Communities unite in grassroots effort to create new jobs

BELFAST BRIEFING:A cross-community initiative in Ballymena has created a business park for local start-ups, writes FRANCESS McDONNELL

COULD THE sweet smell of success be in the air for a new £1.3 million business centre in the heart of Northern Ireland which promises to create jobs for local people?

Or might it just be the delectable aromas from one of its first tenants, a luxury cake company which produces delicious treats for special occasions, which delights the senses even on a grey day in Ballymena.

The new Ballymena South business centre is the inspiration of a cross-community group born out of a socially deprived and often sectarian-scarred area.

Ballee and Harryville Community Enterprises have helped establish 15 new units which they hope will encourage local people to start up businesses that will boost the economy and in turn create jobs.

The centre, which has received nearly £570,000 in backing from the International Fund for Ireland (IFI) and another £400,000 from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, is an example of how community leaders faced with a challenge worked together to find a solution.

It was born out of an initial desire to find new premises for a community playgroup but grew into a scheme which Sandy Smith, the joint director of the IFI, has described as a “truly shared space”.

Smith says that the centre, which will provide 15 business units, fits well with the IFI’s key objective to help unionists and nationalists “to work, learn and live together”.

“Local start-ups and existing small businesses will no doubt be keen to take advantage of the new, high-quality, affordable business units which will help to create much-needed job opportunities for local people,” he added.

The Ballee and Harryville areas of Ballymena have endured more than their fair share of economic hardship.

There has been a sharp increase in the number of people looking for work in the town and fears over job security have been a constant over the last year for those lucky enough to work for major employers in the area such as Wrightbus and Michelin.

Brian Holmes, chairman of Ballee and Harryville Community Enterprises, said that the new business centre marked the first economic and enterprise development initiative in the area.

“Both community groups aim to support people from all age groups. By providing workspace units at an affordable price the business centre will hopefully encourage people to start or develop their ideas and transform these businesses for the benefit of all the community,” Holmes added.

But this being Northern Ireland there are always issues to resolve and the new Ballymena South business centre has been no exception.

Already these are “discussions” taking place between early tenants and management at the centre but according to Holmes these are not a major concern and will be ironed out in the coming weeks.

Some of the tenants may not agree but there is a consensus that the business centre is a good location and has the potential to create a thriving force which could create a new economic unity in the area.

The centre is symbolic of a new, growing acceptance in the North that it is better to work together to find economic solutions to problems that blight both communities, Protestant and Catholic.

The fact that community leaders from polar opposites such as Ballee and Harryville can come together to develop a new economic agenda is a quantum leap forward for Northern Ireland.

In a region where there are less than a handful of listed companies and increasing competition to secure new inward investors then the importance of finding economic solutions from the grass roots up cannot be under-estimated.

Last week Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness set an important example in the North, by acknowledging that while their political aspirations may differ, the “office politics” must now take precedence.

Particularly if they are to make a start on tackling Northern Ireland’s most pressing economic issues, from soaring unemployment to securing new inward investment.

If Robinson and McGuinness can inspire other community groups to set aside their difference and concentrate on “local office politics” then it might help create a new economic focus that changes lives for the better in Northern Ireland.