Unique event showcases city's '˜fantastic and inspiring business base'

The first ever ‘Made in Lisburn Castlereagh’ event, which highlighted the city’s “fantastic and inspiring business base”, was attended by business representatives, members of the public, students and local schoolchildren.

Welcoming guests to the event, Mayor Brian Bloomfield MBE said: “It is rewarding to see how the council has worked with the local business community and support agencies to create this wonderful celebratory event. Nowhere else will you see so many local businesses under the one roof to educate and inspire everyone visiting today. We are the first council in Northern Ireland to host such an event and I have no doubt that others will follow in our footsteps.”

Chairman of the council’s Development Committee, Councillor Uel Mackin, added: “This event is part of the wider investment programme the council is driving forward to help grow the local economy. Our efforts are paying off and we are starting to see the results with Lisburn Castlereagh now firmly on the map as an area for business and investment. We are ideally located on the main Belfast to Dublin economic corridor with excellent infrastructure and broadband speeds. There is a tangible confidence and with the announcement by Barclays that Lisburn Castlereagh is Northern Ireland’s number one investment hotspot, together with the Department of Education revealing that pupils in the Lisburn Castlereagh area were most likely to go to university in 2016, there has never been a better time to display the strengths and opportunities in our area.”

The Made in Lisburn Castlereagh event saw 30 of the city council area’s leading businesses take part in the one-day exhibition at Lagan Valley Island.

Several leading lights from the local business community were treated to a preview before the doors were opened to the public.

More than 400 local schoolchildren visited the exhibition throughout the day. They were able to gain inspiration from the entrepreneurs exhibiting and also learn about future career opportunities.

Chief Executive of Lisburn & Castlereagh City Council, Dr Theresa Donaldson, commented: “Home to world-class manufacturers such as Coca-Cola HBC, Boomer Industries, Assa Abloy, Spanwall, Smiley Monroe, Decora Blinds and Montupet UK, and fast-growing SMEs such as Hughes Craft Distillery, McGreevy Engineering and Helios IT, Lisburn Castlereagh has a fantastic and inspiring business base.

“The aim of our Made in Lisburn Castlereagh event is to let our local businesses know that we are extremely proud of them. The council will continue to provide platforms like this event to show the rest of Northern Ireland, and indeed a wider international audience, that we have the best location for business and with our business-friendly attitude anything can be achieved.”

The council hopes that Made in Lisburn Castlereagh will become an annual event, adding to an already packed calendar of council-backed business and investment events.

The local authority has thanked event sponsors Assa Abloy, Industrial Temps, Invest NI, McGreevy Engineering, SERC and Smiley Monroe, and all the businesses that took part in the showcase.

• See more coverage in this week’s Ulster Star - on sale June 15.

• WATCH VIDEO COVERAGE OF THE EVENT BY CLICKING HERE.