Business leaders and stakeholders from the North West City Region travelled to Dublin this week as part of a cross border “Invest in the North West” engagement event organised by Donegal County Council & Derry City and Strabane District Council.
The business focused event was an opportunity for fast scaling businesses and leading blue-chip companies operating in and around Dublin to look at prospective investment opportunities in the North West City Region.
An Cathaoirleach of Donegal County Council Cllr Liam Blaney who attended the event said that the collaborative approach of the two councils and stakeholders from the North West in working together to attract investment to the region was hugely important.
He said: “The ‘Invest in the North West’ event provided us with an opportunity to leverage the success of our existing investors and showcase the work of the companies making a success of it here. We were able to engage directly with businesses from the Dublin area and highlight to them the potential opportunities of having operations in the North West City Region. We are confident that as a result of this event we can develop an investor pipeline for the region that will in turn help to boost the efforts of the investment agencies to accelerate growth and investment in the North West.”
Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council Cllr Sandra Duffy, who also attended the event, said it was a great success and a fantastic opportunity to promote the North West City Region to a new audience.
She said: “It was an excellent opportunity for us to raise awareness of what our region has to offer in terms of the calibre of our talent, our unique geographic position and strong quality of life offering. We had a very strong investment proposition that was led by Derry and Donegal business leaders who were able to outline from personal experiences the opportunities that exist for businesses investing in the North West. The event was hugely beneficial not only in terms of networking but in sharing information and experiences with business and investment influencers in Dublin on the North West as a potential investment location for future expansion.”
Invest in the North West was organised as part of the North West City Region Economic Development initiative between Donegal County Council and Derry City and Strabane District Council with endorsement from a range of stakeholders including the IDA, Enterprise Ireland, Invest NI, Udaras na Gaeltachta, ATU, Ulster University, Donegal ETB, North West Regional College and many more.
Among the businesses from the North West who spoke at the event were FinTrU, Optum, Caldwell and Robinson and Learning Pool.
Attendees at the event heard at first-hand about the opportunities that exist for companies interested in locating in the North West, how they have access to a significant pool of graduates from the cross-border region and a growing talent pool of managerial and professional talent as individuals return to the region, attracted by the exceptional quality of life and cost of living as well as a significantly upgraded infrastructure.
Prospective investors heard about the ability of the regions dynamic education and training sector to provide practical and ground breaking workforce development supports to businesses located in the region.
There was a very clear message to all attendees that the region offers a very attractive proposition. Businesses here have access to the both the EU and UK markets – providing a win-win for businesses operating in the region.
