Invest NI backs 4,000 jobs after offering £93m to businesses

Government agency Invest NI said it had supported the creation of almost 4,000 jobs in its 2023/24 financial year.

It has provided £93 million of support to businesses to help them carry out projects to develop new products, invest in energy and resource efficient technologies, improve skills, create jobs and export to new markets.

This has seen £519 million invested into the region’s economy.

And in response to criticism that the agency is too Belfast-centric, its report said 76% of the businesses it supported were located outside Belfast, while 93% of offers were made to local businesses.

The report is the first under the tenure of Invest NI chief executive Kieran Donoghue, who took up the role last October after serving as global director of strategy, public policy and international financial services at the Industrial Development Authority (IDA), Invest NI’s counterpart in the Republic.

He said: “Every day we work with companies, from local entrepreneurs just starting out, to multinationals making large-scale investments.

Government agency Invest NI said it had supported the creation of almost 4,000 jobs in its 2023/24 financial year. — Kieran Donoghue, Managing Director of New Invest NI (DARREN KIDD)

“Regardless of business size or stage of development, we provide high-quality services, programs, support and expert advice.

“In 2023/24, our financial support included more than 1,400 business offers as well as 145 investments and loans provided through our range of Access to Finance funds.

“In total, this represents £93 million of support for businesses to help them achieve their growth plans.”

He added: “Our support and business investment will generate over half a billion dollars of investment into the Northern Ireland economy.

“About 40% of our work with businesses is practical advice, guidance and sharing of technical knowledge, not financial assistance.

“For example, our free business resource www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk recorded 2.6 million visits in 2023/24, providing businesses with access to information guides and factsheets.”

The Invest NI report showed that 15 companies chose to locate in the north for the first time during the financial year.

These companies include Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, which has created 200 jobs at a manufacturing facility in Campsie, near Derry, and New York fintech firm DailyPay, which has brought more than 200 jobs, mostly hybrid, in its first investment outside the US.

Coinciding with the Invest NI report, IDA Ireland released its mid-year results for 2024 which showed that in the first six months of this year it supported 131 investments, 74 of which are planned for regional areas, enabling the future creation of 8,900 jobs in the Republic’s economy.