In accordance with the Committee’s decision of 9th August to receive a presentation from Invest NI on the Belfast Regional Briefing 2017.
Minutes:
The Committee was advised that, in accordance with the Committee’s decision of 9th August, representatives from Invest NI were in attendance to provide the Committee with the 2017 Regional Briefing for the Belfast City Council area.
The Chairperson introduced Ms M. Loughran, Regional Business Manager, and Ms. F. Johnston, Statistician, to the Committee and they were admitted to the meeting.
The Regional Business Manager outlined Invest NI’s Business Strategy 2017-2021 which followed an outcomes based approach. She described how it supported and encouraged 30,000–40,000 additional jobs and increased business expenditure on research and development by £160-£200million.
She outlined that Invest NI’s key focus was on sectors in which N.I. was currently world class, such as advanced engineering and manufacturing, agri-food, construction, financial services, or, where N.I. had the potential to be world class, such as the Cyber Security sector.
The Statistician provided the Committee with an overview of the Entrepreneurship ecosystem and advised it that worked closely with the Council to provide help to businesses at the right time in order to help them navigate the market.
She advised the Members that 70% of people in the Belfast area were economically active, compared to the N.I. average of 73%.
A Member pointed out that only 6% of those who were in employment in Belfast were self-employed, compared to 12% across Northern Ireland. The statistician advised the Committee that encouraging entrepreneurship from an early age was important in increasing those numbers and that a co-ordinated approach was required.
A further Member pointed out that there were thousands of farmers who lived outside of the Belfast City Council area, all of whom were self-employed, and that the figures were surely skewed in that regard.
The Director of Development added that, historically, there were more job opportunities in Belfast and graduates in particular had developed a low risk attitude towards seeking employment, whereas in other Council areas such as Mid Ulster, for example, less employment opportunities existed which had led to a higher level of entrepreneurship and local business start-ups.
A further Member stated that there was a perception that overseas companies which wished to set up an office in Belfast were treated more favourably than local businesses. The Director of Development challenged that and added that the services and programmes which were offered by the Economic Development Unit, in conjunction with Invest NI, had created 800 jobs since April 2017.
In response to a Member’s question regarding the different aims and outcomes, the Committee was advised that, since Local Government Reform in 2015, programmes to target social enterprise, social value frameworks and cooperatives had transferred to the eleven Councils.
In relation to female entrepreneurship, the Statistician added that this had also passed to the Councils under Local Government Reform, and that the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data had shown an increase in female entrepreneurs.
After discussion, the Committee agreed that a report would be submitted to a future meeting to provide an update on what the Council was doing to increase entrepreneurship levels in the City, to include information on female entrepreneurship, self-employment in disadvantaged areas and engagement with young people outside of schools.