About 140 people turned out yesterday at the Hamilton Princess for an introduction to a series of workshops designed to hone their entrepreneurial skills and get their businesses on the right track.

The event was held to launch Business Track 1999, a series of weekly breakfast workshops sponsored by Ernst & Young, and hosted by the Bermuda Employers' Council, The Bermuda Small Business Development Corporation and The Chamber of Commerce.

In an opening speech Development, Opportunities and Government Services Minister Terry Lister said the programme was designed to help entrepreneurs make their businesses succeed.

He said the three areas of focus for an entrepreneur are customer service, cash management and strategic partnerships. The themes were echoed in subsequent speeches by three entrepreneurs.

Blue Water Divers and Watersports owner Michael Burke told participants about how his business had adapted after revenues plunged by one-third in 1995. He decided to meet the challenge by expanding and bringing in a new partner. At the time the two sat down and reviewed the strengths and weaknesses of the business and the industry.

The two partners decided their advertising wasn't working for them since surveys indicated most of their business was arriving through referrals. They got rid of their advertising representatives, and began focusing their marketing efforts. The company also established an Internet site.

"We thought we had to nurture these alliances and friends,'' he said. "We also developed relationships with other diverse groups on the Island.'' The company also liaised with Monitor consultancy, and the Tourism Board. Blue Water Divers also began offering shipwreck diving certificates, guided jet ski tours of Bermuda's forts, parasailing, and underwater scooter rentals.

"We are continually analysing what we can do to provide the individual with fun,'' he said.

Mr. Burke decided to turn over all the company's paperwork to a small management firm, freeing the partners up to analyse the information. The company opened two more outlets at Elbow Beach Hotel, and the Marriott Castle Harbour Hotel.

In 1996 sales figures surpassed those of 1995 and doubled again the next year.

Mr. Burke said Bermuda's businesses needed to constantly evaluate how the customer was being served and adapt their products in a changing market.

"We are a bit complacent,'' Mr. Burke said. "We have been in a nice womb too long.'' Start-up operation Bermuda Digital Communications Ltd. chief operating officer Michael Leverock told the story of the company's efforts to get off the ground in a bid to compete with Bermuda Telephone Co. Ltd. (BTC) in the cellular market.

Bermuda Digital has been a work in progress for about four years and hopes to launch the network in two months. The bid to enter the market is what Mr.

Leverock labelled as one of cooperative competition with BTC.

Operating this far along without any revenues the company is in the process of negotiating interconnection with BTC's network so customers can talk to each other no matter what service they buy.

After four years of getting the operation going, the effort facing the company in the months ahead is to go out and market the services.

Laura Boyd-Brown, co-owner of Canadian-based training consultancy Parker, Boyd-Brown & Associates Inc., described an entrepreneur as someone who recognised an opportunity and used the available resources in an innovative way.

"You have to understand customers' wants and the risks involved in those wants,'' she said.

Mrs. Boyd-Brown said the prime lesson she and her partner learned during their five years of running the business was to focus on marketing and financing the operation.

"Marketing and finance are really what drives an organisation,'' she said.

"If you can't get the word out about your product and you can't manage your cash flow, then you will not be in business long.'' She advised entrepreneurs to focus their efforts on those key areas.

"Know what you do and do it well, and know what you can't do and get someone else to do it,'' she concluded.

The first workshop of Business Track 1999 starting February 9 will be on pension legislation and social insurance. The February 16 workshop will be on preparing a business plan, budgeting and cash flows, and managing credit.

Employment practices will be discussed on February 23.

The understanding financial statements, strategic planning and succession planning workshop will be held on March 2, the customs and payroll tax workshop on March 9, and global competition, information technology and the year 2000 challenge on March 16.

Contact the Bermuda Employers' Council at 295-1966 for more information. The workshops are held free of charge.

Photos by David Skinner GETTING ON TRACK -- Michael Burke (left) of Blue Water Divers and Watersports, and Michael Leverock (right) of Bermuda Digital Systems yesterday helped kick off Business Track 1999, a series of workshops designed to help small business owners run their companies.