Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald has visited Mallusk Enterprise Park to meet local businesses and hear about the organisation’s plans to create additional capacity for growing SMEs, support job creation and strengthen the pipeline of new businesses across the area.
During the visit, the Minister met with Mallusk Enterprise Park Chief Executive Emma Garrett and representatives from businesses based at the Park, hearing first-hand about the opportunities and challenges facing local SMEs.
Mallusk Enterprise Park is currently operating at 100% occupancy, highlighting continued demand for affordable, flexible business accommodation and support.
Discussions focused on the need to ensure that businesses have access not only to start-up and incubation space, but also to appropriate grow-on accommodation as they expand.
Emma Garrett, Chief Executive of Mallusk Enterprise Park, said
“We were delighted to welcome the Minister to Mallusk and give her an opportunity to meet some of the businesses that are creating jobs, investing and growing here. Our challenge today is very different from when enterprise centres were first established. We continue to support people to start businesses, but increasingly we also need to ensure that successful businesses have somewhere to go as they grow.
“Mallusk Enterprise Park is currently at full occupancy and we have around 90 businesses on our waiting list. At the same time, some of our established businesses need larger premises to enable their next stage of growth. Our ambition is therefore to develop a much clearer enterprise pathway – from start-up and incubation through to growth, grow-on accommodation and continued expansion.
“When a growing business moves into larger premises, it also releases valuable incubation space for another entrepreneur to begin their journey.
“We had a very positive discussion with the Minister about our ambitions for the future and the role that enterprise agencies such as MEP can play in supporting business growth, productivity, employment and skills.”
The visit also provided an opportunity to showcase MEP’s wider economic development activity, including business mentoring and growth support, employability and skills programmes and its work with partners across the public, private and enterprise sectors.
In 2025, MEP supported 405 entrepreneurs and 72 businesses, helped support the creation of 248 jobs, delivered 2,937 hours of business mentoring and supported 575 people through skills programmes.
Emma Garrett added:
“For more than 35 years, MEP has evolved in response to what businesses need. We now have an opportunity to take another significant step forward.
“We are ambitious about what comes next – not simply increasing the amount of business accommodation available, but creating an environment where businesses can grow, access skills and talent, improve productivity and create sustainable employment. It was extremely valuable to have the opportunity to share that ambition directly with the Minister and we look forward to continuing to work with the Department for the Economy as we develop our plans.”
Economy Minister Dr Caoimhe Archibald said
“Enterprise agencies, working alongside departments and local government play a vital role in identifying and addressing local economic priorities. I was very interested to hear more from Emma and businesses at Mallusk Enterprise Park on their plans for the future so they can continue to contribute to and strengthen the borough’s economic infrastructure, supporting start-ups, long-term business growth and job creation. I wish them well for the future.”