Investing In The North's Future

Aine Fox Sits Down With Gary Hanley, Executive VP of Invest NI

"Fantastic". That is how the executive Vice-President of Invest NI, Gary Hanley, has described the level of interest in business investment in Northern Ireland in the past year.

As part of the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment, Invest NI has been firmly focused on attracting overseas investment of late, a fact highlighted by the US investment conference in May this year.

Hanley, a Cork native, insists the number of companies investing has grown hugely in the past few months. "We are bringing in an awful lot of companies who wouldn't have been in Northern Ireland or wouldn't have considered it before now."

This prosperous era for investment coincides with the newly established devolved government in the North, and also with Hanley's appointment to the VP post.

Educated in Limerick and Galway he now lives and works in Boston - one of Invest NI's four American office bases. 12 months in the job, he is still very positive about his leadership role within the organization.

Why the interest in Northern Ireland for the Southerner? "Professionally, I looked at it and saw that Northern Ireland has a good product, a young well-educated workforce and the costs are competitive. I looked at it from the point of view of an investor and said yes, this makes a lot of sense".

As well as belief in his product, Hanley relished the opportunity to build on his 12-year background in business, "Personally it gives you the chance to get involved in lots of different parts of business - financial services, technology, media, the public sector and so on".

Hanley's resume is impressive; with his business degree and masters behind him, he has held positions of management within such companies as Sun Microsystems, GTE/Verizon and EMC.

Now his role focuses on helping new and existing businesses to prosper and compete at an international level, largely through government support and the attraction of new investment to the North.

The new-found stability as a result of devolution at Stormont seems an obvious contributing factor to the interest expressed by outside investors. Indeed Hanley agrees it has helped, "Since the reformation of the devolved government we've seen a huge increase in investment. We've had recent investments that, if not directly related to devolution, have definitely been helped and enabled by it".

New investors have also come onto the scene, "We are bringing in an awful lot of companies who perhaps wouldn't have been in Northern Ireland or wouldn't have considered it before now."

Giving examples of the investment surge in the past year, Hanley highlighted new interest as well as expansion. "Bombardier recently had a half-billion pound increase in their facility. In May we brought in Cybersource. It's the fifth fastest growing company in the US and Northern Ireland is its first off-shore location."

A worrying factor among all this positivity however is the global economic slump.

While recognizing it as a concern, Hanley is confident Northern Ireland remains a great investment location and sees it as relatively low-risk. "It does create uncertainty and is having the impact of having a number of companies delay plans to invest overseas, but it is also driving companies to question everything they're doing to ensure they locate work where it makes most sense to carry it out."

Repeated assurances of support from the government provides an additional encouraging factor Hanley suggests, "A lot of companies see there is less risk associated with investing here, but they're also hearing a very positive message from the government which says they will get top-level government support. Stability is the key part".

So even in a world of relative economic uncertainty, Northern Ireland remains an attractive investment opportunity.

Events such as the investment conference are key, Hanley maintains, because they bring the firms face to face with the location of their investment. "The best way to reassure businesses is to get them there to visibly see first-hand what's going on.

They can meet academics, existing investors and local politicians and get reassurance of their commitment to develop the economy."

Hanley is keen to remain in his role with Invest NI for the foreseeable future,

"Absolutely yes. It's a long sales cycle so you don't see immediate results - it's the type of thing that would accrue results over a 2-3 year time period".

His influence and ability has certainly not gone unnoticed - he is listed among the most influential US-Irish business leaders of 2008. His enthusiasm can only serve to further evoke confidence in the North's future prospects. "We want to take this to the next level, we want to capitalize on the opportunity we have now".

A positive message for investors and Northern Irish businesses alike.