Businesses recognised with the the Queen’s Award for Enterprise

This prestigious award is designed to recognise and encourage outstanding achievements in the fields of Innovation, International Trade, Sustainable Development and Promoting Opportunity (through social mobility).

Hosted by Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council, Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim, Mr David McCorkell presented the impressive award to local businesses InspecVision, Environmental Street Furniture and Texthelp.

Mayor of Antrim and Newtownabbey, Councillor Billy Webb, said: “It is a pleasure to be here to celebrate the success of three of our local businesses, InspecVision, Environmental Street Furniture and Texthelp. Each of these businesses is thriving in the face of very challenging times and making a significant contribution to our local economy and community. It is a great achievement that 3 out of the 5 businesses in Northern Ireland to be recognised in the International Trade Category of the Awards are based in our Borough and I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate them for receiving this prestigious honour.”

Environmental Street Furniture was established in 2012. Based in Newtownabbey, the company designs and manufactures a range of innovative outdoor furniture which is solar powered to offer IOT reporting, mobile phone charging and LED lighting. It has recently also launched a range of perimeter security products to protect pedestrians and buildings from terror attacks.

The company had previously manufactured conventional outdoor furniture and had established a sales network across the world. It now sells in 26 markets worldwide and its top five markets are UAE, Hong Kong, Kazakstan, USA and Spain. Overseas sales have grown year on year over three years by a total growth of 415%; and the percentage exported has risen from 40.5% to 78%. The company wins the Queens Award for International Trade for Outstanding Short Term Growth in overseas sales over three years.

InspecVision Ltd develop, manufacture and sell 2D and 3D measurement systems for inspection of manufactured com- ponents. Their core market is the sheet metal industry with customers producing components for sectors including auto- motive, aerospace and defence. Based in Mallusk, it was founded in 2003 by Dr Jan Antonis and his father Mike Antonis. They identified a gap in the market for lower cost, faster, easy to use inspection machines. Developed and launched the Planar 2D, the fastest measurement system for 2D parts. The product range developed to include 3D inspection. InspecVision’s overseas sales accounts for 93% of it’s total sales and doubled recently with growth in key markets such as the United States, China and Europe. Their focus on the US market was a driver in this growth. R&D of new innovative products and development of strategic partnerships are at the heart of InspecVision’s growth strategy. The company wins the Queen’s Award for International Trade for Outstanding Short Term Growth in overseas sales over three years.

Established in 1996, and based in Antrim, Texthelp Ltd is a software company that creates software tools to help people with Literacy and Understanding by making software for students and adults with dyslexia, and for people learning or working in a second language. It believes that everyone’s entitled to the best possible learning and language support on their own personal journey ‘from literacy to life’. The company has offices in Antrim, Boston USA, and in Brisbane Australia. Over the past few years it has had 32 million users of its education software products. Its overseas sales have grown over the last six years by 215%; and the percentage exported has risen to 68%. The USA and Canada are its main markets and it has established new markets in the last six years in: Australia, UAE, Qatar, The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, and Mexico. The company wins the Queen’s Award for International Trade for Outstanding Continuous Growth in overseas sales over the last six years.

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