2012 INTERTRADEIRELAND ALL-ISLAND SEEDCORN BUSINESS COMPETITION
InterTradeIreland is delighted to announce the launch of the 2012 All-Island Seedcorn Business Competition, the largest business competition on the island of Ireland.
The competition seeks to transform equity seeking businesses into first-class investor ready companies. In addition to the prize fund of €280,000, companies will have access to the Seedcorn Network – an extensive business community which will help boost the company’s profile. The competition offers entrepreneurs the opportunity to;
• Develop their business idea
• Improve their business plan
• Make their concept investor ready
• Gain exposure to venture capitalists and other equity providers
• Increase the profile of the business
InterTradeIreland would be grateful if you would bring the 2012 competition to the attention of your relevant contacts – I have attached a competition booklet here. A number of promotional workshops and business planning workshops will be held around the country to introduce the competition. As number are limited for many of these events, pre-registration is enssential. Full details of the venues and dates and the competition terms and conditions and prize fund are available at:
www.intertradeireland.com/seedcorn
Regular hints and tips for the competition will be issued via our twitter feed – follow us on @ITI_seedcorn. Closing date for this year’s competition is 1pm on Wednesday 12 September 2012 with the regional finals taking place in late October and early November. The overall final will take place in Belfast’s iconic Titanic Building on Wednesday 28 November 2012.
Companies involved in the competition in previous years have provided very positive feedback on the competition and the process. New private equity in excess of €145m has been raised by companies who have been regional finalists in previous years, many as a direct result of taking part in the competition.
BT Group selects Northern Ireland as the location for 120 jobs
BT today announced that it is creating a new state-of-the-art contact centre in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The centre will provide around 120 new jobs for multi-skilled customer service advisors and managers who can work flexibly across any part of BT Group that requires additional resource quickly. This latest investment by BT Group brings the number of people employed by the company in Northern Ireland to more than 2,600.
The elite centre is a unique concept for BT Group, set up to be a highly skilled, flexible resource centre that can provide extra capacity to different parts of the company quickly and help enhance the service BT provides to its customers.
To help the new advisors handle a wide range of situations, products and services, from superfast fibre-optic broadband technology to IT services, BT will make a significant investment in state-of-the-art contact centre technology in the new centre in
Riverside Tower.
BT will shortly commence the recruitment of both advisors and managers who can manage a diverse range of work with BT’s customers locally and internationally. Recruitment will be managed by BT through telephone interviews and an assessment centre. All staff will attend new entrant training of around five weeks’ duration. Further training will be given to advisors, as required, to enable them to carry out specialist activities. Training will begin in mid-July, and the centre will open in August 2012.
According to a report by Regeneris on BT’s economic impact for the year ending March 2011, BT employs one in every six people working in the IT and communications sectors in Northern Ireland, resulting in £83million in wages and salary spend. In Northern Ireland, the company is also undertaking one of the most rapid fibre broadband rollouts in the world and soon 89 per cent of phone lines will be connected to a fibre-enabled street cabinet.
Colm O’Neill, CEO BT Northern Ireland, said: “Given the worldwide competition for foreign direct investment, we are delighted that BT Group has selected Belfast as the location for this unique contact centre. In addition to the significant BT Northern Ireland operation, BT Group will now have four additional centres in Northern Ireland – including a global research and development centre and two digital care centres – employing more than 1,000 people. We believe this is a great vote of confidence in Northern Ireland and the potential growth opportunities that exist here for us, and is a further step in BT’s objective to become number one for customer service.”
The new centre is being supported by Invest Northern Ireland, which has offered more than £568,000 of support under its Jobs Fund. The Department of Employment and Learning (DEL) has offered more than £108,000 of training support under its Assured Skills programme.
Colm O’Neill added: “Invest NI’s support has allowed us to move quickly to the recruitment stage so that the centre can become effective as soon as possible. The support from DEL under Assured Skills will help us deliver quality workplace training to the new recruits, who will be required to deliver a range of services.”
Applicants wishing to find out further details about these roles should visit: www.bt.com/careers.
WELL DONE TITANIC BELFAST FANTASTIC LIGHT SHOW
Sunday morning at St George’s Market after a long walk around TitanicBelfast with the kids it was nice to watch a Cooking demo with NIGOODFOOD
They were doing Demonstrating Dishes from the Titanic First ,Second and Third Class Menus
Using produce from St George’s Market
After a Great Demo I went to meet Arthur Magee EXPERIENCE BELFAST one man show and walking tour.
A 5 STAR EXPERIENCE
There’s more to Belfast than Walls Experience Belfast…Don’t just See It
Don’t forget to check out BELFAST IN A BOX
Titanic Belfast® extends over nine galleries, with multiple dimensions to the exhibition, drawing together special effects, dark rides, full-scale reconstructions and innovative interactive features to explore the Titanic story in a fresh and insightful way; from her conception in Belfast in the early 1900s, through her construction and launch, to her infamous maiden voyage and catastrophic demise. The journey goes beyond the aftermath of the sinking, to the discovery of the wreck and continues into the present day with a live undersea exploration centre.
If you’re a bricks and mortar business, you’ve got a battle on your hands, particularly if you offer anything the enormous chains offer. You have got to become unique, an expert in what you do, and offer the best customer service possible then market that fact.
Those are 3 of the things these big box stores don’t offer : uniqueness, experience and consumer service. Personally I usually try to shop at small local businesses, because they are the backbone of a community and they are frequently more well informed and helpful than big stores, where you are lucky if you can get any help at all!
Start A Blog
Perhaps the 1st and most effective promotional strategy when promoting video production is blogging. One, it helps build your reputation. Two, it serves a good avenue to introduce your business. And three, it helps you to easily make contact with potential clients.
