Advancing SME Entrepreneurship

Oonagh Sweeney, Programme Manager at the Irish Management Institute

The Irish Management Institute (IMI) has a plethora of programmes to advance Managerial Development in Organisations and SMEs.

Maintaining competitiveness, dealing with an uncertain future, eroding margins, threats from foreign imports and increasing costs are typical challenges faced by most businesses. With limited available resources, these challenges are felt more acutely by SMEs.

In order to respond to global market influences and to increase the contribution to exporting, significant changes are needed in Irish SMEs.

These changes can be stimulated through the leadership and management development of Irish SME owners. With a capable management team, an SME can deal with these challenges, choosing appropriate strategies for survival, innovation and growth.

Educating Change

Discussing how the IMI promotes SME entrepreneurship and innovation through education, Oonagh Sweeney, programme manager at IMI, explains, "our mission is to help Irish indigenous SMEs grow substantially". The IMI works in partnership with Enterprise Ireland and FÁS to deliver world class SME programmes. These agencies provide between 60% to 70% financial support to qualifying companies.

Strategic Leadership

Some of IMI's programmes include the Grow your Business programme and the Business Development programme. The Building Management Capabilities in SMEs is an important ten day course for managers and aspiring managers of SMEs as behind every successful business is an effective management team. This course helps develop managerial capability and an understanding of all business disciplines so that managers can build successful businesses. Content includes planning for the long term, practical marketing, sales management, customer care and people management. The FÁS funded fee is €1,725 and the course starts in May 2006. For further information, download the brochure at www.imi.ie/brochures/build.pdf

Future Business Prosperity

IMI's Business Development programme targets owners, executive directors and successors of SMEs who want to build on success and expand their business. This programme helps people develop strategic plans, deliver business growth and to lead their company into a prosperous future. The FÁS assisted fee is €4,500 and the course starts in May 2006 and runs for 36 days with two day residential workshops and one in-company counselling session each month over a period of 15 months. For further information download the brochure at www.imi.ie/brochures/ bdp.pdf