Local centres drive forward enterprise and business

The Mid and East Antrim region boasts three leading local enterprise centres with an impressive history in supporting small business start-ups and encouraging business growth.

Lead by committed voluntary local directors, and staffed by skilled and experienced business advisors, the three centres have over 80 years’ combined proven experience in promoting self-employment, entrepreneurship, and small business development.

Over 1,000 business and social enterprises have been assisted to start, providing over 1,500 jobs in the Mid and East Antrim region.

Ballymena Business Centre, Carrickfergus Enterprise and Larne Enterprise Development Company Ltd (LEDCOM) provide a wide range of enterprise and business support services, including:

•    Advice, information and signposting covering all the key issues involved in starting up and growing a business;
•    Business and market plans;
•    Sourcing finance and preparing financial projections;
•    Training, mentoring and coaching;
•    Managed workspace and office accommodation on flexible terms suited to a wide range of sectors,  including: business and financial services, training, food processing, light engineering, electronics, professional services, ICT support and digital media
•    Conference, meeting and training facilities available for booking with excellent car parking and catering services

As members of Enterprise Northern Ireland, the three Mid and East Antrim enterprise centres deliver a range of enterprise support programmes such as; Exploring Enterprise and Tradelinks, as well as providing access to a small business loan fund.

Ballymena Business Centre, Carrickfergus Enterprise and LEDCOM were initiated by district councils and local communities and they have continued to work closely with local government and regional government departments and agencies to develop and deliver economic development solutions.

They have an extensive track record in economic issues such as:
•    Youth unemployment and long-term unemployment;
•    Redundancy support and ‘Fresh Start’ initiatives;
•    Social entrepreneurship and community development; and
•    Rural business development

The three enterprise centres work very effectively on a best value basis,  delivering community-based economic development and acting as catalysts within the micro/small business sectors and the wider social economy.

There is broad agreement on the importance of ‘re-balancing’ the Northern Ireland economy, with the urgent need to grow the private sector. A key challenge is to maximise support to entrepreneurs and businesses to encourage start-ups and business growth.

As social enterprises, embedded in local communities across the province, and with a proven track record, enterprise centres are well-positioned to continue to provide best value client-facing solutions.

Local enterprise centres, along with other social enterprises and the private sector, can ensure that increasingly scarce public resources are directed towards supporting clients, by providing effective outsourced delivery.  This can help government departments, agencies and local councils to focus on strategic enabling.

With  dedicated professional staff, committed voluntary directors, an impressive range of managed workspace and business incubation facilities and several points of presence across the region, the Mid and East Antrim centres provide a high quality ‘one-stop package’ of premises, business advice, training, mentoring and coaching, loan finance access and trade development support.

Working in partnership with key players such as councils, Invest NI, central government departments and the regional college, Mid and East Antrim’s three enterprise centres are ideally placed to help diversify and grow the region’s economy during very challenging economic times.

Melanie Christie Boyle, Chief Executive
Ballymena Business Centre, 62 Fenaghy Road
Galgorm, Ballymena, BT42 1FL
T: 028 2565 8616
E: melanie@ballymenabusiness.co.uk
W: www.ballymenabusiness.co.uk

Ken Nelson, Chief Executive
Larne Enterprise Development Company Ltd (LEDCOM)
Willowbank Business Park and
Conference Centre,
Willowbank Road,
Larne, BT40 2SF
T: 028 2826 9973
E: kennelson@ledcomwbp.org
W: www.willowbankbusinesspark.com