Creators of Belfast Design Week launch ‘My Block’ to shine a light on local, independent businesses
Having spent several years championing local creative businesses through Belfast Design Week, the team behind the annual festival which celebrates local design in venues across the city, has gone one step further to support independent business and organisations through the creation of ‘My Block,’ a curated online platform that showcases the best of Northern Ireland’s independent business and culture.
Supported by Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency, through ‘Business-led innovation in response to global disruption’ funding, My Block will begin by highlighting Belfast-based businesses with the view of later expanding its reach across Northern Ireland. The platform will tell the unique stories behind Belfast’s independent small and micro businesses as well as featuring a directory and events section to share local happenings.
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit Northern Ireland, the Belfast Design Week team noticed that many local businesses faced challenges due to lockdown closures, lack of support, or not being able to pivot to another area of income. This difficult situation encouraged the team to explore ways to use the Belfast Design Week platform to support independent businesses and help them to survive and thrive post-pandemic – this was where My Block was born.
Commenting on the launch of My Block, Karishma Kusurkar, Co-Director of Belfast Design Week said, “After the heartache felt by many local businesses throughout 2020, we felt compelled to help in any way that we could in the re-building and reviving process. My Block is about brand awareness, collective promotion and telling real-life stories about the people behind the businesses. Our aim is to create an online platform that allows emerging and established independent businesses of many different kinds to stand centre stage, allowing visitors to learn more about the faces behind the brands and exactly what the businesses offer to Northern Ireland.”
“Through the diverse range of businesses included on My Block, the pilot platform highlights the city of Belfast in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Karishma continued. “We are known in Northern Ireland for our civic pride, our culture and how we support ‘locally made’, and My Block is positioned to showcase our independent businesses to a wider audience, whilst helping to further educate and encourage our people to support and buy local, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.”
My Block offers local businesses a channel for reaching new audiences who are naturally geared towards supporting local brands. The platform offers an ideal solution for businesses who don’t have the time or means to maintain their own full website. The creators of My Block have developed their platform’s criteria in line with their values and the ongoing challenges posed to NI’s small businesses due to the Covid-19 pandemic. What makes My Block unique is that its aim is to tell the engaging and unique stories behind brands, shed light on the wide range of innovation and specialisms on offer locally and to celebrate Belfast’s entrepreneurial spirit
Seeing the opportunity to reach new audiences through My Block, over 100 independent Belfast-based businesses have signed up so far including American Madness, Murphy & Bailey, Indie Fude, Harrison Fashion, Tribal Burger, Fruit Shop, She Sells Sanctuary and Pixie & Piper Flowers, among others, with more businesses to be added to the My Block community in the coming weeks. Speaking on behalf of Murphy & Bailey, Karen Breene, Co-Owner said, “My Block offers smaller businesses like ours a great opportunity to help spread the word that we are open and ready to welcome visitors to our shop. As a new business that opened during the challenges of last year, we missed the usual footfall and passing trade or the chance to have a proper opening launch event, therefore being featured on the My Block platform will be invaluable to us to help create more awareness about Murphy & Bailey.”
To be eligible to feature on My Block’s pilot platform, businesses must be Belfast-based, privately owned, have no more than 4 outlets and 50 full time employees and the owner(s) must be in control of all decision making. For more information, visit https://www.whatsonmyblock.com/