Chairperson of Newry, Mourne and Down District Council accompanied a delegation of nine businesses who recently travelled to Dublin on a Trade Mission as part of the Sales Acceleration Programme.
The Sales Acceleration Programme is a collaborative initiative between Newry, Mourne and Down District Council and Lisburn Castlereagh City Council providing assistance to SMEs to explore, target and convert new sales opportunities in the Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland or Great Britain markets, via workshops, 1:2:1 mentoring; and trade missions.
Sales prospecting was conducted for each of the businesses prior to the Trade mission, with mentoring then provided in respect of pitching their products or services to potential clients. Individual business participants proceeded to attend 33 pre-arranged sales meetings with Dublin based businesses with a view to exporting by securing cross border sales.
Accompanying the Trade Mission, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council Chairperson, Councillor Michael Savage said, “Trade Missions are a fantastic opportunity for businesses to meet potential new contacts and forge links for the development and growth of the participants. I am delighted with the engagement of all involved and particularly the skills and confidence the business owners have developed. Having spoken to the businesses, they are very much encouraged by the future cross border trade they have secured as a result of their attendance.”
Civic duties conducted in Dublin included meetings with Dublin Chamber of Commerce and a visit to the Mansion House to meet Lord Mayor, Alison Gilliland in a bid to seek exploration of maximizing potential business opportunities. Given the geographic links, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council as a border region are keen to promote new opportunities with Dublin based businesses and continue to forge links between the two regions to promote growth and development in readiness for exporting.
With 99 businesses already benefiting from the Sales Accelerator Programme to date, 50 are based in the Newry, Mourne and Down District based area, who aim to create 121 jobs throughout the region.
For more details on the Sales Accelerator Programme see https://nmdbusiness.org/sales-accelerator-programme/ Alternatively, call 0330 137 4000 and ask to speak to a member of the Business Development team.
The Sales Accelerator Programme is part-funded by Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council and Newry Mourne and Down District Council, Invest NI and the European Regional Development Fund under the Investment for Growth & Jobs Northern Ireland [2014 – 2020] Programme.