IoD urge NI businesses to consolidate efforts

The Northern Ireland Institute of Directors have urged NI business leaders to consolidate their efforts in order to secure the province’s future in the global market.

The call comes in advance of the IoD’s inaugural conference to be held in the Ramada Hotel in Belfast on November 22. The conference entitled “Getting Down To Business” will bring together the province’s top public and private sector officials in a discussion forum with the future of “NI plc” at its heart.

Eric Bell, the Chairman of the IoD, said: “In the 21st Century Northern Ireland is facing challenging times – the economy has gone from strength to strength but we still have so much to achieve. This conference is about getting down to business and developing ‘NI plc’ to its fullest potential and, significantly, putting the onus for this on the whole of the business community.

“Basically, a clear strategy needs to be set for growing the NI economy and only complete synergy across the public and private sectors will achieve this.”

Chairman of the IoD’s professional development committee, Noel Brady said that the conference was particularly timely as the weakening of the global market had implications for the local economy.

He said that the inevitable tail-off of inward investment would necessitate a focusing of where NI plc was headed and how it was going to get there.

Compaq Computer and SX3 are sponsoring the IoD’s “Getting Down To Business” conference.

T&EA, IDB, Morrow Communications, Textflow, Aon McMillan and Grant Thornton are also supporting the event. (SP)