With redundancy figures increasing more people are looking at reskilling to give themselves greater opportunities for employment or self employment. Interestingly there are approximately ten new fledging businesses starting up daily in Northern Ireland.
An example of how taking a new career direction can result in entrepreneurship is the story of North Down men Bruce Batten and Paul Trimble who have this year put down roots in a new garden design and build business in spite of the current recession.
Bruce, who is originally from New Zealand, and Paul from Donaghadee met whilst on an HNC Garden Design course at South Eastern Regional College (SERC) and quickly formed an alliance which would later materialise into a budding business venture.
Bruce explained; “After I moved from New Zealand I worked for BBC Northern Ireland as a TV producer and before taking early retirement I was a member of their Senior Management Team. I have always been a keen gardener but it was only when I had a bit more time on my hands that I considered learning more about it. I found out about the Garden Design course that runs at the College’s Newtownards Campus and immediately signed up.”
Paul takes up the story; “After leaving school I did a National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering at SERC and shortly after gained employment with JE Huddleston Engineering where I worked as a mechanical engineer for 10 years. After this I changed track temporarily to Air Conditioning but this lead to a period of unemployment.
“It was during this time advisors at New Deal told me about the Garden Design course at College and how it was unique as it was the only course of its kind in Northern Ireland – I enrolled and never looked back.”
It was on the third year of the course that Bruce and Paul discovered that together they possessed the full range of skills needed to start a garden design and build business – and ‘Growing Places’ became a reality.
Both men found that the theory on the Garden Design course helped immensely in preparing them for their new business, in particular the module based on starting your own business and the teaching how to price jobs accurately were invaluable.
Paul added; “Whilst on the course I started my own garden maintenance business, so when Bruce and I decided to join forces we had a good starting point.
In May this year we launched ‘Growing Places’ at the Mount Stewart Garden and Craft Fair, this resulted in securing our first commissions. We are in the process of finishing our first major project for a family in Newtownards. It included full design and planting along with hard landscaping, paving and bespoke water feature which cascades down a set of steps.”
Rhoda Robb, Lecturer on the HNC Garden Design course added; “I am so pleased that Bruce and Paul have joined forces in this new venture, they were both excellent students and were in fact jointly awarded the prize for ‘Student of the year’ at our Graduation in 2008. I am heartened to see that both have returned to the College to ‘cultivate’ their knowledge on the Royal Horticultural Society Level 2 course in Horticulture which focuses in on working with plants.”
Bruce and Paul have plans in place for showcasing their work through a new website www.growingplacesni.com which will be in place by Christmas. To find out more about Growing Places and the work they do call 07783 687556.