MORE than 100 entrepreneurs, business leaders, innovators, educators and staff attended the official opening of the Business Support Centre at North West Regional College.
The support centre, at the college’s Strand Road campus, comprises a team of business development specialists and technical consultants, with experience in supporting small and medium size enterprises in improving their profits.
The team will help businesses evaluate their current operations, product ranges and processes, and assist with creative solutions so that the enterprise can stand out from the crowd, and ultimately improve the bottom line.
During the event, the head of the centre, Dr Fergal Tuffy, introduced the variety of programmes and support streams available to companies and organisations in the north west.
These include the InnovateUS programme, supported by the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL), which provides 30 hours of funded support to assist businesses in acquiring the skills necessary to engage in innovation activities to help them grow their business.
The centre is also delivering the DEL Skills Focus programme which enables businesses with up to 250 employees to upskill or reskill employees in accredited training programmes at Level 2 or above.
DEL will fund 75% of the training costs with the business paying the remaining 25%. Training delivered will be based on employers’ needs and can be delivered flexibly.
In addition, the team will assist local businesses to apply for, and if successful, implement an InvestNI Innovation Voucher to develop innovative new products, processing, or for research and development.
This provides up to £5,000 worth of support to the business. Speaking at the event, college principal Leo Murphy said: “NWRC is leading the way towards a brighter economic future for this region.
We have invested in bringing experienced and innovative staff to the college to work with local SMEs, and our new offices ref lect the professional approach we make on behalf of north west companies.”
Also present at the launch was James Huey of the Walled City Brewery. Having engaged with the college in the early stages of his business planning, Mr Huey echoed the sentiment that innovation and forward thinking were central to the services offered by North West Regional College’s business support team.