Bucking the trend: proving how Fermanagh can be a number-one business destination
ENTREPRENEUR and dentist Dr. James Hamill is a huge advocate for Fermanagh, having chosen his home county as the place to grow his innovative dental businesses, making the county a leading destination in the field of dentistry.
In 2021, Dr. Hamill opened The L.S. Browne Centre in Killadeas, regenerating the former NI Hospice site, Horizon West, which closed due to staffing issues in 2018. The building now is home to a dental clinic, a world-class digital dental education centre, Quintess Denta, a provider of dental implants and related products, and Quoris3d, a dental laboratory.
Now, as he continues to introduce new dental technology through Quoris3d, Dr. Hamill has set plans in motion to train locals in skills that will enable them to join his team as technicians.
Talking to The Impartial Reporter about Quoris3d’s work in dental technology, Dr. Hamill explained that it is mostly based around a product called CHROME GUIDEDSMILE. which gives dentists the ability to replace a failing set of teeth in approximately two hours. Traditionally, this takes six or seven hours.
“We have the licence for [CHROME GUIDEDSMILE] for Europe and over the past 18 months [we] have been building our base here in Fermanagh.
“We have now educated over 140 dentists on this technique and manufacture it here in our lab,” said Dr. Hamill, who on Monday launched new additions to this portfolio.
Previously Quoris3d’s manufacturing was done in the United States, but since June all manufacturing is now done in-house at the Killadeas site.
“We have Adnane, a technician from Morocco; Milan, a technician from the Slovakia, and we have a local chap, Jack, who has joined us.
“Then there is Marta and Noelle, so there is a team of six down in the lab now, and we are manufacturing everything in-house,” said Dr. Hamill, noting that although the manufacturing is taking place in Fermanagh, the challenge is finding people locally who have specific skills.
Born in Fermanagh, James is a big advocate for the area, and not only wants to encourage people to come to work in the county, but plans to train people from the locality in skills that will enable them to work in his business, therefore providing opportunities at home that were not previously available.
Jack Kerr from Ballinamallard is currently training with Quoris3d.
“We’ve created an apprenticeship-type scheme where Jack has come in for a couple of months and then he’ll go to our partners in America, and he will be there for a period of time, and then he’ll bring those skills back into the building.
“And we’ll use that as a process to help bring more people into the team,” said Dr. Hamill, noting that Quoris3d expects to recruit between five and six people next year, all in the technical side of the business.
Saying that Fermanagh has been a brilliant place to grow his business, Dr. Hamill said: “I am a huge advocate for it!
“I think we can do whatever we want in Fermanagh if we have the right mindset for it,” he said, adding: “One of the big things is, we’re flying to London in a couple of weeks, and for us to go from Gatwick Airport to the hotel in London, it will take us longer than [travelling] from Belfast City Airport to [Fermanagh].
“That’s the message that we have to tell people.”
“
Born in Fermanagh, James plans to train people from the locality in skills that will enable them to work in his business