Galway’s lure will continue to deliver predicts HP boss

Date Published: 13-Mar-2013

Galway has a ‘magic’ that allows it to punch above its weight in terms of attracting foreign direct investment, the head of one of the city’s leading multi-national companies has said.

The managing director of Hewlett Packard, one of Galway’s major employers, and chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce West Region, Mark Gantly said that Galway’s talent pool is the major factor in its ability to attract additional foreign direct investment and create more jobs.

Mr Gantly said that Galway has a difficult-to-describe quality that lures and retains the necessary talent pool that US multi-national companies rely on to thrive.

“It’s difficult to describe it. Galway has a sort of magic – we’d do well to bottle it,” said Mr Gantly.

“Companies in Galway have a very low attrition rate – people want to come to Galway and they want to stay in Galway. People come here for college, young professionals and they tend to stay here right through the life cycle. It’s easy to attract. That’s very important. When you are in our business, in HP, and in the IT industry and medical devices industry, talent is very important . . . Talent in my view is ultimately the single most important factor to sustain and grow our economy,” he said.

He said that the two third level institutes in the city provide new graduates, and Government initiatives such as the JobBridge scheme, help in identifying talent, while Galway is an attractive place to market to highly-skilled workers who might be lured from other countries.

Mr Gantly said 2012 was a very successful year for FDI investment in Galway, with the IDA Ireland securing 10 investment projects here, seven of which were from US firms including Myan, Cisco, Merit Medical Systems, HP, Dalcath, EA Games, Synchronoss and Fidelity. And the signs for this year are positive, he said.

The American Chamber, representing 700 US companies that employ 115,000 workers in Ireland, is very much involved in attracting new investment, working with the IDA.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.