 A large turnout of small businesses from across Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Republic of Ireland came to Larne for an opportunity to meet with buyers from the public and private sectors.
Larne Mayor and LEDCOM chief executive Ken Nelson welcomed participants to the Tradelinks Meet the Buyer event held at Willowbank Business Park.
Organised by LEDCOM, on behalf of the Tradelinks North and West Region, the event enabled over 60 small businesses to meet with buyers representing companies such as FG Wilson, Sainsburys, Bombardier and the Patton Group.
Local and central government was represented by; Larne Borough Council, North Down Borough Council, Northern Regional College, PSNI, Letterkenny Insitute of Technology and the Central Procurement Directorate. Invest NI provided an advice and information point on tendering and procurement.
"In a tough economic climate it is vital that our small businesses grasp every opportunity to develop new markets and improve their prospects of supplying goods and services to major public and private sector buyers", commented Ken Nelson of LEDCOM.
During the event, participants were able to attend seminars on doing business in the Republic of Ireland and VAT/Tax issues relating to cross border trade.
Over a business lunch, attendees heard from a keynote speaker Philip Bain. He established local firm ShredBank two weeks after the collapse of Northern Rock . ShredBank entered a document shredding market dominated by well established multi-nationals and a deteriorating economic climate. Despite this, ShredBank experienced high double digit growth year on year.
"It was a great opportunity to meet a range of buyers in one location as well as getting practical advice on how to develop export opportunities", said Trevor Robinson of Oasis Design Studio.
Tradelinks aims to help client businesses grow, expand and access new markets, increase cross-border export trading within the island of Ireland.
The programme is supported by the EU Interegg IVA Programme and the Department of Enterprise Trade & Investment in Northern Ireland and the Department of Trade, Enterprise and Innovation in the Republic of Ireland.
Currently 230 companies participate on the programme across Northern Ireland and the border counties attending this event. The aim is to provide Tradelinks support to over 550 companies during the lifetime of the current programme. |
