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Growing cross-border trade & business collaboration Margaret Hearty, CEO, InterTradeIreland Please talk us through your career and what has led you to this point? My background is in business and marketing; later on in my career, I completed an MBA. The majority of my working life has been spent in business development, supporting entrepreneurs and SMEs. It’s where I have learned the most, directly from the people that I had the privilege to work with the people who seized the opportunity to start a business and make a difference. They still inspire me to get up and do my job today. Entrepreneurs and companies are the backbone of our economy and central to our economic growth and prosperity. As the new CEO, I look forward to leading the organisation and team, and to continue the crucial work of supporting businesses to take advantage of the many opportunities to collaborate, export and innovate with partners across the island. You were recently appointed the new CEO of InterTradeIreland - what do you find enjoyable about this role and what are your plans over the next few years? Personally, I love seeing the difference that InterTradeIreland’s supports make to businesses. We are a responsive organisation and we really listen to what companies tell us. No two days are the same, which is great. InterTradeIreland is a unique organisation that has made a vital contribution to growing cross-border trade and business collaboration across the island. In fact, cross-border trade is now at an all-time high. InterTradeIreland has always been instrumental in helping businesses to trade and grow, both pre- and post-Brexit. Over the next few years, we’re committed to supporting businesses to adapt to the new trading rules and regulations as they evolve, and our supports reflect this - with our Brexit Advisory Service transitioning to a new Trade Support Service. Like other organisations, COVID-19 has changed many aspects of how we deliver our services and catapulted us on our digitalisation journey. We understand that many SMEs are going through the same process. We introduced a lot of new supports during the pandemic, some of which are mainstreamed today including our Digital Sales programme, which supports firms to seize opportunities in the online environment.
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Another priority is the significant growth opportunities for increased cross-border trade and co-operation across all sectors, in particular, the green economy and the adaption of new technologies. We’re actively supporting partnerships who address these challenges. Talk to us about InterTradeIreland and the work you do? InterTradeIreland is here to help businesses across the island of Ireland to innovate, collaborate and grow. At its core, we help firms to move forward – whether that’s exporting into the opposite jurisdiction, developing new products and services through cross-border collaboration, or becoming investor ready. For example, our Innovation Boost programme supports product development and innovation by linking academics and SMEs across the island. Our trade programmes help firms to gain the knowledge, skills and capability to access new markets in Northern Ireland. Cross-border trade has now reached an all-time high of €7.4 billion, which represents a huge opportunity for businesses.
What plans and supports does InterTradeIreland have over the next few years? As always, we will continue to be a proactive organisation. During the pandemic InterTradeIreland developed a range of supports to help companies and now we’re focused on helping firms through the recovery phase. Building innovation capabilities into businesses is one of our key pillars and we’re committed to it. We have always been very focused on the end users of our services, which are SMEs, and we will continue to be focused on them. We have exciting initiatives rolling out later this year, which are a direct response to what firms have been telling us, so watch this space!
