Cross-border exporting is turning into a proving ground for companies across the island looking for a soft launch into export markets.
Margaret Hearty, chief executive of InterTradeIreland, says that it provides small companies in particular with the opportunity to get a feel for entering larger international markets.
“Our All-Island Business Monitor research indicates that only one in five businesses export across the border,” says Hearty. “There’s so much opportunity to help smaller businesses trade across the border as their first export market. You have to learn some of the nuts and bolts of export trade, including currency transactions, but in a culturally compatible marketplace with a common language. It’s a natural first market for so many.”
InterTradeIreland supports businesses across the island. It was set up under Strand 2 of the Good Friday agreement with a unique remit to build mutual economic cooperation. Now in its 25th year of operations, the organisation has helped grow cross-border trade significantly since its establishment.
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“The goals at the start were around collaboration and cooperation to build trade. Over that time we’ve worked a lot with businesses on trade and innovation. As a result, we’ve seen cross-border trade grow from €2 billion when we started to an all-time high of €12 billion now,” Hearty says.
“We have a unique role as an all-island connector, to bring businesses, academics, and business support ecosystems together; that gets them to collaborate and drive growth at an all-island level which helps to deliver economic growth at all levels.”
InterTradeIreland has developed a range of programmes focused on helping small and scaling companies in particular operate on an all-island basis.
“One of our flagship programmes, Acumen, enables businesses to trade across the border and provides financial support to employ a dedicated sales resource,” says Hearty.
“On the innovation side, our Innovation Boost programme enables businesses to bring in a STEM graduate to take forward an innovation project. This also links them up with an academic to help them with technical expertise and know-how. Our funding initiatives for entrepreneurs and investors including the All-Island Seedcorn Investor Readiness Competition and our annual Venture Capital Conference are in high demand and getting bigger each year. Many of the entrepreneurs that participate in Seedcorn go on to secure significant investment to help scale their businesses both on and off the island.”
The organisation is also working with networks and business clusters in order to foster more cross-border collaboration. This includes promoting cross-border procurement opportunities helping businesses to tap into the public procurement market across the island, currently estimated to be worth €21.5bn.
“The Synergy programme is focused on cluster activity across the island, encouraging clusters to look across the border. Our support encourages them to consider collaborative initiatives they can deliver on an all-island basis that will drive even higher levels of growth and productivity,” she says.
The change in appetite from InterTradeIreland’s early days to 2024 has been radical. Whereas cross-border trade felt like looking at a menu with unfamiliar items to many companies at the start of the century, now a large swathe of businesses are diving into a buffet of opportunity.
“Companies in the border regions were doing a lot of work together organically already. However that ability to work together needed to move beyond the border regions. There were a lot of businesses, particularly in the south, reluctant to look north. They needed help understanding how it could help grow their business,” says Hearty.
“Take a company like Liscarroll Engineering in Cork. They only served the local market in Ireland. They availed of our Acumen programme which put a sales resource on the ground in Northern Ireland. From there they were introduced to an opportunity in the Scottish market. Now they are generating a large amount of their turnover in the UK.”
Hearty says that the strength in the development of trade across the island is shown in how much businesses have continued to pursue all-island opportunities in the face of adversity.
“It was a different environment back then. Fast forward to today and the situation has completely changed. There’s a high level of cross-border trade now, despite the challenges of Brexit, Covid, or the cost of energy. In fact businesses that trade across the border are more resilient to economic shocks,” she says.
“It’s going from strength to strength and there’s more we can do in order to enable innovation and collaboration. Of the businesses that start engaging in cross-border trade, three-quarters of them go on to sell beyond the island.”
InterTradeIreland works to ensure it stays up to date with the needs of companies across the island with its quarterly All-Island Business Monitor. This survey tracks business sentiment across various industries across the island to ensure the economic agency is shaping its policy towards business needs.
“Every quarter we have our finger on the pulse of business. We can spot what issues are arising and react, pivoting quickly to support business. We can respond to the change in needs and introduce new programmes or modify existing ones,” says Hearty.
“Being agile makes us unique. During the run-up to and since the UK’s exit from the EU our Brexit Advisory Service advised and continues to help thousands of businesses to navigate changing trade requirements. During Covid, we pivoted quickly to launch a range of supports for businesses to address the challenges, including help to shorten supply chains through cross-border trade. We’re uniquely placed to do that while linking policymakers together across the island.”
The agency has continually updated its supports related to EU Exit and the Windsor Framework. The Trade Hub on the InterTradeIreland website provides access to free specialist advice to help companies adapt to any new changes.
“Our Trade Hub provides businesses with bespoke one-to-one support from experts on customs, VAT, regulation and employment, enabling them to take action to address challenges and take advantage of emerging opportunities. A lot of the growth has come about post-Brexit and in spite of Covid. That reflects business people being business people. They’ll find opportunities wherever they exist,” says Hearty.
“Regardless of where a business is on its export journey, we feel we can help them grow. We want to continue to leverage opportunities that exist north and south.”
Hearty is determined to ensure InterTradeIreland helps businesses find ways to use new technologies like artificial intelligence while also becoming better global citizens.
“There’s a high level of awareness around sustainability and innovation. What businesses often lack is expertise or time. We can provide experts to help them embrace digitalisation and find ways to use sustainability to drive down costs and improve efficiency,” she says.
“We’re the leader in the all-island economic space, however there’s scope to achieve even more. Ultimately, we’re there to serve the needs of businesses and our uniqueness also helps us bring players together across the ecosystem.”
The organisation also plans to focus on inclusivity, with programmes supporting women entrepreneurs. They have launched eight pilot programmes for women-led businesses to help them establish and grow, supported by the Shared Island Enterprise Scheme.
Having hit the quarter-century mark, Hearty is confident InterTradeIreland will continue to accelerate trade, innovation and collaboration across the border for many years to come. Looking ahead to 2049, the 50th anniversary, she’s bullish about the long-term prospects.
“I hope we’ll see even greater levels of collaboration and trade. We’ll see the culmination of some of these great ideas. At present, we’re carrying out research to look at opportunities for offshore wind north and south. It’s a huge opportunity and it can only be realised if there’s genuine collaboration across the island,” she says.
“By facilitating and encouraging, by providing the evidence through research, and by supporting businesses, it builds the island of Ireland as an investment destination. It also turns the indigenous small businesses here into future success stories. In 25 years’ time, the vision is that collaboration is the first thought for businesses north and south.”
Visit intertradeireland.com for more information.