SEEING her bi-racial son Elliot (11) buffeted by "everyday racism" inspired South Belfast's Orla McKeating to launch a business focused on the inclusion of minorities.
"My son encounters racist attitudes every day," siad Orla whose Still I Rise Stories educational and training enterprise is based at the Innovation Factory on the Springfield Road.
"The tool I use to tackle racism is story-telling - in an educational setting, in particular, there's no better way to make pupils, and teachers, look anew at how they are treating students who may be migrants or minorities," she said. "In one school, we did a transformative project with Muslim children to educate the entire school family about Ramadan. The outputs were a book and audio podcast but the real result was in changing the entire trajectory of the school."
Language is so important, it can be so inclusive or if the wrong thing is said can create a lot of emotional baggage. We need to hold ourselves accountable. Employers should be open to training and putting in the work. @orla_mckeating @Diversity_Mark #PridePanel23 pic.twitter.com/38scAir3Tp
— The Labour Relations Agency - Northern Ireland (@LRA_NIreland) July 26, 2023
As well as building her own start-up, Orla is also now working as a development officer with the Innovation Factory. "We want to support entrepreneurs who have ambitious ideas and need help to grow," she said. "Of course we offer flexible office space but the Innovation Factory is about much more than that - we want to mentor and coach founders who will benefit from access to our expert networks."
DOUBLE ACT: Orla and son Elliot - who is an aspiring actor
Seán McDonnell of early-stage company 1620 Audio says Orla's support has been a boon to their enterprise.
"We just moved in to Innovation Factory in April as a new premises for our podcast studio and have already availed of so many opportunities signposted for us as a new business," he said. "We have had the opportunity to showcase our work to potential clients at events, learn about funding streams relevant to our business and we were encouraged to apply to Go Succeed's Ultimate Pitch competition, in which we were selected as finalists for the Belfast heat and got fantastic recognition for our services.
"On top of this, Orla, Shane and other members of staff at Innovation Factory have taken the time to sit and listen to our mission as a company to understand our plans. Their mentoring gives us clear guidance to move forward with these plans and connects us to others in their network that can help make them possible."
