Murphy launches £350k productivity initiative for SMEs
Date published:
Economy Minister Conor Murphy today announced the SME Productivity Booster, a new £350,000 initiative aimed at increasing productivity and skills in small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs).
The SME Productivity Booster aims to equip more than 70 businesses across the north with the skills and insights they need to boost their productivity and, in turn, their competitiveness and prospects for growth. Raising productivity is one of the Minister’s four strategic priorities for the economy.
Speaking after a visit to Southern Regional College’s Newry Campus, the Minister said:
“According to recent research, output per worker in the north of Ireland is 11% lower than in Britain and almost 40% lower than in the south of Ireland.“The SME Productivity Booster, which represents an investment of £350,000 by my Department as part of the wider Skills Fund, seeks to address this gap by providing targeted upskilling to SMEs operating in key economic areas such as fintech, healthcare and advanced manufacturing.
“The Department has already delivered two successful pilots of this initiative and I would encourage SMEs to visit nibusinessinfo to find out how they can benefit from this funded support.”
Mel Higgins, Principal and CEO of Northern Regional College and chair of the Further Education Principals’ Group, said:
“As Chair of the Further Education Principals’ Group, I am pleased to see the launch of this initiative which will further strengthen ties between the further education sector and local employers whilst increasing productivity levels across the region. Upskilling the workforce through our local college networks is key to unlocking the potential in businesses and paving the way for economic growth.”
James O’Neill, Head of Sales at Portadown company Rathbanna Ltd, which availed of support from SRC during the pilot phase, added:
“The support we accessed from SRC through this programme was invaluable, enabling us to establish a business improvement team that identified inefficiencies and implemented new strategies to enhance productivity and reduce waste.”
The SME Productivity Booster programme is delivered in partnership with the six further education colleges across Northern Ireland. Companies begin with an initial productivity ‘health check’, which identifies key areas in which staff will be trained such as leadership, business improvement and lean processes. A productivity roadmap is then developed to help SMEs implement plans to increase productivity levels within their business.
To find out more about the SME Productivity Booster and how to access the support, visit nibusinessinfo.
Notes to editors:
1. The Department may take photographs and videos at announcements and events to publicise its work. Photographs, interviews, videos or other recordings may be issued to media organisations for publicity purposes or used in promotional material, including in publications, newspapers, magazines, other print media, on television, radio and electronic media (including social media and the internet). Photographs and videos will also be stored on the Department’s internal records management system. The Department will keep the photographs and recordings for no longer than is necessary for the purposes for which they have been obtained. The Department’s Privacy Policy is available on our website.
2.To keep up to date with news from the Department for the Economy you can follow us on the following social media channels:
X – @Economy_NI
Facebook – @DeptEconomyNI
Instagram – economy_ni
LinkedIn – Department for the Economy NI
3. For media enquiries contact the Department for the Economy Press Office at pressoffice@economy-ni.gov.uk
4. The Executive Information Service operates an out of hours service for media enquiries only between 1800hrs and 0800hrs Monday to Friday and at weekends and public holidays. The duty press officer can be contacted on 028 9037 8110.