Ambition for Derry: Padraig Canavan
Londonderry Chamber of Commerce President Padraig Canavan shares his aims for the economy with Peter Cheney.
Padraig Canavan’s time as chamber president has been “busy” with “lots going on,” he quips. The founder and chief executive of IT firm Singularity, established in 1994, was elected to the post in March.
Singularity was established in 1994 and is a major business process management software company. It employs 250 people worldwide, including 80 in Derry.
As always, the chamber’s first priority is providing services to its membership but it also promotes education, digital enterprise, tourism, the arts and culture.
On the City of Culture, he remarks: “We need to maximise the benefits of that to local businesses and to the local community.”
“Clearly, by any measure the city is struggling in the current downturn. That said, there is an increasing level of optimism, an increasing level of awareness that to move forward we need to do more ourselves and maximise the opportunities that come our way.”
He finds the city becoming more confident, partly due to its creativity. The Peace Bridge and Ebrington Barracks symbolise this change.
Furthermore, the chamber wants to see Derry become a ‘university city’. An expansion in student numbers at the University of Ulster’s Magee campus “would allow us to be far better engaged in 21st century industry”. Very few Derry students, in particular, return to the city once they leave for university. More local places would benefit them, as well as serving the “greater good” by encouraging more Northern Ireland students to stay at home.
“Education sets you free,” he emphasises, describing it as a “great equaliser” and “especially in the information age, it’s the thing that helps you reach your full potential.”
Canavan brings an understanding of global business to the role; most of Singularity’s trade takes place outside Northern Ireland. When setting up its Indian office in Hyderabad, he spent a whole day with the IT Minister’s Permanent Secretary who was “extremely knowledgeable” about the sector.
Northern Ireland is operating in a “globally competitive world” and he adds: “There’s plenty of people out there looking to each our lunch.”
Geographically, Derry benefits from its location between the USA and Europe and on the border of the sterling and euro zones. That flexibility is not readily available elsewhere. The area’s natural beauty attracts tourism and “the quality of life here, weather apart, can be very high.”
When Canavan worked in London, his daily commute was one hour. In contrast, it’s three minutes in Derry, which frees up a lot more time for both working and leisure. Technology, though, makes location less important: “It’s more to do with creativity and competitive spirit that will differentiate businesses and regions.”
A lower corporation tax, he notes, would add considerably to the case for investment. Responding to the trade unions’ opposition, he says: “I can understand their trepidation but the clear benefit that the Republic of Ireland got from reducing its corporation tax was actually felt here in the opposite direction.”
As well as reversing that relative disadvantage, the cut would “grow the size of the cake.” More inward investment and the creation of new local enterprises would increase the overall tax take.
Asked about the City of Culture’s legacy, he expects it to put the North West on the map in the UK, Europe and further afield. That attention and the networks of contacts built up in 2013 will last much longer than the year.
He thinks that the new Executive needs to provide more investment but all MLAs are “well-disposed” to the City of Culture status. “Clearly, it’s difficult to pay for a lot of things at the moment but this will pay dividends in the end,” Canavan remarks.
Ultimately, he wants to see Derry making a significant contribution to the economy. Its cultural heritage and growing digital sector can combine to make it a regional economic centre.
