Enterprise Ireland’s Growing Home campaign highlights how Irish-owned businesses’ success in international markets translates into job creation and social and economic contributions to local communities across the country.
“The success of Ireland’s home-grown businesses spreads far beyond the bottom line,” says Anne Lanigan, divisional manager, local enterprise and regions with Enterprise Ireland. “With backing from Enterprise Ireland, businesses across the country are reaching international markets while continuing to build, invest and create opportunity in the places they call home.”
The aim of the campaign is not only to celebrate the international success of these businesses but to highlight their importance to local communities as well. “It’s brilliant to see that raised up, to give these companies recognition for what they’re doing. It’s good to have a sense of pride about our home-grown companies. I’ve spent 23 years in Enterprise Ireland, and I’ve worked with companies of all shapes and sizes and I never fail to be impressed with the commitment and the hard work that goes into their success and what they deliver for their communities.”
She points to some impressive statistics in relation to the several thousand companies supported by Enterprise Ireland. “They employ 232,000 people across Ireland, and 69 per cent of the new jobs created in 2025 were outside of Dublin. Those companies are also delivering €38 billion in exports, growing by 8 per cent in 2025.”
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In terms of direct contribution to the Irish economy, the companies spend €42 billion in the State every year. “If you work that out, it’s €115 million a day,” says Lanigan. That’s an incredible contribution. Another thing that people don’t realise is that Irish companies employ 1.3 million people outside of Ireland.”
The Growing Home campaign is directly linked to Enterprise Ireland’s overall ambition for Irish-owned exporting companies to be the primary driver of the Irish economy, she explains. “That’s where we’re trying to get to. But we need to recognise what we already have. And it’s much stronger than many people realise. Our first aim with this campaign is to draw attention to that. We have really good, really strong, really innovative companies who are making a great contribution to Ireland.”
The campaign is also aimed at highlighting the supports offered by Enterprise Ireland. “The first aim is to draw attention to those companies and give them credit for what they’re doing,” says Lanigan. “We’re also trying to draw attention to what Enterprise Ireland can do for Irish companies.”
While the organisation has a very broad remit, she says it can be boiled down to support for Irish companies to succeed on export markets. That support takes may forms. “One of the key areas for us is increasing the level of R&D and innovation in our companies. To have a sustainable company into the future, you need to invest in R&D.”
She points out that one of the companies featured in the campaign, Dublin-based fintech Fenergo, has centred all of its R&D activity here in Ireland. “The message that we give to foreign multinationals about Ireland being a great place to do R&D needs to be delivered clearly to Irish enterprises as well,” she says.
She mentions the availability of talent, the R&D tax credit regime, and the funding supports available through enterprise Ireland as key factors. “When you take the funding that’s available, plus the R&D tax credit, it’s really very cost effective to carry out R&D in Ireland. That’s a message that foreign multinationals have understood for a long time. And we’re trying to ensure that Irish enterprises benefit from that as well.”
Companies also have access to Enterprise Ireland supported technology centres and technology gateways around the country. “The R&D ecosystem here is very attractive to any enterprise that is going to put innovation at its heart.”
She also highlights the importance of Enterprise Ireland’s network of 42 overseas offices which provide a range of market intelligence and other services and help put client companies in front of buyers.
The companies featured in the campaign are Fenergo, Mullan Lighting, Croom Medical, Merenda and Revive Active.
Founded by Mike and Edel Treanor in a corner of an old boot factory in Co Monaghan in 2009, Mullan Lighting now employs 100 people across skilled roles including design, welding and ceramics, creating bespoke lights that hang in homes, hotels and restaurants around the world. Today, 90 per cent of its output is exported.
Croom Medical in Co Limerick was established by Paddy Byrnes 40 years ago and has grown to employ 170 people in the development and manufacture of advanced orthopaedic technologies for customers around the world – proof that world-class manufacturing can start, scale and compete globally from rural Ireland. Its engineers continue to advance precision and metal additive manufacturing, including a 3D-printed titanium femoral implant that travelled to the edge of space.
Fenergo continues to call Dublin home, having grown into a global business working with some of the world’s largest financial institutions. Some 98 per cent of its work comes from outside Ireland and the company now has clients in 34 countries. As it continues to scale, the company is also investing at home, bringing roles back to Ireland and strengthening its Dublin hub.
Based in Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim, and led by Ronan Haslette, Merenda was founded in 1984 and employs 20 people in the design and production of high-quality timber products for the global fit-out and furniture industries, with 70 per cent of its output exported.
Revive Active was founded in Galway in 2011 on a simple belief that better health starts with better nutrition. Today, the company employs almost 100 people across Galway and Mullingar, with around 40 working in manufacturing and operations in Mullingar. A new 21,000-square-foot facility is supporting its next stage of growth, while its products are stocked in more than 2,000 pharmacies and health-food stores across Ireland, and reach customers in the UK, Spain, Portugal, the UAE and Nigeria.
“Enterprise Ireland is there to help companies to start, scale, innovate and succeed globally,” says Lanigan. “It’s in that context that we’re saying, here are the Irish companies that we are working with who are delivering great things. The Growing Home campaign is recognising how they support their communities, create jobs, are creating opportunities for the future and are strengthening their communities. In the world we live in now, that’s very important.”
