Investment attraction

Attracting inward investment is one of the most powerful levers a region has to shift its economic trajectory. It is also one of the hardest to pull. Devolution is placing more responsibility, and more opportunity, in the hands of regions and combined authorities, but the in-house capability, global networks and market insight needed to attract and retain private capital are not always readily available.

We are an award-winning economic development consultancy with over 100 collective years of experience in delivering international trade and investment programmes. We work with local and national bodies to attract new capital, innovation and jobs, and we do it by working as an extension of your team: identifying credible investors, aligning them with your local strengths, and landing the projects.

Our approach blends international market intelligence, targeted lead generation, business engagement and practical delivery expertise. We deliver the full inward investment service end-to-end, from generating leads through to landing them, working in partnership with your local teams so that your investment promotion capability becomes embedded and sustainable rather than dependent on us.

Who do we help?

If you are an investment promotion agency, an economic development organisation, a combined authority, a council or a trade promotion body, we can help you attract the investment your region needs. We also work with embassies, consulates, states and territories looking to promote their place to international investors.

Many of our team have worked inside investment promotion agencies, and members of the team have worked for the Department for Business and Trade (and its predecessors), so we understand the targets you are set, the reporting you answer to, and the pressures on delivery. Our recent engagements include Austrade, Investment New South Wales, Invest Western Switzerland, the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and Cambridge City Council, and we are contracted to the UK Government to support its customers. 

The Gateley Global team really understands inward investment and company drivers. Their expertise, professionalism and FDI insight are unmatched. Gateley Global brought more than expertise; they brought strategic thinking and operational excellence that exceeded our expectations. They have been great to work with and have been instrumental in the success of FDI attraction to our region.
Steve Clarke, Assistant Director - Business, Trade & Investment (Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority)

How can we help?

Identifying and engaging credible investors

The value of an inward investment service depends on the quality of its pipeline. We expand yours beyond the leads that come through central government channels, uncovering opportunities that would otherwise go untapped, and we focus engagement on the investors most likely to deliver impact rather than the largest number of names.

That means:

  • A bigger investment pipeline: reaching beyond Department for Business and Trade leads to uncover untapped opportunities.
  • Jobs and productivity: by aligning inward investment with your local industry priorities and skills base.
  • Capacity in your own team: through hands-on collaboration that upskills local people rather than replacing them.
  • Cost efficiency and focus: with targeted, data-driven engagement of the investors most likely to convert.
  • Local prosperity: ensuring the growth you attract delivers social value.

Targeted lead generation and outreach

We build the pipeline from the ground up: identifying engagement gaps in accounts nobody has yet approached, developing new investor accounts across the region, city, or sector in question, and running bespoke multi-channel outreach to convert them into conversations. 

On the Leicester and Leicestershire programme, that outreach secured 30+ scoping meetings with FDI accounts. For the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, we created regional and sectoral value propositions alongside seven local authorities, described by a Department for Business and Trade sector specialist as “by far the best I have ever seen”. Those propositions went on to inform a pan-regional market access programme that generated 40 agri-tech leads and two investment wins for Fenland.

Sector experience

Our industry experience is broad and includes advanced manufacturing, business shared services, digital and creative, life sciences, cleantech, financial services and professional services. 

Recent delivery

  • Invest Leicester and Leicestershire: Numerous investment projects identified; several projects landed, creating over 300 jobs and securing over £33m in associated capital expenditure. 
  • Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority: 1,000 companies engaged, an active pipeline of 500 qualified leads, 40 wins and over 1,500 jobs, exceeding programme targets by 77%. 
  • Greater Geneva and Bern Area: identified and engaged US-based life sciences companies for inward investment into Western Switzerland. 150+ organisations engaged, five investments landed.