SCHOOL EDITION 29 MAY 2024 - Flipbook - Page 24
24
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
Business INsight
WEDNESDAY JANUARY 22 2020
business@irishnews.com
www.irishnews.com
...this week is Jonathan McAlpin, creator and chair of
Eastside Awards, which recognise the best about east
Belfast. The fourth annual awards ceremony takes place on
Friday January 24. He is also chief executive of East Belfast
Enterprise
Jonathan puts Eastside
into the picture
INquote
IN THE SPOTLIGHT…
APPOINTMENTS
Solicitor John J Rice & Co
(Belfast) has appointed
Grainne Tally to work
in its conveyancing,
probate and family law
departments in both
its Belfast and Armagh
offices
What was your first job?
I worked at Belmont Photographic
services, packaging the “free
films” – in the days before digital
cameras or camera phones – during
my school and university holidays.
I studied at Queen’s University
where I obtained a BSc (Hons)
in food technology and I have
a masters in marketing from
University of Strathclyde. I also
studied the Certified Diploma in
Accounting and Finance from the
Association of Chartered Certified
Accounts at Jordanstown and I
obtained a Diploma in Marketing
from the Chartered Institute of
Marketing at Castlereagh College.
To what do you attribute
your success?
Hard work, perseverance and
the support of others. My main
support comes from my wife,
family and certain mentors who
have supported me throughout my
business career.
How would you describe
yourself to someone
who’d never met you?
Loyal, hard-working, but there’s
always room for a laugh.
Who do you look up to in
business?
It was very sad when last year we
said a far too early goodbye to
Richard O’Rawe, who I viewed as
a mentor and friend and someone
who taught me a lot about
business. I first knew Ricky as my
boss, when I worked for him at
Venture International for two years,
1999 and 2000. I was based in the
Belfast office in Elmwood Avenue
and learnt a great deal from Ricky
during those years. I later became
his landlord when he rented an
office at City East, which is one
of the property sites under East
Belfast Enterprise management.
I regarded him as a friend and
mentor for many years, from those
first days in the late 1990s right
through until his untimely passing
last year.
How do you get the best
out of people who work
for you?
I like to think I lead by example
and show my colleagues that I
trust them, I respect them and I
try to give them the space to take
responsibility and ownership for
their ideas and their performance.
If you could change
one thing about doing
business in Northern
Ireland, what would it be?
Change the culture of the public
sector to one that can take more
risk and show greater trust in
those of us working in the third
sector. That starts from the top,
with a functioning government.
What website or app
could you not do without?
BBC for news and information and
WhatsApp for the social/fun side
of life.
What was the last book
you read?
I rarely take time to read books
these days but Evan Marshall’s
Spirit of ’58 was one I read on my
last holiday – for those that don’t
know, that’s about when Northern
Ireland should have won the World
Cup.
What car do you drive?
An old, past its sell-by-date
Vauxhall Insignia.
Tell us something
interesting about
yourself?
I’ve been very fortunate to have
travelled extensively and had many
great experiences. Probably the
best experience was travelling the
world for a year which included
sky diving in New Zealand, scuba
diving on the barrier reef and in
the Galapagos Islands, skiing in
Argentina and trekking in South
East Asia and the outback of
Australia – happy memories.
What’s your greatest
passion outside work and
family?
I guess it has to be football,
particularly the Shore Road
Brazil ians (or Crusaders to those
less familiar with our style) and
Northern Ireland.
Do not watch the clock. Do what it does. Keep going
– Sam Levenson
What qualifications do
you have?
Tiernán Oliver joins the
criminal, civil and family
law departments at John
J Rice & Co. He is a
member of the Law Society
of Northern Ireland’s
Children Order Panel,
speaks French and Irish,
and was voted Armagh
Sportsman Of The Year
2015
Grant Thornton has
confirmed a new
appointment at its Belfast
office, with Neil Hughes
taking up the position of
associate director (people
and change consulting)
Sharon Moffitt is UPU
Industries export sales
manager for France,
Canada & Ireland.
She previously held a
business development
role in JCDecaux Ireland
for five years, has a
degree in French and has
worked in Luxembourg,
Holland and France