Develop your own business through the Enterprise Pathways Programme

Tuesday 12 September 2023

The Enterprise Pathways Programme helps Mid and East Antrim residents furthest removed from the labour market to create their own job through self-employment.  Applicants can get the support and funding they need to take their self-employment journey to the next level. Participants will be supported over a period of up to 8 months to identify, explore and test business ideas, develop enterprise and personal skills, build networks, test trade, start and grow a business.  

Each participant is matched with a Skills Coach/Business Mentor and will benefit from up to 15 hours of 1:2:1 bespoke support to help realise their personal goals. 

The Enterprise Pathways Programme is one of a suite of interventions contained within Mid and East Antrim Labour Market Partnership’s (MEALMP) annual action plan.

The Labour Market Partnership is a province-wide approach developed by the Department for Communities which creates targeted employment action plans for council areas and allows for collaboration at local and regional level to support people towards and into work.

The Partnership is led by Council and includes a range of community, voluntary and statutory stakeholders working together to overcome local employability challenges with the primary objective of supporting more people into meaningful employment.

Enterprise Pathways will engage those most in need of enhanced support and will prioritise applications from people with long-term health conditions, people with disabilities, people with caring responsibilities and people with low skills/low educational attainment.

Mayor of Mid and East Antrim, Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna, said: “The Enterprise Pathways Programme is the perfect chance for people across the Borough to get the advice, support and guidance they need to kick start their new career and see it thrive.

“Initiatives such as the Labour Market Partnership’s Enterprise Pathway Programme are vitally important to tackling unemployment throughout Mid and East Antrim and help support the growth of the local economy.

“I would encourage anyone who feels this course would help launch their business idea to get in tough and sign-up.”

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be unemployed MEA residents with the right to work in the UK
• Have the desire to start a business in the next 6 months, though may not yet have a pre-determined business idea
• Be committed to engaging with all aspects of the programme and working towards full-time self-employment

To apply send an email registering your interest to: venturefolk@gmail.com with the email subject: Enterprise Pathways Application.

Or if you would like to refer a client to the programme, you can download a referral form and send it to: venturefolk@gmail.com with the email subject: Enterprise Pathways Referral.

Additionally, you can call the team on M: 07725 944 915 for more information.

Council is also hosting a workshop for anyone interested in starting up a new business on Tuesday 19 September 2023 in The Braid, Ballymena. To secure your tickets, visit our Eventbrite listing.