MUCH is often made of Fermanagh’s young people leaving the county to follow their dreams, but Roslea woman Louise Beggan has bucked the trend by moving home to follow hers.
In keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit of the village, Louise began her Forget Me Knot Floristry at home in her father’s shed, but last September branched out and took up residence at the bustling Roslea Enterprise Centre. Since then she hasn’t looked back, fully booked with weddings for this year.
Louise, who is originally from Aghadrumsee, had been in HR in London, Canada and Australia before deciding to take the plunge and ditch the day job to start her own business.
“It was a just a burning ambition and it’s a matter of when are you going to do it, there’s never going to be a right time. I just thought, why not now,” she said.
She added: “I find people of my era are changing their jobs now. They went to uni and did a sensible thing, then they’ve had a change, usually to do something a bit more creative. It’s really encouraging.”
Having returned from Australia, Louise completed a professional floristry course in England. During this time she’d already begun setting up the business, which she initially intended on running from home. However, after seeing a newspaper ad for units to rent, Louise decided to call into the Enterprise Centre one day. After looking at a unit, which she said was perfect for her needs, and speaking with manager Seamus Carolan, Louise took the it on the spot and moved in the next week. Louise was full of praise for Seamus: “He always goes the extra mile, and he’s always checking if everything’s OK.”
Louise joins the likes of James Connolly at JFC Distribution, Conor and Michaela McArdle at Hydro Fire Protection Service, Fiona Treacy at Slimming World, and artist Kevin McHugh at the Enterprise Centre.
Like her fellow border business owners, Louise said any hardening of the border after Brexit would be a disaster for her.
“It will be a sticky situation if it happens,” she said. “Everyone’s just waiting to see what happens. We don’t really know what it’s going to look like, or even if it’s going to happen.”