50 of the top individuals and companies who have pioneered business in Belfast were honoured in the Long Gallery at Stormont on Thursday 29 September at a Belfast Media Group celebration.

UCIT were delighted to sponsor the Social Enterprise/Entrepreneur category. The winner of the Social Entrepreneur award was Paul Roberts, Chief Executive of the Ashton Community Trust, a community based charity working on regeneration through social enterprise.

Ashton was set up in 1988 through a share drive by local people. The original centre is owned by 450 shareholders from the local community and the organisation now owns four other centres. The main areas of the business are childcare, training and employability services and property rental. Ashton now has assets of over £5m and an annual turnover of around £3.5m. Paul has been Chief Executive of Ashton for 17 years during which time it had developed from a small community organisation of 6 employees, to one of the most successful social enterprises in Northern Ireland. Ashton currently employs over 120 people in some of the most deprived wards in the North with around 80 per cent  of the employees from the local area.

Congratulations to the other final nominees for the award who were:

• Kieran Harding, Managing Director, Business in the Community
• Maurice Kinkead, Chief Executive, East Belfast Partnership
• Maeve Monaghan, Chief Executive, NOW Project

For the full brochure for the awards click here