Business Enterprise Skills Training

BEST Programme The 'Business Enterprise Skills Training' programme was an enterprise support programme for individuals in the early stages of contemplatingbusiness start-up. It offered training workshops which allowed participants to develop a strategy for the development of their business idea. This was complemented with one-to-one business mentoring support as individuals developed their business proposal. At the end of the programme participants could progress on to the New Deal for Self Employment or to the Start a Business Programme offered by the local Enterprise Agencies.

The programme was delivered by a consortium, which included North Belfast Partnership,Greater Shankill Partnership, and a local management consultancy firm, Stakeholder Development Ltd.

Participants were recruited from the two Partnership areas. A cohort of participants undertook a series of six workshops at the Spectrum Centre in the Shankill in November/December 2005. A second tranche of participants undertook the training workshops at North City Business Centre in February/March 2006. Thirteen participants in total undertook the enterprise training workshops.

A number of participants progressed onto the Business Start Programme at the local Enterprise Agency. A number of participants from the Shankill programme are progressing with the development of a social economy project.

The BEST programme was funded by Springvale Community Outreach Initiative under its economic development programme.