access to free HR, health & safety legal and tax advice through QUEST, as well as legal expenses insurance up to £1,000,000. If you’re not already accessing this advice, get started at chambernorthernireland. questcover.com

Members also get access to exclusive plans from Westfield Health, which is a really useful wellbeing service and staff retention tool. Firms with company vehicles can also save up to 67% on business breakdown cover with AA, while all members can access preferential rates on mediation services.

To find out more call Pedro Torres on 07534 836199.

Caroline Morris Consider account managed membership

Pedro Torres Use your membership to save money

companies grow, as well as a host of valuable profile raising opportunities.

“The restrictions brought about by Covid have made it difficult for businesses to remain connected with each other, to expand networks, share learning and benefit from hearing the experiences of other companies. With our facilitation, NI Chamber members can continue to learn and grow through connecting with others.”

And at a time when business engagement with policy makers is crucial, NI Chamber is an ideal conduit for local businesses to make their voices heard:

“We play an important role in representing the views of our members at a political level, locally and nationally, and are always cognisant of the issues which members are concerned about. We hear the views of members when they attend programmes and events, in account management meetings, calls and less formal day-to-day interactions with them and through their ongoing feedback. There are regular opportunities to share experiences through our Quarterly Economic Survey, which all members are invited to respond to, as well as to engage directly with policy makers through the ‘In Camera’ series.”

That commitment to always listening extends to inviting constant feedback about NI Chamber’s own service provision too:

“Our most recent membership satisfaction survey showed 84% of members were either very satisfied or satisfied with their membership. After every event, training course or business support programme we ask for feedback and act on it constantly.”

Membership of NI Chamber is available in three tiers and whether you are an Essential, Growth or Corporate member, a team of experts is on hand to help you make the most of everything that is available to you. Valerie encourages businesses in every sector to make that a priority.

“Members at every level have access to our profile raising platforms, like Ambition magazine, the digital newsletter, Ambition Weekly, so that’s a great place to get started. Submit your news regularly via the member section of our website and let us tell the business community about what you’re up to. Sign up to our virtual events to get back to building your critical network and see what training courses might be suitable for your team. Corporate and Growth members are able to benefit from tailored business support, an additional print profile and direct access to policy makers and we’re always able to upgrade Essential members when they reach the stage of benefiting from these too. Our entire approach is to be as flexible and helpful as we possibly can.”

“Membership of NI Chamber has probably never been more relevant or beneficial and we want to ensure that all businesses are accessing all the services that are available to them.”