L to R – Brendan McGoran, Creative Industries Officer, Belfast City Council; Robert Lyle, Media Director, Lyle Bailie International; Oonagh O’Reilly, Business Development Director, Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce; and Colm Shannon, Deputy Director of Communications, Executive Information Services

Seven local buying organisations, all from the creative industries sector, met with Belfast SMEs at the Waterfront Hall, in February, to discuss potential business opportunities, as part of Belfast City Council’s Creative Collaborations programme.

The buyers, ASG; BBC; Belfast Telegraph; CDC Leisure; Lyle Bailie International; Morrow Communications; and Waddell Media, met with 24 Belfast based companies specialising in digital media, design, web design, writing, production, performance and music.

The programme, a partnership between Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce, was designed to assist Belfast companies to access opportunities within the Creative Industries sector.  The aim of the event was to promote awareness of, and access to, procurement opportunities for Belfast based creative industries. In addition to a meet the buyer session, the event offered the 24 participating businesses the opportunity to avail of pre-event mentoring and post event follow up in order to enhance their prospects of success.

Gordon Barham of Liberty Visual, a provider of vehicle livery, signage, exhibition displays and digital print services, said of the event “I found the Creative Collaborations programme very helpful for getting in contact directly with some people that would normally have had a wall of receptionists in front of them.  The event was well organised and I feel was very successful for my company”.

The event also hosted guest speakers from the Executive Information Service, Belfast Telegraph, Halo, Invest NI and Belfast City Council which provided participating companies with information on opportunities and funding.

Brendan McGoran from Belfast City Council commented “The creative industries sector in Belfast is thriving and Belfast City Council is proud to assist small to medium companies in meeting with key decision makers to make a difference to the bottom line of Belfast business through facilitation and structured networking…this is only one of a number of initiatives that Belfast City Council are undertaking to enhance the development of the Creative industries sector with much more to come in the future” 

The event was designed and crafted to ensure maximum results for those taking part. The key to the programme was early engagement of suppliers, to allow the setting up further business development meetings and subsequently the ability to make sales.

This project is funded by Belfast City Council and the European Union Regional Development Fund through the Northern Ireland Sustainable Competitiveness Programme.