North Eastern Regional Office

Located at the Ecos Hub in Ballymena, Co. Antrim, our North Eastern Regional Office works with businesses, entrepreneurs and stakeholders across the Mid & East Antrim Borough Council area.

We provide advice and support to potential entrepreneurs and start-ups who are seeking to develop an innovative and export focused business.

We also work with businesses seeking to sell outside Northern Ireland for the first time, with a focus on Great Britain and the Republic of Ireland.

In the last five years (2020-2021 to 2024-2025), we have offered support of £15m to 219 businesses based in the borough. Our support, combined with the investments by local and international businesses, has the potential to realise investment of £77m in the region, and create 378 new jobs.

What we do

We work with businesses from a range of sectors, most notably:

Advanced manufacturing and engineering
Agri-Food
Creative technology
Life and health sciences
Tourism

Council areas covered by the Northern Eastern Regional Office

Mid & East Antrim Borough Council

As a Statutory Partner in Putting People First, the Mid & East Antrim Borough Council community plan, we are committed to working in partnership with Mid & East Antrim Borough Council to help businesses grow and compete globally.

You can find out more detail on the business make-up of the area and our specific support in the Invest Northern Ireland council briefing for Mid & East Antrim Borough Council area (PDF).

Our support included over £524k of Local Economic Development funding to the council to support the development of a range of programmes to meet the needs of local business. This support was part funded by ERDF, under the Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme 2014-2020.

Council-led programmes include:

North Eastern Regional Manager

Des Gartland has over 20 years’ experience working with Invest NI and became North Eastern Regional Manager in 2008, supporting growth, innovation, and investment. His expertise spans multiple sectors, including technology, manufacturing, and services. He has built strong relationships with local public and private stakeholders to support and drive economic development in the region.

North Eastern Regional Office