Bank of Ireland recently hosted a town hall meeting in Askeaton 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, Brenda Enright will work closely with the business community, the wider sports and social comm-unity and the schools in the town of Askeaton along with neighbouring areas including Shanagolden, Foynes, Ballysteen and Pallaskenry. Various planned activities will take place over the weekend of Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November, the aim of which is to promote and drive momentum for SMEs in the locality, while show-casing all that the town has to offer.
Around 35 people from the local community attended the town hall event in the Community Centre in Askeaton recently. Details of the Enterprise Town initiative were discussed at the meeting and will include a Business Expo which will take place on Friday, 20th November from 4pm to 8pm and a Sports and Community Expo which took place on Saturday 10th October from 12 noon to 3.30pm. Both events will take place in the Community Centre in Askeaton, are free to attend and are open to both customers and non-cust-omers of Bank of Ireland.
Commenting on the initiative Brenda Enright Branch manager, Bank of Ireland, Askeaton said: “We are very excited to launch our ‘Enterprise Town’ initiative in Ask-eaton. The response from the local community has been extremely positive with over 20 businesses already signing up at the meeting. I was delighted to see the great level of support from the local community for the initiat-ive. Furthermore, we are getting fantastic support from the local Community Council and their team of workers and the facilities in the local Community Centre are second to none.
“We envisage utilising the car park and nearby river for various displays and already have commitments from Limerick Fire Service and the Coast Guard Helicopter for demonstrat-ions on the Saturday, which should contribute to an exciting weekend.
“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 c. €2.5 billion of new credit to SMEs in the first half of this year. This represented an increase of c. 18% on the same period last 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. 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 Brenda Enright.
Committee member Sinead Roche said “The event is a fantastic opportunity for Askeaton and the sur-rounding areas. With the platform Enterprise Town provides, matched with the commitment shown from the people of the town, the Askeaton Enterprise Town initiative promises to deliver a major boost to the local economy and comm-unity life.”
In addition to the planned business and community expos, the bank has invited students from local schools to take part in the Bank of Ireland Enterprise Town Student Award. The win-ners will win a trophy and an iPad and will be announced at the business expo.
Businesses, clubs and societies interested in taking part in the events can register by emailing Brenda Enright on
Brenda.enright@boi.com or by calling into the Askeaton branch to speak to Evelyn Ahern or another member of staff. Additionally, you can contact one of the members of the Bank of Ireland ‘Enterprise Town’ Committee: Michael McCarthy (Askeaton), Sinead Roche (Shana-golden), Grainne Walsh Nestor (Foynes), Tom Gallagher (Ballysteen), Mairead McMahon (Col-aiste Mhuire Sec. School, Askeaton), Sinead Dundon (Askeaton), Eugene McSweeney (Askeaton/Foynes), DJ Daly (Pallas-kenry), Julia Keaveney (Askeaton).