In outlining his vision for economic success, Economy Minister Conor Murphy identified Northern Ireland’s 27 Local Enterprise Agencies (LEAs) as a critical cornerstone in the delivery of his plans.
It is welcome recognition, and a move that should come as no surprise, not just because the majority of businesses here in Northern Ireland are small or micro businesses, but also because every flourishing modern economy across the world right now has entrepreneurial activity at its heart.
With that in mind, the appointment of Dr Conor Patterson from Newry & Mourne Co-operative and Enterprise Agency, one of Enterprise NI’s founding members, as an adviser on regional balance, is a smart decision by the minister.
Conor has invaluable insights and experience gained from his sustained contribution to and leadership in the Enterprise NI LEA network, his involvement in local economic development across the region, and his lifelong commitment to the social and economic development within the Newry community.
His expertise in this area will be a critical component in ensuring the right supports are delivered in the right way for small and micro businesses. The Enterprise NI network of local enterprise agencies now operates from 64 locations across Northern Ireland. For 24 years it has been the front door for everyone with a dream, a new idea, or an ambition to start up or scale up.
And we must get this support right because Northern Ireland will then enjoy not just economic growth, but a multitude of wider societal benefits, including the ability to harness the unrealised potential of the social economy here.
We’ll see improved health and wellbeing among valued local employees; an enhanced appetite for, and engagement in, education, helping to address our skills deficit; more investment in training and personal development; and stronger local community cohesion and civic pride. Crucially, we will also be allowing people from every corner of the region to recognise their full potential and to enjoy the ‘good jobs’ spoken of by the minister.
Some 73% of the small and micro businesses here that responded to our most recent NI Enterprise Barometer are now located outside of our main cities. Creating the kinds of local economic support outlined by the minister, in partnership with the local LEA network, will have a huge impact on our local communities right across the north.
Conor Murphy also stated that as a result of devolution, we now have “significant control” over the support, skills, and innovation policies we put in place for business here, and how, as a small region, we are “well placed to tailor support to local industries through partnership and co-design”. He is right.
It is now incumbent on all of us to cohere and collaborate around these ambitious objectives and ensure we are creating a vibrant and right-sized policy framework and ecosystem for all existing and budding local entrepreneurs.
- Michael McQuillan is chief executive of Enterprise NI
