THE young West Belfast man behind one of the UK’s fastest growing independent beer brands is coming home to inspire the city’s future entrepreneurs. Alan Mahon, the 33-year-old founder and CEO of Glasgow-based Brewgooder, will give a talk at a special free event at Innovation Factory on the Springfield Road on Friday 15th September about how his passion for beer and helping disadvantaged communities led to the creation of this impact brand, which is set to double its sales this year to £4m. At the Brewing Ideas and Crafting a Business seminar, sponsored by Belfast City Council, Innovation Factory and Pacem, Alan will explain how the company’s ethical purpose is an integral part of its growth and is leading to it being one of the UK’s fastest growing beer brands. The Glen Road man said: “We don’t see ourselves as a craft beer brand – we are an impact brand in beer. Because we brew beer to empower the lives of others, we have the support of a loyal community of custom
THE question of segregation of schools in Belfast will continue but not for a very long time. This is because of the ever-changing diverse cultures in the city. Belfast has a fairly big population of white people from eastern Europe and other places outside Northern Ireland. Africans make up nearly 2% of the population of this city, according to the 2021 census. Then of course there are Indians, Pakistanis and Chinese, not to mention people from the Middle East. Some of their children have language challenges because English, Irish and Ulster Scots are the three main languages in the faith-based schools in the North – it cannot continue like this. Schools are supposed to be places of universal ideas and education. So more attention needs to be paid to refugee and asylum seeker families in Northern Ireland. The more we have in numbers of these new future citizens the better. These new populations are neutral about sectarian profiles in the classroom. For those who have e
A WEST Belfast-based company have partnered with global tech giant Google to host an event aimed at entrepreneurs. People Playbook, which is based at Innovation Factory on the Springfield Road, will host and facilitate this free session designed to highlight the key distinctions of what makes an effective startup leader. The company are working with Google for Startups to deliver leadership development programs for founders across the world. Managing Director Tony McGaharan, who previously worked for Google for seven years, said: “I am excited to share insights from the Effective Founders Study with Northern Ireland’s start-up community and the next generation of entrepreneurs. “We will share actionable insights that leaders can use to develop their co-founder relationship and teams.” Tony along with Operations Manager David Stalker and their team have recently returned from delivering a team development workshop at the Abu Dhabi offices of gaming giant Ubisoft. “
BELFAST City Council’s Planning Committee have given approval for a new renewable energy storage plant close to Colin Glen Forest – despite objections from the National Trust and Belfast Hills Partnership. The proposal by Hannahstown BESS of Carrickmore, still has to be approved by full Council next Wednesday (1 February), and will see the installation of a storage system storage with capacity up to 50MW, associated electricity substation/transformer compound, improvement to the existing access, landscaping and associated ancillary development/site works. The proposal includes 25 battery container units and 25 substations.