Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race: Sir Robin praises Derry-Londonderry

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Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race: Sir Robin praises Derry-Londonderry

Legendary sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has praised Derry-Londonderry as the Northern Irish city embraces the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race for a fourth consecutive visit.

Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race - Sir Robin, Ralph Morton from the Seattle Sports Commission, and the Visit Seattle team. © Martin McKeown

Clipper 2017-18 Round the World Yacht Race – Sir Robin, Ralph Morton from the Seattle Sports Commission, and the Visit Seattle team. © Martin McKeown

Sir Robin, the Founder and Chairman of the Clipper Race, has sailed into the walled city from Les Sables d’Olonne, France, where he was celebrating the 50th anniversary of when he began the epic voyage that would see him become the first person to sail solo and non-stop around the globe.

Sir Robin says: “It was lovely returning to Derry-Londonderry and heading up the Foyle, I’m just disappointed that I didn’t beat the entire Clipper Race fleet in!

“I think the partnership we’ve had with the city is why the public give us such great support. This is a place where the city got behind the event and when you get that combination of an enthusiastic city and the spectacle of the boats and crew, you can do so much more. And I think the result has been a major event – I give the city of Derry-Londonderry full credit for that success.”

Fresh from their win into Derry-Londonderry, the Visit Seattle team and Skipper Nikki Henderson cheered Sir Robin into the Foyle Port Marina. Nikki is the youngest ever Skipper in Clipper Race history and the victory means her Visit Seattle team is now in the box-seat to take out the overall Clipper Race win.

Sir Robin said: “Nikki’s performance was just fantastic, especially as I had Ralph Morton from the Seattle Sports Commission in my crew for the sail to Derry-Londonderry and he was following it avidly.”

This is the first visit to Derry-Londonderry and Northern Ireland for Ralph, who played a pivotal role in staging the successful race Stopover in Seattle earlier in the race. He said: “I’ve heard so much about the city and the Foyle Maritime Festival and it is so exciting to think about all the things I’m going to see. And when you go to a town you want to experience their culture and sailing is a big part of who Derry-Londonderry is.

“Being a Clipper Race Host Port is a great way to welcome visitors to your city but also gives you an opportunity to interact with other places around the world.”

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INVEST NI, TOURISM IRELAND AND THE NI BUREAU PROMOTE DERRY-LONDONDERRY AS A KEY DESTINATION FOR TRADE AND TOURISM

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INVEST NI, TOURISM IRELAND AND THE NI BUREAU PROMOTE DERRY-LONDONDERRY AS A KEY DESTINATION FOR TRADE AND TOURISM


Derry City and Strabane District Council [DCSDC] utilised the Clipper Race stopover in New York to promote itself as a ‘City and Region of Opportunities’ across both the leisure and business tourism industries. In partnership with Invest NI, Tourism Ireland and the NI Bureau the event’s audience consisted of businesses, investors, travel and trade operators from the tri-state area, travel media and Ireland NW diaspora.

The objective of the event was centred around tourism promotion and development, building upon DCSDC’s association with the Clipper Race where by Derry-Londonderry is the a Host Port Partner. The Clipper 2015-16 Race and Foyle Maritime Festival 2016 attracted 163,000 visitors across the nine-day event, 25 per cent of which originated from outside of Northern Ireland which provided a global platform for the city to be promoted as a key destination for tourism. It also resulted in an economic boost of £5.1 million GBP [£3.46 million attributed directly to the festival] to the city.

Attended by the new Mayor John Boyle who was part of the delegation that travelled to New York in conjunction with the race, the event also provided an opportunity for potential investments, engaging with New York businesses to promote DCSDC as an investment location. Another contributing factor for the event was to strengthen international relations, raising the profile of DCSDC and build its diaspora network in New York.

Speaking about the event and visit to New York, Mayor John Boyle said: “The Partnership with the Clipper Race provides us with an international platform from which to generate extensive media exposure for our city and brand in international markets, to promote tourism and to stimulate trade and investment. I was delighted to be part of the delegation that travelled to the US for the Clipper Race stopover to continue with the excellent work that is being done on the ground to develop business links, put job creation and investment to the fore and promote our unique tourism and cultural offering to a new and captive audience”

Guests were formally welcomed to the event by Alison Metcalfe, Executive Vice President, USA & Canada at Tourism Ireland. Norman Houston, Director at Northern Ireland Civil Service then provided a valuable insight into the work the NI Bureau does before the Mayor of Derry City and Strabane spoke around his new role and the global impact the Clipper Race has provided Derry-Londonderry. Clipper Race skipper Conall Morrison, who is local to Derry-Londonderry, was invited to speak around his experience as a Race Skipper and his feelings around sailing into his home town on board a Clipper Race yacht during the Foyle Maritime Festival.

The event raised the profile of the Walled City of Derry where the Atlantic Way meets the Causeway Coast, promoting the city region as a connected, competitive and cohesive region positioned as a gateway to the UK, Republic of Ireland and numerous European markets.

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Derry based online learning firm expands into Scotland

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Derry based online learning firm expands into Scotland

Londonderry-based firm Learning Pool has confirmed the acquisition of Scottish company MediaCorp for an undisclosed sum.The e-learning business, which employs 140 people in Derry, Belfast and Nottingham, will now incorporate 12 new members of staff at MediaCorp’s Hamilton office.

Paul McElvaney (left) of Learning Pool with MediaCorp’s James Marshall

Paul McElvaney (left) of Learning Pool with MediaCorp’s James Marshall

The Scottish online learning and e-portfolio provider was founded and is still run by James Marshall.

Learning Pool said that the move would strengthen the company’s footprint in Scotland and increase its presence in the manufacturing market, which it considers key to expanding its product offering.

In its latest accounts, Learning Pool reported turnover of £7.6m and pre-tax profits of £2.3m for the year ending April 2017.

Co-founder Paul McElvaney said the acquisition would push its user numbers past two million.

The takeover sees Learning Pool enter the apprenticeship training market, availing of the Scottish firm’s services, which help companies manage qualification and apprenticeship programmes.

Mr McElvaney added: “It’s a significant acquisition for us.

“It gets us past 550 customers and two million learners on our platform. Plus, the acquisition opens up the apprenticeship market, which in Great Britain is an exciting market and something a lot of our customers are interested in.”

He said his company was on course to grow by 20% in 2018, with further acquisitions in the pipeline.

“The business plan for Learning Pool is very much focused on growth,” he added.

“We intend to grow by 20% organically this year and we have a pipeline for acquisition that is pretty interesting, but there is nothing imminent.

“The next six months is about us bedding in the MediaCorp team and about integrating as a team.

“We’re delighted to welcome James and the MediaCorp team into Learning Pool.

“We’ve been impressed by what they have achieved and I’m delighted to be working with an extended team in Scotland who share our passion for customer service and creating positive business impact.

“The apprenticeship market is clearly a growth area and many of our customers are looking for solutions to help manage the complexity of delivering apprenticeship programmes.”

It is the latest acquisition for Learning Pool.

The company bought over Mind Click in Nottingham two years ago.

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Executive Office opens the doors of £1.6 million state of the art office accommodation in Derry

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Executive Office opens the doors of £1.6 million state of the art office accommodation in Derry

The Executive Office today officially opened Building 104 on the Ebrington site which has undergone a £1.6 million transformation.

Speaking at the announcement in building 104, Dr. Mark Browne said: “The Executive Office is committed to the development of the Ebrington site for the benefit of the North West.

“Building 104 is an important element of the wider programme of work and this multi-million refurbishment, coupled with new tenants moving in immediately, is testament to the build quality of the work that we have carried out.

“Up to 16 new business start-ups, and employment opportunities for a minimum of 40 people can be accommodated in the refurbished building.

“I welcome the new tenants Enterprise North West who through their efforts will facilitate the growth of new SME businesses, increase employment and bring significant economic and social benefits to Ebrington and the wider North West. Enterprise North West have signed a ten year lease so we look forward to a mutually beneficial relationship in the coming years. I wish Brian O’Neill from Enterprise North West every success for the future.

“We are making considerable progress on the Ebrington site and although a number of discussions are at a commercially sensitive stage we hope to be able to announce more good news for Ebrington in the near future.”

Brian O’Neill, Business Development Manager with Enterprise North West said: “This is a proud day for Enterprise North West. From the early design stage our team have collaborated with The Executive Office to deliver what we feel is the best start-up space in this area.

“The Executive Office have been a pleasure to partner with and for us it’s now all about filling this space and creating jobs. We work very closely with Derry City & Strabane District Council, as well as many other stakeholders, to provide support and workspace for start-up and existing companies. 104 Ebrington Square gives us a vital footprint on the Ebrington site.”

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Positive links being made at joint trade mission to Philadelphia

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Positive links being made at joint trade mission to Philadelphia

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The Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr John Boyle and An Cathairleach Seamus Ó’Domhnaill of Donegal County Council, along with senior representatives from Derry City and Strabane District Council and Donegal County Council, and a number of companies from the North West returned this week from a very successful trade delegation visit to Philadelphia.

Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Cllr John Boyle said this is the second visit by the North West group to the city of Philadelphia and was organised to build on the initial good work that was done during a visit to the city last year.

He said the Philadelphia market was a significant one for companies in the North West to tap into and it was important the Derry/Strabane and Donegal Councils were working in close collaboration to promote the North West City region to further develop links and relationships previously established between the two cities and regions.

The Philadelphia trip coincided with a tourism and business visit to New York the same week by the Derry and Strabane Mayor and a number of Council officials to attend the start of the Legenderry Finale leg of the Clipper Round the World Race before its departs for Derry to take part in the Foyle Maritime Festival taking place in July and to officially launch the city’s International Halloween festival to the US audiences.

Mayor Boyle said the visit was hugely worthwhile and a great opportunity for Councils to work closely with its strategic partners and local businesses to further develop ties with the US in particularly with businesses in Philadelphia and New York.

“I was delighted to be part of the delegation that travelled to the US to continue with the excellent work that is being done on the ground to develop business links, put job creation and investment to the fore and promote our unique tourism and cultural offering to a new and captive audience. It was a very busy visit but very worthwhile for everyone involved. There is really strong Derry/Strabane and Donegal connections in Philadelphia and we have a lot in common in terms of industry and our links to the Port so working with them to further develop those business links is hugely important,” he said.

Among the companies who travelled to Philadelphia were local agricultural company, Agri Fleming and data company Atlantic Hub from Derry.

An Cathairleach Seamus Ó’Domhnaill of Donegal County Council said the work being done by the two Councils in profiling the North West as a gateway to both the EU and UK markets, and a unique and vibrant place to do business is vitally important. and really effective. I had the opportunity to see this collaboration between the two councils at work and the positive reception in the US for the strong proposition we have to offer. The trip was extremely successful as an opportunity to identify new opportunities for foreign direct investment and to promote the growth and development of the North West as well as form new relationships with key stakeholders in the spheres of education, politics and business, and to showcase the unique products and services they have to offer to the right market.”

During the Philadelphia trip, the North West region delegation met Mayor Jim Kenney, Councilman Bobby Heenan and Congressman Brendan Boyle, and attended a number of functions and events including a Diaspora engagement event and a trade mission event. The group met with the Director of the NI Bureau Norman Houston OBE and the Deputy Irish Consul General Anne McGilicuddy as well as representatives from the economic development units in neighbouring areas of Chester and Montgomery. The delegation also attended a breakfast event at the Irish Immigration Centre of Greater Philadelphia.

In New York, in addition to attending the Clipper Connect Business Series event, the Derry and Strabane delegation met with the British and Deputy Irish Consul General and took part in a City Region of Opportunities event that was attended by business investors and tourism culture, diaspora to showcase the region and up and coming events including the Foyle Maritime Festival and the International Halloween festival.

Mayor Cllr John Boyle speaking after the visit said: “We really believe that our ongoing positive engagement with the US is part of our long-term strategy and commitment to develop relationships and links that will help us attract investment, develop trade links that will in turn see tourism numbers increasing, jobs being created and money invested. To date we have enjoyed some success and are confident that our continued and joint efforts “

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FinTrU to create over 600 new jobs in Belfast and Londonderry as part of £38m expansion

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FinTrU to create over 600 new jobs in Belfast and Londonderry as part of £38m expansion

Invest Northern Ireland’s Chief Executive, Alastair Hamilton has announced that 605 new jobs are to be created by multi-award winning financial services firm FinTrU over the next five years.

This significant expansion by FinTrU will see it establish a new operation in Derry with 305 new jobs and create a further 300 new roles in Belfast.

L-R Alastair Hamilton, CEO of Invest NI and Darragh McCarthy, CEO of FinTrU

L-R Alastair Hamilton, CEO of Invest NI and Darragh McCarthy, CEO of FinTrU

Welcoming the major investment, Alastair Hamilton said: “Today’s announcement is another significant re-investment by FinTrU which will create over 600 new jobs for graduates and professionals in the Financial Services industry.

“We are delighted to have played such a significant role in the company’s rapid growth to date. The new jobs to be recruited over the next five years will generate over £15million in additional annual salaries for the local economy.

Invest NI has offered £3.2million of support for the new jobs and the Department for the Economy has offered £2.4million of support through its Assured Skills Programme.

“The company will create 305 of the new jobs in Derry which is a great endorsement of the wealth of talent in the North West. This investment will also make a significant contribution to Northern Ireland’s flourishing Financial Services sector and will deliver a projected £20million in additional new export sales for the company.” continued Alastair.

FinTrU provides regulatory resourcing services, including legal, risk, compliance, KYC, operations and consultancy, to Investment Banks and other financial institutions. It established its Belfast centre of excellence in 2014, with initial plans to recruit 80 staff and has since grown successfully to now employing over 240 staff.

Darragh McCarthy, FinTrU Founder and CEO said: “Our current operation in Belfast has been hugely successful which has been driven by the exceptional talent we have been able to recruit in Northern Ireland. FinTrU has won two ‘Fast Growth Business of the Year’ awards in 2018 and we are delighted to continue our expansion in other areas of Northern Ireland.

After reviewing a number of locations, I had no hesitation about expanding our presence into the North West due to the highly attractive location and the availability of talent that the region offers. Whilst managed as a profit-driven organisation, I see FinTrU as having a social purpose to create high-quality professional employment in Northern Ireland.

“After reviewing a number of locations, I had no hesitation about expanding our presence into the North West due to the highly attractive location and the availability of talent that the region offers. Whilst managed as a profit-driven organisation, I see FinTrU as having a social purpose to create high-quality professional employment in Northern Ireland.”

Darragh, who is a finalist in this year’s EY Entrepreneur of the Year Awards, added: “Our partnership over the last few years with Invest NI has been invaluable to our growth. We are also working with the Department for the Economy through its Assured Skills Programme, Belfast Metropolitan College and the North West Regional College to establish a Graduate Academy which will result in a considerable investment in training for our new employees.”

Noel Lavery, Permanent Secretary at the Department for the Economy said: “Since 2014 we have worked with FinTrU helping them recruit the talent they need to grow their business through the Department’s pre-employment skills training programme, ‘Assured Skills’.

“175 of the current FinTrU staff complement are former Assured Skills Academy graduates, highlighting the impressive talent we have in Northern Ireland. It is planned that, over the next 5 years,500 of the 605 jobs announced today will be delivered through a series of future Assured Skills Academies, providing high quality employment opportunities for graduates in the growing financial services sector.”

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MANUFACTURING LOCALLY, SELLING GLOBALLY CREATES MORE JOBS AT FLEMING AGRI

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MANUFACTURING LOCALLY, SELLING GLOBALLY CREATES MORE JOBS AT FLEMING AGRI

Fleming Agri Products is a fifth generation family business manufacturing a range of agricultural and grounds-care machinery at their factory in Newbuildings. With almost 90% of production exported outside Northern Ireland, the company see a solid future in the viability of engineering and manufacturing in the North West region.

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Approximately 12,000 machines came off the production line in 2017 and were shipped to an extensive network of dealers and importers worldwide. Fleming’s have put a dedicated Export Manager in place in 2016 and have been growing and developing new export markets in France,
Denmark, Latvia, Spain, Slovakia, UAE, Australia, New Zealand, and most recently the USA and Russia.

The Fleming factory has been operating a two shift pattern up to the start of 2018, but
due to increased demand from both the domestic and export markets for Fleming products, the workforce has had to be increased to create a third shift. This has created 10 further new job roles initially with further growth in employment as this new shift develops and increases the production output.

Plans for a new 25,000 sq. ft. factory extension are currently being put together to
streamline the production flow and create capacity and capability for new products
designed and developed in recent years to come online. Currently Fleming’s employ 110 staff and the proposed new expansion will create a further 25 new positions at their base in Newbuildings.
For further details and employment opportunities with Fleming Agri Products please see; www.fleming-agri.co.uk

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ALLSTATE EMBRACES THE ‘COGNITIVE ERA

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ALLSTATE EMBRACES THE ‘COGNITIVE ERA

Whatever the sector, all industries are facing disruption by digital technologies and
business models. This is presenting significant threats and opportunities for the
technology and insurance industry. Allstate Northern Ireland Senior Manager, Kathryn Harkin, shares how Allstate is embracing these opportunities to leverage the latest cognitive approaches in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) here in the North West.

“To maximise the opportunities big data provides, Allstate has created the new Allstate NI Cognitive Automation Incubator team to use ML technologies, transforming this data to provide meaningful insights. “ACAI, pronounced Ak-I, is Allstate Northern Ireland’s Cognitive Automation Incubator. It’s an immersive learning environment across a number of related disciplines, including Robotic Process Automation, Chatbots and Machine Learning. The initial focus will be on building up these much sought-after skills.

“ACAI will enable research in cognitive analytics and emerging technologies, running of proof of concepts, as well as incubating and developing prototypes to create innovative solutions for Allstate.

“Resources will stay in the ACAI environment for approximately 12-18 months working on real business problems before graduating. These teams will then lead the way in building a
community of citizen data scientists, expanding the influence of data science and analytics across the Allstate organisation.

“At a time of the 4th industrial revolution, the cognitive era isn’t about machines replacing humans. Automation will allow Allstate to introduce efficiencies and reduce repetitive, manual tasks currently done by our people.“An example of this is improving call centre efficiencies with the use of a Chabot interface using natural language processing. This will free up call centre staff for higher-value, more complex interaction.

“Using Machine Learning techniques to gain better insights from Allstate’s vast data reservoirs will ensure we make better data based decisions, focus on customer needs, offer personalised products, reduce claim time and improve the overall insurance experience,” concludes Kathryn.

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US SPIRITS COMPANY ACQUIRES STAKE IN DERRY’S NICHE DRINKS

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US SPIRITS COMPANY ACQUIRES STAKE IN DERRY’S NICHE DRINKS
A US spirits company in Missouri has acquired a stake in a Londonderry liqueur firm as they look to build a distillery in the city.

Luxco in St Louis and Niche Drinks already produce Saint Brendan’s Irish Cream and global
brand, The Quiet Man Irish whiskey. In a statement, the company said it had spoken to the Strategic Investment Board to discuss building an Irish whiskey distillery in Ebrington Square in
Derry. Ciaran Mulgrew, managing director of Niche Drinks, said: “Luxco has impressive distillery experience, having built Lux Row Distillers and partnered with Limestone Branch Distillery, both in Kentucky, and is nearing completion of a Tequila distillery in Arandas, Mexico.

“This experience will be a tremendous asset as we proceed with The Quiet Man Craft Distillery at Ebrington Square.” Mr Mulgrew is to remain with the business
following the transaction.

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Derry firm Blockception leads global Minecraft building boom

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Derry company Blockception is taking the world by storm with its virtual creations for blockbuster game ‘Minecraft’. The Campsie-based company was recently honoured as ‘North West Creative Industries Business of the Year’ in recognition of its leadership in a global marketplace for Minecraft ‘maps’.

The business essentially creates sets of Lego-like virtual building blocks and items to enable Minecraft gamers to build different environments from their imaginations. “If you can dream it, we can make it,” explains 21 year-old Derry man Jonathan Black who, along with joint Managing Director Alex Bellavita (24), formed Blockception in 2015. The whizzkids hit the mother lode last year when their company was one of only nine pioneer Minecraft partners selected from around the world by Microsoft to launch its Minecraft Marketplace Programme.

Blockception’s limited edition creation, Lost Civilisation, was downloaded more than 1.1 million times over the Christmas period – with 850,000 in a single day. Jonathan explains: “Lost Civilisation was part of a 12-day marketing campaign by Microsoft around Christmas. Microsoft wanted to release a free product from one of their partners and ours was chosen. “It was a set based on a Machu Picchu-inspired world that the user could explore. For Christmas, we added snow to give it a festive feel.”

Prior to the approach from Microsoft, the business was being sustained by local projects including a virtual recreation of Derry’s Guildhall. “Culture Tech asked us to do a project on the ‘Four Wonders of Northern Ireland’: The Guildhall, Mussenden Temple, Harland and Wolff and Belfast City Hall. We also recreated 17th century Carrickfergus for Carrickfergus Museum. “But the jobs were not flooding in and we were putting a lot of effort in for very little return. A week before Microsoft approached us, we had agreed to hand over to another company. Just a day before the handover, Alex got the email about Lost Civilisation,” Jonathan says. Alex explains: “We were so close to moving away from Minecraft. It seems unthinkable now. We got an email and everything kicked off again.

After Lost Civilisation, Microsoft came calling once more. “We were asked to help launch a new programme – a completely new revenue model for Minecraft. The Minecraft Marketplace Programme would not launch until June 2017 and we were very privileged to get in at the start,” Alex adds. Blockception was registered as a limited company on March 2, 2017. Trading became very brisk after the Marketplace launch. Alex and Jonathan have themselves enjoyed playing Minecraft for many years and that now allows them to create maps that have real appeal for gamers. Jonathan explains:

“We’ve been playing Minecraft for a long time – I started playing it at 14. We’ve had a long time to learn things from a consumer point of view. We’ve now gone full circle – ‘players to providers’.”

Blockception has a Minecraft build team of more than 50 environment designers, programmers and field experts, in countries around the world. Jonathan says: “The vast skill of our team allows us to tackle all types of Minecraft maps and achieve the ambitions of our clients, however imaginative. “We create custom-built maps that include but are not limited to minigame maps, adventure maps, hubs, concepts and film sets. “Our aim is always to produce fun-filled, immersive content, which is distributed at affordable prices and enjoyed by millions globally, regardless of language or age.”

Blockception was invited to the world renowned Gamescom in Cologne last August to showcase a project named ‘Kingdom Assault’. Another of the company’s offerings, ‘Whiterock Castle’, topped the Marketplace Purchases League Table for four out of the first five months that it was first listed on the Minecraft Store in September, 2017.

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Meanwhile, Blockception shared the North West Business Awards honour for Creative Industries Business of the Year at last Friday night’s ceremony hosted by the local Chamber of Commerce and City Centre Initiative at the City Hotel. Jonathan said: “It is a great achievement for such a young company and wouldn’t have been possible without such a talented and dedicated workforce.” For more, check out blockception.com

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