GB Consortium awarded £1.82m to support the levelling up of NI small businesses

The Voice for Locals Initiative is seeking to support Northern Ireland businesses by providing a range of free skills, marketing and other services to aid post-Covid business recovery.

A GB-based consortium, Voice for Locals successfully secured a grant to offer participating NI micro and small businesses access to intelligent online marketing and customer experience development tools to allow firms to reconnect with customers, gauge performance and pinpoint new opportunities.

The Voice for Locals Initiative has received £1.82m from the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

The consortium, which includes firms Unloc Limited and TieTa UK, won funding to support the ‘bounce back’ of the small business sector in NI which makes it the recipient of the fifth largest grant in the UK and the largest in Northern Ireland.

Unloc Ltd will provide the technology, marketing and skills development element of the offering while TieTa will offer business and technical support.

The team is working closely with City & Guilds to gain recognition for the e-learning programmes delivered to local businesses throughout the scheme’s duration.

Voice for Locals seeks to work in collaboration with councils, trade bodies and membership organisations to assist businesses and does not directly compete with any other NI UKCRF funded initiatives.

Voice for Locals’ founder/steering authority, Jay Thattai, said: “This is a mission-oriented innovation programme personalised for local businesses in NI to recover, rebuild and rebound post-Covid. We will provide simple toolkits, built using emerging technologies, to help local businesses own and analyse their business data and introduce process improvements through on the job training in customer experience and marketing. The initiative helps change ways of working and delivery of services in line with the 10X vision laid out by the Department for the Economy in NI.

“While talent is spread equally, opportunity is not. Levelling up is a mission to challenge, and change, that inequity. Levelling up gives everyone the opportunity to flourish. It means living longer and more fulfilling lives, and benefitting from sustained rises in living standards and well-being, everywhere.

“Local businesses operating anywhere in NI deserve the best-in-class personalised support to boost their credibility and expand their visibility for sustainable profitability. By engaging in the Voice for Locals Initiative, local business owners will derive a number of business benefits. In addition to collecting post-Covid customer expectations and experiences, they will be made self-reliant, empowered to make data-driven business and marketing decisions confidently.

“In addition, there is a facility to develop and drive customer loyalty programmes, develop referral programmes to drive new business and personalise a series of rewards for loyal customers. Participants will also be offered an e-learning course on which they can attain new skills. Having this recognised by City & Guilds will in turn advance professional development and build credibility with local customers.

“We will list all rated local businesses in a directory for NI. Businesses will be listed by their cities, skills, trade, ratings, reviews and a number of other metrics. Consumers will be both encouraged and empowered to shop locally with greater confidence.”

This programme’s directory will act as a unique ‘Shop Local initiative’ to buy, book and hire from local businesses in simple clicks, genuinely rate local retail and service businesses to allow them to correct any customer service gaps and help them improve and grow. Local consumers will be encouraged to join the loyalty programmes and gain reward and referral points as part of the journey.

Voice for Locals aims to recognise exemplars in their field too with the launch of a ‘Special NI Edition of Top-Rated Businesses’ highlighting the best micro and small businesses in the retail and service sectors as the programme evolves.

This initiative will also offer incredible local insights to local government to better understand the post-Covid environment and to evaluate consumer expectations and local business skill challenges to make data driven policy advocacies and interventions.

For further information about the Voice for Locals Initiative visit voiceforlocals.co.uk

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