Want to improve your tender skills to win that elusive public sector contract? Our award winning 2 day tender workshops are back with a list of new dates and venues.  Training is delivered by experienced bid specialists with a half day tailored mentoring support offered to each SME participant.

Eligible participants can also apply for up to a further 2 days mentoring from an experienced consultant. Mentoring support may include help to :

• source and respond to public sector opportunities
• Prepare a winning proposal
• Develop a live tender
• Scope markets and competitors

Cost

€100 / £85 (Fee includes training, materials, catering and a half day mentoring)

The latest quarterly Business Monitor Report (April - June 2016) illustrates, against the backdrop of generally positive business performance, that the outcome of the EU referendum has caught a large majority of businesses on the hop with 97% of businesses having no plan in place to deal with the consequences of a ‘leave’ vote.  

Also while a quarter of businesses (25%) in the north felt that cross-border sales would decrease, more than twice as many Irish firms felt they would be negatively impacted (57%).

Dwayne Stewart, Communications Manager at InterTradeIreland, discusses why marketing can be done on a shoestring budget and why SMEs don’t have to spend a fortune on Communications activity to get their message heard and understood.  

Read the blog to get his Top Ten Tips for small businesses.

Want to get help to identify the steps needed to succeed in export markets and find the right support to bring your product or service to market -  whether you are exporting for the first time or already exporting?

Try out the new tool on NIBusinessinfo.

This new tool is aimed at all businesses in Northern Ireland. It will take about 5 minutes to complete and you will receive a personalised report. 

This report will give advice on what’s involved with selling your goods and services overseas, as well as access to resources, expert advice and financial support packages. 

Check out also their step to step guide to exporting.

Then check out CPA Ireland's (Certified Public Accountants Ireland) website.

I came across this recently and thought it would be good to share with you. The site contains articles covering topics like business planning, marketing, finance and entrepreneurship. You can also download their CPA Business Tracker App from the website, an App specially designed for business owners to monitor the finances of their company. 

In addition, you can avail of the Taking Charge of Your Business webinars, a series of webinars with expert advice on health and safety, risk, marketing, finance and more. 

The Young Directors Forum (YDF) is a national IoD initiative providing opportunities for younger, less experienced directors and executives to learn both from each other and from the more experienced business leaders who attend the events. 

It helps members to establish the necessary support network to assist them in growing their own companies and developing as business leaders. The YDF steering group, which is led by Adrian Allen of The Tomorrow Lab, meets two to three times a year to set the events programme and other activities.

InterTradeIreland has published a unique all island report into the Business Angel investor market.

According to the report, “Funding for growth: The Business Angels Market on the Island of Ireland”, Business Angel investment on the island is estimated to be worth between €70 million and €120 million annually.

Arklu’s founders are Ian Harkin, Managing Director, and Lucie Follett, who is Creative Director, and responsible for all product development. Arklu was formed in December 2010. 

Harkin and Follett saw that there was a niche for a more wholesome alternative to the dolls that were currently on the market, and so spent 18 months performing research before launching Lottie Dolls in late August 2012.

Lottie’s unique point of difference and the type of research carried out, are explained in more detail here.

When it comes to interviewing, if you want real answers you have to ask the right questions — the more unexpected, the better. Ten leading tech founders and CEOs share their favorite interview questions for picking out the best from the rest.

It’s no secret the impact great talent can have on driving your company to success. But when it comes to interviewing candidates, how do you really weed out the pretenders from the true contenders? 

Read on! Below, we’ve compiled a list of ten of the most insightful interview questions from some of the most successful CEOs and founders in tech.