Offer of '˜nuture' for business start-ups

The Council has announced the new “Nurture Programme” which aims to support those businesses at the early start-up phase of trading. The programme delivered by Antrim Enterprise Agency will offer a combination of specialist mentoring support and interactive workshops.

It will provide participants with a business audit and operational plan, 1-2-1 mentoring and workshops to enable them to:

work on areas of the business which are under-performing, share areas of the business which are excelling to ensure a vibrant commercial borough, understand as tenants their responsibilities including all legal and operational issues they have to adhere to understand the recruitment process of taking on staff, manage their cash flow in the early days and attract new customers to their business.

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Paul Hamill, said: “With almost 20% of businesses failing in their first year and only 40% still operating after five years, this programme is ideally placed to address the most common reason for failure; that being when the owner lacks the knowledge and experience in managing all aspects of their business.”

Applications are now open for any new business that is starting up or has not been trading more than one year and those who have or are committed to securing commercial premises in the borough. Contact Jennifer McWilliams on 028 9446 7774 or email [email protected]