Victoria Nicol

Develops and delivers a range of external independent project evaluations across a range of organisations in the not-for-profit sector.

Clients include Ards & North Down Borough Council, WomensTec, Women in Business, Extern, Newington Day Care Centre, Oh Yeah Music Centre and Youth Education Health & Advice (YEHA).

Recent projects include:

WomensTec Building Futures Programme BFunded by the UK Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities under the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Delivered in partnership with Bolster Community and Women in Business NI. Evaluation included the development of an Evaluation and Data Collection Framework in line with the outcomes agreed with the UK Shared Prosperity Fund as an appropriate methodology to evaluate the project with the programme team over the project timeframe. Methodology employed included a range of quantitative and qualitative techniques as well as a measurement of the Social Return on Investment of the programme.

Women in Business NI Grow It All-Island Pilot Programmes – delivered in partnership with Network Ireland, and with support from InterTrade Ireland’s Synergy and Shared Island initiatives. The two programmes supported a total of 60 female entrepreneurs across the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland through a series of masterclasses in Strategy and Analysis, Marketing, Selling, Leadership, Investment and Export, and Strategy and Planning, as well as offering support through mentoring and collaborative networking events. Evaluations included the development of baseline and endline assessments to measure the impact of the programme on participants in line with the outcomes of the funder as well as employing a number of quantitative and qualitative techniques to establish the economic value of the programmes.

Ards & North Down Borough Council Stakeholder Mapping for the Towns & Cities in Ards and North Down - Delivery of Stakeholder Mapping Workshops with Local Advisory Groups across Bangor City, Comber, Donaghadee, Holywood and Newtownards as part of the Living High Streets initiative to identify key stakeholders across the various sectors in each town and city.

YEHA Young Mums Business Start-up Programme - Delivered a six-week 'Entrepreneurship' training course for young mothers aged 16–24 from the Ardoyne area. The course encompassed business fundamentals such as opportunity evaluation, marketing, financial planning, and strategic and organisational planning, and was supplemented with mental health workshops to foster resilience and coping strategies.

Award-winning Cafe & Deli in East Belfast supporting Northern Irish artisan food and craft producers. In 2021, it expanded into larger premises and in 2022 it opened a second location at Custom House Belfast. Alongside Two Sisters, Victoria ran cookery workshops for children, aged 12 and under, to promote healthy eating and teach basic hands-on kitchen skills.

Managed several high-profile consumer and corporate PR campaigns & large scale events across Ireland and the UK, including Tourism Northern Ireland, Historic Royal Palaces, Momentum Group, Autoline and Gilbert Ash.

Conducted strategic planning sessions to drive corporate objectives.

Developed comprehensive business plans for company growth including opening of a second office in Dublin.

Marketing, design and communications agency based in London, specialising in the Property sector.

Service offering included brand strategy, marketing implementation, website design, content management, editorial content for the Estates Gazette, communications and PR.

Clients included award-wining architect Patrick Bradley, luxury estate agency Andrew Scott Robertson, property auctioneer BidX1, BM Samuels Finance Group and Carbon Financial,

Marketing and events company providing an online and offline community designed to connect mothers with local, female-owned independent businesses in South-West London. The initiative featured a website, discount card programme, organised events, and networking opportunities.

High profile events included Charity Fashion event with TV’s Nicky Hambleton-Jones’ style company, The Mums on the Go Summer Fair with 40 local businesses in Wimbledon town centre and The Wimbledon Frost Fayre 2012. Established monthly town centre Farmers and Craft Market called The Windmill Market, which provided a platform for over 35 local artisans—primarily mothers—starting their own food and craft businesses.

Project manager on a number of Deloitte’s largest client accounts including Lindt & Sprungli UK, Menzies Plc, ASDA Walmart and British American Tobacco.

Specialised in delivering Change Management, Training and Communiations for global transformation programmes.

Significant experience within the area of IT Mergers and Acquisitions, having worked on over 30 transactions including post merger integrations.

Worked within the Technology and Security Risk Services, specialising in SAP security and IT risk and controls. Role involved the completion of internal and external IT assurance and advisory work, and required the ability to engage with clients at all levels to develop solutions to their business and IT issues.