Spotlight on: Ethna McNamee, Head of Regional Business for the Western region
A version of this article was published in the Ulster Herald in July 2026.
Ethna McNamee is Head of Regional Business for the Western region at Invest Northern Ireland. In her role, she leads a regional team that delivers services to support businesses in the Western Region, which includes Mid Ulster District Council and Fermanagh and Omagh District Council areas.
We spoke to Ethna about her ambitions for the Western region, its strengths and challenges, and how the Western regional team is working with businesses in the area.
Q. How has the business landscape changed in the Western region over the years?
Over 30 years ago, when I began work with the former Local Enterprise Development Unit, towns such as Cookstown experienced some of the highest unemployment levels in Northern Ireland, and indeed Europe.
Since then, the region has undergone a profound economic shift. Advanced Manufacturing, Engineering, Agri-food and Construction-related industries have become the backbone of the local economy, supporting high-quality jobs and strong export performance.
This has positioned the Western Region as a key manufacturing heartland outside Belfast, supporting high-quality jobs and exports.
Q. What would you say are the greatest economic strengths in the western region?
A strong entrepreneurial spirit, with innovation, sustainability and global ambition at the fore, is the backbone of the local economy.
The Western Region is internationally recognised as a centre of excellence for Materials Handling equipment design and manufacture. Companies in the region design and produce innovative high-value equipment used worldwide across quarrying, construction, mining, recycling and materials processing markets. This year, for example, 52 companies from Northern Ireland will exhibit at Hillhead, the UK’s largest construction equipment show. Most of these businesses are based in the Western Region.
Our key business sectors also have a significant multiplier effect within the local economy. Materials handling manufacturers, for example, rely heavily on local supply chains, including fabrication, precision engineering, electrical systems, hydraulics, logistics and professional services. This interconnected ecosystem supports many additional SMEs and family-owned businesses, spreading economic benefit across the region.
Sustainability is also a great strength of our businesses. Ireland’s first B-Corp distillery is located in Fermanagh reflecting the increasing importance of sustainability credentials across a diverse business base in reaching global markets.
Q. What future opportunities do you see for businesses in the western region?
In terms of future opportunities, the Western region is well placed to play a leading role in the development of green technologies.
With a strong engineering and manufacturing base, deep agri‑food expertise, and growing digital and creative sectors, there are significant opportunities to innovate around sustainability. Companies in the region, such as O&S Doors and Capper Trading, are leading with investment in energy-efficient machinery, automation and low-carbon solutions to improve their efficiency, competitiveness and productivity to deliver low carbon products aligned with global sustainability goals.
Demand for cleaner processes, energy efficiency, and circular economy solutions will create opportunities for our innovative businesses to develop creative solutions that tap into opportunities arising from the wider energy transition. Invest NI are here to help companies maximise opportunities in green growth whether individually or as part of a cluster.
Q. And what are the biggest challenges businesses face in the western region?
There are two key challenges that businesses have been talking to us about in the Western region. Firstly, access to people to grow and scale their business. As a region with almost full employment, this represents a major challenge.
The second challenge is infrastructure, particularly the requirement for industrial land and wastewater capacity, which continue to constrain business growth in the region. We are working closely with local councils through City and Growth Deal opportunities to support projects to develop industrial land in the region.
Additionally, the cost of energy and raw materials have also become a significant issue for many businesses, reflecting wider global energy and raw material supply pressures emanating from geo-political issues.
Q. What are your ambitions as Head of Regional Business in the Western region?
My new role as Head of Business in the Western region has many facets. My main purpose is to provide strategic leadership at a local level in the implementation of the Invest NI business strategy, aligned to the Minister’s Economic Vision and the sub-regional action plan.
I will oversee the delivery of key targets in the region, including supporting the Mid South West Growth Deal Projects. Developing purposeful partnerships alongside national and regional stakeholders is critical to successful delivery of economic growth plans for the region.
My personal ambition is to help create the conditions where businesses can grow and succeed – regardless of where they are located. Regional balance is key to transforming the local economic landscape, particularly in rural areas where the challenges are greatest.
Having spent more than 30 years working across Northern Ireland’s regions, I am deeply committed to achieving a more balanced economy. I want to encourage high-quality jobs and meaningful opportunities in the communities that people choose to live in.
Q. Who do you collaborate with in the region, and how do those partnerships support businesses?
Collaboration is central to how we work. Internally, our regional team is supported by colleagues across all parts of Invest NI including, Entrepreneurship, Green Economy, Trade, Leadership Development and Skills, Innovation, Research and Development (R&D), and Access to Finance.
Externally, we work closely with councils, local enterprise agencies, chambers of commerce, other government departments, and further education colleges. We are statutory partners in Community Planning Partnerships in Fermanagh and Omagh and Mid Ulster Council areas, and we work in an advisory capacity in Local Economic Partnerships, and we are members of Labour Market Partnerships in these districts also.
These partnerships help us to drive business start‑ups, business expansion, increased R&D activity, skills development and export growth, which are all aligned to the delivery of the Invest NI business strategy and the Minister’s Economic Vision. They also help us ensure that local economic development activities are grounded in the real needs and opportunities of each council area.
We are also working with our partners and our international investment and trade teams to develop a strong regional value proposition, built around the Western Region’s distinctive economic strengths.
Q. What support does Invest NI offer businesses in the Western region?
We work closely with councils, colleges, enterprise agencies, InterTradeIreland and other partners to support businesses at every stage of their journey. Our regional team can offer one-to-one sessions with export focussed businesses no matter their size to see how we can help them innovate, export, or grow their business.
While financial support is important, much of our value lies in advice, guidance, and access to expertise, whether that relates to innovation, access to finance, exports, skills or regulatory compliance. We regularly run programmes designed to boost skills and leadership, or workshops on topics relevant to our businesses.
Q. What's your favourite thing about working in the Western region?
A sense of purpose and strong sense of place is important to me. This is a region where businesses are deeply rooted in their communities, often family owned and driven by a long-term commitment to creating good jobs locally. Supporting the businesses to grow and succeed feels incredibly meaningful because the impact is visible-not just in economic terms but in the sustainability of our rural towns and villages.
Q. How can you become an Invest NI client?
Invest NI provides a broad range of support to all businesses across the North primarily in the form of advice, guidance, grants and access to finance. Our support is open to both start up and established businesses.
To become a client of Invest NI, your business must meet specific criteria, including being a manufacturing or tradeable services business with the potential to export and grow employment.
Any business that would like to discuss potential support to start or grow a business can contact our Business Support Team at 0800 181 4422 or alternatively visit investni.com or nibusinessinfo.co.uk to find out how we can support your business.
You can also call into the Western Regional office in 47 Kevlin Avenue Omagh during office hours on weekdays.
We also run local business clinics on a regular basis at locations across the region with our stakeholder partners so keep an eye out in local media for future events or sign up for our 2 Minute Update ezine to hear first hand of all Invest NI events at investni.com.
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