Join Belfast Flavours and Steve Orr for a lunchtime conversation aimed at anyone starting or growing a food and drink business who wants to build something that lasts.
It is a chance to pause and explore what really sits at the heart of your business – and how that purpose can shape smarter decisions and steadier growth.
Steve will unpack the importance of knowing your “why”, share key ingredients for startup success, and talk honestly about what tends to separate the businesses that thrive from those that struggle – from mindset and focus to how you test ideas, manage risk and build the right support around you.
Grounded in real experience and innovation know‑how, this session will cover multiple areas so you leave with practical insight as well as fresh motivation:
Turning ideas into reality
Growing beyond the start-up phase
The common signs of success and failure
Join us at The Naut situated next to Catalyst, The Innovation Centre on Queen’s Road, Belfast – right in the heart of the city’s innovation district.
This event is kindly supported by Belfast City Council and DAERA as part of the Regional Food Programme.
About Steve Orr
Steve Orr is Chief Executive Officer of Catalyst and serves on the Board of Directors. Catalyst is Northern Ireland’s science and technology hub providing a home to over 150 innovative companies and helping over 1000 entrepreneurs per annum to create and scale companies.
Before being named CEO in November 2018, Steve was Director and Co-founder of Connect, Catalyst’s not-for-profit network of experienced entrepreneurs, business professionals and top research talent dedicated to the creation and scaling of innovation companies in Northern Ireland.
Prior to Connect, Steve co-founded Kineticom, Inc a San Diego, California based technical talent firm in 2000. In 2006 Kineticom was ranked #33 on the Inc 500, the list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the US. Previous to Kineticom, Steve worked in Buckinghamshire, UK and San Diego and San Francisco, California for S.Com Ltd and S.Com Inc. Steve earned a BSc in Business Information Technology from University of Northumbria.
Steve is a Fellow of the Irish Academy of Engineering and was awarded an OBE in 2022 for services to innovation.