Campsie Karting Centre

With the support of Invest Northern Ireland's Go for it programme, Eamonn Gallagher has set up Campsie Karting Centre, the only indoor kart track in the North West.

A former property investor and avid racing fan, Eamonn has invested more than £150,000 into the venture and is already employing more than 10 full and part-time staff to work across the centre's planned 90-hour-per week opening hours.

"Plans for this have been under way for some time," said Eamonn. "The North West of Ireland is famous for racing and it has a huge fan base which I'm keen to tap into."

Eamonn hopes to attract more than 300,000 people a year to the site from counties right across Ireland and will expand into other areas if he is successful.

"If it takes off and we get the numbers we expect to, we might look at installing facilities to provide laser tag games to utilise the additional space we have," said Eamonn, who bought the 65,000 sq ft industrial unit as an investment several years ago.

To help get the venture started, Eamonn approached Invest NI's Go for it programme for advice. "I knew I had a great idea but I really needed help with telling people what I was offering and how it was different," said Eamonn.

"Working on the Go For It Programme helped me to develop a marketing plan that I have confidence in and I also learned some simple but very effective ways of promoting the business to a wider audience."

"The programme introduced me to a number of other organisations and government agencies that have helped me to take my plans forward and bring that opening day closer."

The Go for it programme is provided by Invest Northern Ireland and is part financed by the European Regional Development Fund. For details, log on to: www.goforitni.com.