Director of the Year Awards

September/October 2014 www.iod.com

News

Published for members of the Northern Ireland Division of the Institute of Directors

Director of the Year Awards launched INSIDE

Page 16-17

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IoD events

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The Twinterview

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A healthy challenge

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Lessons from Alexander the Great

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Northern Ireland IS working

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Invasion of the US investors

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Diploma passes

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EIS and companies

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What’s happening at Pall Mall?

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NORTHERN IRELAND IoD NEWS

September/October 2014


Events Diary Dates September 03 **New member lunch 08 Annual Golf Outing at Malone 11 Appraising board members (4) 23 **New director ‘boot camp’ (4) October 02 The Celtic Dinner organised by IoD NI in London 03 IoD Convention at the Royal Albert Hall (6) 08 Understanding board dynamics (7) 17 IoD NI Annual Lunch (1) 21 ***Chartered Director workshop (4) 24 IoD UK Director of the Year Awards in London November 17 The Role of the Non-Executive Director (7)

The Annual Lunch 17 October

Annual Golf Outing

New Director’s Boot Camp

8 September

23 September

We are back at the exclusive Malone Golf Club for this year’s Golf Outing. Book fourballs or individual places for the event, which will involve a 4 ball Stableford competition with prizes including the overall winner, best member and best guest. Dinner and the prize giving will conclude the day.

Sponsored by Arthur Cox Solicitors, this new addition to our programme is a one day session aimed new Directors, anyone soon to be appointed to a board or any Directors who would like to brush up on their responsibilities. Delivery will be mostly informal through ‘masterclass’ sessions with experienced directors, and will include a quiz to assess your starting knowledge of the director’s role, as well as a session on the legal issues that can lead to spectacular corporate governance failures.

Evaluating your board 11 September In our second workshop on evaluating the effectiveness of your board, presenter Joy Allen will look at the issue of Board Member appraisal, examining the board member role, appraisals at board level, appraisal structures and processes, and the language for effective feedback.

Speakers include Michelle Hatfield, George Best Belfast City Airport; Sharon O’Connor CDir, Derry City Council; Mark Hutchinson, SJC Hutchinson Engineering; Eileen Mullan of Strictly Boardroom; and Lynsey Mallon, Arthur Cox Solicitors

Marketing to IoD members For details of sponsorship opportunities and rates for advertising in IoD Northern Ireland News, contact Linda Brown on 028 9068 3224 or email [email protected].

December 05 IoD NI Director of the Year Awards 2015 February 05 IoD NI Annual Dinner

(CPD Hours) Book online at www.iod.com/ northernireland

Boot Camp Getting in shape are IoD Director Linda Brown, Claire Burgoyne from NISP Connect, personal trainer John Ferris from Motive8 in Holywood, and Lynsey Mallon and Alan Taylor from Arthur Cox.

2 & 3 October Our annual visit to London for the Annual Convention at the Royal Albert Hall will again include the Celtic Dinner the evening before Convention. It’s our turn to organise the ‘Dinner’ and we are going for something a bit different. A visit to the new BBC headquarters in London will include a tour of the facilities and a discussion with a BBC journalist about the outcome of the Scottish independence referendum followed by something to eat. Contact [email protected] if you are interested in joining us. If you would like to join the IoD box at the Convention, email [email protected] Speakers confirmed for this year’s event include: Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia; Will Hayward of Buzzfeed; and Susan Sobbott of American Express.

Presented by Anne Dargan, this workshop aims to help women to work effectively with their senior colleagues through understanding the group dynamics that are at work around the boardroom table. Nigel Walker With women still outnumbered five to one, being savvy about how the differences between men and women play out at the top levels in an organisation can avoid potential problems that can damage the overall effectiveness of the board or executive team.

Currently National Director of the English Institute of Sport, Nigel’s career has included world class recognition as a high hurdler and Welsh rugby international. Outside the sporting arena, Nigel has worked as a TV presenter and commentator, was Head of Sport with BBC Wales, and Programme Director for the BBC Wales Drama Village – supervising the construction of the 170,000 sq ft building used to produce programmes like Dr Who and Casualty. Nigel will be talking about the challenges of motivating teams versus motivating individuals, and developing a ‘can do’ culture. And quite possibly reflecting on the success of Team England at the Commonwealth Games.

Open to all IoD members interested in their continuing professional development. Sponsored by Arthur Cox Solicitors and PwC.

The role of the Non-Executive Director 17 November The essential IoD course for anyone who is or who aspires to be a non-exec, and for companies taking a non-exec onto their board. Presented by the leading IoD trainer in this area, George Bartlett.

Director of the Year Awards 5 December Be among the first to find out the winners of the 2014-15 Northern Ireland Director of the Year Awards at our lunch at the Merchant Hotel in Belfast. The event will be hosted by local comedian, actor and writer Tim McGarry. Good pre-Christmas fun! (see pages 16 and 17 for information about the Awards). Tim McGarry

Chartered Director workshop 21 October The 3rd Chartered Director workshop introduces updates on the legal and financial duties of directors and discusses whether your board is fit for purpose; the main purpose being to create the value that secures its long-term future. Speakers including Philip Cassidy of Concentrix, and from GB Alan Hindley CDir, Genius Methods and Alan Patterson, Marketing Statements, will discuss how the board can contribute to or hinder the achievement of your objectives – whether that is scaling the business, growth, IPO, sale, etc. Helen Kirkpatrick, UK Non-Executive Director of the Year, and Simon Hunter CDir of Hunter Apparel will join Philip and the two Alans for a panel discussion. Helen is a Non-Executive Director of UTV Media plc and Kingspan plc.

Correction Apologies for the historical inaccuracy in our introduction to the articles on Scottish independence in the July/August magazine. And thanks to Richard Moore for pointing out that when the union between Scotland and England first began, the Scottish and English monarch had been one and the same person for over 100 years before the union, since James 1 (of England) and 6th (of Scotland) acceded to both thrones.

Serious about CPD

Explore the world from Belfast.

IoD exists to set high standards of professionalism for business leadership and to provide members with professional development opportunities to retain their Chartered Director status, contribute to CPD points or hours

Six daily flights to London Heathrow and beyond.

for other professional bodies, and generally to keep you up to date with developments relating to your role as a

To Fly. To Serve.

business leader. CPD hours are indicated (in brackets) in the list of Diary Dates in IoD Northern Ireland News.

Book now at ba.com Flights from Belfast City arrive into London Heathrow Terminal 1. Transfer to global destinations through Heathrow Terminal 1, 3 and 5. The Airbus A380 aircraft operates out of Terminal 5 to selected destinations. From 26 October 2014, flights from Dublin and Belfast will be arriving into London Heathrow Terminal 5. See ba.com for details.

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The Celtic Dinner and IoD Annual Convention

8 October

Events marked ** are free to IoD members ***free to Chartered Directors

Follow IoD Northern Ireland on Twitter @iodni

Our sponsor for this year’s Annual Lunch is again Rainbow Communications and our speaker is the inspirational speaker and Cardiff native, Nigel Walker.

Understanding board dynamics

March 06 Women’s Leadership Conference (7)

If the event you are looking for does not appear online, please telephone Lorraine at 028 9068 3224.


28/07/2014 16:16

IoD events also provide valuable opportunities to network with and learn from other business leaders.

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Member Company News

dublinbikes expansion for JCDecaux

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dublinbikes are provided by JCDecaux as part of an outdoor advertising arrangement with Dublin City Council and cycling has increased 40% in Dublin city since the scheme started, with over 7 million journeys having been taken so far, exceeding all expectations. A recent expansion of the scheme has spread availability of dublinbikes westward towards Heuston Station and eastward to the Docklands resulting in 100 stations and 1,500 bikes being available by the end of this summer.

’ve just discovered that there are 31 economically significant business clusters across the UK, ranging from Scottish whisky, Welsh tourism and Yorkshire furniture to Formula 1 and motor sport development in Northamptonshire, and digital and creative clusters in London.

above their weight and aerospace is not the only Northern Ireland cluster to demonstrate that. Pharmaceutical companies like Almac and Randox lead a local pharma cluster generating annual GVA of between £100m and £150m, and employing around 4,000 people.

That’s all in a new report from the Centre for Cities entitled, Industrial Revolutions: Unlocking Potential in the UK’s Thriving Cluster Sector. The authors say the 31 clusters they identified account for 10% of all UK businesses, but employ around 15% of the UK workforce and deliver 20% of total UK output.

Then there’s tourism – which generated three-quarters of a billion pounds last year – and quarrying and extraction plant, computer disk drives, food processing and financial and business services, where PwC alone will have more than 1,000 employees by the end of the summer. Collaborate to go global

No Northern Ireland clusters? (from left); Alan Kelly, Department of Transport Minister; Frank O’Donnell, Coca-Cola HBC Ireland; Joanne Grant, JCDecaux Ireland; Owen Keegan, Dublin City Manager; and Jon Woods, Coca-Cola Great Britain & Ireland

Chairman Paul Terrington, PwC Immediate Past Chairman Mervyn McCall, MNV Ltd Treasurer Geoffrey Henderson, TotalMobile

Welcome to the IoD

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Committee chairmen Jonathan Guest, Paper Yacht (Connecting) Richard Hunter, R Robinson & Sons (Business Environment) Ian Jeffers, The Prince’s Trust (Education & Skills) Gordon Milligan, Translink (Developing) Joanne Stuart, Attrus Limited (Economic Strategy)

To contact any members of the Northern Ireland Committee, email [email protected]

by Paul Terrington, Chairman, IoD Northern Ireland

From financial services, aerospace, automotive production, advanced research, metals, chemicals and the oil and gas industries, the 31 clusters range from some that are nationally significant to others that are truly global in reach and reputation.

For information: www.dublinbikes.ie

Members Bill Beers, Beers Engineering Consultancy Michael Corey, Lanyon Astor Buller Ashleen Feeney, KMPG Caroline Keenan, ASM Belfast Neal Lucas, Neal Lucas Recruitment Marie-Thérèse McGivern, Belfast Metropolitan College Jill Robb, Ambition Digital Ian Sheppard, Bank of Ireland Rose Mary Stalker, Catagen Alan Taylor, Arthur Cox


Chairman’s Message

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oanne Grant CDir, Managing Director of JCDecaux Ireland, reports that Coca-Cola Zero have agreed a three year deal as the commercial partner of dublinbikes, the public bike hire scheme that has been running in Dublin since 2009.

The IoD NI Committee


e are delighted to welcome a new member to the staff of IoD Northern Ireland. Lisa Keys takes on the new role of Head of Business Development.

Lisa has almost 20 years of experience in the fields of marketing and business development in the retail and professional services sectors. She joins us from the Belfast office of the international law firm, Pinsent Masons and had previously worked for Westfield Shoppingtowns.

Lorraine is leaving

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fter 19 years as the IoD Northern Northern Ireland Administrator, Lorraine Corry has decided to retire. She will be leaving us during September when her replacement takes up post. Lorraine will be enjoying her retirement with her husband, Will, who has been a regular attender at IoD events and known to many members as a fellow ‘petrolhead’! He and Lorraine will be spending more time with their four children and 6 grandchildren. We wish her a long and active retirement.

But none are in Northern Ireland… or so the report said, although, on further investigation, it emerged that it was the lack of available and comparable data and not that lack of businesses that kept Northern Ireland from driving the total beyond 31. The Centres for Cities report was commissioned by the former Science Minister, Lord Sainsbury, who says in his introduction to the report that, “…clusters contribute disproportionally to economic growth… and draw together world class talent that delivers fresh products and innovation to the marketplace.” That is borne out by just one local example - Northern Ireland’s £1bn a year, 8,000 employee aerospace industry - first identified in the 2008 MATRIX innovation policy as one of five strong industrial clusters which Northern Ireland was urged to grow further. Centre for Cities says that the UK’s most economically significant clusters punch well

But while companies form clusters and clusters create critical mass, the report warns that critical mass does not automatically create a brand. Indeed the authors warn that many of the UK’s clusters have weak brands, which impacts on their ability to attract talent, investors and investment. They conclude that, if companies within the cluster don’t collaborate enough, either between each other or with universities and other sources of innovation, they won’t become truly global. Looking for a cluster and brand role model, Centre for Cities point to Northamptonshire’s “motorsport valley”, the home of Formula 1 motor racing teams that, in 2012, generated £9 billion in revenues, employing around 41,000 people – a lot of money, a lot of people, a wealth of collaboration and R&D contributing to a truly global brand. Missing a trick So, looking to Northern Ireland, our aerospace sector compares very favourably with motorsport valley in terms of GVA, revenues per capita and global positioning, but what about the rest? We’ve got some great international food-processing companies, iconic tourism offerings, but do we have distinct and internationally

recognisable food and tourism brands? In terms of the latter, John Hunter’s review of tourism suggests that Lord Sainsbury may be right – a lot of companies doing the same thing in the same space don’t necessarily amount to a distinct brand in the eyes of the market. It’s a pity the best of Northern Ireland was not included amongst those 31 clusters, but that begs the question. We may have the talent, the skills and the products and services… but if all of us in our respective clusters don’t collaborate to innovate and don’t proactively create and promote an international cluster brand, we’re missing a seriously important trick.

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Member Company News



Member Profiles

Major MoD contract for Thales

George Hamilton

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eorge Hamilton, Northern Ireland’s new Chief Constable, joined the RUC in 1985 spending the early years of his police service in Fermanagh and Belfast. In 1994, he was seconded to England where he worked on a number of training and organisational development programmes. On his return, he worked in uniform patrol and neighbourhood duties in Lisburn before being seconded to assist with the transition in policing arising from the Patten Reforms, which included work on creating the PSNI Code of Ethics.

hales UK’s Belfast operation has won a £48million UK Ministry of Defence contract for the Royal Navy. The contract will secure 60 high quality jobs within Thales Belfast and provide additional opportunities for the supply chain. Thales, which has operations in Belfast and Crossgar, is a Centre of Excellence for missile design and manufacture within the Thales Group. This contract involves the demonstration and manufacture of the Future Anti Surface Guided Weapon (Light) system. The system is designed to use the Thales Lightweight Multirole Missile, a lightweight, precision strike missile designed to be fired from a variety of land, sea and airborne tactical platforms. It will be deployed by the Royal Navy and provide highly effective capability to defeat the threat from small ships and fast inshore attack craft.

(from left) David Beatty, MD of Thales UK’s Belfast facility, Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, First Minister Peter Robinson, Philip Dunne, Minister for Defence Equipment, Support and Technology; and Victor Chavez, CE of Thales UK

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From 2002 to 2007, George worked in CID where he led on a number of high profile and complex investigations as well as being involved in creating the Crime Operations Department as part of policing reforms. His next move was to District Commander for South and East Belfast, in which role he was responsible for the amalgamation of two command units facing some significant challenges including a substantially high volume of crime, interface and community issues.

George was selected as Assistant Chief Constable with Strathclyde Police in 2009. In this role he led a major change programme and was the lead for Homicide and Serious Crime issues for all of Scotland through the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland (ACPOS). Returning to NI in December 2011, he was appointed Assistant Chief Constable Criminal Justice where he instigated a change programme that resulted in the creation of the Service Improvement Department. This Department took on responsibility for Professional Standards and Anti-Corruption as well as the portfolio of Equality and Diversity as part of a new Policing with the Community Branch. In this role he was the Service’s Victims’ Champion and, in partnership with Public Prosecution Service, delivered the new Victim and Witness Care Unit and other significant criminal justice reforms. In June 2013, George became Assistant Chief Constable Rural Region and oversaw an operationally challenging yet successful

year which included the G8 Summit in Fermanagh, the UK City of Culture events in the North West and the first ever All Ireland Fleadh to be hosted here. In June 2014 the NI Policing Board appointed George as Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland succeeding Matt Baggott. George has a BA in Politics and Economics and an MBA as well as the IoD Diploma in Company Direction. He is a member of the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Leadership Association.

Jayne Finlay ‘The business plan turned our passion into a business.’ Danny McLaughlin & Kevin Logue, Uproar Comics

To start a business, arrange a FREE meeting with a business adviser to develop your business plan.

0800 027 0639

Call or visit goforitni.com

John Keane

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ohn Keane is Managing Director of Ardmore Advertising, a leading full service marketing communications agency with a highlyintegrated team of 45 delivering strategic, results-driven marketing, branding, advertising, public relations and digital solutions.

As the leader of one of Northern Ireland’s longest-established and most successful agencies, he has strategically steered the company through 25 years of growth in which it has created campaigns for a variety of local companies, plcs and international brands. John, who provides strategic direction across multi-disciplined teams and is also Chair of sister company LK Communications, is renowned for the agency’s pioneering and awardwinning work in the tourism, hospitality and travel sectors.

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ayne is Managing Director at HR and employment law training and information provider Legal-Island. Having joined the company in 2008 as Events Manager for the Republic of Ireland side of the business, she progressed to Events Director then Managing Director within 2 years. Legal-Island operates on an island of Ireland basis in the core business of providing conferences and email updates to help make the lives of HR professionals easier. Much of the employment law information we receive in Northern Ireland is GB specific and therefore doesn’t apply here so Legal-Island works with the leading employment lawyers and HR experts to bring HR professionals NI-specific employment law updates and information in a clear, concise and easily understandable format.

After obtaining a BA Honours Degree in Communications from the University of Ulster, John took up a senior role within the Belfast Telegraph’s London office. Ardmore Advertising was established in 1989. A member of the IPA, of which John is a Fellow, Ardmore is part of Worldwide Partners Inc, a global network of 55 independent, collaborative advertising agencies.

Jayne’s responsibilities include overseeing all day-today operations, staff performance and overall company performance across both the Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland operations. Just recently she guided the company to successful accreditation of Investors in People Gold standard and ISO 9001.

Contact John at [email protected] or check out www.ardmore.co.uk.

Contact Jayne on [email protected], connect on LinkedIn or visit www.legal-island.com

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On your behalf – the work of the IoD committees

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raditionally a quieter time for our policy committees, this summer has seen a couple of the committees still at work.

The Economic Strategy Committee received a briefing and update in early July from Gerry McGinn and Martin Spollen of the Strategic Investment Board (SIB). IoD member Gerry, Chairman of SIB, outlined the role of SIB which includes developing and maintaining a long term investment strategy, advising and supporting project/programme delivery, promoting public sector reform,

and ‘sweating’ existing public sector assets through the Asset Management Unit. He reported that £10bn has been invested to date through the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI) and that a further £13bn will be invested by 2021. Through Financial Transaction Capital, SIB is providing lending to capital projects, such as the new University of Ulster campus in Belfast. Investment in energy The pillars of the Investment Strategy from 2011 to 2021 are networks, skills, health, social, environment, productive and justice. Energy is recognised by SIB as an area requiring investment. This will come as no surprise to the Business Environment Committee, which has been discussing members’ concerns about the need for investment in the long-term security of our electricity supply and who is taking charge of setting and co-ordinating the priorities around energy supply and delivery. Members had a number of meetings with companies in the energy sector in late

The Laurel Mountain wind farm and AES 32MW lithium-ion battery storage facility in West Virginia, USA

July. Robert Wasson, an IoD member, who is responsible for Asset Management at NIE, provided a briefing on NIE’s capital investment priorities and the challenges of a changing environment including the increase in generation through renewables. Another member, Mark Miller of AES described a new development in large scale energy storage that his company is already operating in the US and Chile and that is potentially on the cards for Kilroot. This system, using arrays of lithium-ion batteries, would help reduce costs for SONI, the electricity Systems Operator for Northern Ireland, and provide speedy back-up at times of high demand. The Committee’s third meeting on energy was with Brett Ross of Full Circle Power, a consortium that is part of Bombardier’s approach to tackling increasing energy needs and costs. A Waste to Energy facility to be located in the Belfast Harbour estate will provide for all of Bombardier’s electricity needs. Solar also plays a part in the aircraft manufacturer’s energy mix. The key messages from these meetings are that the energy industry needs market structure clarity and that the business community in general desires the development of a long term, sustainable strategy for energy security.

The value of undergraduate internships for students and employers by Laura Fulton, Queen’s University undergraduate

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s we all know, the future arrives far too quickly, and with it a range of responsibilities and choices that demand to be answered. For university students, these pressures rush ever closer, with most graduating in just three years, and then they are thrust into the world of full-time employment. That is, if they can find anywhere to hire them, or if they are prepared for the stress of real-life scenarios in the workplace, or if they even know what they want to do. Value to students This is where undergraduate internships can benefit students immensely. By employing an undergraduate student, for even a few weeks, businesses can give undergraduates the crucial experience they need to take on their potential careers. They learn quickly, because they have to, and develop a range of skills that can be applied to a full-time position later, with particular emphasis on communication, commitment and timemanagement skills. These experiences can then be added to their CV, making

them more likely to find work after leaving university. Most importantly, though, by allowing a student to essentially ‘test drive’ a job, they are more capable of choosing a job they will actually enjoy and pursue in the future. Value to business Undergraduate internships are not only beneficial to the student, but there are also advantages for the employer. Students become a valuable resource, taking on a range of different jobs, and perhaps providing new opinions only a fresh perspective can bring. Not only this, but employers know that the problem with hiring graduates in their first couple of years is the lack of experience they bring to the table. The answer to this problem is giving them experience: a generation of graduates needs to cultivate their skills and abilities in order to be effective employees later. Furthermore, by hiring undergraduates for an internship, it is basically a way of advertising your business

via word of mouth and links with universities. My experience Speaking on a personal level, I have found my time as an intern at the IoD very useful in that I have been given the opportunity to attempt a number of different tasks I have not tried before. These included the proof reading of the July-August edition of IoD Northern Ireland News, and researching on a range of different topics, such as Scottish Independence and the Balanced Scorecard. Furthermore, I now have a greater awareness of business and the job market in Northern Ireland, helping me along my way to deciding on a career when I leave university. Therefore, the value of these internships to both students and employers is obvious: tomorrow’s employee is today’s graduate, and they must be trained and allowed to grow in order to fully develop into the valuable resource they have spent three years investing in.



The Twinterview O ur latest Twinterviewee is Director of The Prince’s Trust NI, Ian Jeffers (@PrincesTrustNI), over the IoD Twitter account (@

IoDNI).

After winning the Third Sector category in the IoD NI Director of the Year Awards sponsored by Abbey Bond Lovis last November, Ian has been shortlisted as one of nine leaders from across the province to represent Northern Ireland in the prestigious UK finals. Joining us on Twitter to chat about his recent success, Ian offers an insight into the challenges charity directors face in today’s economic climate and how to best combat them. IoDNI: We’re joined by @PrincesTrustNI director @IBJeffers for the latest #IoD #Twinterview. Welcome @PrincesTrustNI! PrincesTrustNI: Good afternoon, thanks for asking about @PrincesTrustNI IoDNI: Ian, can you tell us about #PrincesTrust and what the charity does? PrincesTrustNI: We help over 4,000 disadvantaged local young people get into employment, training or education every year - with a 77% success rate IoDNI: Have you noticed any particular trends in the number of #startups and #entrepreneurs in Northern Ireland in recent years? PrincesTrustNI: As the recession really hit, more young people explored the chance to go it alone. The number of actual start-ups is fairly steady IoDNI: @iamwill & @Beyonce have shown their support with campaigns such as #BeyGood. How does #socialmedia assist with fundraising? PrincesTrustNI: It’s still in its infancy. I don’t think the best social media fundraising apps have been invented – yet! IoDNI: With that said, how important do you

think #socialmedia and digital marketing is to business success?

PrincesTrustNI: Critical. It’s cost effective, targeted & relevant. More of our young people (customers) use it as their first point of contact. IoDNI: The #thirdsector is very #competitive – what are the main challenges charity directors face that perhaps others don’t?

PrincesTrustNI: I think we all share this one – finding and retaining brilliant people. But we don’t have the flex of other sectors with packages IoDNI: Sounds tricky! What would your advice be to other directors within the sector facing the same challenges? PrincesTrustNI: Nurture your talent. Employ good people, support them, allow them to make mistakes and tell them when they have done a fantastic job IoDNI: #Congratulations on being short-listed for the @IoD #DirectorofTheYearAwards! You must be thrilled? PrincesTrustNI: It’s a real honour – a true reflection of the great team of people we have in Northern Ireland and the young people we help IoDNI: The regional judges recognised the charity’s success in Northern Ireland. What, in your opinion, is the key to this success? PrincesTrustNI: We have a clear vision, a committed team and strong funding from public and private sector – it’s about getting the ingredients right IoDNI: Youth #unemployment has been a huge concern in NI since the #recession. What plan of action is needed to address this issue? PrincesTrustNI: We must improve the support for young people who leave school without the basic qualifications and create more entry level jobs

IoDNI: With the economy improving, what would be your advice to directors considering #recruitment? PrincesTrustNI: Don’t follow the crowd. Think differently, help your community by creating trainee & apprenticeship opps. Better RoI in the long term IoDNI: What are your thoughts on the importance of ongoing professional development at a senior management or director level? PrincesTrustNI: You should never stop learning. All your key stakeholders and competitors continue to learn & develop. Why would you not? IoDNI: We’ve heard a lot about your adventures in the #Clipper #RoundtheWorld yacht race. What did this teach you about #leadership? PrincesTrustNI: Leadership isn’t a classroom subject. Leading a boat of amateurs in the Southern Ocean is a much better place to hone your skills IoDNI: If we were to have asked 10 year old Ian what he wanted to be when he grew up, what would have been the answer? PrincesTrustNI: Wanted to be an adventurer. I hit 50 next year so DV I still have plenty of time for a few more! IoDNI: Ian thank you so much for your time today and we wish you the best of luck for the #National Awards The interview can be viewed on Twitter @IoDNI

ANA

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50 new jobs at CDE Global

Make it your business to aim for a healthier life!

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Member Company News

DE Global, based in Cookstown, has announced a £3million investment, which is creating 50 new jobs.

in Cookstown, we plan to establish a local presence in our key target markets supported by our growing network of regional service partners,” says Brendan. “Invest NI’s support has been essential in enabling us to

implement our business plan quickly on the scale we need to achieve our goals.” CDE Global employs more than 250 people globally.

The company designs and manufactures bespoke materials washing equipment for the construction, mining, specialist industrial sands and environmental sectors. This investment underpins its plan to expand its export reach, and in particular to target markets in North America, Australia, South Africa, Brazil and Europe.

by NI Chest Heart & Stroke n the second of our series on improving your lifestyle, we look at how to fit healthier eating and exercise into a busy working week.

One of the biggest challenges to following a healthy lifestyle in the 21st century workplace is technology. How often have you picked up the phone to speak to someone in a nearby office or emailed a colleague sitting only a short distance away?

The new jobs offer a range of employment opportunities including engineering design, finance, sales and marketing. CDE Global’s sustained growth has been driven by its focus on product development and export sales.

Making the effort to walk and speak to people face-to-face is one way of adding to your daily exercise. You might also park further away from the office and walk the extra distance, or take public transport and get off one stop early.

Chartered Director Brendan McGurgan is Managing Director of CDE Global. Brendan says that the company’s objective is to significantly increase overall turnover and push up the level of exports through targeted marketing activity. “In addition to our growth

Highway to health

Arlene Foster, Enterprise Trade & Investment Minister is pictured with Brendan McGurgan in Cookstown

Government recommendations on how much exercise we should take have increased, so you should try to build some into your free time. Brisk walking is probably the best option for someone whose leisure time is limited. NI Chest Heart & Stroke has Highway to Health walking routes across Northern Ireland – check www.nichs.org.uk or your local council’s web site for details.

Also, think where those calories are coming from. Expert opinion now suggests that we should be eating seven portions of fruit and vegetables each day (more vegetables than fruit). If you are overweight or think you may have any health condition, check with your doctor before engaging in strenuous exercise. Those business dinners Another big challenge for people in business is eating out. Those business breakfasts, lunches and dinners can really mount up, and before you know it the waistline is showing the signs. For breakfast, eat a healthy mix of whole fruits (limit the juice) and choose a cereal that’s low in added sugar. Porridge is a good choice, and makes you feel fuller for longer. Choose wholemeal toast in preference to white. Eat fried breakfasts sparingly.

At lunchtime, try to choose salad with a non-fattening dressing and lean meat or fish. For dinner, again opt for low fat alternatives (lean meat or fish) and choose boiled potatoes over chips. Avoid rich desserts laden with cream or other fat. Seasonal fruit salad is always a good alternative. Remember, too, that alcohol is heavy in calories, so go easy on the wine. The way to a healthier future is not to make massive changes overnight, but to make incremental adjustments that last a lifetime. Start with the advice above, and we’ll build on it next time.

Always remember that a healthy lifestyle is a balance of calories consumed and expended. The more you consume, the more you need to burn off.

Healthy eating! NI Chest Heart & Stroke is IoD Northern Ireland’s charity of the year.

Will you take a Healthy Challenge?

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ur charity of the year, NI Chest Heart & Stroke, is challenging IoD members to take on a Healthy Challenge for the coming 6 to 9 months. The Healthy Challenge will help you improve your health and/or fitness and give you the opportunity to raise funds for the work of NI Chest Heart & Stroke. Here’s the plan

3. You will commit to your healthy challenge. For example, this could be: • signing up and training for a NICHS event – a walk, run or trek (see the NICHS website www.nichs.org.uk) • setting a target of walking 200 miles over a period of 2 months • losing 5kgs of excess weight in 6 months • reducing your body fat percentage by 10% within 9 months • or something else

1. IoD is going to organise a day when members can sign up to the Healthy Challenge at Riddel Hall.

4. And you also set a target to donate £s to NICHS at the end of your challenge period.

2. NICHS nurses will provide a free health check including your blood pressure and body composition.

5. When you complete your challenge NICHS will do another health check to see how you’ve got on.

If you want a spur to keep you going, then the IoD Northern Ireland News editor will be happy to keep tabs on you and demand regular updates to publish in the magazine! To register for a Healthy Challenge, email [email protected] and we will send you information about getting started.

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Global focus brings faster business growth by Brian Dologhan, Invest Northern Ireland



From there to here – the GEM to Concentrix journey by Philip Cassidy, Concentrix

business and a driving force in Northern Ireland’s £4.5 billion agri-food industry. This latest investment includes a European Innovation Centre and Financial Services Centre both of which will increase opportunities for graduates. Innovation focus Formed in 1996, First Derivatives is another remarkable local success story of a business that’s prospering as a result of a strategic focus on innovation and expert customer services for a niche global market – financial software and consultancy services.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and First Minister Peter Robinson with Kevin Cunningham of MRP and Brian Conlon, CEO, First Derivatives

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ver 1,100 new jobs were announced in the space of a week by two Northern Ireland companies at opposite ends of industrial spectrum: Moy Park, with sites in Ballymena, Craigavon, and Dungannon is a major employer in the agri-food sector, and Newry’s First Derivatives, a leader in internationally traded services. Moy Park, is creating 628 new jobs in a £170 million investment which also includes the creation of a European Innovation Centre. The global exposure of the Moy Park brand during the recent FIFA World Cup in Brazil will surely benefit its international sales. It’s the first Northern Ireland brand to receive such global exposure.

their business availing of our support in areas such as R&D, productivity, skills and international marketing. These very substantial investments show that companies here are now much more confident of growth in the international marketplace and are taking steps, with our support, to ensure they are able to compete effectively and profitably for the business that’s developing in their respective markets.

First Derivatives has chosen a route to growth based on a successful listing on the London Stock Exchange. Indeed, the company is one of three local businesses currently on the exchange. Today this very ambitious local business markets its sophisticated products and consultancy services globally by means of offices in the US, Canada, Europe, Asia and Australia and employs over 700 people, mostly graduates. Brian Dologhan is Executive Director Business & Sector Development at Invest Northern Ireland.

Confidence Both companies have been working closely with Invest Northern Ireland to develop

Moy Park has become our first £1 billion

Email was our initial focus, but of course, as with most business plans we soon realised that in order to be competitive our service offering needed to evolve. Clear opportunities opened up for us and so we quickly moved toward a multi-channel capability, incorporating IP Voice (the first in Ireland), chat and SMS support. The range of customer channels we support today continues to grow. In the last 5 years we’ve seen the rise of Social Media as a customer engagement tool and as a result we’ve built a specialist team and capability to take advantage of that change in communication. In our first few years, our services developed in a direction, which has since had a direct impact on the culture and make-up of our business today.

As we listened to our clients, we identified specific challenges they had in serving their European markets. Not afraid to shy away from a challenge, we did our research and took an opportunity to provide Dutch support using language talent we found here in NI. That was our first tentative step

Both companies are continuing to grow successfully through continuous investment in people, products, plant and professional marketing especially outside Northern Ireland.

What’s also immensely significant is that both companies have their roots deep in the local economy. Moy Park was first established in 1943. While it is now owned by Marfrig of Brazil, one of the world’s biggest food businesses, the company employs over 6,300 people here. Craigavon, moreover, is now Marfrig’s European headquarters.

Evolving with the market

Listening to our clients

£1bn business First Derivatives plc, a global provider of trading and risk management software systems and consulting services for multinational financial institutions and technology vendors, is to provide 484 new jobs, mostly for graduates, in an £11 million investment.

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he business idea behind GEM started out back in the late 90’s. We identified that organisations were struggling to cope with the growing volume of customer emails generated in the process of doing business and so we spotted a gap in the market to solve that challenge. We decided that with the local talent available to us here in Northern Ireland we could start-up as an outsource email solutions provider and so GEM (The Global Email Company Ltd) was born in early 2000.

toward multi-lingual customer engagement and 12 years on, we now recruit staff in over 30 languages in Belfast. Our multichannel, multi-lingual capability has since allowed us to steadily grow and to put in place customer engagement strategies for marquee brands such as Cisco, Microsoft, ASOS and PayPal. Our culture has always been to listen to our clients and to develop our business by investing in expertise and assets to solve their problems. Throughout our history our key focus has been on delivering value for our clients. By incorporating a LEAN business philosophy into our approach we have been able to consistently deliver business improvements for the brands we support. US approach By 2011, attracted by a combination of our European capabilities and our similar client base we were approached by Concentrix. Headquartered in the US, but with no European presence, Concentrix were keen to expand their global footprint and saw in GEM an opportunity to acquire a business that had the right delivery location, a similar culture of innovation and focus on valueadd for the client. Incorporating GEM into the Concentrix family has afforded the Belfast team an opportunity to take a lead role in the development of a global organisation and has delivered further opportunities for our people in Northern Ireland.

Philip Cassidy Continuing growth This year Concentrix completed the acquisition of IBM’s world-wide customer care operations and so the business continues to expand globally. At the same-time, Concentrix continues to invest in the capabilities of the team here in Belfast, opening Concentrix Technologies in order to leverage the exceptional developer talent in NI and to deliver the application development of high-tech business solutions. Concentrix has also recently completed the purchase of Maysfield Leisure Centre which will allow us to establish a state-ofart facility for the continued growth of our teams in Belfast. From small beginnings, the last 14 years have seen our business grow to be part of a 45,000 strong global workforce delivering high value business services world-wide. The Concentrix team in Belfast remains pivotal to our continued global success. Philip is Managing Director – Services Europe with Concentrix.

Not afraid to shy away from a challenge, we did our research and took an opportunity to provide Dutch support using language talent we found here in NI.

IT ’S OUR BUSINESS TO SUPPORT YOURS IoD member Janet McCollum, Moy Park Chief Executive with Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster

Tel: 028 9442 9717

www.robinson-services.com

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Keeping your business moo-ving on in rural locations by Stuart Carson, Rainbow Communications

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a problem, businesses can access data, make phone calls and send text messages over an EE wireless network.

The cow statues were placed at points around the site to allow festival-goers on any network to log-in using any device. They were powered by EE’s 4G network which brings superfast broadband to rural spots throughout the UK.

EE has announced that from autumn 2014, customers will be able to make high quality calls in more places, when only connected by Wi-Fi in homes and offices. The VoLTE, 4G calling, trial will expand network coverage in rural areas using low frequency spectrum for the first time. With this new service, homes and offices that don’t necessarily have good mobile coverage, can make a high quality voice call over Wi-Fi. EE estimates the data required to make a voice call over Wi-Fi is minimal, so that even basic Wi-Fi connections will be sufficient for making calls.

t is a well known fact that remote festival locations are a weak spot when it comes to data connection and mobile broadband. However, EE was on hand at this year’s Glastonbury Festival with the installation of Wi-Fi hotspots, in the form of festival-themed life-size fibre glass cow statues, for visitors to use for free.

The ability to access a viable internet connection has become an integral part of today’s society and while staying connected is an important part of life for festival-goers, for businesses it is essential. The dramatic growth in recent years of the number of smart connected devices has led to a mobile data explosion, with users expecting connectively on the move 24/7. And for businesses in rural locations, staying connected can sometimes be a problem. Some companies use wireless mobile broadband to replace the need for temporary and traditional phone lines. However, in weak spots and rural locations, where even making a phone call can pose

Stay connected

Developments such as Wi-Fi, wireless mobile networks and EE hosting mobile calls over Wi-Fi all help with providing a total connectivity solution for your business, both in the office and on the move, and can effectively remove the need for standard phone and data landlines.

GB acquisition for CMI

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MI, one of Northern Ireland’s leading providers of IT Solutions, has taken its first steps into the GB information technology market by acquiring IT management company Amicitia, based in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. CMI Managing Director Ken Roulston says that it has always been a strategic intention to expand into GB. “Acquiring Amicitia enables us to achieve this expansion. They are similar in size to CMI, have a similar ethos and operate in similar markets. Our ultimate objective is to offer a customer centric managed service right across the UK that will provide our customers with a professional solution at a competitive price.” The acquisition will double the number of CMI’s staff, and based on the growth plans it is anticipated that there will be a further increase in local headcount of 20%. Further expansion into other parts of GB including the midlands and the north of England / Scotland is envisaged within the next three years. Amicitia service some 200 customers within the private/third sector in and around the South of England, including London. They provide a range of services including project management, managed services, cloud computing and security solutions.

For more information on how your business can work smarter on the go you can contact Rainbow Communications by going to www.rainbowcomms.com Stuart Carson is Sales and Marketing Director at Rainbow Communications. The EE cows visit Glastonbury!

Ken Roulston (left) of CMI, with Chris Hart and Daniel Welling from Amicitia, and CMI Chairman Bob Brittaine



Alexander the Great and his MBA Bryan Keating, Chair of MATRIX, Northern Ireland’s Science Industry Panel

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hen Alexander the Great reached India he reportedly wept, having at the age of 33 conquered all of the known world, which the Greeks believed ended in north-western India.

Amazing as that feat was from a leader of a relatively small city state, he had also held the lands he defeated. He did that by reinstating the same people he had just defeated - he may have beaten them in battle but he did not destroy them. Alexander knew he could never subjugate so many people with sheer force of arms, he just didn’t have enough of his own people. But by empowering his former adversaries he could achieve the same end. I’m not sure if Alexander ever did a MBA course but he truly understood the value of human capital.

effort is considered business property and can be seen as being ‘the currency of the knowledge economy’. One of the goals of the Northern Ireland Executive is to support and promote a knowledge-based economy with all its associated benefits of increasing competitiveness, gross value added and higher salaries. The expansion of the knowledge industry, services sector, deregulation and the emergence of new information and communication technologies have brought to the fore the issue of how knowledge is created, disseminated, retained and used to obtain economic returns.

readily accessible IC information. Such statements can be used internally to aid business decisions and externally for banks and investor decision-making. The latter has resulted in a reduction of the cost of borrowing and appropriate evaluations for German SMEs, by demonstrating lower risks and achieving lower interest rates and providing better access to loans and equity as a result. At an investment or sales event, having an IC Statement can make for a much easier due diligence process and lead to fairer evaluation.

SMEs take note

Lastly – SMEs, because they are time and resource poor, find some offered programmes to be less flexible than they need. However, Invest NI has been running a very successful programme which supports small business and last year they completed 42 intellectual asset management audits of SME businesses.

In Northern Ireland, this development is associated with a structural change from traditional industries to more innovationintensive activities, which rely heavily on intellectual capital. In fact these assets have become strategic factors for value creation for companies and as such are central to the economy’s growth and competiveness. Northern Ireland has a landscape dominated by SMEs and if innovation is to be a central driver of economic growth, it is crucial these SMEs utilise knowledge efficiently and exploit their intellectual capital.

Do you know your Intellectual Capital?

The study highlighted four noteworthy innovation and intellectual capital matters of particular relevance to SMEs.

Last year MATRIX, with the help of Julie Taylor of Integrity NI and Rosi Armstrong of Armstrong IPR, produced a report on Intellectual Capital. The main objectives of the Study were to gain an insight of the level of awareness amongst Northern Ireland’s indigenous MATRIX industry-based businesses of their Intellectual Capital.

One - The majority of SMEs understand the generality of intellectual capital and particularly the vital element of human capital. Not all, however, understand how and what tools would be best to capture, manage and ultimately improve the exploitation of their intellectual capital, to contribute to the health and value of their business.

It also examined the processes that may be employed to drive and support economic growth by exploiting Intellectual Capital and local innovation. This was achieved through surveys conducted with a number of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and key opinion leaders in Northern Ireland.

Two - SMEs understand the need to collaborate but they mistrust it. There was a perception among some of the SMEs that collaboration with larger companies was more beneficial to the latter, with risks to the former in the possible loss of human capital, reputation and proprietary information.

It must be noted that this study covers a wide list of intellectual effort and as such the overarching term ‘Intellectual Capital’ is used to cover the three main intellectual categories of ‘Human Capital’, ‘Intellectual Assets’ and ‘Intellectual Property’. Indeed intellectual

Intellectual Capital Statements Three - Interestingly it appears that in other regions around the world, led in part by Germany, SMEs are starting to use Intellectual Capital Statements to provide

The work, carried out by the Technical Advisory Unit’s IP team, involved identifying what IP and broader intellectual assets existed within the businesses, how best to protect it and more importantly how best to exploit it. Invest have a target of supporting 50 SME’s in the next year. At the University of Ulster’s Business School, Dr Mike Brennan has been researching the business models used by small entrepreneurial firms – both locally and internationally. Again, the issue of how value is created and the elusive nature of tacit knowledge have been highlighted as central to how SMEs make the most of their intellectual capital. There is little doubt that Intellectual Capital will help identify creative ways to exploit new opportunities and thus develop a stronger research and development platform in Northern Ireland. The carrot and the sword Another part of the human psyche Alexander thoroughly understood was how people respond to the ‘carrot and the stick’ although in his case the “carrot and the sword’. He allowed the people he had reinstated to keep part of the tribute they paid him and if they reneged on their bargain he would return with his army, annihilate everyone and scorch the place. Although I’m not quite sure how this went down with his HR department!

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Launch of the IoD First Trust Bank Director of the Year Awards The IoD Northern Ireland Director of the Year Awards for 2014-15 sponsored by First Trust Bank have been launched and nominations are invited in 9 categories. The closing date for entries is 30 September 2014. IoD First Trust Bank Director of the Year Awards categories

Third Sector Director of the Year Sponsored by First Trust Bank

Large Company Director of the Year 250 employees or more Sponsored by 4C Executive Search

Director of the Year for Leadership in Corporate Responsibility Sponsored by Ulster Business

Young Director of the Year – under 43 Sponsored by Jaguar

Non-Executive Director of the Year Sponsored by First Trust Bank

Public Sector Director of the Year Sponsored by Capita Managed IT Solutions

And a new Award for 2014, the Young Enterprise NI Director of the Year Nominated by Young Enterprise NI and sponsored by Concentrix

International Director of the Year Min 25% of turnover from outside the UK Sponsored by the William J Clinton Leadership Institute Family Business Director of the Year At least second generation Sponsored by BDO SME Director of the Year Under 250 employees Sponsored by the Centre for SME Development

The winner in each category will receive the specially designed Director of the Year trophy and will be nominated for the UK Awards that will be held in 2015.

Rick Butterworth representing 4C Executive Search and Lisa Keys

Kirsty McManus of the Centre for SME Development with Lisa Keys

Philip Cassidy of Concentrix who are sponsoring the new Young Enterprise category and Lisa Keys

Lisa Keys and Ed Brown from Capita, sponsor of the Public Sector awards

Awards will be presented at a special lunch hosted by local comedian and actor, Tim McGarry, in the prestigious Merchant Hotel on 5 December. The winners will be nominated for the IoD Lunn’s Award of Excellence 2015.

How to apply The initial Director of the Year application form has been simplified this year and only shortlisted candidates will be asked to complete the longer form. To nominate yourself or another director, download the application form from www.iodni.com/dotya and email the completed form to [email protected] by 30 September.

NI finest make UK Awards shortlist

Tony Moore, Jaguar with Lisa Keys, UK Awards finalist Tracy Hamilton of Mash Direct and Denise Falls of the Leadership Institute Lisa Keys of IoD with Ulster Business editor David Elliott

Linda Brown (left), IoD NI Director with Laura Jackson and Maybeth Shaw from BDO. Laura and Maybeth are two of the Awards judges

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ll eight winners of the IoD NI Director of the Year Awards 201415 have been shortlisted for the UK Director of the Year Awards finals to be held in London on 24 October. The eight candidates are: • Jim Dobson, Dunbia - Large Company Director • Aidan Flynn, Maurice Flynn & Sons – Young Director • Tracy Hamilton, Mash Direct – MidMarket Company Director • Michelle Hatfield of George Best Belfast City Airport – Leader in Corporate Responsibility • Mark Hutchinson, SJC Hutchinson Engineering - Family Business Director • Ian Jeffers, The Prince’s Trust – Public/ Third Sector Director • Gordon Milligan, Translink – Public/Third Sector Director • Brendan Mullan, Bryson Charitable Group – Mid-Market Company Director In addition to these eight, Simon Campbell CDir of Portview Fit-Out, is just one of three nominees to be shortlisted for the New Chartered Director of the Year Award. This category is open only to directors who have been awarded their Chartered status in the past year.

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Northern Ireland is working

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n Northern Ireland we often have a ‘glass half empty’ mind-set when it comes to our economy, dwelling on the potential problems and not making enough of our successes. Businesses and business leaders tend not to blow their own trumpets – unless prodded by their PR and marketing people. But as we emerge from the worst recession that many younger businessmen and women will ever have experienced, it’s time

to have more confidence in our ability to grow a successful economy. Contributors to this section of IoD Northern Ireland News explain why. The latest performance figures for Invest Northern Ireland certainly give some comfort as Alastair Hamilton explains that his organisation will continue to support growing businesses as the Regional Aid scenario changes, and Professor Neil Gibson from the University of Ulster encourages companies

to take advantage of the signs of recovery. Marie-Thérèse McGivern from Belfast Met is upbeat about the ability of the FE sector to upskill the labour force to support business expansion, while David Jones of Tughans welcomes Belfast Harbour’s new office space development. Giving some sectoral perspectives are John Armstrong of the Construction Employers Federation, Richard Williams from Northern Ireland Screen and Michael Bell of the NI Food & Drink Association.

Invest is working for Northern Ireland

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by Alastair Hamilton, Chief Executive of Invest Northern Ireland nvest Northern Ireland’s results for 2013–14 demonstrate that our strategy is working and is underpinning the upturn in the economy.

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2013–14, we promoted almost 11,000 jobs, and secured over £1 billion of investment commitments. The number of jobs promoted, the associated salaries, the value of assistance offered, and the amount of investment planned by business, were all at record levels. R&D exceeds target The investment commitment included almost £250m relating to research and development, which has been an area of focus for us in recent years. As a result, total planned business investment in R&D over the past three years has exceeded £400m, comfortably surpassing the full fouryear Programme for Government target. A key component of our success has been our approach of moulding services to suit the needs of business and keeping those services under continuous review. For example, to help companies get funding to grow, we developed our Access to Finance strategy,

which mitigated the effect of low levels of available venture capital and bank lending. We also set up the Jobs Fund, which has been very successful, helping to create over 4,500 jobs so far. Internationalisation Increasing the level of exports remains a priority for us and through our internationalisation strategy we’re continuing to drive growth in this area. Again we are continuously reviewing our products and services, addressing any gaps identified to ensure we provide targeted customer support. As success in export markets requires businesses to be efficient and competitive, we’re also helping companies to increase productivity, skills levels and to invest in innovation. Looking ahead, I believe that the economic climate will continue to improve, although sustainable growth will rely heavily on the health of our two largest trading partners – Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland. Regional Aid changes We will be dealing with some of the biggest changes in the economic landscape for quite a

while. These include the changes to the European Commission’s Regional Aid Guidelines, which will restrict our ability to support large company expansions. In response we will use the full range of other solutions available to us to support such investments, focusing particularly on R&D and skills investment. We will be able to continue to support the growth of local small and medium-sized businesses and first-time investment in Northern Ireland and foresee a healthy pipeline of foreign direct investments attracted by our cost competitive environment. This will be boosted if the decision is taken to devolve Corporation Tax. The reform of local government will also impact on Invest NI’s activity and focus. From 1 April 2015 some elements of local economic development, such as promotion of entrepreneurship and support for business start-ups, will transfer to the new councils. Internally, we are continuing to develop our Customer Management Programme. In 2013–14 Invest NI achieved the Cabinet Office approved Customer Service Excellence standard, and launched our Business Development Academy to help our staff develop their skills and knowledge so that they can continue to deliver a world-class customer experience.


Data says economy is working

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by Professor Neil Gibson, University of Ulster

he latest economic data confirms the Northern Ireland economy is working. Over 40,000 net new jobs have been created in the last 24 months, business confidence is increasing, house prices are rising and a higher number of firms are reporting they are in growth mode. This welcome recovery comes after four very challenging years and happily the outlook for the 12-18 months ahead is relatively positive.

New jobs • 41,000 net new jobs have been created between Q1 2012 and Q1 2014. • 19,000 of these have been employee jobs with an increase in selfemployment by 22,000 jobs.

House prices rise (Q1 13- Q1 14) • ONS: 2.7% • Halifax: 11.4% • NISRA: 7.5% Perhaps the most encouraging element of the economic recovery has been its broad sectoral nature. Jobs are being created in agriculture, manufacturing, professional services, ICT and even retail and construction have begun to reverse long declines. InvestNI has achieved considerable success in attracting new investment and with the possibility of devolved corporation tax powers in the autumn there are reasons to be optimistic for the future.

Firms in growth mode: 49% of firms are stable and a further 22% are in growth mode in Northern Ireland. Source: Perceptive Insight & NICEP, June 2014

PMI: The monthly Purchasing managers index has reported a growth in output, exports and employment levels over the last year.

Diversity of growth welcome

Private sector role

Looking ahead this ‘tapestry of success’ is likely to continue with growth spread across a wide range of sectors. This is helpful as it means there is likely to be a broader geographical spread to the jobs created and a range of skills needs which will match the available labour. The high skilled graduate jobs in manufacturing and professional services may be the key engines of growth but the diversity of growth is a very welcome aspect of the recovery.

The ability to mitigate the risks presented by the twin challenges of consumer and government spending rests on the strength of the private sector. The risks in the future should not be overplayed at this point to such an extent that they curb business ambition or investment. Firms should be looking to seize new opportunities and make investments in their people and capital. It is time to think of re-activating advertising campaigns to re-engage with customers who may not have purchased for some time – the data clearly shows there is business to be won.

A particular feature of the recovery has been the growth in the numbers self-employed. This probably reflects a combination of people seeing no opportunities elsewhere and effectively being ‘pushed’ into selfemployment but also many individuals being ‘pulled’ in as opportunities present themselves. Supporting entrepreneurs and small businesses will be extremely important in the coming months; they present particular risks for lenders and sometimes do not garner as much attention in policy or press circles but they are a key component of Northern Ireland’s improving economy. But… However there are areas of concerns for the local economy. The national government is currently committed to sustained austerity after the next election and in a region such as Northern Ireland with a relatively high dependence on the public sector this will be particularly challenging. The difficulty in implementing - or finding an alternative to - the cuts originating from the UK policy on welfare reform suggests the application of future budget cuts will present a very significant challenge to the Executive. Continued reform of public services will be required but this will not be easy, neither in political or in practical terms. A second key risk relates to consumers, many of whom have not felt any sustained recovery as pay rises have remained muted and the cost of living has increased. Rising interest rates in 2015 will place pressure on consumers, many of whom have variable rate mortgages. The combination of these factors may mean that 2014/15 is the high point of this recovery.

The economic analysis does suggest maintaining a tight grip on both costs and credit exposure remains critical, but tomorrow’s risks cannot stand in the way of today’s opportunities or Northern Ireland will not be working to its full potential.

Job changes by sector between Q1 2012 & Q1 2014: Transport & storage

-2,000

Finance & insurance

-1,000

Education -1,000 Mining 0 Water supply

0

Restaurants and hotels

0

Public admin

0

Arts & entertainment

0

Households as employers

0

Utilities 1,000 Retail 1,000 Real estate

1,000

Professional, scientific & technical 1,000 ICT 2,000 Other service

2,000

Construction 3,000 Admin & support

4,000

Manufacturing 6,000 Human health

10,000

Agriculture 14,000 Total 41,000 Neil is Director of the Northern Ireland Centre for Economic Policy at the Ulster Business School, University of Ulster.

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Accommodating growth

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by David Jones, Tughans Solicitors

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International organisations have been attracted to NI by a number of key factors, one of which being the comparatively low cost of property. Existing businesses have also expanded locally, despite competition from other regions within the UK and beyond.

Obviously, achieving a reduction in corporation tax needs to be supported by a number of other factors if we are to see the boost to the local economy we are hoping for at this stage. One of those factors is the availability and quality of office space. Office space issue It has been clear for some time now that a lack of development funding is creating a shortage of office accommodation in NI. The process of obtaining planning permission and developing or re-developing office accommodation is a lengthy one, so this is an issue that cannot be resolved overnight. In the last 12-18 months we have seen a significant number of the large UK property institutions and international property funds return to NI, or enter for the first time, as there is now clear value

Construction ready for take-off

by John Armstrong, Construction Employers Federation (CEF)

n the summer of 2013 the mood of the construction industry in Northern Ireland changed. The understandable gloom of the previous five years appeared to have been cast off and replaced with a sense of hope that things were on the turn. That sense of optimism was not just wishful thinking for the many companies who have seen activity increase in the meantime.

orthern Ireland has been working hard to establish a business friendly environment in which organisations feel confident to grow and invest, with a number of high profile success stories over recent years.

These successes have helped to start the process of re-balancing the local economy by creating more private sector jobs, but there is still a long way to go and more work to be done. Invest NI are working hard to promote NI around the world and if we can reduce corporation tax following the Scottish Referendum, hopefully we will see a significant increase in interest from both new and existing businesses.


Architect’s image of the Belfast Harbour’s City Quays development in the local commercial property market. However, despite some office development/ investment activity (notably NAMA releasing funding for the Soloist and Lanyon Plaza to be completed and Windsor House coming to the market), the primary focus for the new investors has been the retail sector. Fortunately we are starting to see the office sector pick up slightly, as supply is now lagging significantly behind demand. Headline rents for grade A office space in Belfast are now in the region of £13.50 per square foot, with the dominance of the public sector having kept rent levels (and hence investment returns) suppressed for a considerable period of time. In order to make office development viable for investors at present the rents need to be closer to £16-17psf. It finally looks like we are starting to move in this direction and although this may seem high for Belfast, it still compares very favourably to the rest of the UK. In addition prime office rents in Dublin are currently around €40psf following

a 25% increase in 2013 and a 15% increase in the first half of 2014. City Quays It is encouraging to see the Belfast Harbour Commissioners on site with the development of City Quays 1, having recently received planning permission for City Quays 2. This £250m regeneration scheme will create almost 70,000 square feet of grade A office space by early 2015, with a further 125,000 square feet to be developed as part of City Quays 2.

However, for many others recovery remains firmly attached to the tarmac of the runway rather than in full flight. Indeed, it seems that the only things in full flight are those planes loaded with Northern Irish construction workers travelling to Great Britain week in, week out. Without the remarkable success of our local companies in winning work in GB, Northern Ireland’s construction industry would still be in the doldrums. On the ground in Northern Ireland construction activity has yet to show any real signs of improvement. Output in 2013/14 was 7 per cent down on the previous year and that is on the back of five straight years where the average annual decline was 9 per cent. Private housing starts for 2013/14 were down 13% on 2012/13 and are at about one third of the number of starts in 2003/04.

On the other hand employee jobs in construction are up marginally and the CEF State of Trade Survey shows that companies are increasingly working between three quarters and full capacity. Notably only 40 per cent of the Top 20’s turnover is generated in Northern Ireland. Despite the failure to achieve lift off in 2013/14 the construction industry remains positive about the future. Half of the companies responding to our State of Trade survey expect their workload to be higher over the next 12 months with only 12 per cent anticipating a decrease. Signs of recovery There are clear indications that the local housing market is recovering as transactions and prices increase. With supportive policies from the Northern Ireland Executive this should precipitate a return to sustainable levels of new house building. However the house building sector still faces some major obstacles to recovery. A debt hangover lingers there, many home owners are locked in negative equity, interest rates may rise and banks remain reluctant to lend for development.

There is a sense that 2014/15 will witness an increase in commercial and industrial construction activity in Northern Ireland in line with a growing economy. Whilst Great Britain will continue to be the key export market, eyes are once again returning to the Republic of Ireland where growth is expected. Locally, the public sector clients remain critical to the health of the industry. No major change in construction spend is anticipated but concerns remain over the speed at which projects are being brought to the market. There are enough signs to suggest that by next summer the recovery in construction could be in full flight. In anticipation of that, the big challenge for the industry now is to ensure that we have sufficient people with the right skills entering or returning to this exciting industry in the coming years. John is Managing Director of the Construction Employers Federation, the representative body of the construction industry in Northern Ireland with over 1200 employer companies.

However, if the Government does not take action to help stimulate and speed up new office development and refurbishment, the lack of prime office space is likely to stall the recovery process in the local economy. David is Commercial Real Estate Partner at Tughans Solicitors. Contact him at 028 9055 3300 or [email protected].

IT ’S OUR BUSINESS TO SUPPORT YOURS

Tel: 028 9442 9717

www.robinson-services.com

cleaning hygiene laundry security

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Tuned into the needs of industry

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Something is definitely working for the screen industries by Richard Williams, Northern Ireland Screen

by Marie-Therese McGivern, Belfast Metropolitan College elfast Metropolitan College has been at the forefront of meeting the education and skills needs of the City for over a century.

Founded in 1906 at the height of the region’s industrial strength we continue to play a key role in much wider efforts to grow and rebalance the local economy. Close and constant collaboration with industry go to the very essence of our position as Northern Ireland’s largest Further and Higher Education College. Many of our courses are designed specifically with jobs in mind and we work closely with employers – from the largest international companies right through to the smallest of local businesses – in matching what employers need with what our students can deliver. The College is absolutely tuned into the needs of business and our approach is one of giving employers the opportunity to shape the education and skills solutions on offer. This is evident across both new and traditional sectors of the economy and covers areas as diverse as cloud computing and data analytics, wind turbine operation,

marine welding, connected care and financial services. The IT industry is changing particularly quickly and Belfast Met is at the forefront in developing programmes which help businesses recruit for critical but hard-to-fill posts. Such programmes give individuals access to industry recognised qualifications and the opportunity of employment, whilst supporting a key growth sector where demand still seriously outstrips supply. Closing the gap We have seen some excellent initiatives from the Department for Employment & Learning (DEL) under the strong stewardship of Minister Farry and these are beginning to prove effective in closing the gap between businesses struggling to fill vacancies and job seekers struggling to find work. The various ICT, data analytics, cloud computing, software testing and professional development programmes are based on an Academy style model. Belfast Met defines the solution with business, develops the learning materials, recruits

Growth in food and drink by Michael Bell, NIFDA

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capitalise on the enormous export potential of the sector. We remain convinced that, in so doing, we can add 15,000 new jobs to the 100,000+ already working in the agri-food supply chain.

NIFDA is greatly encouraged by the Executive’s decision to move forward with the Agri-Food Strategy Board’s ‘Going for Growth’ report. We look forward to working with government departments in implementing the various recommendations set out in ‘Going for Growth’, which will enable us to accelerate our growth and

NIFDA continues to play its part in maximising Northern Ireland’s export potential, and the Access 6 cross-border export initiative into mainland Europe is a perfect example of this. However, we must be aware of the progress being made by our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland, where the value of Irish food and drink exports has now reached record levels of €10bn – with this figure continuing to climb towards their Food Harvest 2020 export target of €12bn. We are also seeing both the Welsh and Scottish Governments pursuing ambitious plans to grow their agri-food sectors.

t is a very exciting time for Northern Ireland’s food and drink industry. Recent announcements made by Moy Park and Dale Farm Ltd are great examples of investment, job creation and growth in the sector. Export sales are rising and government and industry are around the table discussing next steps to ensure Northern Ireland’s agri-food sector continues to flourish.

the learners and delivers the specific training solution. The results so far have been excellent, with 92 per cent of trainees securing employment in the sector. Belfast Met believes that training and professional development shouldn’t just suddenly stop once someone leaves formal education and indeed the concept of lifelong learning has never been more important. Workers must continue learning if they want to remain relevant, while companies must be supported to address current skills shortages and encouraged to plan for what’s going to be needed further down the line. The skills needed are the ones that will help businesses grow, to make the best use of technologies and to adapt to changing markets. Marie-Thérèse is Principal and Chief Executive of Belfast Metropolitan College. Further information on Belfast Met’s extensive range of courses, including part-time Foundation Degrees and HNDs, is available online at www.belfastmet.ac.uk. For information on its business development services, call (028) 9026 5058.

New products continue to be developed and indeed the College of Agriculture, Food & Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) is investing over £3m in a new food innovation facility in Cookstown. Investments of this nature throughout the industry give consumers a greater sense of product integrity, quality, safety, taste and above all better value for money. There is no doubt agri-food is a success story, in particular for the Executive, where across the political divide we now have an agreed strategy and decisions being made, which will create prosperity and jobs throughout Northern Ireland. Now that we have a strategy in place we must press ahead and maintain the momentum of growth in the industry. This will take a sustained, combined effort across the Executive and the supply chain. However, with our track record of commitment, ambition and resilience I have no doubt we will be able to capitalise on the agri-food sector’s potential. Northern Ireland is working and Northern Ireland food and drink is evidence of that. Michael is Executive Director of the Northern Ireland Food & Drink Association.

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ame of the Thrones, the HBO fantasy dynastic tussle, is not only HBO’s biggest selling international show and the most critically celebrated drama series of recent times, it is also the poster child for a confident and booming screen industry in Northern Ireland - 19 Emmy nominations and lampooning references from sources as diverse as The Simpsons and The Spectator Magazine keep Game of Thrones at the forefront of contemporary culture. Awareness that Game of Thrones is filmed in Northern Ireland is extremely high in the screen industries, helping the local sector attract many other projects including Universal Pictures latest version of Dracula and Ben Wheatley’s new film High Rise, both of which incidentally star Luke Evans. VIP fans Awareness of the connection between Game of Thrones and Northern Ireland is growing amongst other audiences too - as well as Her Majesty the Queen visiting the sets at Titanic Studios in Belfast, Business Minister Vince Cable came and had a look, as did Culture Minister Ed Vaizey; the message is getting out there to tourists too with NITB helping with signage at key public locations like Ballintoy Harbour and Castle Ward, and Tourism Ireland mounting a social media campaign. Besides delivering a cash injection into Northern Ireland of more than £20 million each year, Game of Thrones has shown

Jamie Dornan and Gillian Anderson in BBC’s The Fall everyone in the screen industry in Northern Ireland just what can be achieved. As well as attracting in American media giants like HBO and Universal - not to mention Microsoft XBox who filmed new TV drama content based on the HALO game in Northern Ireland over the last few months - the BBC is also more supportive, commissioning television drama The Fall set in Belfast (featuring rising local super star Jamie Dornan) and relocating Line of Duty (starring Adrian Dunbar) to film in Northern Ireland. Sixteen South’s Lily’s Driftwood Bay

Wider spread However, the confidence is spread much wider than that, with the animation sector growing the most dramatically. Companies including Sixteen South, Jam Media, Black North, Flickerpix, 360 and Dog Ears are all producing animated content for international sale and distribution. Producing predominantly children’s content, as well as providing attractive high value jobs, these companies have the potential to deliver significant well generation - think of the mechanising value of Peppa Pig and Dora the Explorer! The screen industries are already a real success story for Northern Ireland but there is huge and immediate potential to grow the sector much further. The Northern Ireland Executive, and specifically Invest NI, has aggressively supported the screen industry here and has reaped the rewards for that vision. The next stage in the development of the sector here is for private sector finance - banks, wealthy individuals and venture capital funds - to follow the public sector’s lead. Richard is Chief Executive of Northern Ireland Screen, the government-backed lead agency in Northern Ireland for the film, television and digital content industry.

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H&W to benefit from Welding Academy

by Brenda Morgan, British Airways

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t British Airways, we are delighted to offer passengers from Northern Ireland up to six flights a day from Belfast City Airport to London Heathrow. The route has become an essential airlink for both business and leisure customers, offering excellent connectivity to our global network of almost 130 destinations worldwide from London Heathrow.

he Department for Employment and Learning is piloting a Welding Academy to address specialist welding needs for Harland and Wolff.

The Welding Academy will allow 30 trainees to become skilled in high quality, specialised welding fields with training delivered by Belfast Metropolitan College and Northern Regional College. The initiative will be aimed at unemployed people with a background in welding to provide training in modern techniques.

British Airways understands the extensive travel requirements of our business passengers and with over 90 years of expertise in serving customers and catering for their needs, we acknowledge the importance of providing the most premium experience for both our longhaul and shorthaul passengers on the ground as well as in the air.

IoD member Robert J Cooper, Chief Executive of Harland and Wolff said: “The manufacturing quality stipulated by our customers in the offshore oil, gas and renewable energy sectors is among the most demanding anywhere. This training project is essential to continue to develop the core skills necessary to compete on the international stage and bring these high value projects to our shores.” Right: Employment and Learning Minister Dr Stephen Farry with Robert J Cooper, Harland and Wolff

Business Development At Belfast Met, our Business Development team prides itself on using creative and innovative skills to support businesses throughout Northern Ireland across all industry sectors.

R&D, mentoring and student project opportunities available

£4,000 to work on an innovative project

Cross border part-funded graduate programme

Strategic graduate programmes with up to 60% funding

Student Placements & Apprenticeships Areas include Management, Hospitality, Composites and Creativity


British Airways gears up for move of flights to Terminal 5

Member Company News

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Opportunities in all areas across the College

For more information on the programmes available, contact us today at: Email: [email protected] Tel: 028 9026 5058 Twitter: e3_belfastmet

From 26 October, British Airways flights from Belfast City Airport to London Heathrow will be moving to the airline’s flagship Heathrow home, Terminal 5. The current schedule has been operating into Terminal 1 since the route started in June 2012. The move is expected to cut minimum connection times for Northern Ireland passengers to onward British Airways flights from Terminal 5 by 30 minutes, to just one hour - significantly reducing journey times. This will allow for even smoother connections for our passengers to over 100 cities worldwide served by Terminal 5. Shorthaul passengers arriving in London for business will also be able to access the city with ease via rail using the Heathrow Express as well as tube and road links in addition to enjoying the excellent facilities of the award winning terminal. Voted the world’s ‘Best Airport Terminal’ for the third consecutive year in the World Airport Awards, Terminal 5 offers our point

Brenda Morgan to point as well as longhaul passengers with a vast array of facilities and services to enhance their experience through the airport. Passengers have the chance to indulge in the largest retail offering of any UK airport with 112 stores including luxury brands such as Cartier, Prada, Gucci and Burberry. There is also an array of worldclass restaurants available to choose from including Gordon Ramsey and Cavier House & Prunier. Furthermore, British Airways has invested £60 million in creating a choice of six lounges, known as ‘Galleries’ for eligible customers to relax in, which are capable of hosting up to 2,500 people. This is a 25% increase in capacity in comparison to the current Terminal 1 lounge. These ‘Galleries’ epitomise elegance and luxury with a decadent look and feel created using crystal chandeliers, art installations, mood lighting to reflect the time of day as well as complimentary refreshments.

Eligible passengers can also take advantage of the Elemis Travel Spa situated within Terminal 5 while waiting for their connecting flight. Provided by the leading skincare expert, the two large spas boast a number of treatment rooms with treatments offered on a complimentary basis to First Class and Club World customers as well as Gold Executive Club members travelling on longhaul flights. Whether travelling for business or pleasure to London Heathrow or connecting to important longhaul and European destinations, the move of flights to Terminal 5 will certainly enhance the travelling experience of our passengers through the airport. We look forward to welcoming you on board very soon! Brenda is British Airways Partnership Manager for Northern Ireland.

Explore the world from Belfast. Six daily flights to London Heathrow and beyond. To Fly. To Serve. Book now at ba.com Flights from Belfast City arrive into London Heathrow Terminal 1. Transfer to global destinations through Heathrow Terminal 1, 3 and 5. The Airbus A380 aircraft operates out of Terminal 5 to selected destinations. From 26 October 2014, flights from Dublin and Belfast will be arriving into London Heathrow Terminal 5. See ba.com for details.


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Member Company News

Hunter Apparel gain 3 awards

Peace Scroll support

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unter Apparel has backed a ‘Pathways to Peace’ project aiming to break a Guinness World Record.

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erry~Londonderry-based clothing firm, Hunter Apparel has scooped an unprecedented top 3 UK industry awards at The Professional Clothing Show.

The firm has supplied the fabric and mobile stand for a scroll of peace, which currently holds over 50,000 signatures of both Catholic and Protestant students across Northern Ireland.

The company, led by IoD member and Chartered Director Simon Hunter, won the awards for Best Business Manager, Best Managed Major Contract, and Best Bespoke Work-wear Uniform Design. This is the first time that a single company has won the top award in all three categories.

It is hoped the total number of signatures will allow the pledge to make it into the Guinness Book of Records, under Most Signatures on A Scroll – an achievement that also shows the movement for change supported by young people across the region. First signatory was Congressman John Lewis, the man who stood alongside Dr Martin Luther King 50 years ago during the march on Washington. The Roll will be transported around schools/colleges to collect as many signatures as possible before plans go ahead to submit it for the new world record.

Hunter Apparel are one the UK’s leading designers and suppliers of corporate workwear and PPE uniform.

Pupils from St Patrick’s Primary, Pennyburn with Hunter Apparel MD and IoD member Simon Hunter (second from right), Principal Eamon Devlin, WELB’s Paddy Mackey, and Michael McCafferty Photograph courtesy of the Derry Journal

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The Best Business Manager award was shared between Hunter Apparel and their client Border Force and shows excellence in delivering a major contract between the public and private sector. Border Force nominated Hunter Apparel for this award due to their outstanding performance in the roll out of a completely new workwear design for all 11,000 Border Force and Immigration Enforcement staff across 117 sites UK wide using Hunter’s unique web based managed service known as ‘HunterPac’. Hunter Apparel supplied over 250,000 items to them in record time to a hugely positive response from the wearers and saved Border Force a substantial sum of money while driving the quality of both product and service upwards. This project has earned huge praise at the highest levels across The Home Office in Whitehall as the uniform is seen as a highly important statement, being worn at the first point of contact travellers have on entering the UK through any port or airport. Simon Hunter

We need to capitalise on increased interest from US investors by James Donnelly, Tughans Solicitors

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usiness headlines over the past 9-12 months have heralded an “invasion” of US investors into Northern Ireland. At Tughans, in the first quarter of 2014/2015 we have acted on two major corporate transactions involving US takeovers of Northern Irish companies (one being the acquisition of Whale Pumps in Bangor by Brunswick Corporation and the other being the acquisition of Telestack in Omagh by Astec). Other high profile transactions in the press include the recent takeover of Hughes Insurance in Newtownards by Bostonbased Liberty Insurance. Our experience is backed by the statistics with a recent report by Ulster Bank showing that US investors by far represented the largest proportion of foreign direct investment in Northern Ireland and figures announced by Enterprise, Trade and Investment Minister, Arlene Foster, reveal that last year Northern Ireland secured almost 40% more of new inward investment jobs than the next best region in the UK (on a per capita basis). Knock-on effects The benefits of increased US investment to our local economy are already well documented with the Department for Finance and Personnel reporting that there are almost 23,000 people in Northern Ireland whose livelihoods rely on 185 US owned firms. However, the less documented knock-on effects are equally important. Benefits such as the creation of non-public sector jobs, badly needed youth job creation, enhanced employee skillsets and the potential for business spin-outs cannot be overlooked. Moreover, most of the US companies that have invested Northern Ireland have specifically chosen Northern Ireland as their entry point for the European market. These companies are in growth mode so there are definite opportunities for reinvestment coming down the track. Don’t take it for granted Although most commentators expect the trend in US investment to continue, Northern Ireland cannot afford to take

6681_QUMS IoD Press Ad_AW.indd 1

09/07/2014 12:42

this for granted and our politicians and major stakeholders need to continue to be proactive in encouraging inward investment. We must build on progress to date and continue to promote Northern Ireland as being a better and more competitive location for investment than our neighbours in the Republic of Ireland, the UK and elsewhere in Europe. The ongoing corporation tax debate has a role to play in this and on a practical level, direct business-to-business advocacy from our existing US investors is hugely important and this needs to be harnessed and properly utilised. Likewise, with the speed and coverage of 24 hour news and social media we need to ensure that the headlines coming from Northern Ireland remain positive and that bad news stories which put off foreign investment for most of the 80s and 90s are not allowed to detract from this. James is a Partner in Tughans Solicitors. Contact him on 028 9055 3300 or [email protected]

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Why I’m an IoD member by Colin Coffey CDir

business information support that is on offer both from the IoD Northern Ireland office in Belfast and from the centre in Pall Mall gives members a resource facility that allows them to garner information on whatever subject they require to take their businesses forward. For example, I recently required information about affordable housing needs in Africa and the information I received from Pall Mall was up to date and extremely relevant. I did not have to take any time in desk research and the fact that it was free of charge to me as a member made it all the more satisfying.

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am often asked why anyone should become a member of the IoD. Where is the value and why is the IoD relevant to me and my career?

Well, the answer to why IoD membership is relevant to you is that the IoD is somewhat unique for a business representative body in that it is a membership organisation where the member is the individual and not the company. This is important as the offerings from the IoD are very much aimed at the individual throughout their career. What does the IoD offer? For me, this falls into three areas. Firstly, personal development. The programmes that the IoD offers are best in class; the IoD is recognised worldwide as the leading Corporate Governance organisation and the courses on offer are structured to be of value at whatever stage you are at in your career. The IoD’s Chartered Director Programme is fast becoming the de facto top standard of good corporate governance. Successful participants gain the Certificate and Diploma in Company Direction and, ultimately, the Chartered Director qualification – the hallmark of a leader who understands and practices good governance in their organisation. Secondly, resources. For me, these alone are worth the membership fee. The

And thirdly, networking. The IoD is populated by a wide network of like-minded people; people who want to develop their business and themselves. I personally have found networking opportunities not just at home in Northern Ireland but also in London and elsewhere that have greatly improved my business opportunities and my own learning. Two years ago I had need to develop links in Asia. Through a friend that I had made in London via the IoD I was able to link up with a company in Japan which now looks like delivering on a strategic partnership between us that will lead to a number of exciting business opportunities. This is where the value for money and relevance of IoD membership lies for me and I would encourage other members to take advantage of all the benefits available to them. And if you aren’t a member yet, why not?

The CPD Review Group will ensure that the standards associated with Chartered Director are maintained through the oversight of: • the minimum professional standards of CPD that must be maintained • the systems to capture and monitor Chartered Director CPD • the code of conduct to be applied to Chartered Director, and • will recommend the sanctions to be applied if CPD is not completed to the required standard. John currently works for the Northern Ireland Science Park on the NISP CONNECT Springboard programme and his previous roles include senior positions with Bizet Solutions and Crescent Capital. He recently stood down as a member of the IoD Northern Ireland Committee having served two terms during which time he also chaired the Developing Committee.

Congratulations to our new Diploma holders

Where are the sales people?

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ohn Knapton CDir has been selected to Chair a review of the Institute of Directors’ approach to Continuing Professional Development, in particular relating to the maintenance of the Chartered Director qualification. John will chair the group and join the IoD Chartered Director Committee.


My view

John to chair review of CPD

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by Sean Hogan

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orthern Ireland needs more sales people to drive our economy and everything else - if we are to achieve success.

Why? Well like most people I arrived in sales more by fate than design. However I am totally convinced that I would never had made it to Director level and now Chairman of several very large public sector organisations, had it not been for the many years I spent in sales. A career in sales teaches you many things: how to hone your interpersonal skills; how to talk to people comfortably, at their own level, from the shop floor worker to the company director or Government Minister; how to define a confidence in yourself; and how to present an argument or an opinion clearly and succinctly. But most importantly it teaches you how to ensure that the message you are trying to get across is the same message that the intended recipient actually hears. Selling Virgin

ell done to everyone who has passed the June examinations in the IoD Chartered Director

Programme.

Special congratulations to Eileen Mullan and Donal Canning; they both achieved Distinctions.

was asked how he would describe himself, an entrepreneur, a captain of industry, a business man? To which he replied that he would describe himself as a salesman. Because every time he finds himself talking to others he is always ‘selling’ the benefits of the Virgin brand.

The successful candidates are: Patrick Anderson, Business Services Organisation Donal Canning, Customized Training Services Mark Fegan, Bunzl Geoff Higgins, Team Solutionz Fiona Hampton, Ulster Rugby Eileen Mullan, Strictly Boardroom Alan Mitchell, Henry Brothers Magherafelt Simon McDowell, Kilwaughter Chemicals Adrian McNamee, The Commission for Victims & Survivors Allen Reid, Henry Brothers Magherafelt Kerri Sweeney, Titanic Foundation Ltd Sinead McCartan, OFMdFM

The truth is, all successful leaders in business or, indeed, any walk of life are sales people. It’s just that the product changes. Politicians sell manifestos, Chairmen sell ideas and strategies, teachers sell knowledge. At the end of the day, it is all about ensuring that your product, idea or manifesto is clearly understood and accepted by the listener. So, here’s the question - why are we not teaching ‘Sales’ to students these days? Seán is Chairman of Northern Ireland Water and a board member of Sentinus, the not for profit organisation that promotes STEM subjects and careers to young people.

Certificates Congratulations also to two members who passed their Certificate examinations – former IoD NI Chairman Frank Bryan of Bryan Powercom, who sits on the IoD’s national Board, and Fiona McCabe from Brain Injury Matters NI. Fiona also gained a Distinction in the examination.

Do you agree? If you agree or disagree with Sean, send your comments to [email protected]

I remember, many years ago, listening to an interview with Richard Branson. When he

IoD appointments for Colin

IoD and your business journey

Colin Coffey has been appointed as a member of the Professional Review Group (PRG) at the IoD in London. This Group moderates all the interviews that take place for the IoD’s Chartered Programme.

How IoD membership supports business leaders and directors.

He has also been made a Chartered Director Ambassador and will promote the Chartered Director qualification and the importance of both executive and nonexecutive directors having some formal training in their roles.

Just getting started? – a helping hand for new directors – a network of experienced leaders – a vast array of online information – a free Business Information & Advisory Service - free and low cost briefings on a range of business issues - New Director’s Boot Camp

Explore the world from Belfast. Six daily flights to London Heathrow and beyond. To Fly. To Serve. Book now at ba.com Flights from Belfast City arrive into London Heathrow Terminal 1. Transfer to global destinations through Heathrow Terminal 1, 3 and 5. The Airbus A380 aircraft operates out of Terminal 5 to selected destinations. From 26 October 2014, flights from Dublin and Belfast will be arriving into London Heathrow Terminal 5. See ba.com for details.



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Developing the business and yourself – expand your networks and knowledge - speaker events with national and international leaders - round table discussions on business issues

- training courses, workshops and briefings on your role and good governance - a LinkedIn network of thousands of UK business leaders - free Business Directory to promote your business - access to Board Evaluation services Onwards and upwards – planning for your and the company’s next step - confidential, free 1:1 Business Advisory Service - briefings on succession planning - mentoring opportunities - courses on the role of the NonExecutive Director and Chairman - the Chartered Director Programme - introductions to expanding businesses and social enterprises looking for non-

executives - alerts on public boards vacancies - contribute to lobbying and policy activity - meet the policy makers Keeping up to date – a finger on the pulse - hard copy and online publications, fact sheets, information services - Director magazine and IoD Northern Ireland News - IoD and IoD NI LinkedIn networks - IoD NI Twitter Check out www.iod.com and www.iodni.com for further information. To join go to www.iod.com/join.

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Launch of Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards

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he search is on for creative, star quality partnerships between the worlds of arts and business as Arts & Business Northern Ireland launch the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards 2015. IoD member Mary Trainor-Nagele, Chief Executive of Arts & Business NI said: “The Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards showcase the many creative partnerships between NI’s arts and private sector businesses, and demonstrate that when culture and commerce collide amazing things happen. We are delighted to have Allianz on board and committed to supporting the Awards for a further two years and we thank them for this invaluable support.”

New categories Six awards will be presented to businesses, including two new categories entitled ‘New Sponsor Award’ and ‘Corporate Responsibility Award’. The Awards are presented to local businesses that have demonstrated a creative approach to developing mutually beneficial partnerships with the arts throughout Northern Ireland. The Business of the Year Award will be awarded to a business that has excelled through integrating Arts & Culture through different facets of its business strategy. A further new category entitled ‘Arts Board Member of the Year Award’ will be presented to an individual who in a voluntary capacity

has added outstanding benefits to an organisation in a governance role. The Arts Award is presented to a local arts organisation which has consistently looked to develop and pioneer new ideas, whilst demonstrating a progressive and creative approach to a business partnership. Allianz will be presenting an additional Community Arts Prize, awarded to a local community project with a cultural emphasis which has been nominated by an Allianz staff member. The Awards ceremony for the Allianz Arts & Business NI Awards will be held on 21 January 2015. Categories • Corporate Responsibility • Cultural Branding • Sustained Partnership • Employee Engagement • New Sponsor • Arts Board Member of the Year • Arts Award • Business of the Year Award • Allianz Community Arts Prize Nomination forms are now available to download from the A&B NI website and the deadline for completed nominations is Friday 29 August 2014.

Left: Looking for Star partnerships, Sharon McTaggart, Operations Manager, Allianz and Mary Trainor-Nagele, Chief Executive, Arts & Business NI

Red Cross fleet expands IoD member Terry Cross (left), Chairman of Delta Print and Packaging and President of Red Cross NI, receives the keys of a new emergency response Landrover from Billy Webb of Ulster Garden Villages. The vehicle has been added to the Red Cross fleet of vehicles thanks to the support of Ulster Garden Villages, Delta Print and the Layland family of Templepatrick and will support the charity’s work in providing a range of services to enable individuals and communities cope with and recover from crises or emergencies across Northern Ireland. For information go to www.redcross.org.uk



Report says London hub airport would provide boost for NI

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ack in September last year, we published some views on the proposals for a hub airport for the UK that would provide better connections for travellers from Northern Ireland. York Aviation and Oxford Economics have now produced a report commissioned by Transport for London on how a new London hub airport would provide a big boost for the province.

for airport expansion in the south east to recommend. The York Aviation/Oxford Economics analysis suggests that even a third runway at Heathrow would not lead to a sustainable service to Belfast being established. A third runway would fill up very quickly due to underlying demand and the pressure on airlines to use slots for the most profitable routes would mean Belfast losing out again.

report also nails the lie that a third runway would help the UK cities and regions that Heathrow has left behind. It won’t. It will be full within two or three years of opening and just as now airlines will be forced to concentrate on their most profitable longhaul routes. I hope the Airports Commission studies the report in detail and takes into account the economic needs of the UK as a whole when preparing its final report.”

Making Connections

According to Louise Congdon of York Aviation, a new four-runway hub airport would provide the nations and regions with the best connectivity to the UK’s main international airport. “This could include eight new regional routes and a more frequent service for cities that have a Heathrow connection currently. It might surprise some people that a third runway at Heathrow will do little to improve regional connectivity and not support any new routes due to commercial pressures on airlines.”

London airports full

The report, Making Connections, highlights how a decision on where to build new airport capacity in the southeast of the UK is of paramount importance to Northern Ireland, suggesting that only a new fourrunway airport would improve the flight link between Belfast and the UK’s main hub airport. Key points from the report state that: • a new four runway hub airport in the southeast would provide Belfast with a 12 daily connection to UK’s main hub; • the new link to a four runway hub airport would boost the Northern Irish economy by £92million per annum by 2050 and deliver 710 new jobs; and • a third runway at Heathrow would not provide a sustainable benefit for Belfast. The Airports Commission, chaired by Sir Howard Davies, is deciding which option

Commenting on the report, the Mayor of London’s chief advisor on aviation, Daniel Moylan, agreed saying that the current expansion debate must not be allowed to become simply a matter of where to build a new strip of tarmac in the south east. “This is a decision that matters to the whole of the UK and it’s ludicrous that Amsterdam airport provides more than three times the number of UK regional connections than our so called national airport. The

Sir Howard Davies’ interim report predicts that by 2030, Heathrow, Gatwick, London City and Luton will be full with Stansted following suit in 2041. The Airports Commission has concluded that there is a clear case for one net additional runway in London and the South East, to come into operation by 2030. Its forecasts also indicate that there is likely to be a demand case for a second additional runway in operation by 2050 or, in some scenarios, earlier. The Commission will carry out further analysis on this issue in the second phase of its work programme, including looking at the implications for any future capacity expansion of each of the new runway options shortlisted for detailed consideration. The final report is due by the summer of 2015.

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Investing in enterprise In the second instalment of their two-part series of articles on the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), Boyd Carson of Sapphire Capital Partners and Mark Stockdale of A&L Goodbody explain how the EIS can work for the company seeking investment.

The background to EIS

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ix years after the start of the financial crisis and some small businesses are still having problems accessing finance, with traditional sources such as overdrafts and bank term loans continuing to be difficult to secure in certain cases. Companies are still being encouraged to be open to private equity, venture capital, and even public listing of shares on a stock market. These can be excellent sources of finance in the right circumstances, however

historically companies in Northern Ireland have been reticent about ceding control of family-owned businesses by taking on professional investors or publishing private information, for example to public markets.

some exceptions such as nursing home businesses and professional practices. Certain very early stage companies can qualify for Seed EIS which is even more taxfriendly for investors.

An increasingly attractive option is raising funds from investors under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS), a tax efficient HMRC approved scheme whereby investors receive generous tax breaks to support small businesses. Most companies can qualify for EIS, although there are

EIS has been around since 2007 and has been a common source of finance in Great Britain for some time now, however it has not been commonly used in Northern Ireland.

EIS popularity grows

How it works for companies

by Boyd Carson, Sapphire Capital Partners

by Mark Stockdale, A&L Goodbody

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e have recently experienced an increase in interest in the Enterprise Investment Scheme from businesses in Northern Ireland and EIS is in fact so popular now that some investors will refuse to invest if it is not available. From the company’s point of view all that is required is a short application to HMRC to obtain advance assurance that the businesses will qualify for EIS. Once this is received then it can be more easily promoted to investors.

The fundraising process

EIS investments are popular with wealthy private individuals who wish to offset personal income tax or shelter capital gains. For this reason, investments of this type are usually marketed towards the end of the tax year. They are also often used to structure wealth planning as shares in EIS companies are usually exempt from inheritance tax once they have been held for two years. This means that there is potentially a larger market for EIS shares in comparison to shares in non-EIS companies.

An information memorandum must be carefully written to comply with financial services legislation and for this reason it is important to engage a specialist solicitor and financial adviser with experience in this area. Experienced solicitors and financial advisers can also assist in providing contacts within the wealth advisory market which is vital if the company is to reach investors.

Public fundraisings by way of share issue under EIS follow a well-established process. The company will produce a short advertising document known as an information memorandum, which is marketed to private investors. This is often distributed via a network of private wealth advisers and can be marketed throughout the United Kingdom, which means that companies are not limited just to investors based in Northern Ireland.

Following an EIS fundraising, a company typically has a wider shareholder base,

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having taken on a number of new minority shareholders. However, the company’s founders usually continue to run the business as before and generally maintain operational control. This contrasts with a private equity investment whereby the investor will usually take a large amount of equity and require representation at board level. For this reason, EIS fundraising can be quite attractive to new or family run businesses. As always this source of financing will not be suitable for all companies at all times, however it is worth considering along with the other options out there. To discuss this article or for more information on EIS generally, please contact Mark Stockdale at A&L Goodbody on 028 9031 4466 [email protected].

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t Sapphire Capital Partners LLP the number of HMRC advance assurance applications for Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (“Seed EIS”) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (“EIS”) that we have completed has grown dramatically in the past two years. Why is this? Primarily for two reasons. Firstly, the banks are continuing not to lend and secondly there appears to be a growing awareness and acceptance of the advantages of raising money via Seed EIS and/or EIS within the actual companies themselves. A practical example We recently assisted a Northern Irish company to raise money via the EIS scheme. The practicalities of doing this were fairly straightforward and took the following path: • The investment information was prepared, including the information memorandum. • An application to HMRC for advance assurance was prepared and submitted. • After four weeks, the HMRC advance assurance application was obtained. • The information memorandum and other investment documents were finalised. • The process of raising finance commenced. Although the aforementioned company was in a more challenging area for EIS eligibility - being in the construction sector - the process of applying to HMRC for advance assurance and writing the information memorandum is a well-trodden path.

Raising the money, however, is the difficult part. Having EIS advance assurance from HMRC is a definite help, but unless the company has investors already lined up, the company will find this part the most challenging. Looking for finance In our experience there are three main sources to obtain finance for Seed EIS or EIS companies. 1. The first is, of course, the friends and relatives route which is well known and is applicable mainly to smaller start-ups. 2. The second is the broader Independent Financial Advisor (IFA) or accountant route (accountants love to advocate the Seed EIS or EIS opportunities due to all the generous tax advantages offered to investors). 3. The third is the specialist Seed EIS or EIS investment fund that only invests in qualifying Seed EIS or EIS companies. For our local construction company, a £1.7 million investment was obtained from an EIS investment fund based in London. The EIS fund did its due diligence within three weeks and made the investment shortly thereafter. Which finance source? Which of the three SEIS/EIS finance sources would we advocate?

That depends on the circumstances. Friends and family are always a favourite for startups but not so good for family relationships if something subsequently goes wrong. The IFA and accountant route is particularly good if you don’t want to give too much of your company’s equity away but it can be very slow to raise money as there is a lot of time spent on meeting all the various IFAs, etc. The Seed EIS / EIS fund route is our preferred route and is an excellent way to get the finance raising done quickly. It also has the advantage of having effectively only one investor, being the EIS fund, but the potential downside (if not managed properly) is that the EIS fund can be more aggressive as to how much of the company’s equity they will want in return for their investment. Qualifying your company for a Seed EIS and/or EIS investment can be an excellent way to help your business raise finance. We have worked with many companies that have successfully followed this route and we would encourage any company wanting to raise finance to take advantage of them. To discuss this article or for more information on setting up a Seed EIS and/or an EIS as well as fundraising generally, please contact Boyd Carson of Sapphire Capital Partners LLP by calling 087 0734 8912.

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IoD Member Benefits

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What’s happening? We are refurbishing many of the main areas including the Directors’ Room, Morning Room, Spears Room, Restaurant and Brasserie. This work will give a fresh new feel to all these areas, which are available to members for working, meeting and entertaining. The Library is being relocated to the Wellington Room in the basement and will include a quiet working space for members.

Impression of the Directors’ Room

More areas for meeting and working The basement Brasserie will be transformed into an all-day working, meeting and light dining space and renamed Café Duke. In the Restaurant, a less formal section for working and eating will be created alongside a dedicated dining area with its familiar high quality menu. With additional seating and smarter use of some areas, we will be increasing the capacity of the building so that more members can be accommodated. More power points are being added, allowing members to recharge and use laptops, etc. Lighting will be enhanced and Wi-Fi capacity will be increased.

IoD resources and benefits to support members

will already have been completed and the remainder should be finished around the end of the year. The work is being phased to minimise disruption to members and where room closures are necessary, meeting space will be made available in some of the function rooms. Details of progress on the refurbishment can be found on www.iod.com/116refurb. Guided tour Staff at 116 are always happy to provide a guided tour of the premises for anyone who is not familiar with the facilities. If you know when you might be visiting, then you can arrange for a tour by contacting [email protected] or 020 7766 8888.

By the time this issue of IoD Northern Ireland News is published, some of the work

Impression of Cafe Duke

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The Riddel Hall facilities are very popular with members, particularly because of the free parking close to the building. Members have access to two Executive Lounge areas on the ground and first floors, free Wi-Fi, and a variety of rooms that can be hired, all equipped with the latest IT technology. A snack and light refreshments menu is available for members visiting Riddel Hall menu cards can be found in the Executive Lounge areas and you can order from the catering staff.

Catering for your meetings or functions can be provided by the Riddel Hall chefs – anything from coffee and freshly baked scones to a full banqueting menu. For information about the IoD facilities at Riddel Hall, phone us on 028 9068 3224 or email [email protected] To book rooms or catering, contact the Riddel Hall administration office on 028 9097 5647.

Articles are published as a contribution to discussions about business issues. They represent the personal views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect Institute of Directors’ policy.

Contact IoD Linda Brown Lisa Keys Lorraine Corry

IoD at Riddel Hall 185 Stranmillis Road Belfast BT9 5EE Tel: 028 9068 3224 Email: [email protected]

• IoD Auto Enrolment Service www.iod.com/autoenrol • IoD Retirement Service www.iod.com/retirement

We have created a portfolio of membership benefits which are designed to provide members with the knowledge, tools and advice to help them be more productive, competitive and profitable. Take advantage of IoD membership by using these benefits whether you are at your desk or on the move. Details of all member benefits can be found on our website www.iod.com Benefits included as part of the annual membership fee:

And More...

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Director: Head of Business Development: Administrator:

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he Institute of Directors exists to support our members – the business leaders – as they grow and develop their organisations.

• Meeting space at 13 locations around the UK and in Paris • 25 business research sessions each year • 4 one-to-one sessions with a business expert each year • 25 calls to our business legal advice line each year • Access to our extensive online business support resource • Access to the IoD exclusive LinkedIn group with over 7000 IoD members • Access to the IoD Northern Ireland LinkedIn group • Access to airport lounges across the UK • Monthly online newsletters from London and your local region • Advert on our business directory • Subscription to Director magazine • A copy of the bi-monthly IoD NI News • Your profile can be included in an issue of IoD NI News • Access to register on our NXD Directory

Welcome to your Belfast premises embers based in or visiting Northern Ireland are very welcome to use the working, meeting and entertaining facilities at Queen’s University’s Riddel Hall at 185 Stranmillis Road, where the IoD office is based.


IoD Member Benefits

116 Pall Mall Refurbishment ou have probably heard about the major improvements to our premises in our London headquarters at 116 Pall Mall. These changes are aimed at significantly enhancing the facilities available to members and their guests.


• Representation at the highest levels of national and regional government and the opportunity to participate in surveys and receive copies of our policy publications Big Picture and Pulse • Networking across the UK through our regions and branches who run a whole range of events from black-tie dinners to breakfast briefings • Discounts off our respected range of director-level training and development programmes including our Chartered Director qualification which is recognised internationally as the goldstandard in director level training • Discounts off our conferences and events with their high profile speakers

• IoD Life and Critical Illness Insurance www.iod.com/lci • IoD Health Plans www.iod.com/healthplan • IoD Plus: specially negotiated products and services: • IoD Directors Liability Insurances www.iod.com/dli • IoD Professional Indemnity Insurance www.iod.com/pi • IoD Key Person Insurance www.iod.com/kp • IoD Relevant Life Insurance www.iod.com/rl

• IoD Procurement Services www.iod.com/procurement • IoD Jobs and Recruitment www.jobs.iod.com • IoD Travel Services www.iod.com/travel • IoD Hotel Accommodation www.iod.com/hotels • IoD Car Rental www.iod.com/carrental/offer2

• IoD Office Insurance www.iod.com/officeinsurance

Join the IoD

• IoD Home and Contents Insurance www.iod.com/homeinsurance

You can apply to join the Institute online at www.iod.com/join or telephone our Membership Department on 020 7766 8888.

• IoD Ultra High Value Homes Insurance www.iod.com/highvaluehomes

Auto enrolment: support and guidance for members

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very company who has passed through their auto enrolment staging date will have learnt something new from the process. Even those most prepared will have found that, as they work through the day to day process, there are certain areas within their own business model that cause confusion. With the choice on features such as postponement, definition of earnings and a selection of pension providers, even companies with similar demographics could experience a totally different outcome. Torquil Clark, providers of the IoD Auto Enrolment Service, have guided a number of businesses through their staging date and continue to provide support as the ongoing process is managed. IoD members receive discounted rates so contact Torquil Clark now to see how they can help.

To find out more: T: 01902 576707 W: www.iod.com/autoenrol Consultancy charges apply. Torquil Clark Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Not all Auto Enrolment services are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

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