Invest NI supports half a billion investment in future economic growth and business success

Over half a billion of investment will be made in the Northern Ireland economy as a result of  Invest Northern Ireland support.

In 2023/24 Invest NI offered £93m of support to companies to help them with a wide range of projects including help to develop new products, invest in energy and resource efficient technologies, improve skills, create jobs and export to new markets. These company investments and Invest NI support will see £519m invested in the NI economy in the coming years.

93 per cent of offers were made to locally owned businesses.

76 per cent of companies supported were outside Belfast.

Speaking about the results, Kieran Donoghue, CEO, Invest NI said: “Every day, we work with businesses, from local entrepreneurs starting their journey to multi-nationals making large-scale investments. Regardless of the company’s size or stage of development we provide high-quality services, programmes, support, and expert advice.

“In 2023/24 our financial assistance included over 1,400 offers to companies alongside 145 investments and loans provided through our suite of Access to Finance funds. Combined, this support equates to £93m of assistance to businesses to help them with their growth plans. Both our support, and the companies’ investments will deliver over half a billion of investment in the Northern Ireland economy and lead to nearly 4,000 new jobs.

“A large performance of our work with businesses is practical advice, guidance, and sharing technical knowledge, rather than financial assistance. For example, our free business resource – www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk – had 2.6million visits in 2023/24, providing businesses access to information guides and factsheets.

“The impact of our work is measured through our Key Performance Indicators, which track movement in sales, exports and employment amongst a portfolio of our client companies. Our 2023 KPI data showed really strong growth in Sales, External Sales and Exports amongst the portfolio of companies. All three metrics increased by at least 5 percent on 2022 figures. Employment across the consistent group of businesses grew by 2 percent.

“We continue to look for new markets for NI companies to explore and in March led a very successful Net Zero exchange visit to Malaysia and Singapore to showcase Northern Ireland as a key player in the Green Economy. We also helped 129 companies export for the first time and 403 clients to expand into new markets.”

Full details on our 2023 KPIs and 2023/24 end of year performance can be found on the features section of our website.

“We have a clear mission: to work with businesses to accelerate their growth by increasing external sales and innovation, creating good quality jobs, boosting productivity and skills, growing inward investment and reducing carbon emissions.

“Later this year we will publish a new three-year business strategy which will set out how we plan to build on this and previous years’ success to deliver this mission and realise a more balanced, sustainable, productive, and prosperous economy.”