Larne social enterprise growth aided by community finance initiative

The praise for AEL comes from Community Finance Ireland which provided funding to help with the organisation’s growth.

The annual social impact update from Community Finance Ireland (formerly UCIT) reported loans for community organisations in Ulster to the value of £14.2m from 2016-2019.

AEL, formerly known as Access Employment Limited, provides adults with learning disabilities/difficulties, aspergers, autism or other disadvantage with training and employment opportunities.

The social enterprise was supported with the finance required to enable the ongoing growth of its ethical bottled water business, Clearer Water.

Clearer Water sources and bottles drinking water which is certified as among the best quality in the UK and Ireland. Each bottle has a unique trace code which enables the consumer to find out more about the product but also about the person that bottled their actual bottle of water. The consumer is therefore able to find out about the individual they have helped to support into employment via their purchase decision.

David Hunter, director and co-founder, Clearer Water, said: “Our bottled water became very popular, very quickly, and in terms of productivity we realised that by not investing in the business at this critical time, we would have been holding the business back.

“We approached Community Finance Ireland (formerly UCIT) for finance as we have always known them to be strong in terms of support for social enterprise but not only that, they know their own market very well.

“Critical to the success of the plant has been our ability to invest in new equipment. This investment has taken us up from a production of 200 bottles of sparking water an hour to 1,600 bottles an hour thereby enabling the business to grow and to meet increasing customer demand.”

Community Finance Ireland works with groups that drive social impact, including sports clubs, social housing organisations, community projects, faith-based groups and social enterprises.

Phelim Sharvin, associate director, Community Finance Ireland ,said: “We can provide loans ranging from £10,000 up to £500,000 but an average loan request is typically £100,000.

“In our 20-year history, first as UCIT and now as Community Finance Ireland, we have helped more than 500 organisations across Northern Ireland, spanning the arts and culture, hospitality, faith and sports sectors.

“We have seen first-hand the force for good behind these organisations and the positive change they make to the communities or end users they serve. We’re only too glad to support these extraordinary change-makers in their ambitions to enable change in our society.”

The Community Finance Ireland report has been published to coincide with a rebranding initiative which will see the social finance provider transition to be known as Community Finance Ireland in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The organisation unveiled a new logo, website, client videos and a podcast as part of the rebrand.