Strategies & Opportunities for Growth

Registration

Jim Eastwood

Well-known for his success as a Finalist in series 7 on the BBC1 hit show, The Apprentice, Jim Eastwood became the best ever salesperson in the history of the process, landing orders including a £1.6M deal from ASDA. Jim quickly became the bookies favourite to win, and received a massive career boost from Lord Sugar’s appraisal of his skills. Nicknamed ‘Superman’; and then ‘Jedi Jim’ for his ability to influence others, many admired his passion, charm and his competitive spirit.

Born in Cookstown, Northern Ireland, Jim has a significant grounding in marketing, management and commercial sales within industry. His mother, a retired teacher, and father, a serial entrepreneur, divorced when Jim was 12. He used this all-to-common adversity to propel him to sporting, academic & business achievement. He furthered his education with the completion of a first-class honours degree in Sport & Exercise Science from the University of Ulster. Jim also received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in Charlotte, North Carolina before attending Harvard University as a ‘Leader for Tomorrow’.

An ambitious sporting champion, Jim continued to ascend the corporate ladder as a Sales & Marketing Manager before selling his way to success in The Apprentice. Much of Jim’s working-day is now spent consulting within business and academia, and being a ambassador for Education and Northern Ireland.

Self-described as “positive, resilient, and charismatic” Jim established himself as a talented negotiator, an accomplished salesman, with expert communication skills. His highly competitive personality and relentless work ethic led him to success on The Apprentice, where he enjoyed many ‘iconic’ highlights. Since the series ended, Jim has been bombarded with job offers and requests for speaking engagements.

Jim is now looking forward to a bright future full of opportunities to share his secrets to success. He is a well-rounded and entertaining speaker with a passion and drive for business and life, which he encourages in people of all ages.

Alan Suttie will share his wealth of experience of working with clients to develop and commercialise exciting new products that have a meaningful edge in the marketplace. Delegates will get a unique insight into the realities of taking a new product through the design process into the market and will set down how our experiences suggest the process should be structured for best chance of commercial success. Delegates will also see some worked examples to provide inspiration.

Fearsomengine are an award winning product design consultancy offering a comprehensive development service. Since its inception in 2001, the company has been developing innovative new products for clients encompassing a diversity of industry sectors. Medical devices, high-tech devices, consumer products and marine equipment have been produced with demonstrable return on investment for customers. The level of repeat business that they receive is testament to the quality of service, value for money and the results being delivered.

Alan Suttie

Time for a short break to stretch your legs!

Exporting is a key business growth strategy but many businesses don’t feel that this is for them for a variety of reasons.

Kirsteen Higgins from Smart Exporter; along with a panel of local businesses which have successfully exported or going through the process, will help to knock down some of the perceived barriers and highlight the benefits of considering exporting as a growth strategy.

The panelists are:

Highland Chocolatier

Based in idyllic Highland Perthshire this has not stopped Iain Burnett and his company exploring the huge potential of exporting worldwide. The company is exporting to Japan and is currently in the advanced stages in negotiations in several Gulf States. This is as a direct result of Commercial Director - Julie Collier visiting The Gulf Food trade show which was supported by P&K Council’s Overseas Markets Development Grant. Visit the Highland Chocolatier website

The Inveralmond Brewery Limited

The Inveralmond Brewery Limited was formed in 1997 by Fergus Clark, the current Managing Director and majority shareholder. The company has grown rapidly and is now one of the leading craft breweries in Scotland. Employing thirteen people from its base in Perth, the brewery sells bottled and draught beer throughout Scotland, the wider UK and export markets across the world.Visit The Inveralmond Brewery website

Spectraglass

Spectraglass is a specialist glass engineering and processing business. The company manufactures and supplies a wide range of glass products for scientific, engineering and industrial applications. They have an extensive product range which allows the company to service a diverse number of market segments, reflecting their growing international customer base. Visit the Spectraglass website

Your chance to enjoy lunch and networking with fellow attendees.

Fun@Work

Colin McLeod

It’s just after lunch and energy levels may well be low – you need a boost! This interactive workshop delivered by Colin McLeod is like nothing you’ve experienced before and you will be left feeling refreshed, refocused and re-energised. It takes any preconceived ideas or stigmas associated with motivational training and blows them apart! It uses the vehicle of having fun to motivate, focus and empower you and your colleagues, boost self-confidence and revitalise you in preparation for the afternoon sessions.

Synopsis

Being able to sell effectively lies at the heart of business growth – without more sales there simply can’t be growth. This interactive sales training experience is unique not only in its content, but also in its delivery. SOS teaches you real skills and strategies that you can apply immediately. Tree of Knowledge has a reputation for delivering high impact and unique workshops. With speaker Colin McLeod, a renowned psychological illusionist specialising in the mind and how we think, this course guarantees to give you tangible outcomes which will make all the difference to your business

Colin McLeod

How do you describe Colin McLeod? Quite simply - a mind reader, a thought reader, a psychological illusionist, a mind magician...

Colin's unique ability hasn't gone unnoticed since he joined Tree of Knowledge in 2007. Since then he has used his incredible skills to motivate, inspire, educate and entertain thousands of people around the world.

Originally trained as a forensic scientist, Colin has written five books, released his own DVD's and been invited to perform at the legendary Hollywood Magic Castle in Los Angeles and Caesars' Palace in Las Vegas.

Colin is in demand for wake-up sessions, entertainment and after dinner speaking. He was also seen most recently performing on ITV’s Penn & Teller Fool Us.

Synopsis

This presentation will provide you with an overview of the public sector procurement landscape and information such as: where to find tenders; the legislation that applies to public sector procurement; how your tenders are assessed and importantly it will also give you tips on how to improve your chances of winning public sector business.

Phil Adams, PASS Consultant, BiP Solutions

Phil regularly provides advice and support to both public and private sector clients through BiP’s PASS (Procurement Advice and Support Service) helpline, handling a wide variety of procurement and tendering-related questions.

Phil has delivered presentations on procurement policy and processes at numerous public sector tendering and training events covering a diverse range of procurement-related topics, both on behalf of BiP and other organisations such as the Supplier Development Programme (SDP). He has regularly lectured to SME audiences on how to maximise their success within the public procurement marketplace.

Before joining the PASS team, Phil spent three years as Interoperability Manager for the UK Government’s Supply2.gov.uk service. During this time he worked with public sector organisations to increase the number of opportunities available to SMEs through the portal, and with business support organisations and trade associations to help the SME community take advantage of this resource.

Visit our website

Synopsis

A no nonsense workshop that skips the jargon and takes attendees through the reality of succeeding online. Archie will walk through how to approach and optimise online channels with specific reference to individual attendee’s requirements. A unique opportunity to ask someone who's worked in this space for nearly 20 years!

Archie Paton

Archie is an original founder of Openside Sports Ltd, a leading digital agency that works throughout the UK, the Americas, Caribbean, Far East and Middle East. He provides unquestionable experience in all aspects of online activity.

Synopsis

Richard Higgs will be exploring the techniques that brightsolid, the UK’s number one social media company, utilise to differentiate their business to enter new markets as a positive disruptive force

Richard Higgs

A graduate of Warwick Business school and 25 years in the IT sector. Initially working with Relational Databases at Ingres he moved onto Bankers Trust to support correspondent banking relationships through the provision of Bankers Trust trading systems technology to other banks.

Richard then founded ADS systems UK for the parent company in the US and in three years grew the market cap from $3m to in excess of $25m when it was purchased by SunGard.

Richard then joined a small consultancy group, doubled the revenues and profits, took half of the equity in the business and developed an Enterprise Risk Management product, launched in 2001. The company Strategic Thought Group was floated on the LSE AIM market in 2005 and remains the market leader according to Forrester's recent research. Richard remains a major shareholder of the group, but over the last 2 years has been advising other IT companies in turnaround or rapid growth situations.

Richard joined brightsolid at the beginning of December 2009 as the Managing Director of the online technology group.