Belfast businesses look to strategic way forward

Ten Belfast companies are hoping to improve their strategic planning skills by taking part in a new programme developed by Belfast City Council.

The six month ‘Strategy in Business Initiative’ (SBI), funded by the Council and the European Union’s Building Sustainable Prosperity fund, aims to help the businesses to create a compelling strategy for moving their business forward through profitable growth, by increasing managers’ skills and confidence in their ability to think strategically and make coherent and ambitious plans for the future.

The main objective of the programme is to help local businesses identify key processes within their business, to rank the issues that need attention and to implement change.

The SBI programme will be delivered through a combination of interactive workshops and one-to-one mentoring and has been designed for those who wish to learn and understand strategy to help organisations face strategic challenges head-on and to implement solutions successfully.

Councillor Michael Browne, Chairman of the Council’s Economic Development Sub-Committee, is confident that companies participating in this Council initiative will benefit from a growth in revenue and enhanced profitability.

“By developing a programme of this nature, Council can actively encourage local business to achieve sustainable growth and competitive advantage. The initiative has been developed in direct response to the difficulties that face small businesses in establishing a clear sense of vision, planning how this vision will be realised and then implementing the necessary strategies to facilitate the achievement of this vision," said Councillor Browne.

The SBI programme is being delivered on behalf of Belfast City Council by Pinnacle Consulting.

“Owner-managers of small businesses frequently need practical assistance in addressing the issues that are constraining growth,” explained Pinnacle’s Simon Devlin.

“We work with clients in a hands-on way by rolling up the sleeves and helping the client to make the right decisions at the right time in order to maximise the probability of business success.”

(SP)