Olympic Opportunity Must Be Exploited
A business opportunity of Olympic proportions is in danger of being missed by the local enterprise agencies.
Robin Newton, east Belfast MLA and Belfast City councillor, is calling for a focus on potential entrepreneurial opportunities flowing from the forthcoming Olympics, scheduled for London in 2012.
The MLA said that while London had won the race to host the 2012 Olympics - the biggest challenge is yet to come.
“The LA Olympics were a huge financial success when the games in 1984 ran at a profit.
"The Olympics helped Sydney to step onto the world stage, and the city of Barcelona, for example, was regenerated by them,” he said.
Calling for Invest Northern Ireland and other agencies to act now, he said that the Province’s own business and commercial world should be reaping the benefits of the multi million £££ opportunities flowing from the 2012 Olympic Games.
“The tangible financial benefits that might be felt for many years in terms of businesses is not just for the capital to enjoy, but also for a wealth of UK-wide suppliers that are going to be needed to make the whole operation take place,” he said.
The MLA believes that companies here can make a huge contribution: “Firms ranging from construction companies, to the manufacturers of buses and coaches, for example, those involved in building stadium seating and podia and even of high tech electronic circuitry and metering devices or the developers of computer software, should now be competing for business on an even basis with mainland suppliers.
“Our firms have a proven track record, not only nationwide, but internationally too, and they should now be looking at the real potential in getting their share of the Olympic.
“With a little help and encouragement from Invest NI, and a word in the right places by the Secretary of State, we can all be ‘Gold Medal’ winners, at least in economic terms” he concluded.
