Local business leaders gathered at Ulster Bank last week (7th November) for a dinner event, celebrating 5 years of enterprise funding.
Since 2019, 18 different organisations have received a share of £330,000, enabling them to run programmes aimed at boosting enterprise and entrepreneurship throughout Northern Ireland.
Representatives from some of the recipient organisations, as well as local business leaders, were invited to a celebration event, held at Ulster Bank’s Belfast headquarters, to learn more about the funding programmes and the positive impact these grants have made to local communities since they were first introduced 5 years ago.
Each of the programmes funded through the grant awards have contributed to a combined total of more than 10,000 interventions with entrepreneurs through one-to-one coaching sessions, holding meetings, or attending events. In total, 129 participants of an Ulster Bank supported programme, have gone on to create a new business venture.
Looking back on the five years of the Ulster Bank Enterprise Fund, John Ferris, Community Accelerator Manager at Ulster Bank said,
“We are committed to supporting entrepreneurs across Northern Ireland and have a long track record of doing so. The Enterprise Grants we have awarded to local business organisations are just one example of the support we have provided to date so that start-ups and early-stage businesses can scale and access investment.
“It is particularly significant that over 1,400 women and almost 200 ethnic minority founders have been able to access support through the partners of the Ulster Bank Enterprise Fund. These are the communities we must target if we are to unlock the full economic potential entrepreneurship represents in Northern Ireland.
“Under the guidance of our partner organisations, 129 new businesses have been created with many others on track to grow or diversify thanks to this support.”
Among the attendees at the event were representatives from previous grant winners including AwakenHub, ArtsEkta, Belfast Multi Cultural Association, Blick Shared Studios and Women in Business.
Two of this year’s recipients, Ulster University and Queen’s University, were also in attendance and learned more about the bank’s most recent partnership with Ulster University’s Connect 2 Success programme, which is aimed at female founders and was launched in Belfast last month by US Special Envoy to Northern Ireland for Economic Affairs, Joseph Kennedy III. (link to Ulster Bank Connect 2 Success video)
For more information about Ulster Bank’s support for small businesses including details of its fully funded accelerator programme, visit www.ulsterbank.co.uk/accelerator.
