Opportunity Kintyre

[Ship called Dignity]

Also got the following e-mail - sorry for delay in getting this posted - you have no idea how many e-mails this site generates!

Anyway,

As you will probably have heard, a bid is being put together to make
Kintyre one of three pilot projects using the innovative Sirolli
Institute method of economic regeneration. To this end a new website has
been written. The address for verbal and written communication is
http://opportunitykintyre.org.uk. However, because of the "sandbox"
delay of major search engines, the site is presently hosted at Kirtel,
a well established site. The Opportunity Kintyre group would be very
grateful if you would place an "Opportunity Kintyre" link to
http://www.kirtel.demon.co.uk/opportunitykintyre/ on your site.

Thanking you in anticipation.

I think some of our users could expand on this as I only know what I have read on here previously.

[hoots the scoop]

Could anyone explain how this all works?

I see £50,000 has to be raised locally. If so and we get this award what happens then? Is it only the ones who supported it who can benefit or can anyone - and more to the point how do they benefit???

The website, the Courier articles don't really make it clear...but maybe I am thick!

[hoots the scoop]

No you're not thick. I don't think it has been fully explained as yet

The sum, as far as I am aware has been reached and the whole town should benefit.

Not everyone can afford to give but that will not and should not exclude them from the benefits of any growth in the economy or jobs becoming available.

Nancie Smith and Allan Baker have more info on this

hoots

[John S]

Enterprise facilitation is a technique which has been developed by the Sirolli institute and operated successfully in a large number of communities globally which had been experiencing economic difficulties.

The basic premise behind the Enterprise Facilitation is that the establishment and development of small businesses in local communities experiencing economic difficulties is essential for their sustainability.

The Sirolli Institute recognise that many small businesses fail because of a lack of experience in key areas of business development. Enterprise Facilitation provides a structure of support for new and existing small businesses to help them grow so as such the main beneficiaries will be small businesses and those employed there in.

The scheme which Opportunity Kintyre are embarked on is a competition set up by the Scottish Executive to bring Enterprise Facilitation to three communities in Scotland. The SE will fund £200,000 for three years; the community must find £50,000 in cash or in-kind pledges over the same period.

OK have been working up a proposal for their bid over the last few weeks, which will be presented to the executive at the end of this month
as far as I am aware the total in local pledges has been reached. The importance in getting small individual donations as well as larger business ones was essential to the bid to give an indication of wide community support.

It should be noted that the community identified for the bid is Kintyre not just Campbeltown - all the community councils in the area have been very active in supporting the bid as well as the business community.

[hoots the scoop]

Sorry John I should have mentioned you. 20 to 2 in the morning and all that .............................. When is all this to be up and running and when should we expect to see results

hoots

[LO]

When is all this to be up and running and when should we expect to see results hoots

Hoots

There is one small hurdle to overcome before this can happen. Kintyre will have to be one of the three communities who come out top in the Scottish Executive's competition. As it is open to any community with a population of between 5,000 and 50,000, this is a bit of a tall order but we are giving it our best shot.

Closing date is 1st November at mid-day, and winners should be known by the end of the month as the programme is provisionally scheduled to start in January. If we are successful, it would be a nice Christmas present for the area.

As John says, we have managed to get pledges of cash and kind for the £50K which has to be raised to demonstrate that the community is hungry to host the project. However, we could do with as many individuals as possible signing up to support the bid as there are additional marks for this. The easiest way to do this is to pledge on-line at www.opportunitykintyre.org.uk . You will see that the pledge form asks for an indication of what you are willing to pledge for the next three years.

As previously noted, the pressure's off now re raising the money, so it is now down to numbers of people that are important. Thus, pledges of £1 are the most important thing for us to collect now to show the community is willing. To put this in context, the Executive will give more points to a community that receives individual pledges of £1 from 250 people than two pledges of £25K from big business. I know that is an extreme example but hope it illustrates where we are coming from?

Incidentally, if you feel like pledging more than £1 please feel free -all surpluses will go towards future years beyond the pilot project should we be successful. Also remember that you are only being asked for a pledge. Pledges will only be redeemed if Opportunity Kintyre is successful.

Hope as many of you as possible will pledge on line in the next couple of days (remember it is a three year commitment!) and fingers crossed for the competition.

Les

[John S]

Well Hoots it's the early bird, and all that.........

I'm not sure of the timescale but I would think early to mid November for an announcement on the successful communities, with the project up and running early next year.

There is a significant amount of training involved for the facilitator and the management board before any tangible, results but hopefully everyone involved will be tooled up in time to help people make the most of the new business opportunities that local developments have to offer - the golf course, walkway, ferry etc.