Claire Cullen – The Adventures Of Fitzy Foo
“Ortus has given me the support and confidence to bring my dream as a children’s author into a reality. Their mentoring and business knowledge has helped my entrepreneurial ideas become a real business venture.In particular, the guidance, underpinning knowledge and network contacts in brand awareness and marketing has given me the courage to continue to go from strength to strength in the Adventures of Fitzy Foo brand.
I would highly recommend Ortus and the Exploring Enterprise course for their overarching help in taking my dream and helping create a viable and growing business.”
David Kelly – Regional Start Initiative
“The plans, guidance and help I have received from the Regional Start Initiative have been far more than I could have hoped for. This Experience has helped me greatly and given me the tools and motivation to take the first step in successfully running my own business. I am delighted.”
Carol Edwards – Exploring Enterprise 2016
“I benefited lots from the course and only wish I’d signed up for it sooner. Taking part boosted my confidence in my business idea and I am determined to make a go of it. The course gave me access to IT and marketing experts who I would never have met otherwise. I’d also always been nervous about the financial aspects of starting a business and dealing with tax and other legal responsibilities. Now I understand that it is all manageable. As well as the superb, friendly staff at Ortus who gave us every support they could it was also great to have networking opportunities with other participants and with key entrepreneurs in Belfast.”
Sean Brown – Going Sono
“Thank you so much for everything you’ve put into my business plan – I can hardly express how delighted I am with the document! It’s outstanding in itself but is also a springboard to me taking much bigger, focused strides towards my career aspirations with Going Sono. I couldn’t have managed a business plan of such quality and so quickly without the help of Ortus.”
Brónach McGuinness – Mantelpiece
““I approached Invest NI looking for advice copyrighting my images. They then told me about a free service where I would get advice on writing a business plan. They put me in touch with Ortus who helped me through the process. Margaret from Ortus was very thorough in helping me with my business plan. She persisted in getting as accurate information as possible in order to provide me with a comprehensive business plan. Most useful to me was the financial forecast which was presented in a way I can both use and edit as required.“
Helen Davis – Diamond Tanning
Peter Callan – The Fat Truck
Fiona Diamond – The Milk Whisker
“I didn’t just wake up one day and decide to become a children’s author. I wanted to start my business but wasn’t sure how. That’s when I saw the two week course advertised with Ortus and I couldn’t believe my luck. It was free and gave me the opportunity to gain valuable education in business related subjects as well as be around like-minded people who had creative ideas of their own”
Dr. Haniah Abdullah – Exploring Enterprise 2015
Grainne Maher – Millinery
“Ortus provided me with the support and assistance I needed to develop my creative business from a small craft industry to a fully-fledged set of accessory brands which are now sold across Europe and into the US and Australia. Their guidance to implement best business practice and advice on export has been invaluable”