BBC News Online: UK: Northern Ireland

Board's female balance praised

Invest Northern Ireland will replace the IDB

The agency, Invest Northern Ireland, which officially comes into operation on Wednesday, has replaced the Industrial Development Board (IDB) and the small business organisation LEDU.

Northern Ireland Economy Minister Sir Reg Empey welcomed the number of female appointments.

Originally, only 9% of applications came from women. Five of the seven new board members are women.

Sir Reg said the board, led by chief executive Leslie Morrison, had "a rich and diverse breadth of talent, knowledge and experience".

"When the call first went out for candidates last year, only 9% of the applicants were women," he said.

"I, therefore, decided to run another competition and my department undertook a specific, targeted outreach initiative to encourage more women to apply.

"These efforts paid off with over 60% of applications in the second exercise being from women.

"The quality of the applications was very impressive and this is reflected in the make-up of the board - 40% of which is female."

Leslie Morrison said: "Our aim is to regenerate a culture of entrepreneurship here.

"The main themes of Invest Northern Ireland are entrepreneurship and innovation."

The new board members come from the areas of waste management, engineering, biomedicine, chartered accountancy and new technology.

The new members announced on Wednesday are: