Business Mentoring Support for Trainers based in Northern Ireland
Trainingmatchmaker.com founder: Chartered Marketer Christine Watson recently completed the Entrepreneurial Spark (ESpark) 3 month Spring and 6 month Enable programmes to help with the research, MVP (minimum viable product) build and launch of her latest venture: TrainingMatchmaker.com – an online platform to inspire learning by listing the free and paid for online and face to face learning opportunities available and trainers available to hire alongside opportunities for trainers. As the ESpark programme came to a close for TrainingMatchmaker.com (for now, we may apply for the additional 2 stages in the future) our founder was very kindly offered the opportunity to officially continue with ESpark as a Community partner. This is a wonderful opportunity for skilled professionals and mentors to help support entrepreneurs, however, given the need for focus when working in start up mode with a platform such as TrainingMatchmaker.com and our awareness of the many other support programmes that exist locally (some of whom pay the specialist mentor) it was sadly not an offer our business could financially sustain on top of volunteering for professional body – The Chartered Institute of Marketing – Ireland region and adhoc with Young Enterprise NI. Never say never though, maybe, just maybe, down the line, we will be in a resource position to be able to offer up free formal assistance to our next generation of entrepreneurs. In the meantime we will focus on supporting Trainers with TrainingMatchmaker.com – a brand new platform that can uncover many business development opportunities for individuals delivering training services. Every problem is a solution waiting to happen and we believe that it is really important to not just show gratitude (and we are grateful for all the support, learning and networking we gained as part of the ESpark programme – as well as our free prime office accommodation and services, right in the city centre of Belfast) but also give back. So as part of our giving back we thought we would be nice and scribe for our Entrepreneurial Trainers a list of the free (or at times heavily subsidised) support programmes that exist for Micro and SME organisations such as Independent Trainers and Training Providers across Northern Ireland.- Your Local Council – Contact your Economic Development Officer – many local councils run bespoke business support programmes alongside their group based programmes. After initial discussion with an Economic Development Officer you are offered the support of a professional Business Mentor with specialisms in the areas identified and agreed by you eg. marketing, finance, IT, legals etc. This support can be up to 20 hours of a Mentor’s/Specialist’s time. The mentor gets paid an hourly rate and you, the organisation benefitting, pay nothing! Barney Toal and Clare Magee of Innovate NI were awarded the contract to deliver this programme in both the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough and the Lisburn and Castlereagh Council areas. Full Circle won the contract to deliver this programme for Belfast City Council. Next Steps: Visit your local council website – click on their Economic Development Page or Contact your Local Economic Development Officer by telephone or email.
- Belfast City Council – Apply
- Your Local Enterprise Agency – many are members of Enterprise Northern Ireland and run a variety of business support and mentoring programmes. For example: Carrickfergus Enterprise Tourism Mentoring Programme
- The College Network. Local colleges such as Belfast Met have a programme called Innovate Us which provides between 10-60 hours of fully funded training to companies with fewer than 50 employees.” InnovateUs is a funded skills development programme which offers a unique, tailored training solution for small businesses. Funded by the Department for the Economy, the programme’s aim is to deliver bespoke training solutions that encourage and enable a business to bring an idea to the market through new product, service or process development.
The Process: A member of the Business Development team meets with you to discuss your company’s needs and completes a short skills audit. A bespoke training plan is then created and delivered to you (the business owner) and/or your employees.Training solutions including one to one sessions with a specialist are available in your workplace or at the college in a wide range of skill areas, including bespoke training solutions. The scope is wide and focused on what skills your company needs to innovate and grow!Next Steps: Email businessdevelopment [at] belfastmet.ac.uk or contact Nuala Kilmartin or Rachel Burns
- Intertrade Ireland – Elevate Supports Micro businesses by providing up to £5,000/€6,000 consultancy expertise to help you create winning cross-border sales development plans.
- InvestNI
- Tourism NI
- Princes Trust – Applicable business owners eg aged 11-30 can access Mentoring via The Princes Trust – one-to-one support for two years after launching your business
- The Enterpreneurial Spark Programme, powered by Ulster Bank and with quarterly intakes, the mission of the programme is “To encourage Entrepreneuring® through the development of entrepreneurial mindset and behaviours”. It is the world’s largest free people accelerator for early stage and growing ventures and your time on Espark – if you are accepted is focused on accelerating your business. Their series of “kickass enablement” programmes are action-focused and specifically designed to build the people who build great businesses. Supported by NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland and Ulster Bank who utilise local ecosystems to help make entrepreneurs credible, backable and investable. Partnerships with KPMG Enterprise, Dell Technologies, Harper Macleod and Pinsent Masons to deliver specific expertise to work on those building blocks of entrepreneurial success.The 4 programmes – Sprint, Enable, Grow and Scale are free and ESpark take no equity in any business:
A six-month programme focused on scaling up your already successful business. For Businesses with an annual turnover of £200,000+ a year and/or have secured £150,000+ investment or funding. Grow – hitting the growth trajectory A six-month programme to put your business on a growth trajectory. For Businesses with an annual turnover of £100,000+ a year and/or have secured £25,000+ investment or funding. Enable – accelerating your progress A six-month programme focused on equipping you with a growth mindset, validating everything your business does and accelerating sales. For Businesses with an annual turnover up to £99,999 and/or have secured £5,000-£24,999 in investment or funding. Sprint – short and sharp focus for your business idea A three-month programme helping you achieve specific outcomes for developing and validating your idea or early stage business. Sprint is for you if you want to hone your entrepreneurial talent. Next Steps: Take a Tour of the Belfast ESpark Hub in Lombard Street, Attend an Open Access Event at Espark Belfast and/or Apply Online. Your contacts in ESpark Belfast are Lynsey, John and Matt.
- Business in the Community TBC
- Your Professional Institute:
- The Lean In Network – The Northern Ireland Chapter of the global Lean In movement (brain child of Sheryl COO of Facebook and her small circle of Lean In Ladies) was founded by Nuala Murphy. To find out about Lean In events and/or circles in your area visit LeanIn.org. Not official mentoring but peer to peer support at learning and networking events.
- Women in Business NI (WIBNI) – Women in Business in Northern Ireland can become members of WIBNI and access mentoring, over 50 mentors provide support and guidance to network members. Organisations can also apply for the Power of 4 Programme
