Bank of Ireland recently hosted a townhall meeting in Ardee to announce its ‘Enterprise Town’ initiative in partnership with the local community. The Bank has taken a three-pillar approach to this initiative, whereby the local Branch Manager, Una McGoey will work closely with the business community, the wider sports and social community and the schools in the town. A Business and Community Expo and a Sports and Community Expo will take place throughout the day on Saturday 23 May, the aim of which is to promote and drive momentum for SMEs in the locality, while showcasing all that the town has to offer. There is free admission to both Expos and we encourage all the community to attend – customers and non- customers of Bank of Ireland are welcome.
The local community attended the townhall event in the St Mary’s GFC, Ardee on Wednesday, 1 April. The Expos will take place on Saturday, 23 May in the Ardee Parish Centre with the Business and Community Expo running from 10am to 1pm and the Sports and Community Expo taking place from 1pm to 5pm.
Commenting on the initiative Una McGoey, Branch Manager, Bank of Ireland, Ardee said: “We are very excited to launch our ‘Enterprise Town’ initiative in Ardee. I was delighted to see the great level of support from the local community for the initiative. With the platform Enterprise Town provides, matched with the commitment shown from the people of the town, the Ardee Enterprise Town initiative promises to deliver a major boost to the local economy and community life. We would encourage the local community to come and showcase their business, clubs and societies at these free events and to see the breadth of commercial activity that is happening on their doorstep. We would also encourage the local community to support these enterprises where they can.
“Bank of Ireland is committed to supporting the growth in business recovery in this country. We are open for lending and looking to attract new customers and we want to continue to be the Enterprise Bank in Ireland. We approved €4.5 billion in new credit in 2014, an increase of 13% over the previous year. We continue to be the main provider of new SME lending to the market, with more than 50% of the flow of new non-property lending. The outlook for 2015 is positive. Consumer confidence levels at the end of 2014 were close to 7-year highs and employment gains are set to continue, supporting a further rise in consumer spending.
“We are very pleased with the hugely positive response that we have received from the local community and we look forward to working closely with them over the coming weeks”, concluded Una McGoey.
Stephen Englishby, Director at Trailer Vision Ireland Ltd said “As a company trading in Ardee we are delighted to be involved in this Bank of Ireland Enterprise Town initiative which is a fantastic opportunity for the whole community to get involved, and we look forward to Saturday, 23 May”.
In addition to the planned Business and Community Expos, the Bank has invited all students from local secondary school Ardee Community School to compete in a competition in its Enterprise Town Student Award. The winner will receive a trophy and an iPad and will be announced at the Business and Community Expo on the Friday night. Businesses, clubs and societies interested in taking part in the events can register by emailing Una McGoey on una.mcgoey@boi.com or by calling into the branch to speak to a member of staff.
