Ross Boyd is the founder and director of chartered accountancy firm RB+, established in 2010.
Along with Belfast, the firm has offices in Glasgow, London and Dublin.
Here, he shares the story of his career, how the pandemic affected RB+, his favourite places in Belfast - and the dream job that would take him to the Caribbean.
Read more: Belfast City Airport announces six additional flight routes for 2022
Name : Ross Boyd
Company : RB+
Role: CEO
What do you do (in 10 words or fewer): I lead the development of the accounting and consulting practice for the clients and team at RB+.
Three main attributes you need for the job : You need to be positive and have a vision or sense of innovation but most importantly you need to be tenacious to be a successful leader of anything.
Path to this position: The route to this role is through training as a Chartered Accountant. This is a qualification and a profession that I’m proud of as it has offered me a great opportunity to join the business community.
Once trained and qualified, you just need to follow your intuition and of course, a bit of luck always helps!
What’s your dream job (present position excepted)? Skippering a charter yacht in the Caribbean.
What are you most proud of (work-wise)? Building a business has given me a tremendous sense of achievement, independence, and freedom. I would thoroughly recommend entrepreneurship to anyone.
What are you most proud of (in life)? Overcoming dyslexia is something that I have always been proud of and I’m so thankful to those who enabled me to do it.
How did the coronavirus pandemic affect your business and how did you adapt? It actually afforded us an opportunity to finally deploy our work from home plan and to test our cloud solutions fully. It also forced us to deal with long periods of working and living in the same environment, along with relentless change.
At times,we were negatively impacted and at other times we’ve been very busy. The team at RB+ are consummate professionals. We all adapted incredibly well to the challenge and have moved forward positively.
What lessons did you learn about yourself during lockdown? I learned to look after my wellbeing along with that of those around me! It’s important to take time away from the screen during the day for breaks and to engage in different activities, like exercise.
Who is Northern Ireland’s brightest business brain? Northern Ireland is full of bright people and the ones that get the credit are high profile! The brightest brains right now will be working away, inventing the solutions of the future, maybe in a shed or on a computer.
For me, the lasting influencers are likely to be people like Seamus Heaney as ‘life imitates art.’
What do you wish you had invented? The wheel. They are everywhere. Why carry a heavy load when you can just roll along!
Favourite App on your phone: I read lots of news through apps, but a recent fave was spending time with my kids in the autumn using Sky view. Loads of fun and good for us all to be out in the fresh air together.
Apart from Belfast Live and your own, what’s your favourite website? It’s got to be Spotify. I love listening to music despite not playing or singing a note. The ability to search through so many genres is incredible. Normally I’m listening to indie music but tonight its some Bach.
If you were spending the day in Belfast where is your dream breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks? Breakfast would be something new at Established Coffee. The guys there work so hard to deliver great coffee. A lunch at Deane’s Fish is always good for a special occasion. For dinner, I would suggest The Ginger Bistro and for drinks and music, maybe Katy’s Bar.
Where’s your hidden gem in Northern Ireland? Topped Mountain, Co Fermanagh. It’s a real gem with peaceful views of rural Northern Ireland.
Where’s your favourite place in the world? I choose to live and work in Northern Ireland because I genuinely believe it offers so much. Audley’s Castle in Strangford has got to be a fave. The mix of sea, woods, tides, history and, of course, Winterfell are all magic.
How would you describe Belfast to someone who’s never been? Wet and small with a tough appearance but a big heart and perfectly situated for enjoying both city life and amazing countryside.
In 10 years' time I’d like to… Have trained lots more quality professionals and built my business further but have also ticked off a few more items off the personal bucket list.
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