Ambition To Grow | Go Green programme

Does your business have a focus on sustainable activities? Find support from Invest Northern Ireland.

The Ambition to Grow | Go Green programme is looking to support Northern Ireland businesses that have a focus on sustainable activities.

Invest Northern Ireland is seeking ambitious, innovative businesses in the Green Economy offering a product or tradeable service that can create new employment opportunities and grow sales outside Northern Ireland.

This call is primarily seeking applications from businesses in the Green Economy although any business meeting the eligibility criteria can apply.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the Ambition to Grow programme, businesses must:

• be ambitious and innovative with a clear plan to grow sales to customers outside Northern Ireland
• have a product or service with a strong unique selling point to take to markets outside Northern Ireland
• be able to outline the potential for new employment within the business and demonstrate how these new roles will contribute to growth of the business into markets outside Northern Ireland
• be able to demonstrate the need for government support for new employment and market development activities to take place
• have annual turnover under £1 million or sales to customers outside Northern Ireland of less than £300,000

The following businesses are not eligible to apply:

• Businesses already in receipt of or intending to gain other government support for the project.
• Businesses that have an outstanding liability to Invest NI brought about through grant clawback proceedings. If a satisfactory repayment plan is in place, the business may apply for consideration.
• Businesses or any member of senior management within the business that are subject to a current bankruptcy order, Individual Voluntary Arrangement, Company Voluntary Arrangement, County Court Judgement, or Company Director Disqualification.
• Businesses that have the primary activity or any of the following: agricultural production, fisheries, and aquaculture (production and processing), steel, coal, shipbuilding, synthetic fibres, transport and its infrastructure, energy (its generation, distribution, and infrastructure), tourism accommodation, wholesale, retail (including on-line) & distribution.
• Applications which include or relate to activities that Invest NI considers as ineligible or as involving an unacceptable reputational risk, such as gambling, tobacco products and drug-based products, which are not authorised as medicines.

What is available?

Grant support of up to £45,000 is available for each successful application as follows:

• Up to £30,000 towards new employment within the business. The level of this support will depend on the number and type of new positions, the salary levels proposed and the number of hours each new role is contracted for.
• Up to £10,000 towards business development activities at a support rate of up to 50 per cent of eligible costs which can include expenditure on market, product, or skills development.
• £5,000 on the completion of an Export Health Check, development of an Export Marketing Plan, and completion of an Innovate NI Self-Assessment.

Funding will be awarded to applicants on a competitive basis. Applications will be assessed and scored, with the highest-scoring companies awarded funding following a successful project meeting with your local Invest NI team.

Successful Green Economy applicant benefits also include:

• Attendance at All-Energy Exhibition & Conference in Glasgow, 15-16 May 2024
• Inclusion in Invest NI’s Green Economy network
• Sales pitch training for customer success
• Assistance in identifying market opportunities and trends
• Opportunity to lead or be part of collaborative Green Economy network

Financial support payments are not up-front and are dependent on the execution of specific activities as outlined in any offer of support such as job creation or incurring costs on market development activities.

How to apply

You should use the Ambition to Grow eligibility checker to check if you are eligible to apply. Eligible businesses will be given access to an application form.

Further details on the Ambition to Grow | Go Green programme can be found in the Ambition to Grow - FAQs (PDF, 140K)  and Ambition to Grow - Guidelines (PDF, 276K) documents.

First published 5 February 2024