Business First Summer 2017 Business First Magazine Summer 2017 | Page 3

CONTENTS Putting your Business First WHAT’S INSIDE YOUR ISSUE IN YOUR DIGITAL ISSUE YOU CAN CLICK ANY PAGE TO BE TAKEN STRAIGHT THERE THOUGHT LEADERSHIP & COMMENTARY Time to work together to address Brexit GRANTS – many years of getting it wrong? Pamela McCreedy Chartered Accountants Ulster Society Prof Simon Bridges Ulster University Derry is High Tech Centre Why every business is now a data business Sinead McLaughlin Bernard Marr Londonderry Chamber Strategic Performance of Commerce Page 20 Page 42 Page 50 Page 58 Will this summer give us an opportunity to catch our collective breaths? For those of us not enjoying the jolly japes of negotiations at Westminster or Stormont, the Summer is full of promise of the opportunity to catch our breath and make plans for the second half of the year. We’ll take a few days with the family and hopefully gather friends around the barbque with a glass of something cold and remember simpler days when governments were in power for more than a couple of weeks and business plans made in January could be rolled out across a 12 month period. Ah, halcyon days indeed ­ but seemingly gone forever. For this Summer we will be consumed with conflicting updates from Westminster, Stormont and ­ welcome to the party ­ Brussels as our happy negotiators try to convince us that they have some idea of what’s going on ­ and whatsmore they’re all over it like a rash! We can only hope that somebody somewhere has a plan. A plan that will give us ­ the lowly business people who create the wealth and the jobs that sustain these negotiators who appear to have a lot more time to consider things than we do ­ an opportunity to think about what direction we need to take our businesses in 2018, 19 and 20 in order to survive whatever decisions are made on our behalf. So, enjoy the balmy summer nights as best you can ­ there’s more excitement than you might have hoped for just around the corner. See you on the frontline! Gavin Gavin Walker, Managing Editor FRONT COVER IMAGE Andrea McIlroy­Rose, new Real Estate Partner at Pinsent Masons, Belfast See page 12 for the cover story FAMILY BUSINESS 2017 Family business: the heartbeat of our economy Darren McDowell Harbinson Mulholland Selling the Family Silver Chris Guy Mills Selig Keeping it Simple Paul Armstrong Reactive Recruitment SME finance: what’s the alternative? Mike Pogue Ulster University Business School Page 28 Page 32 Page 37 Page 38 BEST PRACTICE GDPR: What you Why employers The changing face Lessons learnt of Corporate need to do must understand from British Learning ‘gig economy’ Airways Bank before May 2018 Allana Cooke Rory Campbell Rosemary Lundy Holiday Meltdown Forde Campbell LLP Arthur Cox Leadership Institute Tom Hall Continu Page 16 Page 18 Page 24 Page 46 In our Digital Issue you can click on any square to be taken directly to the article. Download it from businessfirstonline.co.uk Subscribe to BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL Subscribing to a complimentary copy of BUSINESSFIRSTDIGITAL Magazine couldn’t be easier and we’ll send your copy of the magazine directly to your mailbox every time we publish. To subscribe, visit our website at www.businessfirstonline.co.uk and follow the easy links to our subscription page. PUBLISHED BY: The Wordworks Partnership (Limited) Suite 60. Enterprise House Balloo Avenue, Bangor BT19 7QT Tel: [phone] [email protected] www.businessfirstonline.co.uk YOUR BUSINESSFIRST TEAM Editor Gavin Walker [email protected] Sales Jenny Belshaw [email protected] Finance Margaret Walker [email protected] Design Studio Tw2 [email protected] www.businessfirstonline.co.uk 1