University to offer free business sessions

Business people around the Highlands and Islands are being invited to attend free seminars with some of the region’s leading experts. The University of the Highlands and Islands Management School is hosting a series of six lunchtime seminars on a range of business topics this autumn. The sessions, which take place in Inverness, will look at subjects including “what to ask your accountant,” “online marketing for luddites” and “is selling different in the Highlands?”

The first seminar in the Business Lunches with UHI series takes place on Friday 26 October. “Shortcuts to success - do they exist?” will be presented by Iain Scott who, as well as running Highland Venture Capital, is also entrepreneur in residence at Inverness College UHI’s CREATE Centre for Enterprise and Innovation.

Other speakers in the series include Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Nicol who will talk about what associations to join and Brian Weaver of the Highlands and Islands Social Enterprise Zone who will discuss “why social enterprises must make profits.”

Each seminar is being delivered in association with a relevant organisation, such as the Federation of Small Businesses, Fusion and Business Gateway, and representatives will also be on hand to discuss what support the university can offer.

The Management School’s Gary I Campbell explains the format of the sessions: “We’ll be running each seminar over lunchtime for no more than an hour. This will allow us to hear the thoughts of the speaker, ask some questions then network with others over a bite to eat. UHI is open for business across the region and these sessions will hopefully show that, although we are a university, we can take a practical approach when working with businesses.”

Dr Neil Simco, dean of the faculty of arts, humanities and business at the university, adds: “The business lunch series is an important opportunity to build links between the worlds of academia and business and we are very much looking forward to welcoming colleagues from the business community for these events.”

Iain Scott, chairman of Highland Venture Capital, said: “This is an ideal opportunity for business people to get, in a short space of time, some ideas that they can take back to improve their own businesses.”

All six of the business lunches will be held at the University of the Highlands and Islands Executive Office, Ness Walk, Inverness from 12:30pm. There may also be the opportunity to participate via video-conference. For full details of the seminars, to book a free place or to check the availability of video-conferencing in your area, contact Fiona Ryan on fiona.ryan@uhi.ac.uk

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Susan Szymborski
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