Enterprise week backing sought

Invest Northern Ireland is calling for all those thinking of, or currently involved in enterprise, to take part in National Enterprise Week, 13 -17 November 2006.

Championed by Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, Enterprise Week is a UK wide series of events specifically designed to inspire people to be more enterprising and start or improve their business.

“This is the third time we have spearheaded Enterprise Week in Northern Ireland and this year it’s going to be bigger and better than ever. Only by encouraging people from all walks of life, especially young people and women, to go for it and start a business will we be able to ensure the future success of our economy,” said Ian Murphy, Managing Director of Clients and Entrepreneurship at Invest NI.

Invest NI will create an ‘Enterprise Village’ in the Ulster American Folk park, Omagh, giving school children the opportunity to role-play as business people for the day.

The event has been designed to highlight the fact that only by exposing young people, at a very early age, to entrepreneurial activity will Northern Ireland be able to produce a new generation of successful entrepreneurs.

NI’s Social Economy sector will receive special attention on Tuesday 14 November with a seminar at the Black Box Theatre, Belfast, focusing on best practice examples from local social economy businesses.

Keynote speaker, Liam Black, director of Jamie Oliver’s ‘15’ restaurant, will share his experiences of setting up and running a successful social economy enterprise at the event.

To help encourage more women from across Northern Ireland to get into business, a conference called ‘Pathways to Female Entrepreneurship’ will take place on Wednesday 15 November at the Ramada Hotel, Belfast.

Principal speaker Ruth Badger, of ‘The Apprentice’ fame, will be joined by two representatives from Babson College in the US, world renowned for training some of America’s top businesswomen.

The Hall of Fame, launched last year to celebrate the achievements of Northern Ireland’s top entrepreneurs, will receive new inductees to be announced at a special gala dinner on Wednesday the 15 November. The winners of three new business awards, to recognise the best of female, youth and social-economy entrepreneurship, will also be announced at the event.

Thursday 16 and Friday 17 will focus on young people aged 14 to 18 years old. An interactive exhibition and entrepreneurial master classes will be held at the Lisburn LeisurePlex. It is anticipated that over 700 students will attend from schools across Northern Ireland to learn about the skills and abilities needed to become a successful entrepreneur.

To round off the week, a special event will be held on Friday 17 at Loughry College, Cookstown. A joint initiative between Invest NI and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), the event will be used to help launch a specially designed booklet outlining the business support and advice available to rural enterprises.

Invest NI’s regional office network along with its local enterprise agencies and other partner organisations will also be running separate events across Northern Ireland, throughout the week for further information visit www.investni.com/enterpriseweek.

(SP)