Features

Business Showcase with Ulster Bank: Accelerating a new green tech innovation

There are few sectors which are as important to the future of how we work and live than clean and green energy.

Britt Megahey pictured at Cambridge University

Barclay Communications: a prestigious and ringing endorsement with the University of Cambridge

There are few institutions across the globe as widely recognised and respected as the University of Cambridge. It has spawned some of the greatest minds in history, including Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Stephen Hawking.

Richard McCauley and Gerry Corrigan, Ilimex, Dr Patrick Dunlop, Ulster University and Dr Vicky Kell, Invest NI

Evolving to meet changing demands

Dr Vicky Kell, Invest NI with Jonny Clarke, founder of Locate a Locum

The Northern Ireland firms innovating and investing through the pandemic

The push to retrain and reskill

There has been no bigger push to reskill the NI workforce than now, during the current global pandemic – an event that has put NI unemployment at its highest level in eight years and exposed the fragility of specific sectors.

Angela McGowan, Ian Marshall and Aidan Gough

The growing case for the all-island economy

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s the futility of having two strategies on one island. While islands such as New Zealand and Taiwan have kept the virus under control, the lack of alignment on either side of the border in Ireland did not help curtail the disease.

The public purse plan for 2021: tidy up and build a constructive recovery

With the arrival of Covid-19, conventional expectations and rules were side-lined. Now, nearly a year later, the public sector finances show little resemblance to the original budget allowances. In aggregate, Stormont budgets are estimated to be about £2.5bn higher than was originally expected. This is probably over 30% higher than first expected even before furlough payments are added.

'I’m only a custodian here at Bushmills… there will be many master blenders after me'

Helen Mulholland may have one of the most enviable jobs on the island of Ireland.

Ross Hompstead, Chris Clements, Seamus Cushley, Ashleigh Fournier Thompson, Allan Hunter and Laura Lunn. Pic Elaine Hill

Bazaarvoice: Growing globally but firmly rooted in Belfast

For Bazaarvoice, the last year has been something of a whirlwind in cementing its position in both Northern Ireland and the global marketplace.

Stevie Toman and Alain Kerloc'h. Pic Elaine Hill

Keeping it local and sustaining our food supply: from Michelin-starred restaurants to our farmers on the ground

‘Early market mornings and chatting to the producers, walking around picking new seasonal produce that’s just arrived, hearing the hustle and bustle of growers, suppliers and other chefs is a little gift in these crazy times’, Stevie Toman says.

Kainos chief Brendan Mooney: expansion, growing workloads and helping in the Covid fight

In the space of just a few days, the entire 1,700 strong Kainos workforce, spread across 12 countries, was already working from home.

LinkedIn: making the right links… but cutting through the rest

Used well, social media leviathan LinkedIn can be a modern key in your arsenal when it comes to both finding new employment opportunities, the right member of staff, uncover a mutually-beneficial business connection or product.

Richard McCann, Shaun McAnee and Matt McManus

Danske Bank: The right fit - a big bank with local expertise

The big bank feel but with the local expertise has been key in establishing Danske’s latest major corporate partnership here.

Restaurant review: Stove Bistro, Ormeau Road

The pairing of a doyen of the Belfast bistro and a stalwart who cut his teeth at Michael Deane’s Howard Street located in the heart of one of the city’s increasingly interesting places for food and drink is certainly something which warrants attention.

Roundtable guests: Michael Scott, John Mulgrew, Paul Stapleton, Mark Stockdale, David Henry, Mark Thompson and Paddy Anderson

Top 100 roundtable: Infrastructure and energy - the new future

Graham Whitehurst MBE, chairman of Mid and East Antrim’s Manufacturing Task Force, Buta Atwal, chief executive of Wrightbus with Mid and East Antrim chief executive, Anne Donaghy

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council: Rapid response and recovery fuelled by innovation

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is renowned as a heartland of manufacturing and in recent years has grown its burgeoning tourism sector. Now, more than ever, innovation is central to this region’s road to economic recovery.

Infrastructure and investment: what happens to our major schemes now?

Larchfield Estate: smoke, the sauna and the Swiss Army truck

A faint, lingering, but pleasant whiff of a once astringent phenolic oak smoke is more than enough to revive memories of an evening gone by sitting by the fire outside our place of rest for the evening, just a short while ago.

Hybrid: the future of the events industry in Northern Ireland?

Sometimes the sheer number of formal morning, day or black tie soirées can overwhelm a magazine editor’s calendar. It’s all part of the job, though, and a crucial part of the networking that the Northern Ireland business community is so good at.

NIE Networks: heading towards a greener energy future and net zero

For Randal Gilbert a long-awaited new Energy Strategy, Climate Change Act and a focus on the decarbonisation of both heat and transport, are at the core of the required thinking needed to ensure Northern Ireland’s greener energy future.

Accelerating the technology evolution: from fibre broadband to point of sale

‘Covid-19 It has made the case that people need full fibre broadband and it has accelerated people’s understanding of it’

‘Giant’ steps towards recovery for tourism in Mid and East Antrim

Viewers of the latest series of ITV’s popular ‘Ulster Giants’ programme in July and August will have witnessed the breathtaking scenery of a range of tourism destinations across Mid and East Antrim – all showcased in a portfolio of television ads specially commissioned by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council.

Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots MLA during a visit to Movanagher Fish Farm in Co Antrim

Energy, waste and environment: A crisis fuelling the climate change challenge

‘The climate emergency is very real, and its effects are gripping the world, globally and here in Northern Ireland.’

Redundancy, planning and the end of support for Northern Ireland business

I think, around a decade on after the real effects of the last recession were being truly felt, we were somewhat positive about both the future ahead, a strengthening Northern Ireland economy and one with plans for diversification and expansion into new booming markets.

Roseann Kelly, chief executive of Women In Business

Roseann Kelly: 'Everybody back to work' sounded to me more like 'lads back to work'

Roseann Kelly is concerned that the impact of coronavirus is, and will, have a disproportionate effect on women, and women in the workplace.

Barclay Communications: The past, present and future of telecoms

Over the past few months businesses have had to fast forward their communications solutions to adapt to a new working world; one in which people have adopted new communication methods, office flexibility and workflows.

Alan McCulla, chief executive, Sea Source

Stories of Brave: Navigating uncharted waters

“Anyone involved in the fishing industry has to be brave – none more so than the guys actually out there on the boats. It takes guts to go to sea, dealing with mother nature on a daily basis, and everything that comes with it. There is no other business like it.”

January 2021