Voice For Locals, which was awarded £1.82m by the UK Community Renewal Fund, offers micro and small businesses a range of free skills, marketing and other services to aid their business’ recovery.

More than 1,400 businesses have enrolled to avail of the benefits, of which 250 businesses have innovated new processes in their business, and the goal is to certify 500 businesses over the coming weeks.

Following the success of transforming St George’s Market to trading online and sponsoring High Street Heroes NI – a campaign from Retail NI and supported by Voice for Locals – working relationships have been established with many local councils, business improvement districts (BIDS), enterprise agencies and chambers of commerce across Northern Ireland.

Welcoming the initiative Aidan O’Kane, President of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, said: “We are delighted to welcome Voice For Locals as a member of the Londonderry Chamber. Voice For Locals aims to help micro and small businesses recover, rebuild and rebound post pandemic. Chamber Members represent the varied business sectors and interests in the area.

“There is a shared ambition to grow the standing of the North West as a great place to live, work and do business. However, our members are facing a perfect storm of challenges including energy hikes, labour shortages, National Insurance increases and Covid-19.

“Looking forward, I would encourage any small business to sign up to the Voice For Locals Initiative. It will allow business owners to increase their visibility and credibility, and boost profitability, to mitigate growing costs.”

Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice For Locals, said: “We are looking forward to working in partnership with Londonderry Chamber. There are so many synergies and collective efforts yield better results than individual efforts. The membership organisation is a priceless asset to the local business community, helping it navigate some of the hardest times ever faced. The Chamber’s objectives align perfectly with ours in that it wants to support members and help them rebuild and recover.

“We provide the digital tools for data driven business decisions and enable business owners to go digital with mobile apps, get marketed locally, get certified with e-learning courses endorsed by City & Guilds, and avail of personalised business and technology advice, to build a self-reliant economy in the wake of the pandemic.

“The levelling up initiative has been designed to address a number of challenges. At a local level, it allows engagement with a broader audience, on a more consistent basis, thanks to the Voice For Locals digital directory of all rated businesses across Northern Ireland, ni.voiceforlocals.co.uk. Meanwhile, with an expanded digital presence, local businesses can now tap into rest of the UK, Europe and world markets that would have otherwise been unattainable.”

Mr Thattai said: “Each business will have a dedicated landing page with a business description, an enquiry button to generate leads, and pictures and videos featured in the Voice For Locals NI directory. Business owners will be given the tools to collect genuine customer ratings and reviews which will reflect online automatically, encouraging online shoppers to shop locally with confidence.

“This is a personalised small business success programme. A dedicated team is in place to provide mentoring until the business owners become self-reliant. It is completely free and fully funded by the UK Government. The consortium, which includes firms Unloc Limited and TieTa UK, hopes to support even more businesses in the North West as they navigate recovery post pandemic.”

The consortium’s tender win for the project makes it the recipient of the fifth largest grant in the UK and the largest in Northern Ireland. Unloc 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 e-learning programmes delivered to local businesses throughout the scheme’s duration.

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund. For further information log on to voiceforlocals.co.uk

Caption: Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice For Locals and Aidan O’Kane, President of Londonderry Chamber of Commerce.

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The initiative offers digital tools, marketing techniques and customer experience training for small firms, and it is set to digitise NI marketplaces and high streets.

Voice for Locals, which received a £1.82m grant from the UK Government to bolster small businesses’ potential, has digitised more than 200 local businesses across Northern Ireland in less than 30 days.

The initiative launched its latest drive ‘Times Are Changing’ at St George’s Market last week to help traders, who typically rely on in-person footfall, to extend their services online and tap into the world of e-commerce.

The traders can now expand sales, trading online every day of the week, and can take their business to a digital platform.

The initiative allows engagement with a broader audience, on a more consistent basis, beyond the confines of St George’s Market official trading days, thanks to the Voice for Locals digital directory of all rated businesses across Northern Ireland, ni.voiceforlocals.co.uk.

The momentous event saw traders at the iconic venue use a mobile app to collect ratings, reviews, manage bookings and drive loyalty effortlessly. The traders, who typically trade on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, were seen proudly sharing the news of their online presence with their customers.

Platform

The platform allows traders to go digital with mobile apps, get marketed locally, get certified with e-learning courses endorsed by City and Guilds, and avail of personalised business and technology advice, to build a self-reliant economy in the wake of the pandemic.

The initiative, delivered by a consortium of organisations including Unloc Limited, TieTa and City & Guilds, has plans to extend this drive to other marketplaces and high streets.

Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice for Locals, said the campaign would help businesses “recover, rebuild and rebound.”

He said: “It was gratifying to see 71 traders signing up for online business in a single day. 55% of traders onboarded are women entrepreneurs with basic digital skills. Every trader will have their own landing page with their business description, pictures and videos featured in the Voice for Locals NI directory. They are also given tools to collect genuine customer ratings and reviews in the market which will reflect online automatically, to boost their credibility for online shoppers to shop locally with confidence.

“Every trader’s landing page also has an enquiry button to generate leads for the traders during the non-trading days. The leads automatically go to their personalised mobile apps.

“The iconic St George’s Market has an international appeal and attracts tourists from all over the globe. With the expanded digital presence, traders can now tap into rest of the UK, Europe and world markets that would have otherwise been unattainable, via the initiative’s extension plans.”

Reaching the customer

One trader who availed of the initiative is Cathy McLaverty from Randalstown. Cathy is Chair of St George’s Market Traders Association and sells a range of women’s accessories. Her business is Cathy McLaverty Accessories.

She said: “All we have is a few hours in a day to make something, market and sell it. We have always looked forward to Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays at St George’s market to sell our products. We do not have the team, the skillset, or the time to digitise and market our business. Until this point, we did not have an opportunity to own the database of customers that shopped from us.

“Most importantly, we could not reach out to them when we introduced new designs. We did not know if we had a happy customer and if that individual would recommend us on social media and refer us to friends and families. With Voice for Locals, we have this information at our fingertips. We have the tools to personalise rewards and promotions and ensure we are continuously engaging with our customers, and we truly feel empowered.

“The NI directory will also help generate leads for the traders from Monday to Thursday, when the market is closed. We are looking forward to pinpointing new business opportunities.”

The consortium’s tender win for the project makes it the recipient of the fifth largest grant in the UK and the largest in Northern Ireland. Unloc 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 e-learning programmes delivered to local businesses throughout the scheme’s duration.

This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

For further information about the Voice for Locals Initiative, log on to voiceforlocals.co.uk

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