New investor brings jobs with service centre

The company runs a suite of successful awards programmes, predominantly in the financial and business services sectors, and currently has 35 staff located in Serbia, the United Arab Emirates and Great Britain.

Its new team will be based in East Belfast and the investment is being supported by Invest Northern Ireland, which has offered £45,000 of support.

Welcoming the company’s decision to set up in Northern Ireland, Steve Harper, Invest NI’s Executive Director of International Business, said: “We’re delighted that Awards International has chosen to establish a base in Northern Ireland.

“The company was referred to us through our Dubai office and its management was invited to come to Northern Ireland to see what we had to offer. They were able to see that Northern Ireland offers a cost-effective business environment and access to a talented pool of workers.”

“Invest NI’s support was also a key factor in Awards International’s decision to locate its new team here. The company joins the growing cluster of business services companies that have found Northern Ireland to be an excellent operational base.”

The nine jobs will pay an average salary of £20,000.

Neil Skehel, Managing Director of Awards International, commented: “Awards International is the only independent awards company in the UK and in the Middle East.

“Our awards programmes are fully transparent with competitors able to view one another’s presentations and we believe that this has revolutionised the awards industry.”