70% hike in NW jobpromotion says INI

Invest Northern Ireland promoted 1,085 new jobs in the new Derry-Strabane super council area in 2013/14 – up 70 per cent on the previous 12 month period.

Over half (53 per cent) were the result of Invest NI’s assistance to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) businesses such as AllState, Convergys and Fujitsu.

Investment in skills development by companies in the area increased by 203 per cent on last year.

In addition, 388 local start-ups received Invest NI support in the area in 2013/14. The Regional Start Initiative promoted 95 new jobs as a result of new business starts.

Des Gartland, Invest NI’s North West Regional Manager, said: “The statistics clearly demonstrate that business confidence is improving throughout the council area as companies prepare to take advantage of the steadily improving economy.

“Invest NI has been encouraging and assisting companies of all sizes, both externally and locally-owned, to invest in skills development and R&D by means of enhancing their overall competitiveness. The strategic focus on promoting enterprise is also providing tangible benefits particularly in terms of employment opportunities throughout the area.”

Invest NI has put in place processes to enable accurate reporting of the actual number of jobs created as a direct result of the projects which it has assisted.

In doing so, Invest NI is the first development agency in the United Kingdom or Republic of Ireland to report in this way across all its job support initiatives.

“We now have the ability to analyse all offers of financial support which were ‘live’ at the beginning of our Corporate Plan period (2011-12) and extracted job creation against these offers. This shows that 970 new jobs have been created in Derry-Strabane super council area in the last three years,” added Des.

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