Invest NI marks 20 years in business
Invest Northern Ireland is marking 20 years of supporting business growth across Northern Ireland. Since establishing in 2002 Invest Northern Ireland has provided 66,000 offers of support to almost 15,000 businesses, and helped to create 125,000 jobs, with over two thirds of these outside Belfast.
Acknowledging the milestone, Mel Chittock, Invest NI Interim CEO, said: “Our core role has always been to grow the Northern Ireland economy. This has stayed at the forefront of all we have done in the past 20 years. Our team has supported many ambitious, innovative businesses, from SMEs to large-scale organisations, and everything in between. Some companies have even been with us on their business journey since the very beginning, and it has been a joy to see each grow and succeed over the years.”
Invest Northern Ireland has offered over £2.5 billion of assistance since 2002, and supported companies with tailored advice, webinars, workshops, programmes and property searches.
Invest Northern Ireland has helped:
- secure almost 300 new inward investment projects;
- increase Northern Ireland’s business exports by 46 per cent;
- encourage more innovation, and investment in R&D; and
- companies to grow their teams’ knowledge and expertise through skills development.
This has led to over £12.7 billion of investment by companies in the local economy.
“We’ve grown as an organisation too,” Mel Chittock added. “Our physical presence has increased through our regional offices, and we’ve expanded our global reach through our international offices, to effectively promote Northern Ireland to international businesses.
“As we innovate, grow and look to the future of business, we will support the Department for the Economy’s 10X Economic Vision and its priorities such as green economy, innovation, emerging technologies, and key sectors, with the same commitment and passion as the last 20 years.”
Invest NI’s full range of business support can be explored at www.investni.com.
