Business

Bank of Ireland actively supporting local SMEs with launch of Enterprise Week

Pictured at the launch of Bank of Ireland's 13th annual Enterprise Week are Sean Sheehan (regional director of consumer & small business for the bank) and Philip Tasker (business development manager at Works Services). Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Press Eye
Pictured at the launch of Bank of Ireland's 13th annual Enterprise Week are Sean Sheehan (regional director of consumer & small business for the bank) and Philip Tasker (business development manager at Works Services). Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Pres Pictured at the launch of Bank of Ireland's 13th annual Enterprise Week are Sean Sheehan (regional director of consumer & small business for the bank) and Philip Tasker (business development manager at Works Services). Photo: Stephen Hamilton/Press Eye

BANK of Ireland's latest Enterprise Week, themed ‘Let's Connect NI for Growth’, launched yesterday and kicked off a series of events to facilitate networking, showcase innovation and inspire new thinking among SMEs in the north.

The 13th year of the initiative, the Bank revealed that it has just opened the 4,000th new small business account for small business growth and start-up businesses since the packages with discounted fees and other benefits were launched last year.

Sean Sheehan, regional director of NI consumer & small business at Bank of Ireland UK, said: "Enterprise Week comes at a time when we are seeing both resilience and a measure of confidence in small businesses, despite a climate of uncertainty.

"After a number of challenging years the size of the business market is growing as evidenced in recently published research and the increase in our small business account numbers is consistent with this recovery.

"This week-long initiative will focus on providing businesses with new and innovative ideas. For example, we’re supporting the first ever digital mobile event on the island of Ireland.

“Small businesses are essential to delivering Northern Ireland’s export growth ambitions and we will be hosting a round-table with industry experts and business customers to explore the challenges businesses are facing and the supports they need.”

Over the last five years, some 10,000 small and medium sized businesses across Northern Ireland have been involved in more than 400 Enterprise programme events where they’ve received practical support and guidance to help their businesses to grow.

One example of a small business Bank of Ireland UK is supporting as it invests in growth is Works Services, based in Belfast, which was set up by Paul Flanagan and co-founder Michael Cullen.

It identified a gap in the market for a specialist snow ploughing and gritting business for customers in the public and private sectors and established Saltworks Ltd in 2011.

Business thrived in harsh winters but Paul and Michael wanted to develop into a year round sustainable company offering existing customers complementary services. As a result Cleanworks was born in 2015 – providing dedicated cleaning services while Groundworks was added to the portfolio earlier this year to offer landscaping and grounds maintenance.

For more information click on www.bankofireland.co.uk/business