'We are helping more of our home-grown small business and entrepreneurs': Northern Ireland boss hails progress as Invest NI backs over 2,000 projects and attracts 19 new investors

Invest Northern Ireland has reported a strong year of delivery in 2024/25, with over £631 million invested across the Northern Ireland economy. The economic development agency supported 2,062 business growth projects, surpassing its annual target by more than a third.

A total of 1,334 businesses received offers of support, including £88 million in financial assistance from Invest NI. Of these, 93% were locally-owned companies, with a strong focus on supporting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across the region.

The figures form part of Invest NI’s end-of-year performance results for 2024/25.

Speaking about the results, Kieran Donoghue, CEO, Invest NI said: “93% of the investments we supported last year were brought forward by locally-owned companies, predominantly SMEs.

“Through this support we are helping more of our home-grown small business and entrepreneurs become more productive, win more business and develop new products. And with 59% of these investments taking place outside the Belfast Metropolitan Area (BMA) we are contributing to the Minister’s vision of a more regionally balanced economy.

“We also secured 19 new inward investors for Northern Ireland in an increasingly competitive market for mobile investment. And 80 of our existing inward investors chose to reinvest this year, with R&D, skills and new jobs.

“These investments by local and external companies will see 3,020 new jobs created across the region, with financial support from us.”

Highlights of Invest NI’s performance in 2024/25 include:

2,062 investment projects supported against a target of 1,500

£631m investment in the economy against a target of £525m

158 companies received Invest NI support for the first time, against a target of 140

Businesses committed £245m to R&D and innovation against a target of £160m

£31m was invested in Leadership, Skills and Training against a target of £30m

19 new inward investors were secured against a target of 15

155 companies were supported to export for the first time, against a target of 125

£19m was invested in Energy & Resource Efficiency projects against a target of £7m

59% of all investments were located outside the BMA, against a target of 60%

He continued: “In a volatile, uncertain and complex global environment, we must focus on making the long-term investments that will increase the productive capacity, capabilities and competitiveness of our economy.

"Our 2024-27 Business Strategy sets out our approach to deliver the economic vision led by the Minister for the Economy. Our first-year delivery against this strategy shows positive progress towards this longer-term vision and objectives.

“Sitting behind the strategy is a significant and ongoing internal organisational and cultural change process within Invest NI.

“This has included a refreshed and restructured leadership and a thorough review of our operating model and reprofiling of our client base to ensure we reach a wider number of businesses.

“We also continue to streamline our processes and introduce new digital initiatives to improve both our efficiency and the experience of our clients.

“While we remain committed to delivering against our three-year strategy, there are external factors that bring risks. Volatile trading arrangements, increasing costs and infrastructure constraints make it a challenging operating environment for businesses.

"Combined with our own budget constraints we remain alert to the challenges ahead of us to deliver on the ambitions in the strategy. That said, our performance against the targets set for the first year of our new strategy has been very encouraging and we are cautiously optimistic about delivery in 2025/26.”

A fuller breakdown of 2024-25 performance is available at investni.com