More training scholarships up for grabs

Skillsmart Retail and Retail Trust are offering more training scholarships after gifted managers snapped up their previous awards. Bursaries worth a total of £14,000 were recently given to seven retailers for the bssa Oxford Masters Forum, that took place from March 3-6.

Now the two not-for-profit companies are calling for retail managers to apply for their £1500 scholarships to a related training event – the Oxford Summer School, which will take place this August.

The recent round of £2000 scholarships were awarded to a range of retailers including owner managers of small, independent businesses and area managers of well-known retail shopping brands. They will all now attend the renowned Oxford Masters residential course in April free of charge, allowing them to network and learn from some of the most respected experts in retail.

One winner, Steven Derek, Area Manager for the Early Learning Centre, said: “I was absolutely thrilled. It is going to provide me with a fantastic opportunity to meet successful and experienced people in the retail industry and develop my skills further.”

“We are now encouraging as many people as possible to apply for the Oxford Summer School to ensure that the quality of candidates is as high.”

The summer school will take place at Keble College, Oxford from 16-22 August. It gives rising stars of the retail sector a chance to deal with the problems and challenges encountered when running a retail business.

If will focus specifically on leadership, finance, merchandising, marketing and retail space. There will be guest lecturers, issue-driven discussions, team-building events and a black tie ball.

Nigel Rothband, CEO of Retail Trust, is a staunch advocate of the summer school: “Feedback from the winners of the scholarships is that they go back to work with renewed vigour, and the Summer School gives them an enormous boost to their performance.

This programme fits perfectly alongside our aim of supporting people and developing their retail career.”

There are 10 bursaries available which are open to all retail managers from UK, but companies that have less than 250 employees, and owner managers are especially welcome to apply.

Those interested in making an application should download an application form from the events section of www.skillsmartretail.com or visit www.british-shops.co.uk or www.retailtrust.org.uk for further information. The closing date for applications is April 25.

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