Lisburn council reveals £1.28m progamme for businesses

Local businesses are set to benefit from a number of business development programmes worth £1.28m over the next few years funded and delivered by Lisburn City Council.

These programmes are aimed at improving local business competitiveness and will be open for applications from local businesses right up to June 2015.

This project is part financed by Invest Northern Ireland and the European Regional Development Fund under the Sustainable Competitiveness Programme for Northern Ireland.

The business development programmes include information seminars, workshops and networking events, direct one-to-one business mentoring, sales development, marketing & branding, innovation and R&D activities, support to access new international markets, procurement and employment advice. A key feature of the support on offer is how it can be tailored to meet the needs of each individual business, so they can benefit from a bespoke package of support which will focus on their individual requirements and upon building local business capability.

Chairman of the Council’s Economic Development Committee, Alderman Allan Ewart said: “This funding injection into the Lisburn economy represents a real opportunity for local businesses to access specialist support, which will help take their business to the next level.

“The council has made the local economy a key priority and as can be seen from the amount of funding devoted to these new programmes, this is our most ambitious programme of business development activity to date, with the scope to support up to 500 local companies. In the current economic climate businesses can’t afford to stand still and I would urge local businesses to contact our Economic Development Unit to find out how we can help maximise their business performance,” he said.

Gren Armstrong, Invest NI’s Regional Manager, said: “These business development programmes will provide businesses in the Lisburn area with opportunity to develop their knowledge and skills. I want to encourage as many businesses as possible to take advantage of the support on offer to help boost their company’s performance.”

For further information please contact the Council’s Economic Development Manager Hazel King on 028 9250 9484 or by email at [email protected]