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Aspiring Entrepreneurs With Innovative Business Ideas Are Invited To Apply For Accenture’s Leaders Of Tomorrow Award

Aspiring entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas are invited to apply for Accenture’s Leaders of Tomorrow award, the winner of which will be invited on a tour of one of Accenture’s Global Innovation Centres, in locations including New York, France and India.

The overall winner of the ninth annual award will also receive a place on the NDRC LaunchPad accelerator programme as well as have the option of a six month Accenture Internship following completion of the LaunchPad initiative.

The programme aims to foster leadership potential and innovative thinking among aspiring entrepreneurs. Applicants need to submit an idea or concept which will be developed through the competition, with finalists receiving expert mentorship, weekly workshops and advice to help turn their idea into a business reality.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

More Than Half Of Irish Businesses Have Experienced Growth During The Second Half Of This Year

A new survey has shown that more than half of Irish businesses have experienced growth during the second half of this year.

Fifty two per cent of business owners said their companies experience d growth in between July and Septemeber by comparison to the same period last year. Six out of ten larger companies increased their staff numbers in the past twelve months.

By comparison, just twenty eight per cent of business owners experienced growth during the same period in 2011. Larger businesses are benefiting more than smaller enterprises.

For more on this article, please visit: Business World

28,000 Jobs To Be Created In The North East And North West Of Ireland By 2020

A new government action for jobs in the north east and north west regions aims to create 28,000 extra jobs by 2020.

Today the minster for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Richard Bruton will launch the plans in Sligo and Drogheda as part of the Government’s €250 regional job strategy.

The scheme will cover Donegal, Sligo, Leitrim, Cavan, Monaghan and Louth, which has seen significant emigration and 31,600 job losses between 2008 and 2011.

The scheme will target sectors which have been tradionally strong in the regions such as agri-food, manufacturing and tourism, along with new sectors like clean technology and digital payments.

The Government is also targeting an increase of up to 40% in IDA investments in the area and 25% increase in the number of start ups.

For more on this article, please visit: RTE Business

Survey Shows Irish Entrepreneurs Have Difficulty In Attracting Skilled Labour

The latest EY Entrepreneur of the Year survey has shown that a key challenge facing Irish entrepreneurs is the difficulty in attracting skilled labour.

Almost one third of 416 entrepreneurs surveyed said a shortage of experienced talent as their number one challenge.

The survey showed 87 per cent of respondents said they felt positive about the current economic environment, 64 per cent believed there was not sufficient support in place for those whose businesses are struggling or have failed. This compares with a figure of 37 per cent last year.

The survey also showed 46 per cent said they had a business fail in the course of their career.

For more on this article, please visit: The Irish Times

Leading Community Change Initiatives

There are eight questions that all individuals and nonprofit organisations should ask themselves when embarking on change initiatives within their communities. These questions are:


Question 1: What kind of change are you and your community group trying to bring about?

Question 2. What reasons do you have to believe that this change is necessary?

Question 3: Do you have reason to believe that your community will support you in your bid to bring about change?

Question 4: Who are the top ten opinion leaders that you need to influence in your community?

Question 5: How can you influence the opinion leaders?

Question 6: What message will you convey to the community at large?

Question 7: Who will communicate on behalf of the change initiative group?

Question 8: What methods will be used to communicate with the community?

The questions are explained more fully in our presentation, which is available to view at http://www.slideshare.net/CramdenTECH/leading-community-change

The eight questions form part of CramdenTECH’s “Leading Community Change” blended learning course, which includes workshops and eLearning.