First seen as the ‘too good to be true’ initiative when it was launched in March 2022, Voice For Locals is a GB-based consortium and levelling up initiative, sponsored by the UK Community Renewal Fund (UKCRF).

The Voice for Locals initiative secured the largest grant of £1.822m from the UK Government, enabling it to support the bounce-back of the small business sector in Northern Ireland.

The grant was the largest in Northern Ireland and the fifth largest in the UK, allowing Voice For Locals to offer participating NI micro and small businesses a range of free skills, marketing and other services to aid business recovery and return to profitability.

INNOVATING NEW PROCESSES

Designed to tech-enable local businesses, help them innovate new processes and develop skills that would grow the local economy, Jay explained they completed the project and exceeded their commitments with the government, despite a “dramatic last 10 months”.

“In the last 12 months, Voice For Locals has levelled up 565 retailers. The majority of retailers who came forward to avail of our benefits were from FMCG, food and beverages, fashion, interior and automotive sectors,” said Jay.

“Of the 565 retailers, 269 of them were retailers with no employees selling either online or in a market; 169 of them had 1 to 9 employees and 127 of them had 10 to 250 employees.

“Of the 565, 127 were women-owned and 436 were men-owned retail business; 448 of the 565 neighbourhood retailers registered with basic digital skills. Whilst the size, gender and digital skills of the beneficiaries vary, the problems they faced in understanding customers were the same.”

Voice For Locals is the brainchild of Jay in order to 10x the local economy, globally. He said it was a “perfect time” to position this plan to the UK Government to level up businesses coming out of covid in 2021-2022.

‘In the last 12 months, Voice For Locals has levelled up 565 retailers. The majority of retailers who came forward to avail of our benefits were from FMCG, food and beverages, fashion, interior and automotive sectors’

Having partnered with City & Guilds for assured recognition of a course he created from scratch for micro and small businesses, Jay put together a team to reach out to local councils, chambers, Business Improvement Districts, local business networks, markets, further education colleges and universities.

He also visited local businesses across the province to deliver the benefits, and although a “relentless” task, he said it has been an “incredible experience” so far.

Coming from a middle-class Indian family, with three generations having lived in the same house with regular visitors, Jay said that meant “people are first, always”.

“My parents are government servants in India. The intent to give back to the country that we live in was laid very strong within me. As a middle-class family, I was always taught to spend money wisely and look for value and always deliver value,” he said.

He migrated to the UK under the highly-skilled migrant programme and has offered his technology expertise to brands including BT, BP, John Lewis, New Look, Telefonica and Everything Everywhere.

He said he is “now on a mission demystify state-of-the-art technology and democratise it to the digitally-excluded local businesses, globally to 10x the local and global economies”.

‘PROVIDING NEW TOOLS’

As Jay explained, there is still little focus by NI retailers on data collection towards understanding customer contact details, their expectations, experiences, emotions, behaviour, preferences and loyalty.

“This is the data that online giants like Amazon have, that small independent retailers don’t, to bring about appropriate changes to their business,” he said.

Voice For Locals helps retailers know their customers, retain their customers and attract more customers with its tools, skills and training at zero cost.

Jay said the Voice For Locals initiative has been an “overwhelming” success for NI businesses, with 308 retailers having innovated new processes in their business.

“They now read their customers better with the skill training and digital tools given to them,” said Jay.

“The initiative has come out with four innovation plans to 10x their business growth. We have launched an NI-wide e-commerce platform with a substore for every council. Retailers can avail of the online platform and save their costs on running, maintaining and spending on expensive platforms.

“We have developed a high street community selling feature in the app, that is given to them to help cross-promote each other’s business in the same street and we recently launched a vending machine to exclusively promote products made in Northern Ireland.”

‘Local brands quietly sell their great products in a market or in their shop somewhere in NI, while the Voice For Locals vending machines will sell their products all over Northern Ireland offering them a 10x growth’

While vending machines have of course been existence for years, the innovation in this case is to make them a medium to sell products exclusively made locally in NI.

“Nearly 300 businesses we have supported make incredible products in Northern Ireland, but not many local consumers know these local brands,” said Jay.

“The local brands quietly sell their great products in a market or in their shop somewhere in NI, while the Voice For Locals vending machines will sell their products all over Northern Ireland offering them a 10x growth.

“The vending machine will also be integrated to our e-commerce portals to market other local businesses whose products or services or events cannot be sold in the vending machine. The vending machines will also issue rewards for consumers that shop locally and support the local economy.

“The model can be replicated in any council in England, Scotland, Wales or globally too, but we can proudly say it all started in Northern Ireland.”

COLLABORATION

Voice For Locals was launched as a fully-funded initiative by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund, with funding covering them until December 2022. Jay said they have been pleased with the support so far.

“The support we have received from the Minister of State, MLAs, MPs and the Department for the Economy has been really encouraging.

“With the success of our initial programme, we have launched our innovation plans and are looking forward to applying local and national funding schemes to 10x the local economy in Northern Ireland. The support from Stormont has been fantastic for us.”

Describing Voice For Locals as an “eventful initiative” Jay said they are planning a series of launch events for the new vending machines across the province.

“We are running skill development programmes for students with Further Education Colleges who are either aspiring retailers or want to work with retailers, and we will also be planning a research proposal with the Department for the Economy in the coming weeks.

“We are always open for collaboration with councils, chambers, Business Improvement Districts, local business networks, social enterprises and educational institutions to partner with us to extend the benefits to the beneficiaries.

“We also invite local retailers to come forward and speak to us about 10x their sales on e-commerce, vending machines, cross promotions and upskilling. We choose to be a Voice For Locals because we just love locals.”

TO VIEW THE FULL FEATURE WITH JAY THATTAI IN THE MARCH ISSUE OF NEIGHBOURHOOD RETAILER, CLICK HERE

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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.

The team has digitised more than 230 local firms across Northern Ireland in the last 30 days and 71% of business owners have introduced new innovative processes to their ways of working.

Following the recent success of transforming St George’s Market in Belfast to online trading, Voice For Locals is all set to level up local businesses in high streets and markets in collaboration with local councils, town management, enterprise agencies and chambers of commerce.

Newtownards Chamber of Trade provides professional advice and gives a voice to the business sector in the local area.

In 2019, Newtownards was recognised at the Great British High Street Awards, winning the Champion Award category for Northern Ireland.

Welcoming the initiative Derek Wright, President of the Newtownards Chamber of Trade and a business owner in the town, said: “The Chamber is delighted to welcome Voice For Locals to Newtownards to help micro and small businesses recover, rebuild, and rebound post pandemic. Newtownards is a thriving market town, and we are proud to be one of the high streets that is succeeding and influencing change across the UK, as reflected in our recent Great British High Street award win. However, our members are facing a perfect storm of challenges including energy hikes, labour shortages, National Insurance increases and Covid-19.

“Newtownards boasts a wide variety of shops, many of them independently owned and I would encourage all local businesses to avail of this opportunity. As a local business owner, I have registered for the initiative, and it takes less than ten minutes to sign up.  I am confident Voice For Locals allows 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 Newtownards 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 the high street has ever faced. The Chamber’s objectives align perfectly with ours in that it wants to support local businesses 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.

“It also has a busy market on a Saturday, and we will help traders, who typically rely on in-person footfall, to extend their services online and tap into the world of e-commerce through our ‘Times are Changing’ campaign.

“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 added: “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 Newtownards 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 programs 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

06 + 30 +52 Derek Wright, President of the Newtownards Chamber of Trade and Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice For Locals.

09 Derek Wright, President of the Newtownards Chamber of Trade; Tim McKane, Voice for Locals and Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice For Locals.

50 Jay Thattai, Founder and Steering Authority at Voice For Locals and Derek Wright, President of the Newtownards Chamber of Trade.

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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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