Elite Business 100 Top SME 2023

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Scott English EB100 Brand Director

Welcome

Welcome to the 2023 results of the Elite Business Top 100.

Firstly, huge congratulations to all SME businesses that have made it into this year's list.

Secondly, many thanks to our sponsors: Avery, British Business Bank, Club Wembley, MOJA and Vodafone Business, for their valued support.

2022 – the year that was Since January 1st, 2022, we've had three Prime Ministers, a war in the Ukraine, petrol shortages, supply chain issues, energy price hikes, a major cost of living crisis and the sad death of Her Majesty the Queen, all whilst recovering from a global pandemic. One might question if we can find any positives at all from 2022, but as the entries to the EB100 have shown, we’ve come out of it as better people and stronger businesses.

wanted to go deeper into the application process. Elite Business has always been an industry disruptor, whether that be across the content we cover online, or our national event Elite Business Live, which is celebrating it’s 10th anniversary this year. We strive to ensure the EB100 Awards has the credibility to reward and recognise the best of Britain’s SME entrepreneurs. We’ve seen the winners demonstrate incredible achievements through their submissions to make the 100 cut. And they’ll be able to use the EB100 accreditation to show Britain what they’re made of.

Don’t forget to shout about your success!

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About the EB100

We launched the EB100 Awards to recognise and rank the brightest and best SME Businesses in the UK. Whilst other awards and recognition systems exist, we

How the EB100 is judged SME Businesses enter via an online application form, which is then judged by a panel of industry experts. Companies have to demonstrate capabilities in several categories in addition to financial performance. These include longevity, contribution to the community, team development and innovation. Every stage of their business lifecycle is evaluated.

Huge recognition for their efforts

“Making the list in the EB100 league is truly an achievement to be proud of,” said Piers Linney, (ex BBC Dragon’s Den Investor, Founder of Moblox). “The business plans of the finalists to ensure stability through the current economic hardship is remarkable, not to mention the still lingering impacts from the pandemic. The EB100 has shown that despite all of this, they haven't allowed it to hinder the overall performance of their businesses, and many have, in fact, thrived. These top 100 SMEs have impressed us with their innovation and growth – they deserve huge recognition for their efforts.”

Our hopes for 2023?

I think we'd all agree that we’d like to see more stability in 2023 - a more stable country, Government, and economy. It goes without saying we hope to never again see the likes of Covid and we’d like a year devoid of banner headlines reporting history-making events.

Who’d have thought Brexit would be the least of our problems?

Diary Date – 17th March 2023

If your brand is listed in the EB100 then you’re invited to the Celebration & Awards evening, which will take place on 17th March 2023 at The Tower Hotel, London. We have a spectacular evening in store for you, with additional awards for exceptional performances that we look forward to sharing with you.

Of course, the EB100 wouldn’t exist without elitebusinessmagazine.co.uk which is one of the UK’s leading portals full of articles, information and insights into the SME business world.

Therefore, my thanks to all our contributors for keeping the content fresh and relevant and also a huge thanks to all of our strategic media partners that have helped support the launch this year.

Scott English

SPONSORS

AVERY

Avery is one of the leading global manufacturers of labels, stickers and cards, both printable and pre-printed, and we support small businesses in all their labelling needs. The original Avery label has been around since 1935.

BRITISH BUSINESS BANK

Our mission is to help new and early-stage UK businesses access affordable finance and mentoring support. We’re a part of the British Business Bank and deliver the government’s Start Up Loans programme.

CLUB WEMBLEY

Club Wembley membership means not missing a split second. And that’s just the action – soak up the atmosphere from an amazing vantage point before it all gets going. Conversely, when the crowds get going afterwards, sit back and relax while the memories sink in. There are six Club Wembley membership types – there’s bound to be one for you.

VODAFONE BUSINESS

Vodafone Business helps organisations succeed in a digital world and are proud to be an Elite Business partner for 2023. They aim to provide the technology, inspiration and support to help businesses grow, no matter what stage they’re at. We’ve seen that right now flexibility matters more than ever – especially for SME business owners. Which is why Vodafone Business have created Vodafone Pulse Connect – the flexible business solution.

MOJA

Moja is all about raising the professional profile of their clients. They believe that being an impactful business leader isn’t just about who you are at work. Their services will increase your visibility, get you known in your industry and open you up to opportunities you never thought were there.

PARTNERS

BusinessesForSale.com is the largest database of business buyers, businesses and business intermediaries in the world. Ensuring your business achieves the highest level of prioritisation across all major search engines.

Since 2015 The Best Businesswomen Awards have been recognising great female entrepreneurs and business leaders who are making a real impact on their industry.

The Centre for Entrepreneurs (CFE) is the UK’s leading entrepreneurship think tank. It researches the economic and social value created by entrepreneurs.

Daltons Business is the UK’s largest franchise and business for sale marketplace and has been connecting buyers and sellers since 1867.

The Great British Entrepreneur Awards acknowledges the hard work and inspiring stories of entrepreneurs and businesses in the United Kingdom.

Not only are The Hustle Awards the networking event of the year –they are also the unrivalled badge of excellence and the benchmark for all startup businesses to aspire to.

Like Minds is a global thought leadership platform delivering world-class events on business development, knowledge and insight aimed at entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Liverpool Business Associations is an active membership based organisation which helps and supports small companies throughout Liverpool.

LondonlovesBusiness is the leading online newspaper for London’s business community. We aim to bring you exciting and thoughtprovoking London business news, comment and culture.

London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) is London’s key hub for the business community, we support members’ businesses through a range of services and products.

Moblox is a platform for owner-led businesses that provide technology and tools that help them do business better.

Named as the UK’s fastestgrowing PR consultancy by PR Week magazine and listed as one of the UK’s 100 best new firms by Startups.co.uk, we are redefining UK enterprise.

Finally you can empower your businesses to create their own videos while keeping control of your branding and core messaging. All for a fraction of the cost of traditional video production.

Startups Magazine champions tech startups – the entrepreneurial heroes disrupting industries and the creators challenging norms and breaking boundaries.

THE JUDGES

The Top 100 UK SME Businesses are judged on eight core criteria that helps us gauge entrants on their size, growth, ambitions and contributions made to the community based on information supplied by entrants. We have an independent panel of top judges who score the full top 100 list.

*Please note: we have endeavoured to recuse any judges that may have a conflict of interest from judging certain entries.

Founder & CEO, Prism Thinking Media Ltd

Cassandra has over 30-years of experience in B2B publishing, establishing her own publishing company in 2016 and now runs three news websites including London Loves Business. The latest launches being London Loves Property and London Loves Tech. In total the group of websites has over 340,000 monthly visitors and 520,000 pageviews. All three websites bring together London’s most established and entrepreneurial business leaders to inspire the private and public sectors to create opportunity, further innovation, and drive growth.

Christina Okorocha Co-founder & Director of Entertainment, VAMP

Christina Okorocha is a cofounder and Director of Entertainment at VAMP, A digital talent and entertainment PR agency. VAMP works with some of the biggest entertainment and film and TV companies such as Warner Brothers, Disney, Universal Music and Channel 4 to support in maximising reach by authentically diversifying content and approach. VAMP also manage and work with top black UK content creators.

Erstwhile plumbing apprentice and now regular media commentator/ motivational speaker, Charlie Mullins OBE, is the archetypal entrepreneur. Launching his business from scratch in 1979, Charlie subsequently built Pimlico Plumbers into a multi-million-pound enterprise, which he then sold to the world’s largest home services franchisor, USbased Neighbourly, in 2021. He was awarded an OBE for services to plumbing in the 2014 Queen’s New Year’s Honours and his autobiography, Bog Standard Business was published in 2015.

Daniel Priestley

Founder, Dent Global & ScoreApp, Entrepreneur Of The Year ’22, x4 Best Selling Author

Daniel Priestley is the Founder of Dent Global and ScoreApp, Entrepreneur Of The Year ’22, x4 Best Selling Author. Daniel is a leading authority in scaling businesses. His reputation and extensive experience with his own companies have seen him advising for inc500 leaders and unicorn Entrepreneurs as well as appearing regularly in the media. Starting with nothing, Daniel has built valuable and scalable businesses in Australia, UK, US/ Canada and Singapore. Dan’s Mission is to develop Entrepreneurs who stand out, scale-up and make a positive impact in the world.

Charlie Mullins OBE

Founder & former CEO, Pimlico Plumbers

Cassandra Donovan

Emma Sayle Founder, CEO, Speaker

Emma is one of the UK’s leading female entrepreneurs’. She made her name launching the global female empowerment brand Killing Kittens in 2005, now incorporated into the KK Group with over 150,000 members having launched events across the US, Australia and Europe and has grown online into an online community network with empowering women at its core. The press have pronounced her a leader at the cutting edge of the new dawn of female liberation.

Flavilla Fongang Award-winning serial entrepreneur

Flavilla Fongang is an awardwinning serial entrepreneur, and an international multilingual keynote speaker. She is the founder of 3 Colours Rule, an award-winning branding and marketing agency specialising in the technology sector. Flavilla was awarded the “She’s Mercedes” businesswoman award by Mercedes Benz among women such as Sheryl Sandberg, the COO of Facebook. She is the author of “99 Strategies to get customers”. She is also the founder of Global Tech Advocates – Black Women in Tech, one of the fastest-growing and largest communities of black women in tech.

Jackie Fast Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Former Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Media Disrupter of the Year recipient, Jackie Fast is no stranger in utilising change to amplify growth. She directs leaders on how to succeed through the power of sponsorship in the current era of disruptive media fragmentation.Arriving from Canada in 2007 with the intent to backpack Europe, Jackie ended up staying in London and launching her career. Her first business – Slingshot Sponsorship – was started in her bedroom in 2010 with just a laptop and £2,000. A relentless 6 years later with offices worldwide, Jackie sold Slingshot for millions, having worked with notable international clients including Sir Richard Branson, the Rolling Stones, Shell, Red Bull and many more.

Kim Antoniou Founder & CEO, Auris Tech

Kim is a passionate and tenacious award winning entrepreneur with a proven track record in converting negative real life experiences into creative innovative tech solutions for good and positive impact. As the founder and CEO of Auris Tech and its flagship app, Fonetti, Kim has developed a patented Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) engine designed specifically for reading with the intent to improve literacy, support English language practice and basically promote a love for reading for pleasure around the world. She is also the brand ambassador and co-founder of Kafoodle, the awardwinning kitchen management software platform for the foodservice, health and education sectors.

Joseph Valente CEO, Trade Mastermind

Joseph Valente was the winner of the BBC TV show The Apprentice in 2015 and entered a 50-50 partnership with Lord Sugar. Valente bought back Lord Sugar’s shares in 2017 and regained 100% of his business ImpraGas which he later sold. His bestselling book “Expelled from the Classroom to Billionaire Boardroom” received rave reviews and reached was an overnight best seller. In 2018, Forbes recognised Valente in their Forbes 30 under 30 list. In 2020 Joseph founded Trade Mastermind, a dedicated construction coach and sole traders mentorship and training programme helping to take trades business to six and seven figures enterprises.

Lara Morgan Founder, investor & entrepreneur

Lara Morgan is a British entrepreneur with a track record of delivering exceptional accelerated growth. Her investment strategy in wellbeing products primarily is pinned to improving life’s journey. Investing as a family office she has a portfolio of seven consumer services businesses which she works to drive sales, leadership and innovation. She is an inspirational leader with a legacy of building world-class teams and aligning organisations behind a clear strategy.

Matt Jones CEO, Rebel Lion Advertising

Matt Jones, Founder and CEO, Rebel Lion Advertising. As Founder and CEO of Rebel Lion Advertising, Matt is spearheading an ambitious acquisition journey to become the largest independent agency group in the UK. This will be the second time he has delivered on his aim, having sold S3 Advertising in a management buyout in 2019. A multi award-winning entrepreneur, Matt has won several national awards for both himself and his businesses. These include the prestigious Great British Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Creative industry in 2017, 2018 and 2019 plus industry awards issued by The Drum and the RAR Digital Awards.

Michael Hayman MBE DL Entrepreneur, author & broadcaster; Chair & CoFounder, Seven Hills

Michael is an entrepreneur and author. He co-founded the campaigns firm Seven Hills & co-authored Mission (Penguin). He is Chair of the Small Business Charter, the mark of excellence for small business leadership education in UK business schools. He is also Chair of Entrepreneurs at the private bank and wealth manager Coutts.

Piers Linney Founder and CEO, Moblox

Piers is an entrepreneur and investor with experience across a range of sectors including technology, converged communications, and additive manufacturing. He is the Founder and CEO of Moblox, a next generation technology and business tools platform for UK small business owners. Piers is well-known as a champion of entrepreneurship and SMEs and a regular media commentator and is probably best known as a former Dragon investor on BBC 2’s Dragons’ Den and from Channel 4’s The Secret Millionaire.

Rajeeb Dey MBE Founder & CEO, Learnerbly

Rajeeb Dey MBE is the Founder & CEO of Learnerbly — an awardwinning Performance Enablement Platform. With Learnerbly, highgrowth companies can ensure their employees have the knowledge required to achieve business goals with curated content from over 250 providers including coaches, online courses, articles, videos and books. Prior to this, he founded Enternships, a portal connecting students and graduates to roles in over 7000 fast-growing businesses. He is also the Co-Founder of StartUp Britain, a national entrepreneurship campaign launched by Prime Minister David Cameron in 2011, and served as Trustee of UnLtd, the Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs for over 10 years.

Richard Bearman Managing Director Small Business Lending, British Business Bank

Richard has over 20 years’ experience in the banking sector and over that time has developed a real passion for working with and supporting entrepreneurs. Richard is a Managing Director at the British Business Bank and is responsible for the Start Up Loans programme. Over the past year Richard also led the Covid-19 emergency Bounce Back Loan Scheme and has recently set up a Financial Crime team and Assurance and Insight team at the British Business Bank.

Scott English Brand Director, CEMG

Scott is an entrepreneur, investor and speaker in the entrepreneur media industry and has been for the last 20 years. Currently Director at CEMG the combined publishing and events brand behind Elite Business, Elite Business Live and Elite Franchise, expanding it’s purview to include a range of content for supporting SME fast-track growth companies and digital marketing solutions. He is an experienced host and speaker and known face in entrepreneurial circles. A regular judge for National Business Awards, Growing Business Awards and most recently Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

Simone Roche MBE Founder, Northern Power Women

Simone Roche MBE is founder of Northern Power Women, the PoWEr Up Collective CIC and the PoWEr Platform. A community of 95,000, organically grown by Simone herself that spans all sectors, genders and socio-economic groups. She also founded the largest celebration of gender equality in Europe: The Northern Power Women Awards celebrating role models and trailblazers. The PoWEr Collective has enabled 25k conversations and created £1.25m in social value through running PoWEr Up Mentoring & Networking sessions open to all. Simone has been recognised on the Yahoo Finance Heroes List 2018, 19, 20 and awarded the IOD NW Chairs award for excellence in 2020.

Sophie Milliken MBE CEO, Moja Group

Sophie Milliken is founder and CEO at Moja Group. Moja work with entrepreneurs and senior executives to amplify their personal profiles and become known authorities in their industries. A multi award-winning businesswoman and proud mum, Sophie also enjoys supporting the North East region. Sophie is a supporter of Northern Power Women and co-founder of City Ladies Networking. She is Chair of Smart Works Newcastle and has achieved huge success delivering the aim of doubling the number of unemployed women supported with interview clothing and coaching across the North East and securing Sara Davies MBE as the charity’s ambassador. In June 2021, Sophie became a Founding Ambassador for Every Child Needs a Mentor.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

The Gen Z Club 100

The Gen Z Club is a growth-based network for the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs bridging the gap between corporations and these individuals.

TG Consulting 99

TG Consulting is an independent  consultancy that specialises in connecting educators, students and employers. Our ethos is to connect, collaborate and create.

Rexmart Accountancy Services 98

At Rexmart Accountancy Services Limited we provide a comprehensive range of accounting services for companies across Croydon – from general bookkeeping and tax returns to VAT.

Blue Moxie 97

Blue Moxie specialises in SEO and digital marketing, providing services like website design and content creation. They help businesses reach their online goals by driving more site traffic and improving their search engine rankings.

TECHGIANT 96

TECHGIANT is a refreshingly vibrant ICT Cloud Consultancy. We guarantee buyer certainty by bringing the entire ICT marketplace to you.

EARTHY® TIMBER 95

Using unique, developed in house wood processing and drying technology, EARTHY® TIMBER transforms fungal, cancerous, infected timber into healthy, luxurious, and modern, functional art furniture.

Handmade by Tinni 94

Handmade by Tinni is a bold, colourful ethical design brand for modern fashionistas who love expressing their personality with unusual, statement accessory pieces.

The Bigger Ball 93

The Bigger Ball- Driving Sustainability in Golf- working with likeminded brands to develop products which change the way we look at the game we love.

Tiwani Heritage 92

Tiwani Heritage is a conscious beauty brand providing beautiful recyclable textured hair extensions, and empowering customers to be authentically themselves while making sustainable choices.

Surreal 91

Surreal, launched in 2022, is a high protein zero sugar cereal that tastes likes the cereal you enjoyed growing up but without any of the junk.

LMNts Marketing 90

LMNts Marketing is a lean full service sales funnel marketing agency located in Frodsham, Cheshire. We believe in collaboration and innovation through knowledge sharing.

Cyd Connects 89

Cyd Connects is a women-led sustainability consultancy helping businesses become a force for good by embedding sustainability frameworks that increase positive environmental and social impact.

Wilkinson Accounting Solutions 88

Wilkinson Accounting Solutions is an accounting and consultancy firm, offering virtual finance and CFO services. We specialise in working with business acquisitions, or growing firms looking to build their exit plans.

Unicorn Orange

Unicorn Orange is an agency that helps brands across all categories, grow on Amazon. They provide full-service account management, advertising services and strategic consulting, supported by their custom-built tools.

Unicorn Orange was founded by Sarah Sweet, who previously worked at Amazon’s London HQ, managing the accounts of many of the world’s largest brands. Sarah helped generate over £60m in sales and is well versed on its inner workings and how to succeed on the platform.

Co-Founder and husband, Ed, a Chartered Accountant, brings over 10 years' of experience analysing and modelling business performance, applying this to Amazon by building data-first client

growth strategies.

Based in London, the Unicorn Orange team have over 35 years of Amazon experience and can troubleshoot and support across all areas, ensuring the smooth running of their accounts.

The team consists of Account Managers who are the eyes and ears of the accounts and PPC specialists who design and implement winning advertising strategies, with both supported by graphic designers and copywriters who build high performing client listings and marketing materials.

The team believe their secret sauce is their granular approach to dissecting and improving performance, which they can do quickly using their custom-built tools.

be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

BOOM & Partners 86

BOOM & Partners is an award-winning boutique sector-agnostic business consultancy firm that works with earlystage businesses and SMEs to grow and scale.

Groe Global

We are Groe Global. A forwardthinking, forward-moving ‘Home to Modern Franchising’ - always with social impact in mind. Our years of multi-sector expertise give us the edge in helping clients stay ahead of the curve. We will lead you to accelerated business growth through unconventional, out-ofthe-box thinking.

Franchise Management

With our Franchise Support Formula, we add massive value and lower the cost of managing your network. Whether we become your support team or support your support team with our highly advanced Franchisee Management Protocol, we’ve got your back.

Franchise Marketing

Our Franchise Marketing services have been developed and tested within the franchising industry, which means we have an unrivalled understanding of what works and what doesn't.

Global Expansion

Going Global is one of the great ambitions of many a franchise brand. Whether you need an advisor or development team, or as some of our clients prefer, a fully managed international service, Groe Global has a solution to suit you.

Social Impact

We founded the Foundation for Franchising in Africa (FFiA) to empower women in Africa, by leading franchise brands in their international expansion. Through FFiA, we aim to pioneer mass social mobility and empower individuals, families, and communities.

Let Groe Global kick-start your systems today.

➔ groeglobal.com

Wunder 84

The world’s first fully verified social network that helps users to do good, on the go;  Wunder is filled with entertaining content alongside a unique seamless inapp gifting mechanic that lets you earn, and give, while you scroll.

Rochelle White Agency 83

Rochelle White Agency uses cultural intelligence, innovation, and creativity to place brands at the heart of youth street culture. That’s exactly what we do!

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

The Vanilla Pod Bakery

A City Law Firm

Established 15 years ago, this is an award winning Legal 500 practice which offers specialist areas of law, an exciting an array of clients and experienced innovative lawyers.

Our clients are a mix of fintech and regulated companies undergoing merges and sales; disruptive technology businesses undergoing investments; franchises and high net worth entrepreneurs running a number of start-ups and scale-ups. The firm’s culture and ethos is to support clients throughout their entire journey from start-up to exit. This is very important to us and we work hard to nurture and develop our relationships. We offer transparency regarding costs

throughout and, where possible, offer services at a fixed fee and payment plans over 12months.

We are continually looking for alternative and innovative ways of helping clients, especially since many are disruptive technology businesses. This may be monthly retainer plans; hosting masterclasses or sitting on the board and running programmes such as the Female Founders Growth programme. We take a progressive approach, using commercial and lateral thinking to present clients with all the options: the pros, the cons and the risks associated with each. Our creative approach to problem solving has won us awards in the industry and our founder was given freedom of the city for our innovative and equality work.

The Vanilla Pod Bakery, based in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is a luxury cake company specialising in bespoke wedding cakes and show stopping birthday cakes.

Alvarium Talent 80

Alvarium Talent are experts in talent acquisition for consultancies, providing embedded talent acquisition and executive search solutions as well as expert-led advisory and transformation.

KeyNest 79

KeyNest is the largest global keyholding network. Our 4,000 KeyNest Points help to securely store and exchange keys locally.

Climate X 78

Climate X is an award-winning climate risk data provider helping organisations assess the probability and severity of weather events (flood, subsidence, extreme heat, etc.).

OK Positive 77

OK Positive provides real-time engagement, support and analytics that allow organisations to identify the root causes of staff turnover, sick leave and low retention rates.

Mintago 76

Mintago is the UK's most complete and inclusive financial wellbeing solution. We help businesses adapt and support their employees in these changing economic conditions.

Pawprint 75

Pawprint is a Climate Action Platform allowing companies to embed sustainability goals across the organisation and accelerate their journey to net zero.

Strategic Content Marketing 74

Strategic marketing consulting for smart businesses who want to grow more and spend less.

We’ll

select events in 2023. We

livestream the programmes for free

guaranteed unforgettable moments

Are you ready? For the best seats in the house. The best acts in the world and exclusive events. Become a Club Wembley member today. Find out more about joining and choose from six options to find your perfect membership.

BNR Global Supply Group

unparalleled commitment, they support a variety of commercial and bespoke solutions through joint venture or acting as an exclusive Master Global distributor. BNR are continuously striving to find the very best in alternative sustainable solutions. For example, as part of their acclaimed SANI chemical solution range they offer SANI AMANZI™, a cuttingedge point-of-use water purifying solution that combats water contamination and pollution.

& chlorine-free disinfectant in the world.

Lastly,  SANI-99 for AGRI™; a world class disinfectant designed for livestock husbandry, is nontoxic, multi-purpose with a class-leading lasting efficacy of over 3-months. The product has been widely praised across the agricultural sector compared to other commercially available disinfectants that are highly toxic and fail to meet efficacy standards.

BNR was founded in 2020 with the aim of introducing the latest in cutting edge envirotech solutions to the global market. By placing sustainability at the heart of their business and an

SANI-99™, an eco-friendly and safe disinfectant that can be used on hard surfaces or as a hand sanitiser, is effective in killing 99.99995% of pathogens, making it the most powerful non-alcohol

Ellis Gin, (ELJ Drinks Ltd) 72

Ellis Gin produce a range of well-crafted Boutique Scottish Gins. Standing out by bringing fun, colour and great taste to a very popular gin market.

NextUp Comedy 71

NextUp is a streaming service for standup comedy, featuring live-streams from comedy clubs, alongside an exclusive library of comedy specials.

The DM Lab 70

The DM Lab, (The Digital Marketing Laboratory) is a design and digital marketing agency based in Herefordshire. However, we are so much more than that, with a heavy focus on supporting businesses around us to succeed by delivering results. With client success comes business success.

With this success we immerse ourselves into the local community, supporting those without the financial reach to hire us as a company. Leading by example, we help develop grassroots clubs, charities and events as part of an active corporate social responsibility drive.

This is pursued by the directors’ personal passion for everything local, over financial gain. Role

models for both staff and other businesses, ensuring wellbeing in the workplace and sustainability are reflected and encouraged throughout the business from top level directors to junior staff and apprentices; lending our expertise to a higher education organisation and veterans, helping a wide range of people.

The DM Lab are strong advocates of corporate responsibility and are committed to supporting the local community. Heavily involved with a number of community endeavours, they help businesses grow and are in a strong position to offer their expertise within the community by supporting local sports clubs, events and organisations.

Audiomob 69 68

Asquith

The original, ethical, activewear brand, made from plant-based fabrics, designed for yoga, Pilates, and living. We’ve put people and planet first since 2002.

Audiomob

offers game developers and advertisers a non-intrusive monetization solution for mobile games.

Famn

Famn is a father, daughter partnership and start-up, focused on the development of emotional intelligence, self-awareness and leadership, through 1:2:1 and group coaching.

Many people go through their life and careers without much thought as to who they are; what makes them good, what holds them back, and how they may be perceived. Famn invite their clients to explore their habitual patterns and, through a deepening of emotional intelligence and selfawareness, learn to disrupt the patterns that no longer serve them. This ultimately makes for better leadership, better organisational culture and more contented human beings.

Famn was created on the belief that high quality, psychologicallygrounded coaching is a cornerstone of inclusion and diversity, and at the core of their business is the mission to democratise coaching through their latest offering, Famn Flex.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

Essentialise 65 66

Essentialise is a workplace wellbeing and inclusion agency. They support HR teams building strategies and deliver bespoke training solutions.

DDC Solutions 64

DDC Solutions creates bespoke tech solutions to support the construction industry to plan and deliver projects, without increased costs, risks, waste and environmental impact.

Volume99

Volume99 is an all-in-one marketing platform that specialises in growing an audience on social media, managing client interactions, and managing marketing campaigns.

Doqaru

➔

Doqaru was launched in November 2018, the result of a merger between two female entrepreneurs - Sarah Downs and Yekemi Otaru - to align sales and marketing for complex industries. Such industries include

manufacturing, energy and engineering.

We have adopted innovative, data-driven approaches to sales enablement, including technology that identifies critical sales competencies in B2B teams, highlighting gaps and opportunities that impact sales performance. As the only Scottish company accredited to use this technology, we can provide greater certainty on sales performance, with a 92% predictive validation rate on the performance of new sales hires.

enablement consultancy. Our mission is to drive more predictable sales performance for B2B sales functions.

Since our launch, we have worked with over 100 growth-minded businesses across 11 countries. We deliver reputable services by first gaining a deep understanding of our clients' businesses through data, industry knowledge, and strategic insights.

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conXhub 62

conXhub is a cellular software company. Patented technology combines data and cellular - from a single mobile device to an international call-centre infrastructure. Contract-free

conXhub adds functionality to existing handset and carrier contracts – from an extra mobile number, to business landlines and free overseas calling – from your current mobile phone. We guarantee the best quality and highest reliability, with the lowest cost and highest feature set.

We combine the best of VoIP and Carrier technologies using our proprietary software and independent infrastructure to create simple but highly effective products that make a difference to productivity, safety, flexibility and bills. We are carrier agnostic

and our App/Services will work regardless of your hardware choice or current contract.

The conXhub technology is enabled by our own private cloud. We have been a registered Internet Service Provider since 2021 and suffer from no bandwidth issues – meaning crystal clear calls and no outages. The infrastructure contains multiple POP servers around the world, with a unique and automatic call-rerouting system.

We have a uniquely modular and flexible approach – evident in our core products that will drive

conXhub growth over 2023:

Landline Cellular – move your landline to your mobile, contractfree.

VIP Safety First – protect yourself online and in person. Overseas Calling – call anywhere for free.

Superphone/Business Suite –functionality for lone wolves or international call centres.

Verification Services – simple and cost-effective.

Pop-up Callcentre – communicate from anywhere.

conXhub addresses the Data Communications market, currently worth $150 billion, with revenues expected to reach $350 billion by 2032. The driving forces behind this expansion are the proliferation of mobile devices and the rapid rise in flexible working. Join us, satisfaction is guaranteed.

Aria Care Home

by decisive action and innovation as our population continues to grow older. Aria’s founder, Ali Al-Mufti, entered the industry at a younger age to his peers, and through his unique experience plans to rapidly expand the company to create a care model fit for the future that utilises machine learning AI.

Aria Care Home is a small care home in South Wales founded in 2014 with big plans to be at the centre of a tectonic shift in the care of people living with dementia. The ongoing challenges faced in social care need to be met head on

Caring for people has always been about meeting their needs, but with a growing portfolio of care homes Aria will develop a preventative care model that can begin to predict potential outcomes for people that we can anticipate and prevent – leading to a longer, healthier, and more enriched quality of life for our elderly as they grow older with us.

“Aria Care Home is already a nationally multi-award winning care provider, and our innovative approach to supporting our team and residents will continue to go from strength to strength as we grow the company to support the nation,” explains Ali.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

Excel TM Group 60

➔ exceltmgroup.com

Excel TM Group specialise in construction specific telemarketing and lead generation

Formed in January 2020, just before COVID-19, Excel has gone on to be one of the UK’s fastest growing and most noticed companies in the industry. Since its establishment it has been nominated for 6 different awards including - Start-Up business of the year and Scale-Up business of the year!

What makes Excel so special is that at the time we were established and how new we were, we weren't eligible for any funding to assist with the pandemic. This means that the company has grown from one man in a back bedroom to a team of 22!

The team now consists of Business Development Managers, Team Managers, Team Leaders, Account Managers, Senior Account Managers and Head of Quality. Excel TM Group work with any company or organisation that has a product or service that falls within the construction sector and built environment. This ranges from small start-up companies and SMEs to large global organisations.

Excel’s core services include:

• Appointment Scheduling.

• CPD Scheduling.

• Framework and Supply Chain Agreements.

• Market Research.

• Product Launches.

• Events and Seminar.

Where we differ from our competition and have grown quicker than most is that we focus on the quality of our telemarketing and on delivering ROI, as opposed to just results for the sake of numbers.

We do this by sitting with clients on product and culture training and providing constant training for our team; sales can be a tedious job and it’s our job to make sure we're thinking outside the box to keep our team motivated.

In order to achieve this, we must ensure that we put our teams' wellbeing first.

This includes quarterly team building days out, monthly incentives and the Excel monthly wellbeing package.

2020 Cheshire Construction Telemarketing

Lifesaver 59

Power as a service. Lifesaver provides circular phone charging solutions. A bit like the milkman…with power banks not milk bottles!

North Sky Yurts 58

North Sky Yurts are a female founded, eco conscious yurt and bell tent hire business based in Leeds providing magical spaces for events.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

Your Business Solution

New Vodafone Pulse Connec t combines mobile, broadband and cloud calling into one bill , let ting you add and remove users , so you only pay for what you need .

Click to find out more

Disconnec t up to 20% of Mobile and up to 20% of Coll aboration w ithout ter mination fee. Mobile dev ices avail able for Ltd companies only. Min . ter m and T& Cs apply. See w w w.vodafone.co.uk /vodafonepul seconnec t

A marketing company with an interesting tale to tell for businesses

Kent Marketing 10

Marketing often feels complicated and confusing, which leads businesses to waste time and money on tactics that don’t deliver a great return.

Why not? Because marketing traditionally focuses on aggrandising the business/ product/service in order to win sales. As a result businesses spend more and work harder than ever to hit their goals.

Should marketing your business be this tough? No. But when customers can’t immediately see the value a business offers it makes it harder (and expensive) to build a connection with them.

Sonya Whittam and Julie Firth identified a prime opportunity to launch a story-focused full service marketing agency to help

organisations articulate their offer authentically so clients could engage customers faster (and win more business).

STORY22 has achieved this by focusing purely on what matters to clients’ customers and not what matters to the business.

Academic studies by psychologist Jerome Bruner show the brain engages faster when messaging is targeted at our needs – which is why STORY22 flips marketing to focus on the customer first, and always.

STORY22 utilises a story framework to do this effectively –because story has 22 x the recall power of information delivered as facts. The customer’s story acts as a filter across all their client marketing. The websites

they develop challenge the status quo by stripping out fussy menu navigation to control the narrative that customers really want to hear. The carefully curated story engages customers willingly and leads them easily through the website to the logical next steps.

STORY22 have found clients are often surprised by this paradigm shift in approach but the results speak for themselves. Time spent on page is typically up by around 50%. Sales are up by 65%. Emails opened/engaged with are at 3x the industry average rate.

Their approach makes it easier (and cost effective) for organisations to connect with customers and win business.

STORY22 was set up in 2020, just weeks before the pandemic erupted, by founders Sonya and Julie - two experienced qualified strategic marketers, now supported by a highly skilled team of 10.

STORY22 serves clients around the world, across all industries.

So what sets STORY22 apart?

It’s not rocket science – it’s highly

effective communication, pure and simple. They help organisations get better results by changing the words they use.

No smoke and mirror tactics, no complex formulas or software clients have to invest in, just a simple method that vastly improves the way businesses communicate. They then apply it across every aspect of their clients’ marketing, from their website to lead generation, email marketing, even SEO, PR and digital advertising. Their focus, however, is not solely on delivering outstanding marketing for paying clients. They go beyond that to empower businesses and non profits not yet in a position to hire their services, by showing them how to implement this for themselves. STORY22 is passionate about helping others to utilise this approach so they can understand how to engage prospects faster and communicate more effectively. The Kent-based marketing agency offers free strategy sessions, downloadable resources and webinars too. They also offer free and low cost workshop places that can help everyone from solopreneurs through to entire marketing divisions to clarify their message.

The team live and breathe the approach they take to clients’ work in their own daily operation, by standing by their ethos of putting the needs of their customers first and foremost. They offer unlimited revisions to any work and a complete money-back satisfaction guarantee, which they proudly say has never been requested.

Julie adds: “Effective marketing shouldn’t be the reserve of those with eye-watering budgets to play with. And we’re here to demonstrate it doesn’t have to be.”

We want to tell you a story

New marketing agency STORY22 offers a story-based marketing solution that has already garnered broad appeal in a variety of sectors, but its own story is really only on the first chapter…

Marketing agency start-up STORY22’s customer-focused approach aims to use the power of storytelling to create campaigns that connect with a target audience in a more effective way.

“Our work starts with the messaging,” explains co-founder Julie Firth, “as it is the foundation of everything that follows. It involves taking a deep dive into the organisation, their customers, what makes them different and how they add value to the lives of the people they exist to serve.

“From there we work with them on developing a website and sales funnel (lead generating asset and email marketing) before applying the new messaging across their marketing from social media and blogs to SEO, advertising and PR.

“We also run workshops to help sales and marketing teams understand how they can apply this approach across their pitches and proposals, their sales calls and outreach messages – the application really is endless.”

The firm’s innovative approach uses the power of storytelling to communicate value to prospective customers and persuade people with a call to action.

“We tell the marketing story from the customer’s perspective rather than from the business angle,” adds Firth.

“This means prospects connect with what you say more eagerly because they can see themselves and their own problems articulated in the story and are naturally curious to discover more.

“The secret is to keep the ‘story' clear and compelling - not to make it too long-winded or to pack it out with unnecessary jargon,” she adds. The method can basically be applied to any organisation and the firm has worked across many industries and non-profits around the world, more recently attracting clients in tech, pharmaceutical, legal and accountancy sectors.

“The beauty of it is, if you use words to market your business, this will work for you,” says Firth.

But…

“We’re not about fly-by-night businesses interested in corner cutting for rapid results. That’s not to say the results from our work take a long time to emerge, because the impact can sometimes be immediate, it’s more that we do things the right way, to create the best customer experience and set firm foundations for long term success.”

The firm is also looking to add workshops and one-to-one and small group coaching into its offering.

“Getting half a dozen businesses into a Zoom room and taking them through their messaging as a group is so exciting. The clients have a ready made focus group to test their new messaging out on and they leave with all the tools they

need to roll out their new clarified message across all areas of their marketing.

“More recently we have started working on long term training partnerships with Med Tech and Healthcare firms looking to up-skill their sales and marketing teams. We’d love to expand our work in this area and plan to build a bank of free resources (webinars/ downloads) to support these sectors.”

Internal comms is another area of potential, including helping to resolve conflict and improve transition during mergers and acquisitions through workforce storytelling workshops that focus on their roles and responsibilities in a way that becomes relatable to those around them.

Thus far, the firm has been so focused on client-side work its own brand marketing has been fairly low key, thanks to great word of mouth pick up. Firth says STORY22 will be developed gradually to ensure the business sustains high standards of delivery as it scales.

“We want to open the tap a little at a time while we build and up-skill our team,” she explains. “When we’re confident we have everything in place to deliver at scale, we will ramp our marketing up. In the meantime, our focus is very much on marketing our business through giving back – via webinars, speaking events, networking, producing free resources and website reviews.

“We tell the marketing story from the customer’s perspective rather than from the business angle,”

We’re a different type of agency with one simple mission: to let everyone in your industry know who you are.

We’ll give you new opportunities, grow your connections, and get you the recognition you deserve.

Ready to get known?

Take our three minute quiz to find out how your professional profile is already performing.

www.thisismoja.com

Talbot Jones 56

Chartered insurance brokers specialist in Third Sector and Professional risks, Talbot Jones support their communities, with excellence and integrity, to better understand and manage risks.

Sweet Lounge Group 55

Sweet Lounge is more than just confectionery. Our mission is to create the best tasting vegan sweets without compromise.

IDM Safety Solutions

➔ idmsafetysolutions.co.uk

and Islands of Scotland.

IDM Safety Solutions was created to provide new opportunities in the region and to provide businesses with practical and pragmatic safety support, not to penalise or create duress for business owners but to help identify and resolve issues and potential issues, taking a balanced and pragmatic approach and turning today's problems into tomorrow’s opportunities.

level of the supply chain, ensuring high standards are delivered at every level, innovating to provide robust solutions and trust, which underpins everything.

2022 has seen IDM take home Business to Business Services Start-up of the year for Scotland and Iain won Start-up Entrepreneur of the year for Scotland and Northern Ireland at the GBEA awards in December 2022.

IDM Safety Solutions is a multidisciplined Health and Safety services provider with full trade support.

Started in August 2020 by Iain Macphail, with only his final wage in his pocket, Iain has since then created (to date) 12 new opportunities within the Highlands

Since inception the trade element has really taken off which led Iain to create IDM Energy which will now focus on the trade and renewables work requested by IDM’s clients.

IDM is founded on Empowering our people, taking a balanced approach to work and life, being transparent with everyone at each

IDM has created 12 new jobs within the region from senior management positions, admin and trade positions to apprenticeships.

Trustist 53

Trustist help businesses accurately represent their reputation by aggregating reviews from all platforms into one easy-to-understand rating

This innovative platform is designed to be straightforward, providing a solution for easy collection and management of reviews.

Through Trustist Reviews, you get:

• More traffic to your website via the stars in natural search results - this means more sales too!

• A complete overview of your online reputation, which can be managed all from one account.

• More positive reviews with Trustist’s easy-to-use review collection tools.

TrustistTransfer

Recently, Trustist has released TrustistTransfer, a solution that uses Open Banking technology to allow merchants to make completely secure transactions, save money on fees and save time

spent on administration!

With TrustistTransfer, there's no need for card machines or the sending of confidential details to customers - it all works from your phone!

Using TrustistTransfer means merchants benefit from:

• Saving money with transaction fees up to 90%+ less than card payments.

• Keeping their business safe with 0% risk of chargebacks or fraud.

• More time to spend on their business, with a streamlined process and reduced admin time.

• Immediate increase in cash to the business with immediate settlement of funds.

TrustistEcommerce

The most recent product available through Trustist is an entirely

secure Ecommerce payments platform - TrustistEcommerce!

Similar to TrustistTransfer, this solution allows online businesses to take hassle-free payments from customers without the need to exchange bank details or enter card information!

TrustistEcommerce also completely protects the business and their customers throughout the entire transaction by using Open Banking.

With solutions for all businesses of all sizes, Trustist Reviews, TrustistTransfer and TrustistEcommerce can help your business make more sales and make yours and your customers’ lives easier.

2014

7

York Business Services

Snap Finger Click 52

Snap Finger Click is a game developer that makes inclusive multiplayer video games that can be played on Twitch.

Homethings 51

HOMETHINGS is cleaning up cleaning with its revolutionary range of waterless, refillable, single-use plastic free cleaning sprays, pods and tabs that just make sense.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

The Power Within

The Power Within Training & Development Ltd, founded by James and Enas Fleming, is a leading provider of motivational intelligence (MQ) leadership training solutions in the UK. By leveraging cutting-edge neuroscience research in cognitive and social psychology, we help individuals, teams, and organisations achieve their management and leadership goals.

Celebrating their sixth year in business, they have been named Scottish Micro Business of the Year 2022.

Our flagship offering: Leading with Motivational Intelligence, has been ranked as one of the top leadership development programs for three consecutive years.

Through its Scottish Qualification Authority (SQA) accredited courses and ground-breaking Motivational Intelligence (MQ) techniques, the company has helped thousands of business leaders across the UK achieve their goals, develop a growth mindset and achieve their true potential.

The Power Within is an awardwinning training and development consultancy with offices in Glasgow, and London, driven by family values and known for our dedication to our customer's success; we strive to be courageous, ask tough questions, be trusted, and be inspirational.

IQ & EQ cannot guarantee success in life, but MQ can!

UniTaskr is a platform where businesses hire students & grads, for a range of jobs including one-off Tasks, Internships, Part Time & Full Time positions.

Pastoral

Pastoral is digital regenerative farming software that helps dairy and livestock farmers manage and optimize their farming operations, reduce their carbon footprint, and increase profitability. The software provides farmers with the intelligence and tools to track livestock and dairy animals in real-time while automatically monitoring the animals' health.

Additionally, Pastoral allows farmers to introduce sustainable, regenerative farming methods that enable farmers to collect valuable Carbon Credits and generate Carbon Reporting data, often required to bid on new contracts.

Pastoral's easy-to-use technology works in all low-connectivity areas of the UK. It uses satellite data and

self-charging, solar-powered animal GPS sensors to collect animal information.

Designed and engineered in partnership with the United Nations, Pastoral is accessible to farmers of all income levels but rugged enough to work anywhere, making it an ideal solution for farmers in lower-income communities across the UK who struggle to introduce technology to their farms due to the significant upfront capital costs.

The UK is already one of the world's leading agricultural producers, known for its highquality and ethical production

Rarewaves 47

Rarewaves are an award winning cross border ecommerce seller of entertainment and consumer products. We retail over 1.5 million products from 150 supplier partners.

methods. Pastoral further supports these farmers and provides them with a new powerful tool for increasing their farms' efficiency, profitability, and sustainability.

Caura 46

Caura is an all-in-one app for UK drivers that simplifies bookings and payments for emission charges, tolls, MOTs, vehicle tax, car insurance and soon… parking.

ScoreApp 45

➔ scoreapp.com

Knowing the score when it comes to improving marketing results, ScoreApp's digital model is designed to support growing businesses anywhere in the world

2019 Hertfordshire Tech 16

In 2015, Daniel Priestley enlisted the help of Steve Oddy’s digital agency to develop an online assessment/quiz to better understand his audience and improve marketing results. This strategy was a stand-out success and generated over 90,000 qualified leads resulting in over £15M of sales.

A number of businesses noticed the campaign and wanted to replicate the experience for

their business. Each new referral was then built from scratch on wordpress and required a considerable investment of time and planning to launch.

In 2019, Steven and Daniel realised the potential to create a platform that would automate the majority of the work at a fraction of the cost. It could allow businesses to create an online assessment, quiz or interactive scorecard in a matter of hours rather than weeks. It would also give businesses access to data driven insights that most small companies have never had access to.

ScoreApp was launched in 2019 as powerful marketing software that helps businesses attract warm, qualified leads. With ScoreApp, you can create engaging quiz campaigns that capture the attention of your target audience and encourage them to take action. A person logging into ScoreApp will discover it is easy and fast

to build an assessment or quiz. The portal consists of tools for building a beautiful landing page, a questionnaire with a scoring system, a dynamic results page and a set of promotional tools and data insights. Very rapidly a ScoreApp client can build and launch an online scorecard that delivers instant value to clients and collects relevant information for the business.

ScoreApp is a digital business designed to support growing businesses anywhere in the world. Globally over 100m small-medium sized businesses could utilise ScoreApp in their marketing approach. Any business that currently has a blog, a YouTube channel, a podcast or has built an online community would use ScoreApp to engage their audience, collect more data, qualify sales leads and make sales. ScoreApp clients are coaches, consultants, advisors, fitness professionals, healthcare providers, financial planners, property developers,

training and education businesses and beyond.

Small businesses typically make up 50% of the economy and almost all employment growth comes from the SME sector. This sector is at risk of being massively disrupted by technology that allows big businesses to harness data. When big businesses collect data they can customise and personalise the experience they deliver to customers. Traditionally small businesses compete on these terms and are losing their edge.

ScoreApp has created a marketing approach that brings powerful technology to small businesses giving them the power to collect and harness data that drives sales. Quiz marketing is a strategy that involves using quizzes as a way to engage with and attract potential customers for a business. By offering a quiz on a relevant topic, businesses can capture the attention of their target audience and start a conversation with them.

Data received from the scorecard can be used to start relevant sales conversations, feed into marketing

initiatives and be used to create products and services that your ideal customer needs. Better leads, more data, more sales.

Each step of the Scorecard marketing journey includes:

1. Create scorecard landing page.

2. Create your questions.

3. Insert scoring logic.

4. Customise the results page.

5. Generate an offer/CTA.

6. Connect your CRM.

7. Promote your scorecard.

8. Leverage the leads and data for marketing & sales.

ScoreApp has over 2,650 customers, a celebrated support team and multiple awards to date. If you are a service based business and want to discover if Scorecard Marketing is right for you then join ScoreApp for a free trial today!

"Celebrating the start of a new week with our very first £7.5K sale from a scorecard lead"

Karen Skidmore

Celebrity clients include Jay Shetty, Lewis Howes and Marie Forleo.

The generation game

lead-generation technology ScoreApp has plans to reach a new army of subscribers with continued development and enhancements including AI. CEO, Steven Oddy, explained more…

Sales

In a world of increasingly sophisticated technology solutions, lead generation has never been simpler and…at the same time, more complex.

Storing information is a simple click away but gathering information still requires ingenuity, skill and creativity.

ScoreApp uses a quiz-based format to generate warm leads and make sales.

The ScoreApp technology was created by CEO Steven Oddy, who ran development agency So Technology, in 2019 and is now in a period of growth and expansion.

“I ran a dev agency for around 12 years,” says Oddy, “where we used to design and build web and mobile applications for our clients.

“One particular type of project kept cropping up, essentially a quiz or an assessment that generates dynamic results and feedback, and it was a big hit amongst our entrepreneurial clients trying to generate leads and make more sales. And it was something myself and the team were also passionate about.

“We would bespoke them every time and they'd cost around £10k each. It became obvious to me that it should be a platform whereby people can set them up themselves, point and click, very quickly and with a much lower price tag. So we created a new company in 2019, raised some investment, hired a dedicated engineering team and set about building the platform. V1 officially launched to customers in summer 2020.”

Oddy stresses that ScoreApp is not a “Swiss Army Knife” solution and is only focused on sales and leads.

“We do one thing really well, as opposed to being average at lots of things. There are no doubt many other platforms out there for data collection, form builders, quiz builders etc. But we have very much focused on a specific, tried and tested, strategy around using quizzes to generate leads and make more sales.

“This really helps us with not only the platform itself but all of our helps guides, content, courses,

support and marketing. So, if it’s lead generation and increasing sales that you require, you’ll dramatically increase your chances of creating a successful campaign with ScoreApp over other Swiss army knife platforms.”

The firm has adopted a “customer first” approach to developing the app, based on feedback and analytics which has led to a number of enhancements and other changes.

The app currently has around 2,600 paying subscribers with about 600 additional in trial. This year it expects to double to 5,000 and double again next year to 10,000.

Meanwhile, generative AI has exploded since the preview release of ChatGPT. The technology is expected to revolutionise many industries but certainly marketing, where generating content and ideas has historically been difficult, time consuming and high cost.

“We’re currently working hard to add this technology into the platform which will dramatically decrease the time it takes our customers to set things up,” says Oddy. “We’ve always been proud of our quick and easy to use UX but there has been no way of getting around the fact that writing things like landing pages, questions and results feedback is time consuming. Until now.”

“For the first year or so we had a long list of ‘features’ that we felt our platform had to have in order to be of high value to our customers,” explains Oddy.

“Our attitude has definitely evolved over time to focus on ensuring customers get value from the product as quickly as possible. Sometimes this even means removing features. We listen closely to customer feedback, support questions and our product analytics and really just try to focus on making things easier, quicker, and more fun.”

Adding AI functionality will be a big priority for the platform and business, with a growth target of 10,000 paying subscribers.

“Our product team has been a priority and will continue to be so, but some focus in terms of growth will shift towards sales, marketing, enterprise and partnerships.”

For sales lead generation, ScoreApp believes its quiz-based application provides the answers.

“Our attitude has definitely evolved over time to focus on ensuring customers get value from the product as quickly as possible”

44 ➔ cariadmarketing.com

Cariad Marketing

Cariad Marketing is a boutique digital marketing agency based in Hertfordshire.

Our purpose is simple. To help small businesses outperform their online competitors.

Clients buy fixed price, results-based campaigns based on KPIs and business objectives. On a monthly basis, clients are provided with the most effective services needed to achieve their targets. This could be SEO, PPC, content, social media marketing or a brand new website.

Client ROI is Cariad’s

#1 priority, which is why our digital services are tailor made for every business. We don’t believe you need the biggest budget to be top dog on Google, and we will never try to sell you anything you don’t need.

Our award-winning combination of talent, creative and strategic expertise, combined with a transparent, empathetic and ethical approach is why our clients love us so much. And we love delighting our clients!

From small beginnings to Top 100 Cariad was founded by Justine Perry in February 2009, following a career in national media. From the beginning, she was determined to differentiate Cariad from other digital agencies. With a mission to ethically generate results for clients online through sustainable long term growth, Cariad Marketing’s upward trajectory continues to this day.

Hello Lamp Post

onHand

The first company to build an engagement platform for any public space. Creating better places for people. Easier, quicker and more cost-efficient engagement.

Your all-in-one tool to engage employees in volunteering and sustainability action. Helping teams fight climate change and deliver social good across poverty, mentoring, elderly help and more.

UMATR

across 24 countries. Their client base already includes notable companies such as ITV, Sky, eBay, Ticketmaster, Bridgewater, Clearscore, and Crunchbase. 31% of the people they have supported have been from underrepresented backgrounds, which is a reflection of their commitment to diversity and inclusion.

UMATR is a technology recruitment company that has been rapidly growing since being founded. Their mission is to guide businesses with their hiring plans in a post-Covid world, by supporting them to attract Software Engineers

Led by New Entrepreneur of the Year, Mitchell Franklin, UMATR was born out of the desire of putting people back at the centre, not only for their clients and candidates, but for their own team as well. The company is relationship-led

and value-driven, which is evident in the team's efforts to travel the world meeting clients, sponsoring conferences, and co-hosting events. From New York to Krakow, from Toronto to Paris. They have even recently expanded internationally by launching their second office in Dubai in less than two years since founding.

The team have no plans to slow down, with an ambitious end goal of building their own technology that will remove unconscious bias and streamline hiring processes. Mitchell's personal goal is to solve homelessness within the UK.

Rogers McHugh Recruitment is a specialist agency operating in Construction, Facilities Management and Business Support. We provide all solutions offering temporary, permanent fixed term solutions.

Rogers McHugh Recruitment

Urban Paws UK

With 8,000+ animals on its books and clients including Aldi, Gucci and Disney, Urban Paws UK (UPUK) is a first-of-its-kind pet agency offering 5-star customer service and absolute commitment to ethics.

Just 7 years ago, CEO Layla Flaherty spotted a gap in the market and created Urban Paws UK. An Agency that acts as the liaison between pet owners and clients, and is responsible for ensuring the safety & welfare of all pets first & foremost and everyone involved, by running checks on owners and animals, and providing responsible handlers on set.

Despite sceptics insisting her idea couldn’t work outside London, Layla founded her agency in 2015 to provide the animal talent needed

in the film and TV industry.

She'd ensure:

• animals were treated ethically

• owners were paid fairly

• clients had the best talent to choose from.

Starting with dogs, UPUK quickly defied odds to become the first to provide all types of animals – from alpacas to hedgehogs – including those with physical deformities.

UPUK was also the first to use pet influencers regularly commanding five-figure sums!

Now with animals in household commercials, West End shows, and music videos with Rihanna, Urban Paws (UK) is THE go-to agency for brands wanting to add anything from cats to camels to campaigns.

As one of its 5-star Google Reviews says: ‘WOW! WOW!’

Satago 38

Helping enterprises grow by focusing on their core competencies via end-to-end cash flow solutions

Founded in 2012, Satago’s ethos remains unchanged - to help businesses focus on their core competencies - by taking control of their cash flow.

We’ve made it our mission to provide a software-agnostic, industry-leading, end-to-end solution that answers the cash flow needs of any business, regardless of size, industry, or ambition.

Today, Satago works with both businesses - and the accountants who advise them - to avoid credit risks, improve debtor management and access invoice finance when they need it – all within one platform.

Satago integrates with 300+

cloud accounting apps in one click, helping businesses:

• Get paid on time - with automated invoice chasing

• Protect against bad debt- with real time credit risk insights

• Access working capital when needed - with flexible invoice finance.

Where inefficient, manual credit control once existed, Satago built an automated platform that radically improves debtor day numbers, reducing them by up to 72%.

Our Risk Insights tool integrates into Companies House and a Credit Bureau Agency via API, allowing customers to pull full and basic

credit reports and receive realtime notifications on changes in credit score, breaches or overdue invoices.

Our Invoice Finance feature brings the Invoice Finance concept into the digital era. Satago remains the only Invoice Finance UK provider offering both full and single invoice finance in a seamlessly interchangeable package.

We’re the first to offer a complete Lending as a Service (LaaS) platform for invoice finance in the UK, a fully digitised end to end solution, launched and piloted with strategic partners including Sage and a leading UK bank.

Our partnership with Sage expands their existing product range to include Invoice Financing as an embedded option to their customers. This is the first of its kind in the UK; a truly embedded Invoice Finance platform delivered through an Accounting Software Provider.

Satago is also integrating our entire technology stack into a leading UK commercial bank. This will remove the traditional barriers and intricacies of invoice finance to allow UK SMEs leverage their debtor book in a seamless fashion.

These partnerships underpin our mission to revolutionise invoice finance, and make it accessible to all, regardless of size or sector.

Swoop is a business funding and savings platform enabling businesses to discover the right funding solutions across loans, equity and grants, and to identify and easily make savings - all in one fell swoop.

Founded in 2018, the AngloIrish company grew through the pandemic by giving businesses access to government help via the CBILS and RLS initiatives. As part of the leadership’s ambitious growth strategy, offices have also opened up in Sydney, Australia and Toronto, Canada, with further plans for expansion in 2023.

Since the end of lockdowns,

Swoop has also grown its capabilities in helping business owners sell equity in their companies, built a first class commercial mortgage team and launched Swoop for Brokers and Swoop for Advisors, giving financial professionals the tools to serve their clients better in a digital age.

Swoop works with over 1,000 funding providers from mainstream banks, alternative lenders, venture capital funds, SEIS/EIS funds, angel investors and grant agencies, meaning that whatever your funding requirement, Swoop is able to offer a solution.

The company uses open banking

technology to show customers potential savings on products such as banking, foreign exchange, utilities, and insurance. All of this is done automatically through bespoke technology coupled with Swoop’s team of experts.

Highlights include CEO and cofounder Andrea Reynolds being named one of Success Pitchers magazine’s Most Successful Business Women to Watch in 2022; being awarded £7.5m in grants by the Banking Competition Remedies (BCR) scheme; named in the “Hot Ten” list for the Global Fintech 50 for 2019 and Winner: New Statesman Positive Impact on the High Street Award 2022.

ORB X has created a platform which combines its own private built applications with human intelligence to reduce the complexity for brands seeking to scale eCommerce and merchandise initiatives globally. The results are a reduction in operating cost and increased conversion.

Incorporated in the heart of London’s Smithfield Market in July 2019, ORB X has gone from zero to £8m turnover in a flash, supporting brands including INEOS Automotive, British Gymnastics, Jo Malone and GSK, to deliver operational excellence in strategic sourcing and eCommerce. ORB X is proud to be a foundation member of the Ethical Trading Institute, a member of SEDEX and has been awarded Ecovardis status.

ORB X exists simply to make eCommerce easier in a complex world. There are many reasons why a brand may struggle to scale their eCommerce operation from the cost of goods to high final-mile charges, from product design to supplier sourcing, from product safety to quality control, from poor user experience to low web-shop engagement…the list goes on.

ORB X technology is underpinned by its proprietary THINK, MAKE, SELL, MANAGE methodology. The principle is simple, we have all the skills in-house to help clients plan and implement their entire eCommerce operation. Once live, we implement the relevant applications to drive traffic, sales conversion and retention. Where required, we can then shift and change the resource and fee structure, reducing operating cost whilst increasing profitability.

After 6 months of incorporation, ORB X won global projects supporting Estee Lauder,

Unilever and Ren Skincare, with international supply chain projects which require strategic knowledge of merchandise manufacture, ethical compliance, quality control and global fulfilment. On the back of this, ORB X was approached by Thomas Cook seeking a global partner to outsource a £1m per annum kids club operation. This was a game changer for ORB X.

After reading the Thomas Cook RFP, we noticed we were only being asked to manage half of the entire project. When asked, the client had assumed that we did not have the capability in-house to manage the whole initiative. Over 6 long months, we took the opportunity to show the client we could manage the entire project end-toend as a one-stop-solution. We demonstrated we could deliver a much wider scope including the full design and build of the global webshop, merchandise concept, design, manufacture, compliance, quality control, photography, copywriting, language versioning, marketing performance, global distribution, order management, 24/7 customer services and final mile delivery including the management of all duties and taxes.

Over the last 24 months, ORB X has converted similar projects with INEOS Automotive, British Gymnastics, FitXR and Phil Smith Haircare. It had become clear that there are many brands who

have a fantastic opportunity to benefit from eCommerce but do not have the operational ability to implement a scalable model. Our application-based technology platform works with both Shopify and other open-source platforms to allow brands to manage global expansion without the need to hire global logistics, accountants, or customs experts.

In the last 6 months, ORB X has been super-charged working with several global brands, one of which has used the ORB X platform to deliver a global employee programme allowing over 70,000 employees in 258 locations to engage with a major rebrand. Over 500,000kgs of plastic was removed from the oceans as a result.

This year, ORB X continues to evolve its proprietary technology offering with a focus on enabling ethical commerce. In June 2023, we will launch version 2 of our technology platform to incorporate applications which manage the virtualisation of merchandise and charitable donations, ocean plastics supply chain management, global recommerce and branded-ondemand product sourcing.

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

It’s time to run your own business on your own terms.

As a new year begins, we want to offer you the opportunity to put your best foot forward and create something meaningful. Discover thousands of acquisitions opportunities in different industries at uk.businessesforsale.com/uk/search or scan the QR code below.

Altnets 35

Altnets are the UK's leading telecoms procurement specialists. Offering ISPs consultancy, design, specification, procurement, supply chain management, planning, and scheduling.

RareCan 34

RareCan uses technology to connect people with rarer cancers to the resources and tools they need, and to researchers to accelerate discovery of new treatments.

terptree 33

terptree works with some of the largest global brands to create a world class deaf employee and customer experience.

London’s business environment drives the entire UK economy. With one in five businesses located in London and a total of 940,000 businesses located within the South East representing 34% of all UK businesses (source: ONS).

LondonlovesBusiness can help you promote your business and reach thousands of potential customers.

A dedicated London network of:

Small businesses

Tech innovators

Talent champions

Affluent business focused investors

Commercial and residential investment opportunities

www.londonlovesbusiness.com

advertising@londonlovesbusiness.com

020 7862 1748

2004

Dragon Argent

➔ dragonargent.com

Specialist advisory, accountancy, tax and legal support for fast growth start-ups & SMEs

Founders of tech enabled startups must be, by definition, capable of wearing many hats. Product design, investor pitches, stakeholder management, HR, corporate law, tax and finance are just some of the plates that need to be kept spinning. The reality is very few are equipped to handle the breadth of competencies required to successfully found and scale a startup. This can be daunting and often means founders get pulled in multiple directions when all they really want to do is focus on building their proposition. This is the fundamental basis of Dragon Argent’s business

model. We combine our advisory, accounting, tax and legal competencies to provide a commercial, joined up solution that frees up founder’s time to allow them to focus on what they do best.

“Dragon Argent have been the most helpful founders’ law firm I have ever worked with. As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve seen many. With their transparency in terms of planning, deliverables, and pricing, I would highly recommend.”

Elizabeth Tweedale, CEO, Cypher Coding.

We support more than 350 tech enabled startups around London

and the South East facing hurdles they are likely to encounter on their journey. Crucially, we do this in a proactive way, offering comprehensive professional advice that’s aligned with our clients’ commercial objectives.

If you’d like to understand how Dragon Argent can use our wealth of experience to support your growth journey, visit our website to learn more about us and schedule a no obligation discovery call where we’ll be happy to discuss whatever challenges you might be facing.

25+

Central London Advisory, Accountancy, Tax & Legal

With advanced downhole technologies, DeltaTek’s mission is simple: to save rig time through ultimate cement placement.

Kid-A 30

Kid-A is an award winning, purposeful, B Corp, telecommunications agency, who don’t drink from the mainstream . . .

Inspired Business Media

Inspired Business Media was founded in 2013 by Jason Awatar and Leigh Hussain to create highlevel networking and learning opportunities for senior corporate executives worldwide. Their focus is on connecting leading professionals with the most influential businesses to build a globally connected network.

The company understands the importance of not wasting time and resources attending the wrong engagements, which is why they offer a wide range of qualified

physical and virtual event formats. Their events and media promote leadership and industry excellence to their Inspired Executive Network, which includes over 3,000 organizations, responsible for over 15 million employees. The network is made up of C-level executives from brands such as Coca-Cola, Disney, Nike, Shell, and GE. This makes their events attractive for their clients such as Google, HP, Adobe, Oracle and Amazon as it enables them to align their brand with high-level networking and learning engagements and collect qualified business leads.

In addition, their Industry Thinkers digital magazine promotes further thought leadership. They celebrate executives who are

driving innovation and change across businesses, societies, and communities.

The company's approach is forward-thinking and innovative. With their goal of lasting 100 years, they strive to lead the industry.

Pinknoise Systems 28

Pinknoise Systems, based in Gloucester and Dublin, are market leaders in supplying location audio equipment to the film and television industry.

1st Containers 27

1st Containers are one of the UK’s leading suppliers of high-quality shipping containers nationwide, delivering best-inclass customer service whilst creating real value for our customers.

Bird & Blend Tea Co. 26

Bird & Blend Tea Co. is an independent, award-winning tea company on a mission to spread happiness & reimagine tea!

The Cheeky Panda 25

The Cheeky Panda was the first bamboo tissue brand in the UK and is sold in leading retailers such as Boots and Waitrose.

JAG UFS Group 24

Since 1981 JAG UFS Group has been market leaders in the world of logistics offering complete logistics solutions.

We’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

Register now at: or scan the QR code above.

* To attend in person you must purchase a ticket for the individual event. Please go to the relevant events website to purchase your ticket.

Design for people, planet and prosperity

Echo believes great design can change the world. It was designers that created our throwaway culture and as designers, we believe we have a responsibility to create better solutions. Through design excellence we embed sustainability, inclusivity and innovation into brands, products and experiences, ensuring long-term wins for people, planet and prosperity.

We call it: Win, Win, Win.

In this defining decade, brands need to be credible and authentic. Product and brand need to unite to build belief through a seamless experience. Forging this link is central to Echo’s way of thinking

and it drives our approach to design and innovation.

Whether you’re looking for quick wins or a long-term future vision, our flagship sustainable innovation programme will help you explore your brand's potential, navigate change and create a roadmap to success.

Our multidisciplinary team not only create leading-edge solutions, but as specialists in Nudge Design, we use behavioural science to influence consumer perception on pack, changing behaviours and nudging consumers to engage in the circular economy.

The future is what we make it.

Nourished 22

➔ get-nourished.com

Nourished has developed patented 3D printing technology and a unique vegan encapsulation formula to create the world's first truly personalised gummy vitamin

Birmingham-based Nourished has developed patented 3D printing technology to create the world's first truly personalised nutrient gummy. Consumers can complete a short lifestyle quiz at www. get-nourished.com, where a science backed algorithm makes a recommendation of 7 vitamins, superfoods and nutrients best suited to the user's lifestyle and goals.

This selection is then 3D printed using a vegan gummy encapsulation formula and made on demand to ensure optimum efficacy. The bespoke blend of high-impact active ingredients is packaged in 100% plastic free packaging and dispatched directly to the customer's door with less waste, hassle and cost than purchasing all of the vitamins separately.

Nourished also offer a wide range of ‘Life Stacks’ for customers who don’t wish to make a personalised product, and who would rather choose a pre-established set of ingredients specially formulated for certain lifestyles and goals such as ‘Pre-natal’ for pregnant women and ‘High Flyer’ for busy professionals.

Nourished is positioned to disrupt the health and wellness sector with the first ever truly optimised use of additive manufacturing for the masses. With the dynamic and flexible nature of the tech –Nourished are able to adapt to consumer demand in real time compared to the traditional competitor NPD cycles of over 18 months. Nourished can add new active ingredients to their offering in a couple of days and can create a seemingly unlimited number of unique blended collaboration products which proactively serve the trends in the market.

Whilst Nourished officially launched to market in 2020, it had been developing behind the scenes for 18 months prior by a small team of 5 employees. During this time, the team was developing and building the technology to 3D print its gummy vitamins, along with conducting extensive market research analysing competitor products and packaging, and running consumer tests to

better understand their market positioning. With all this research and development happening behind the scenes, it was no surprise that Nourished recorded an impressive opening year revenue of $954k once it had launched. From there, innovation and growth were at the heart of the company, which saw 2021 record a 350% increase in annualised revenue up to £3.54m, and then to £10m for 2022 - a 182% increase.

Beyond the numbers, 2022 saw a range of new product launches, such as its super-strength Vitamin D ingredient, Sexual Health Stacks and a PCOS Relief Stack.

It was also a year of partnerships for Nourished. At the start of the year, they partnered with leaders in oral care, Colgate to create first of their kind, 3D printed ‘Nutristacks’ - a range of sugar-free & plantbased gummies designed to boost oral wellbeing on the go, as well as providing added wellbeing benefits such as immune support and improved energy levels –

depending on the individual’s specific preferences and goals.

Nourished also partnered with Suntory Holding Ltd as they snapped up the opportunity to invest £2.5m into Rem3dy to support their global expansion into Asia as part of a wider SAFE funding round.

With Japan being the world’s third-largest dietary supplement market, Nourished has long seen Asia as a key target region for expansion, and so a longterm strategic partnership with Suntory Group will be a key pillar for success. This partnership will include the development of a range of new localised flavours such as yuzu, lychee, tea, chai and lemongrass to ensure a good product market fit – launching in Q3 of 2023.

Most recently, Nourished has also partnered with US skincare brand, Neutrogena to launch personalised, 3D-printed skin supplements called ‘Skinstacks’. These are made utilising Neutrogena’s existing Skin360 mobile app and its artificial intelligence to power a digital skin assessment to help consumers meet their personal skincare goals. These are available to purchase in the US only.

With the Asian launch, and a number of other partnerships and expansions on the horizon, 2023 promises to continue to build on Nourished’s impressive start.

Supplementary benefits

Nutritional supplements specialist Nourished, has brought a unique new approach to market, offering 3D printed, bespoke vitamins. CEO Melissa Snover told us more…

Here’s a mind-blowing fact for you. There is no such thing as vitamins and minerals. What? That’s right. Why?

Ready?

Vitamin is an acronym for vitamins and minerals. You can’t have both. Mind. Blown. Wander onto any social media platform now and you will be bombarded with advice on nutrition, supplements, natural remedies and magic ingredients. Heed all the advice, and there wouldn’t be enough hours in the day to take it all. A certain amount of editing is required.

Capitalising on this phenomenon and the booming supplements sector, Nourished has created a unique offering in a crowded market.

Combining personalised nutrition with the brave new world of 3D manufacturing, the firm has created a range of bespoke all-in-one gummies with all the supplements you want to take.

The firm was founded after

CEO Melissa Snover – a selfdescribed health fanatic and serial entrepreneur – was travelling abroad. After finding it difficult to transport all of her supplements and accidentally spilling them at airport security, she realised that there had to be a better approach to personalised nutrition.

She explains: “Nourished offers the world’s first ever opportunity to truly personalise nutrition through a completely bespoke nutrient regime, driven entirely by the consumer’s own wellbeing needs and goals. A simple consultation produces for each customer an individual recommendation of supplements all gathered into one delicious, easy-to-take gummy –easing the time and effort it takes to boost your health and wellness with traditional vitamin pills.”

The offering includes two core ranges: personalised gummy vitamins (Personalised Stacks) and pre-formulated gummies designed to address specific needs and goals (Life Stacks).

Personalised Stacks are created

in bespoke formulas for each customer, from a range of 35 ingredients. Similarly, Life Stacks work to target specific goals – like sleep improvement, mental health support, exercise recovery and more – through pre-formulated recipes.

Nourished’s 3D printing manufacturing process allows it to make a month’s supply of Stacks in minutes, offering a significant advantage over mainstream manufacturing, which is restricted to mass production of the same product line.

Personalised Stacks are only available through the Nourished website but the Life Stacks range is on Amazon and in Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street.

Although it is for all ages, recently the team has been targeting consumers aged 60 to 70, in an effort to educate the demographic on the benefits of self-care and a “detail-oriented” wellbeing routine.

It’s an ultra competitive sector, with the UK market alone worth £1.3bn and expected to grow by more than 11% this year, but Snover

believes the firm’s unique method gives it the edge.

“The team consistently find that our USP – true personalisation –helps Nourished to stand out from the crowd and offer customers a solution to their wellness concerns that they aren’t able to find from any competitors.”

The firm is already working on another 3D printed solution called Scripted - personalised dosages of prescription medicine.

In its three years of trading Nourished has seen impressive growth both organically and through strategic partnerships and investments. In 2019, Snover broke the UK record for the highest seed funding round raised by a female founder in the UK.

Last year it secured a £2.5 million investment from global conglomerate Suntory Holdings, to support the company’s international expansion and development of new technologies.

It’s the growth supplement the firm needs to bring its unique offering to the next level and it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on. If you know what’s good for you.

"Nourished offers the world’s first ever opportunity to truly personalise nutrition"

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The Skinny Food Co 21

Eat More of What You Love with the wide variety of healthier alternative options available from the Skinny Food Co. Eat Skinny.

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We’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

* To attend in person you must purchase a ticket for the individual event. Please go to the relevant events website to purchase your ticket.

We’re very excited to be celebrating our 10 year anniversary, and we’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

Register now at: or scan the QR code above.

elitebusinessevent.co.uk/register

* To attend in person you must purchase a ticket for the individual event. Please go to the relevant events website to purchase your ticket.

Dr.PAWPAW 20

A multi-million pound business with personal care solutions to suit everyone

Dr.PAWPAW is the original multitasking brand. Founded in 2013 by husband and wife team Johnny & Pauline Paterson, this proud British brand was started with just £20,000 as a direct natural solution for their young daughters' eczema. This now multi-million pound business continues to provide solutions that help families on a global level through constant sustainable innovation appealing to a variety of customers. Constant new product development ensures consumer needs are met and expansion into new markets and product categories helps continue

to establish a trusted and much needed household brand.

Experts in innovation and creation Dr.PAWPAW service the needs of families around the world to help them buy less products that have multiple uses which are natural and vegan. Using ethically sourced ingredients with environmentally friendly packaging Dr.PAWPAW champions planet conscious beauty and strives for constant improvement and development. A truly inclusive brand, this in turn allows families to make smarter, educated purchases and save money without the compromise on

quality or origin. Dr.PAWPAW first created the well known Original Balm and has since expanded into new categories including tinted balms, hand creams and hair care with more expansion plans imminent.

With each sale made a percentage is donated to multiple charities year-on-year so whilst benefiting yourself from using a Dr.PAWPAW product you are also benefiting others. Over the past decade Dr.PAWPAW has established a loyal social media community and now holds over 40 global awards including some of the highest beauty and business accolades for both the brand and its founders. With an established long list of A-list celebrity fans, this multitasking icon is a staple product in the kits of makeup artists and can be found in some of the largest retailers around the world.

Time etc 19

Busy people don’t have the luxury of spare time, unless, that is, they hire an assistant to take on their burdensome admin tasks.

It’s that kind of help Time etc’s founder, Barnaby Lashbrooke, wished he’d had when growing his first company, but he lacked the budget or workload to justify hiring a full-time PA.

So, after selling his business, Barnaby knew exactly what he wanted to do next: he built a platform and a remote army of experienced freelance virtual assistants.

He sought the expertise of Penni Pike, Sir Richard Branson’s executive assistant for 31 years, who came on board as an advisor,

Laundryheap

Established in 2014, Laundryheap is the world’s fastest growing on demand laundry and dry-cleaning platform.

With the click of a button, Laundryheap customers can have their laundry and dry-cleaning picked up from their door at a time that’s convenient for them, and returned within 24 hours. Laundryheap’s founder, Deyan Dimitrov, established this door-todoor service after finding himself outside a closed dry cleaners, with the suit he needed for an event locked inside.

Since its launch in London in 2014, Laundryheap has expanded to 20 cities across 10 countries, including the UK, US, Singapore, the Netherlands and Qatar. The

team is proud to be recognised as an industry leader, with a 75% customer retention rate within the countries in which they operate. Laundryheap offers a vital service that is both effective and affordable: it’s the only major ondemand laundry and dry-cleaning provider to offer a same-day turnaround at no additional cost.

designing a tough 10-stage VA vetting process to attract the top 2% of talent.

Today, Time etc has hundreds of VAs based all over the UK and USA. They give back time to busy people, so they can have more for their families, to tend to their physical health, or to pursue hobbies.

Since it launched in 2007, the company has saved people

1,491,716 hours. That’s enough for…

• 198,895 days spent growing your business

• £111,878,700 earned in extra billable time

• 17,900,592 bedtime stories with your kids

• 8,879 interruption-free holidays.

The platform is at the forefront of innovation within this sector, and its vision is carried out by a team of over 100 employees across a range of international hubs. Laundryheap’s teams are also working hard to integrate sustainable solutions into their services and supply chains, in order to revolutionise the dry-cleaning industry. This includes the recent roll-out of a major fleet of e-bikes to handle deliverables, radically reducing their reliance on emission emitting vehicles.

Caribbean Blinds 17

➔ cbsolarshading.co.uk

The UK's leading manufacturer of luxury external shading systems aims to continue transforming this space

Caribbean Blinds is the UK’s leading manufacturer of luxury external shading systems that transform the functionality and enjoyment of all types of spaces, including residential and commercial establishments, with products available through our trade partners and specified by architects and designers.

The company was first established by husband and wife Ray and Angie Dantzic in 1987. For the last 5 years, their two sons Stuart

Dantzic (Managing Director) and Brad Dantzic (Operations Director) have both played crucial roles in Caribbean Blinds, becoming the leading supplier and pre-eminent name in external shading since taking over the business in 2017.

The family-owned firm embodies a passion for creating cool, comfortable and sustainable spaces offering a range of awardwinning products, including stylish patio awnings, innovative external blinds and the exclusive all-weather

louvered roof pergola – branded the Outdoor Living Pod™ – which provides comfortable outdoor use, for all year-round.

Caribbean Blinds products are manufactured in the UK, providing the business with complete control and ensuring high-quality finishes. Quality is key at Caribbean Blinds and as such, the company is dedicated to ensuring that it produces the best external shading systems available on the market. By continually investing in machinery, processes and personnel, Caribbean Blinds delivers an industry-leading service – including industry-beating lead times of just two weeks. Furthermore, Caribbean Blinds’ account managers and technical department ensure that its partners

and clients enjoy a seamless process, from pre-sale advice on the best solution for an application and pricing, along with supporting site-specific project drawings, through to on-site installation and commissioning support.

While external shading systems are not exclusive to Caribbean Blinds, its attention to detail and unique and exclusive features, are what sets its products apart. This has been recognised by Real Homes Magazine, which featured Caribbean Blinds’ most soughtafter terrace coverings – the ‘Cuba’ Patio Awning and Outdoor Living Pod™ – were awarded ‘Best Garden Buy’ in 2020/2021 respectively, after being acknowledged for their unique features, greater comfort, enhanced durability and better value for money. In addition to this, the ‘Antiguan’ and ‘Dominica’ external roller blinds were shortlisted for the ‘Innovation in Insulation’ category at the Build It Awards 2022 due to their ecocredentials which help to insulate glazing to prevent overheating in homes.

At Caribbean Blinds, the company is committed to offering the best products, prices, services, and value for its clients and customers.

Caribbean Blinds’ vision is to become the UK's most desirable brand for external shading, through understanding the customers’ needs, designing and developing innovative and stylish solutions to meet specific requirements across all sectors, ensuring the highest attention to detail at all stages, pushing boundaries, evolving and advancing.

It's far more than just scaling a company; it's about enhancing peoples’ lives, whether that's creating an outdoor living

environment which helps improve health and wellness, or creating a comfortable and sustainable indoor environment that doesn't need air conditioning and providing a space that can be enjoyed on even the hottest, brightest summer days. Caribbean Blinds has ambitious plans to be the company that can provide all of the above for the customer, with the best quality products on the market.

SuperFOIL 16

SuperFOIL, prides itself on being both innovative and versatile

SuperFOIL is the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of foil insulation products which offer high performance while also being versatile, lightweight and easy to install.

Unimpressed by insulation on the market, Craig Bown decided to explore his own options when renovating his home in 2006.

Outgrowing warehouse after warehouse, and scaling up their on-site and UK manufacturing, the company purchased its current premises in Lincoln in 2019.

Working alongside his dad, Will Bown took over as Managing Director in 2017. The company now employs more than 40 people and produces 1.5 million square metres of insulation per year.

Made with 45% recycled material on average, SuperFOIL offers highperforming multifoil insulation solutions for trade contractors, professionals and DIY projects through stockists, retail and online outlets. The firm is committed to providing customers with the best solution through honest, expert, technical advice.

SuperFOIL manufactures some of the highest performing products on the market, including the world’s highest-performing multifoil, SF60. Certified, 3-in-1 products, these provide a much-needed vapour control layer and radiant barrier, with a lifespan of 50+ years.

It offers excellent value for money and is ideal for new build, retrofit and timber frame projects.

2006

45

Lincolnshire Manufacturing (Construction Materials)

Products can be used anywhere in the home, including walls, roofs and floors.

Sustainability is one of SuperFOIL’s core business values; its workforce is carbon negative/climate positive and, in manufacturing its products, it recycles the equivalent of 80 million plastic bottles per year. It also produces ZERO waste to landfill with all waste being recycled or used to generate and export electricity to the grid.  In 2022, SuperFOIL invested £500,000 into its UK manufacturing to create more products at its HQ and using materials made locally - reducing carbon emissions and helping it to meet the rising demand for insulation and energy efficiency solutions.

FIND OUT MORE

TOP 15 UK SME BUSINESSES

Power Sheds was founded with a simple mission: to provide topquality storage solutions that meet the diverse needs of our customers. Our team has a passion for creating high-quality sheds and log cabins that are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. Power Sheds has grown from a small shed builder to a full-service provider of

outdoor storage solutions. Today, Power Sheds serves a growing community of customers across the UK, offering a wide range of products and services.

The garden shed industry is full of small independent garden shed manufacturers who supply to their local area. There are then a few national manufacturers who either sell to the trade or direct to the consumer. It’s an unbranded market with online retailers all competing on price and promotions. The Power brand has become synonymous with a much simpler approach for both purchasing and customising a shed, which allows for both versatility as well as assurances on a high quality and functional end-product.

While many of the most prominent competitors pride themselves in a million and one ways a shed can be customised – Power found their niche in doing the opposite. Though choice can be a valuable resource, they found large volumes of customers getting bogged down in the enormity of choices available for sheds which, when coupled with a general understanding of what’s best for a robust unit, has led to decreased levels of confidence in the end-customer. They overcome this by minimising the level of customisation to a handful of key

decisions, which help the buyer to customise a relatively standardised and robust product.

One of the things that sets Power Sheds apart from the competition is speed of delivery. Sheds can be delivered across the UK within 24 hours with customers having the ability to choose their own delivery date. Another key differentiator is our commitment to sustainability. Power Sheds uses only responsibly sourced timber, ensuring that they are not only helping customers store their belongings but also doing their part to protect the environment. All products are sent package free and on a recycled pallet.

Pasta Evangelists

pastaevangelists.com

Pasta Evangelists, the UK’s leading fresh pasta company, based in London, invites Brits to prepare five-star pasta dishes in five minutes, bringing the authentic tastes of Italy to homes across the country

Pasta Evangelists’ mission is to elevate the Italian speciality of pasta fresca (fresh pasta). Using only the finest seasonal ingredients and, whenever possible, Italian produce, all the pastas and sauces are handmade in London by Pasta Evangelists' expert chefs. Dishes include best-sellers such as ‘Carbonara of Dreams’, Reginette with Beef Shin & Barolo Wine Ragù and Fresh Basil Pesto Lasagne from the Italian Riviera.

Delivered direct to customers’ homes, each Pasta Evangelists box includes freshly handmade pasta, an authentic Italian sauce, garnishes and instructions on how to prepare the dish in minutes. A new menu is launched weekly, with a choice of twenty pasta dishes, as well as a selection of focaccia, antipasti, desserts and salads. Little-known pasta shapes take centre stage, along with traditional recipes passed down through generations across Italy’s twenty regions. Regional

specialities include Amalfi-inspired Lobster, Crab & Prawn Tortelloni with Tarragon Butter and Fresh Samphire, fragrant Wild Boar Ragù from Tuscany and Salsa di Noce from Genova, bringing a little Italianita - ‘Italian-ness’ - to British kitchens.

Established in 2016, Pasta Evangelists is led by founder & MD Alessandro Savelli, an Anglo-Italian entrepreneur with a background in luxury retail and finance, with co-founders Chris Rennoldson and Finn Lagun. In January 2021, Pasta Evangelists was bought by the Barilla Group, a 133-year-old pasta and bakery enterprise. Over the years, Pasta Evangelists has continued growing by entering the takeaway market - bringing fresh, hot pasta directly to customers from over 30 kitchens across the country. 2021 also saw the launch of their flagship Pasta Academy in Farringdon, where customers are taught the art of fresh pasta, led by expert Italian chefs.

Londoners can also dine on fresh pasta specialities at Pasta Evangelists’ first restaurant, The Pasta Bar, in the prestigious dining hall at Harrods. With a modern Italian menu curated by Head of Food Michele Rodelli (formerly of the Michelin star Hakkasan Group), Harrods specials include Pappardelle with Aberdeen Angus Ragù, Black Truffle Cacio e Pepe and Spicy Lobster Spaghetti. British shoppers are also able to purchase Pasta Evangelists products to take home from the Harrods Food Hall and to enjoy pasta shapes & sauces you can’t find anywhere else.

2016

East London Food / Hospitality 200+

2006 Swansea Language Services 51

The Wolfestone Group 13

➔

For translation services, subtitles and voiceovers, The Wolfestone Group can speak the same language as you

Here at Wolfestone Group, we are the UK’s fastest growing language service provider, offering solutions for translation, localisation, subtitles, voiceovers, language training, and more.   From document translation to website localisation, our team of experienced linguists and project managers deliver high-quality services in a timely and efficient manner.

One of the key strengths of our business is the way we handle

large and complex projects. We have extensive experience working with major brands, and can handle projects of any size. This includes everything from simple documents to complex software projects.

We also pride ourselves on our use of the latest technology and tools in the industry. By using machine translation and AI, we can offer consistent, efficient, and accurate solutions.

We’ll be ‘On Tour’ at select events in 2023. We invite you to livestream the programmes for free or attend in person*.

8-9 MAR

Register now at: or scan the QR code above.

elitebusinessevent.co.uk/register

* To attend in person you must purchase a ticket for the individual event. Please go to the relevant events website to purchase your ticket.

EPIC Risk Management 12

EPIC Risk Management was founded by its CEO, Paul Buck, in 2013. Paul had suffered a decade-long gambling addiction which resulted in losses of over £1 million and resulted in devastating consequences. Sadly, he knew there would be others like him in the world, and that mission became the bedrock of EPIC.

EPIC is commercially sustainable but socially driven, with the aim of helping organisations, and its people avoid the destructive effects of gambling related harm. It is a professional services organisation who specialise in awareness raising, education, independently accredited training and board level down consultancy. Over the years an expert team has been formed, many of whom have lived the experience of gambling harm, to educate, advise and consult those who are statistically and evidentially in the highest risk sectors for gambling harm.

Commercially sustainable but socially driven, with the aim of helping organisations and its people avoid the destructive effects of gambling related harm, EPIC Risk Management goes from strength to strength

Elite athletes are statistically more likely to develop a gambling problem than the average member of society. As a result, EPIC’s awareness programmes in this sector are some of the largest ever done in the world of sport, working extensively within professional sports, but more recently manoeuvering to work at grass roots level. EPIC currently delivers gambling harm awareness to the English Football League, the Professional Cricketers and Rugby Players Association, several Premier League Clubs and most recently Racing Welfare, involving delivery of 300 sessions to stakeholders across the racing community.

Rapid growth in the US also began at the beginning of the pandemic, during which EPIC doubled in size and broke into America as a new market at a crucial time when the States were changing their rules and regulations around sports betting. In late 2021, they began rolling out a 5-year programme to deliver to professional athletes from the National Collegiate Athletic Association, delivering to potentially 500,000 college athletes in 1,110 colleges in every State. Following on, EPIC has also signed to deliver to the Major League

Soccer and National Football League Players Associations, and in February delivered their first White Paper alongside their Pro-Sports Advisory Board ‘Gambling Harm Prevention in Sport’ Summit at Wembley Stadium.

EPIC has always worked within education, noting the vulnerability of under 18s to gambling, as well the dangers of in-game spending and their close ties with gambling. In 2022 they delivered sessions to around 30,000 school children in the UK, alongside all of the under 18s who attend their sessions as part of professional sports academies. EPIC has also delivered harm awareness to various military units, numerous sites within the construction industry, the financial services industry and the criminal justice system.

EPIC is not an anti-gambling organisation, but understand from lived experience how the enjoyment from gambling could spiral into something extremely destructive. As a result, lived experienced staff work as consultants for leading gambling operators, advising on mechanisms and strategies to protect players from gambling harm. EPIC has a suite of independently accredited training solutions to

deliver to customer facing staff around the world on how to best support their customers and to appropriately handle those who may be demonstrating signs of risk to themselves. By working directly with board rooms in this sector, it is the opportunity to influence future safer gambling direction.

What EPIC delivers is bespoke to the target audience, largely through face-to-face powerful sessions but with an increasing leverage of digital technology. All work is evidence based and grounded in the latest academic research, ensuring compliance with any new advances in gambling protection measures from all over the world, alongside rapidly changing laws.

Having worked in 28 countries now, it’s a long way in 10 years from a man just wanting to share his story with others.

James and James Fulfilment

Customer order fulfilment on behalf of eCommerce retailers, the James and James way

The James and James story began back in 2010, when two Cambridge grads were struggling to sell honey online.

After working with multiple fulfilment companies, James Hyde and James Strachan began to get fed up with outdated systems, inefficient operations and unhappy customers.

So, instead of moving to the next fulfilment partner, they founded their own. James and James Fulfilment was born.

Fast-forward to 2023, and James and James Fulfilment has grown bigger than any of us could have imagined. A growing team of fabulous employees, an international network of fulfilment centres, hundreds of happy clients, and an array of inspiring partners that help both us and our clients continue to scale up.

Our fulfilment process

As a leading 3PL, we specialise in fulfilling customer orders on behalf

of eCommerce retailers. It’s much more than just popping items in the post; it’s about creating fantastic online shopping experiences for our clients’ customers.

The process for clients is pretty straightforward; they’ll ship their products to any of our fulfilment centres, where we’ll check, scan, and barcode them to ensure there’s thorough visibility of stock for both us and clients during the fulfilment process.

Then, we’ll place inventory into storage, and it’ll remain there safely until a customer makes an order.

Once an order has been placed, we pick, pack, and ship the order to where it needs to be, anywhere in the world. We use an extensive range of carrier partners, providing our clients with tonnes of shipping options. Some want to prioritise speed, others want to keep the cost low, whereas many like to strike a balance between the two.

We also offer several additional services including returns management, custom packaging, and assemblies.

Our inventory management platform What really sets us apart from the competition is our award-winning inventory management system, ControlPort. Built, managed, and regularly updated by us, ControlPort is our secret weapon when it comes to fulfilling orders quickly and accurately.

Our clients love ControlPort because it provides them with enhanced business intelligence data that can be used to support, accelerate, and optimise their growth strategies.

ControlPort is unique in the amount of data it holds, offering unparalleled insights into the status of business inventories. Our product analysis tools identify best and worst-selling lines, and those that are under, over or well stocked. It’s ideal for making informed manufacturing and marketing decisions, and ensures our clients

can meet customer demand, without overspending on stock or storage.

Moreover, ControlPort provides real-time updates on the status of all live orders. Clients can track the progress of every order through our fulfilment centres, from picking to despatch, in real time. This makes it simple to identify any issues with incorrect addresses or outof-stock products, and make quick amendments to orders.

Our Integrations

ControlPort integrates with all major shopping channels, including Shopify, eBay, WooCommerce, Amazon, and many more. We can also develop custom integrations on request, making it easy for

clients to come onboard, regardless of the platform they’re using.

Many of our clients sell on more than one platform. ControlPort can integrate with multiple channels seamlessly, letting clients manage stock across all channels, brands, and locations in one simple, user-friendly, and convenient dashboard!

Our locations

We currently have fulfilment centres across the world, with facilities in the UK, EU, West Coast USA, and East Coast USA. As we continue to grow, we’ll be opening up fulfilment centres in new territories, including Australia and Canada.

Our clients can use one, several, or all of our fulfilment centres, depending on the territories they operate in. We make it simpler for clients to set up shop overseas, and can support tax compliance, shipping regulations, and all other matters that can make international trade a bit of a headache!

Net World Sports 10

Online sports equipment retailer, Net World Sports, has a proven track record of selling an expansive range of high-quality, predominantly own-brand products

Net World Sports is a global eCommerce business that is on a journey to becoming the largest online sports equipment retailer in the world. Their expansive range of high-quality, predominantly own-brand products can be found in homes around the world, whilst also supplying schools, universities, grassroots & elite professional clubs, plus many other businesses and organisations. They cover a multitude of sports, from football, tennis, and cricket to more niche sporting markets such as pickleball and handball. Over the past two years, their rapid growth has seen them explore untapped markets, introducing further sub-brands and branching out into stock lifestyle, home, and garden products. Currently operating 30 websites, with more on the way, their

international presence is constantly increasing with over 60% of their sales coming from outside the UK. They say that they are bold, ambitious, and always look forward to the next milestone. Growth is in their DNA.

Although officially founded in 2009, the foundations of the business can be dated back to the playground. Whilst Alex, the Founder and CEO, was still at school, he bought a cricket bat online for £60. When he received the bat, he noticed the manufacturer’s sticker and decided to contact them to ask how much the bat cost to make. They replied saying £6, so Alex bought 10 directly from them and began selling them to his school peers and teachers. Fast-forward a few years, Alex had saved £13,000 through

working 62-hour weeks at a local builder’s merchant, all of which he then spent on an entire container of sports nets, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Built from nothing, Net World Sports is now a powerhouse in the sports equipment world, with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Newcastle United, and West Ham United all utilising their FORZA football equipment. Their high-profile customers aren’t limited to football, as other customers and partners include Durham CCC, Scarlets Rugby, England Lacrosse, FA Wales, and many more. Their presence can also be felt overseas, through clubs and leagues such as Canadian Premier League, New York Giants, Field Hockey Canada, and Genoa CFC, to name a few.

Their products are not just the first choice of professionals as they trust the quality and durability, but also because of their innovation. Innovation is at the forefront of their product design – they’re relentless in their desire of creating products that solve a problem for their customers.

An example of their product innovation is their FORZA 360° Wheel. Tasked by Manchester United to create a product capable of wheeling a goal in all directions, they were the first company in the world to develop a lever-style 360° wheel for football goalposts. Leading on from this success, they created the 360° Concertina Cricket Cage. This wheeled cage ensures easy movement on and off the ground, along with a fold-away design for compact storage and a suspended internal net to reduce ball bounce back. This cage was designed, tested, and developed at Durham CCC.

As a result of their continuous success, in January 2023, the doors opened to their new state-of-theart 411,000sq. ft HQ, which will house their 10,000+ products under one roof. This £25m development will better cater for the company’s rapid growth and ambitions.

SecureCloud+ 9

➔ securecloudplus.co.uk

Top ten performer SecureCloud+ has a proven ability to deliver optimum IT solutions

(IT)

digital transformation across the globe to the secure Defence and Government sectors. That ranges from being able to communicate securely - with voice calls and video conferences - through to using applications that are increasingly engineered to be cloud native, and therefore difficult to bring into a highly secure air gapped environment.

SecureCloud+ is a trusted service delivery partner within the defence industry, as well as the public sector. We are a rapidly growing SME with a proven reputation for the efficient, successful delivery of secure information technology solutions at all security classifications.

Our customers in defence and the public sector require secure collaboration and communication services that give them access to secure networks, resources and applications. At SecureCloud+,

we embrace the growing and fluctuating changes and demands that digital transformation and technology bring, and deliver these innovative solutions as end-to-end managed services.

For over 8 years, SecureCloud+ have been delivering to the MOD and defence contractors, utilising subject matter expertise and a consistent record of achieving accreditations to solve customer challenges. SecureCloud+ bring the tools, techniques and technology that are enabling

The company was founded by Peter Williamson, who identified the need to support digital transformation with a more agile approach within the Ministry of Defence, historically known for its slow adoption of technology and ability to change, with outdated modes of operation in sharing information, impacting the ability to support rapid decision makingcritical within the Defence sector.

SecureCloud+ has established itself in the Defence sector through its unwavering and unflinching desire to support the betterment

of the industry, through identifying the opportunity that technology can harness, in supporting timely decision making, through collaborative efforts.

Barriers to entry in the Defence sector are extremely high; being able to demonstrate capability and competence in such a short time frame has been an outstanding achievement. We have proved adept at understanding the market, the factors and trends at play and rapidly identifying requirements within the business to satisfy this need.

SecureCloud+ has managed to reduce the often long project lifecycle stages associated within the Defence sector and deliver to our customers in considerably reduced timelines - being able to deliver business critical solutions, in a timely nature has considerable gains.

Our agile approach has ensured that departments within the

business have the necessary resources to support this - in some instances where sector relationships are essential to provide a route in, we have employed appropriately. Where the business has required strategical insight and direction, we have made the necessary changes.

The exponential growth since establishing the company has been a credit to those involved, demonstrating the credibility and competences we have managed to establish in a relatively short timeframe.

Zaizi

Finishing in the top-10 of the EB100, Zaizi works in partnership with public sector organisations to create secure digital services for citizens and civil servants

At Zaizi we work with the UK public sector to design, build and sustain secure digital services for organisations like the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the UK Border Force. Our mission is to make the UK the safest and best place to live and work. We do that by creating services like the National Landlord Register that serve the needs of the community as a whole. We also carry out vital research that informs government policy. Our promise is outcomes over outputs – we deliver the right service and make sure our public sector customers have the skills and capability to sustain it.

How we work

We design - we engage with the vision of public sector organisations and learn about the

2007 West London Digital consultancy for public services

needs of their users to design the best possible solutions.

We build - our service teams work with public sector organisations and their users, using evidence at every turn to iterate and deliver better digital products faster.

We sustain - we provide public sector organisations with a roadmap to improve their digital products, helping to upskill and guide their in-house team to be self-sufficient.

Our services include strategy, product management, service design, user research, UX & content design, engineering, architecture, process automation, devsecops and cloud services.

Our people and culture

Our company culture is based on our values. We pride ourselves on being an organisation which puts people first. Our purpose is realising potential together, not only for our customers and fellow citizens, but for our own people too.

We invest in our employees and support their growth. We have an organisational wide KPI to ensure 30% of staff progress to a higher Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) level every year.

We’re pleased to be ahead of other parts of the tech industry on several measures related to the representation and promotion of women. 37% of our workplace are female, with 21% of women promoted in the last year. Training and development of junior talent is a crucial step in addressing the digital skills gap in the UK – so we’re also investing heavily in apprenticeships. We recruit and support people from underrepresented backgrounds in our apprenticeship programme. Most of our apprentices are women. We have working mothers, career changers, and even people who've come to this country as refugees or migrants.

We support the wellbeing and mental health of our employees by implementing various initiatives such as organising social events,

conducting surveys to gather feedback and identify areas for improvement, and hiring a full-time in-house organisational coach to support teams.

Our culture also extends to our engagement with wider society and the environment. Last year, we achieved Carbon Negative status and we’re currently in the process of obtaining B-Corp certification.

The future

We enjoy public sector work. We work directly with our clients and see how our services help fellow citizens and benefit society — this passion still drives our work today. Over the past few years, we have experienced significant growth and we have ambitious plans for further expansion. We are bringing in more public sector expertise and changing our structure slightly to facilitate that growth.

In the next few years, we will expand the digital services we offer to new areas of government, enabling them to better serve citizens. We plan to upskill and expand our team, which will create new jobs and opportunities across the UK. If you would like to find out more about our business – or even join us on our journey – you’re welcome to get in touch.

Mattress Online 7

Bedding down with a top 10 finish, Mattress Online offers an alternative solution to mattress shopping

Over 19 years, from humble beginnings storing mattresses in a garage, Mattress Online has grown to become the largest stockist of mattresses in the UK and has played a major role in shaping how we shop for the product today. Launched to provide an alternative solution to mattress shopping – the idea came to fruition when Steve Adams, with a background in e-commerce and creating websites, by chance met his previous business partner, Steve Kelly, who had years of experience

in the bed and mattress industry. In the past financial year, turnover has reached almost £30m. Mattress Online is now the largest independent mattress retailer in the UK, employing 73 people and has built an excellent reputation for customer service, quality and innovation.

Mattress Online has therefore seen a great level of success over the past 12 months and their incredible achievements have been recognised on a national level. This has included coming 68th in the

FEBE Growth 100, achieving Online Bed Retailer of the Year (making it four years in a row) by the National Bed Federation and receiving a Scale-Up Award for E-Commerce. Their business model has moved from an online-only model to a new hybrid one as they introduce their ‘clicks and mortar’ expansion plan, setting them apart from their competitors. Mattress Online recently opened physical stores in Sheffield, Rotherham and Skipton, combining their excellent online prices with traditional showroom customer service. Their customers have therefore rated Mattress Online as ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot, with 95% of customers saying they

would buy from the company again.

Mattress Online have been steadily scaling up their product offer and working hard to provide smarter logistics processes. In 2019 only 6% of their deliveries were completed by their own fleet and drivers. In 2022 they averaged 25% which in cost savings and customer feedback, has given them the data to confidently invest in extra fleet vehicles for the future.

Internally, the business has developed a strong culture and a superb employee retention rate. It invests in a staff wellbeing programme, which now includes a collaboration with The Sleep Geek, James Wilson, as well as two charity

partnerships, which the whole team is fully engaged with.

Mattress Online are a corporate partner of Zarach and help Cherrytree Support and The Sleep charity through fundraising, donations, warehousing, deliveries, and inventory services.

Passionate about sustainability, the company has a mattress collection and recycling service that forms part of its ever-growing commitment to help protect the environment. This ethos is embedded throughout the culture of the business too.

It works in partnership with mattress recycling organisations, who process each mattress component at a dedicated recycling plant, saving more than 140,000 mattresses going to landfill.

Mattress Online has been a digital-first business from day one and its growth has been underpinned by the in-house development team who continually innovate and find smarter ways to use technology to make the customer experience slicker and to help their employees work in a more streamlined and efficient way. In 2021 the company processed 128,500 orders from 3.1m web visitors and in 2022 processed 86,223 orders from 2.2m web visitors.

Benchmark

➔ wearebenchmark.com

Benchmark sets it own social benchmark, posting a strong top-10 finish in the EB100

Since 2000, Benchmark’s mission has been clear. A resounding desire to be pioneers, catalysts, funders, educators and game changers, harnessed through the power of network and communities.

Benchmark is a parent company that has funded and developed four world-leading brands and a pioneering global foundation in sport, e-sport, wellness, sustainability and social impact. Recognising that sport had changed his life in a meaningful way, our Founder, Nick Keller, wanted to find a way to leverage sport as a mechanism for positive impact. In the year 2000, Benchmark was born.

Since then, we have created a place where people thrive, develop and lead. Just like the communities and networks we create, ‘Togetherness’ lies at the heart of the way we operate.

It began in 2001 with the launch of the first ever Sport Industry Awards to celebrate the contribution of those driving real positive change in the industry. By bringing the industry together, there was a collective realisation that we could create something unique. 22 years later, the Awards are the go-to event on the industry calendar and the largest global sports awards in the world, while championing and rewarding the industry’s best work on key topics such as purpose, diversity, inclusion, sustainability, education, and support for refugee communities.

In 2007, embedded in our mission to create communities and deliver impact through sport, we launched the Square Mile Relay: a one-mile race between teams of ten runners from blue-chip financial services firms. Sponsored by Bloomberg, and into its 15th year, the relay is

Central London Business consulting

now staged in 13 cities around the world, nurturing togetherness and competition through purposedriven sport. Over the last 10 years the relay has contributed $1.3m to local city-based charitable causes, including public health, climate change and education. Ahead of its time, it laid the foundations of what we now know as ‘workplace wellbeing’, has taken ‘teambuilding’ to the next level and is the definitive case study on client and employee engagement.

After 13 years in the industry, we had built an incredible network and created brands with purpose. Yet something was still missing. While

we convened the industry, we were not leading it.

In 2009 Benchmark established the Beyond Sport Foundation and over the last 14 years it has led a global movement around sports and its ability, when used with intention, to drive positive social impact. Archbishop Desmond Tutu was our first patron. To date we have funded and built capacity in 480 NGOs in 100 countries and across 38 sports, and we work with some of the most recognised sports organisations in the world.

For example, Beyond Sport United is now into its tenth year of collaboration with the six biggest

professional leagues in the USA: NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL and MLS.

By the end of 2022 Beyond Sport’s grant funding will have reached almost $8m. By the end of 2023 we aim to make this $13m. We truly believe that by blending business and social impact you can deliver value for everyone.

Beyond Sport’s positive social impact encouraged us to do more.

So, in 2015, we launched thinkBeyond. Today it is the world’s leading social impact and environmental sustainability consultancy, partnering with leaders and organisations to create positive change in and through sport. Clients include Liverpool FC, The FA, NFL, Bloomberg, Unilever, The North Face, UK Sport, World Athletics, Goodwood, ESPN, and Michael Johnson.

This ability to anticipate “the direction of sport” has inspired our latest initiative. In 2017, we launched National Student Esport, an e-sport community via a 15-year partnership with British Universities that recognised the power of gaming to bring people together.

Is sport a mechanism for responsible leadership?

Can struggling SMEs find the room and resource for social responsibility right now?

Benchmark CEO, Nick Keller talks about the challenges and pressures facing today’s leadership, in an increasingly fragmented world.

Through his Benchmark collective - a holding group for organisations including global foundation Beyond Sport, think Beyond, NSE (National Student Esport), Sport Industry Group and Square Mile Sport - Nick helps an already-strained business community to navigate increased demand for greater social equity and care in the workplace, adopt a more compassionate approach, and

create lasting social impact.

In a business world demanding increasing levels of transparency, Keller believes that sport has a greater role to play in helping companies and brands bridge their desire for growth with core financial and social objectives.

“If you look at leadership roles, they've got significantly more on their agenda than they had five years ago. From understanding the new culture of working and supporting the mental health of our employees, to ensuring we are

building high functioning teams and competing for top talent at the same time.

“COP26 in Glasgow was a key moment for the climate and sustainability conversation. Plus there was the Black Lives Matter movement, which was a wakeup call on inclusion, diversity and equity in the workplace.

“So, if you look at leadership - not just across the five million SMEs in the UK but across the whole ecosystem from multinationals down - the leaders in those organisations have multifaceted challenges they have never faced before. And there's no reason why someone who leads a business should be able to singularly unravel some of these emotive and complex areas, and recognise the risk or opportunity they present.”

As more Gen Z consumers enter

the market, decision-making is shifting and authenticity and social responsibility from brands is becoming a greater priority. This means that what was once optional has now become a necessity.

“I see an interesting decade ahead for sport,” says the Benchmark CEO. “Sports people are now amongst the highest ranked in terms of people trusted by society - certainly ahead of politicians and business leaders at the moment.”

Keller believes from a societal perspective, some of the key challenges not only require policy change but also behavioural change - and this is where sport comes in.

“If we are going to shift societal action around some of these challenging issues, sport can be an incredibly powerful driver.

How do you persuade billions of people to change their behaviour and consume differently - from what they eat to how they travel? Sport has the capacity to act as a megaphone and a platform to selling – just take its 2.5 billion football fans in the world, half a billion NFL fans, and the billion people that watch cricket, for example. It has the capacity to create entire movements across different cultures.

“Before all that can happen, however, sport also has to walk the walk. Through our consultancy, think Beyond, our job is to help the teams, leagues, arenas, big stage tournaments and brands manage their own sustainability impact to mitigate risk from supply chain, consumer and employee demands, and find opportunity to effect positive change for both the organisation and society at large.”

For the SME world, the skill is to find a way in which the social impact initiatives drive brand equity and business value at the same time. It’s not about charity or sponsorship - there is a business benefit too.

“Which needs some heavy thinking…” says Keller.

The sort of initiatives that Benchmark can put together are many and varied but nearly all are bespoke according to the needs of the companies and communities involved.

For businesses struggling to find an answer to their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) quandary, Keller and his connections will have the answer. Contact

“Sports people are now amongst the highest ranked in terms of people trusted by society"

SoPost 5

Rounding out the top five, SoPost is the industry leader in e-sampling, helping the world’s biggest brands deliver highly targeted product sampling campaigns online for over a decade

2012

Tyne and Wear Tech 70

Product sampling has been a staple in the marketing world for years. However, traditional product sampling methods have significant flaws:

• Poor targeting results in product wastage, which is bad for brands and the environment.

• Lack of data and insights mean brands can’t accurately track and measure the impact of their sampling campaigns.

• One-touch engagements leave brands unable to identify or build an ongoing relationship with their consumers.

SoPost solves these challenges. Over the past 10 years, we’ve built our platform to help our partners run powerful and effective sample campaigns online, focusing on three main areas: relevance, data and insights.

Targeted product sampling  Integrating anywhere online, we make it easy to reach the right people in the right environments for digital sampling campaigns that drive awareness, conversion and high-quality engagement.

Our intelligent order processing technology and data-driven insights help brands target more accurately and reduce sample wastage by 41%, on average. With average opt-in rates of 50%+ and an 8.2x return on investment, brands continue to use SoPost to maximise sampling results.

Operating in 23 markets worldwide, SoPost also provides an end-to-end fulfilment experience and offers flexible packaging to fit any budget, distribution, or technological need.

We’ve been doing what we do since 2012 and have developed the best-in-class technology. Our data capabilities and scalability are second-to-none, and we don’t stop at technology. Our dedicated Brand Partnerships and Customer Success teams deliver exceptional results for our brands.

A culture for success

At SoPost, we welcome new starters with a comprehensive onboarding process, including company introductions, tools, policies and procedures.

Employees receive a customised induction tailored to their role and department and complete training modules within their first two weeks. Managers have access to templates for a 30-day and 100-day plan to ensure they set up every new joiner for success.

The People team also conducts a “SoSettled” conversation with each new starter after their first few weeks to ensure they receive the necessary support to perform their role effectively.

Managers have regular one-onone meetings with their direct reports and a four-monthly performance review. These reviews include setting objectives aligned with the company strategy and personal goals and incorporate 360 feedback from peers, direct reports and senior leaders.

SoPost encourages all employees to build a career with the company.

We've launched a “careers portal” on our intranet, providing access to role profiles, career pathways and a personal development plan template.

SoPost prioritises filling vacancies internally and in 2022, promoted nearly 30% of its workforce. During performance reviews, managers discuss employees’ career aspirations and help them create or update their personal development plan.

SoPost's allocated training budget supports employee development

and can be used for individual or centralised training needs, such as management or sales training. All employees have access to the internal “SoPloma” program, where subject matter experts deliver monthly training sessions on relevant business areas, projects, or external subjects.

The People team leads talent mapping and succession planning annually to identify key dependencies and future skills requirements. The team also tracks internal promotions, role changes, and development spend to ensure progression and development opportunities are accessible to all employees.

The recent employee engagement survey indicated that 83% of employees feel they can build a career at SoPost.

The future of product sampling

SoPost is the industry leader in online product sampling.

Partnering with some of the world’s leading brands, including Estée Lauder Companies, L’Oreal, Reckitt and Unilever, SoPost continues to deliver exceptional campaign results across the globe.

Furniturebox 4

➔ furniturebox.co.uk

Top five performer Furniturebox proves there's mileage in being an online furniture company

Furniturebox is an online furniture company launched in 2015 by two friends from school, Monty George and Dan Beckles, at the age of just 17. What started as an eBay business has now branched out into multiple selling channels including their own website, The Range, B&Q, Amazon, Wayfair UK and US, Robert Dyas, Mano Mano and OnBuy.

Monty started his first business at the age of 7 selling bread to his local bakery! That was soon followed by selling a huge variety of products on eBay including quad bikes, tech, fashion, pest control and much more. Monty saw a huge opportunity in the online furniture sector and asked Dan to put his plans for University on pause to join him in launching Furniturebox. After an incredible first year of sales and a lot of hard work, the pair haven’t looked back!

Over the last 8 years Furniturebox has remained focused on its core values for offering high quality furniture which is on trend at a price that makes it affordable for

many. Dan and Monty describe their customers as having “champagne taste, beer money” when furnishing their home and firmly believe that high quality, trendy furniture doesn’t have to be expensive.

The quality products are backed up by exceptional customer service with free next day delivery, free returns and a very helpful, friendly customer service team. The team’s dedication to putting the customer first is demonstrated by over 5,000 Trustpilot reviews with an average rating of 4.9 out of 5. Monty said: “We want to grow the business but maintain that high level of service so we closely monitor our Trustpilot rating as an indicator of our success.”

The brand recently moved to a brand new custom built warehouse in Chippenham with 5x their previous capacity, which will enable considerable expansion of product categories and designs. The in house product development team keep a keen eye on trends and ensure popular designs are brought

in so all customers can get that designer look at a fraction of the price. Furniturebox specialises in furniture for all rooms of the home and garden including dining sets, sofas, beds, mirrors, lighting, living room furniture, garden sets and more. The expansion of product collections in 2023 is a big part of the brand’s continued growth plans.

Whilst Furniturebox puts the customer first, the two Founders are also focused on building a sustainable business which cares for the environment and gives back more than it takes. For several years now they have offset carbon emissions by 110% and invested in green initiatives. Customer returns are donated to a local Wiltshire charity called KFR who support the community with affordable second hand furniture and help those in crisis furnish their homes. Dan said: “Working with charities like KFR reduces furniture going to landfill whilst also doing good locally, which is really key for us.”

After considerable growth during and after the pandemic, the team look forward to some exciting plans and projects in 2023 to continue growing and become a big brand in the online furniture industry. One of those projects includes extending the shopping cut off for free next day delivery with hopes that their customers can shop as late as 8pm and get their furniture delivered the next day! They want to set the standard for service within the furniture industry by continuously improving their service for customers. Watch this space!

2015 Wiltshire

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Curious Universe 3

➔

2017 Somerset Consumer / Lifestyle 79

Curious Universe pride themselves on creating innovative and exciting products in the Arts and Crafts, Books, Stationery and Toys areas. Their talented team works together to design, produce and sell over 20 million products every year in 38 languages throughout 77 different countries. This unique venture brings together a wealth of experience and

creativity from opposite sides of the globe, producing exceptional, innovative, and affordable products for everyone to enjoy.

Established in 2017 by husband & wife team John Styring and Briony Britten, they learnt what it takes to build a successful business the first time round, having sold their previous venture, IglooBooks. Taking their passion for creating

exciting, fun and innovative products for ages 8 to 80+, Curious Universe is a business that is centred and harmonious, driven from John and Briony’s passion and earlier success.

More than half the team joined Curious Universe through lockdown, supporting the ongoing growth of the business and reputation with their customers and consumers alike. It has taken dedication and hard work to bring this group of talented people together to support each other and achieve the Company Goals.

Curious Universe is dedicated to ensuring the consumer has an enjoyable experience when using their products. They work with their suppliers to create products that are high quality and exceptional value for money. With product development at the forefront, they continue to evolve and develop fresh concepts to appeal to various markets. Recognising the strength of their current ranges however they also continue to build on popular formats by introducing new titles. In addition, the following areas are an ongoing focus;

Mental Health

With a number of initiatives in place to help support the team with

their mental health and wellbeing, Curious Universe have launched a Wellness Programme – Flourish. With a small team focused on ensuring everyone is looking after themselves, they provide mental health support for anyone that needs it. With a qualified Mental Health First Aider in-house and flexible working initiatives such as ‘Work Where You Work Best’, people are in an environment that aims to bring out the best in them.

Giving back to the community Curious Universe like to do their bit and give back to the community

in whatever way they can. Recent charities that have benefited from their support include Julian House and Bath Mind. This year, the team nominated the Trauma Recovery Centre in Bath and are looking forward to seeing how they can support them over the next 12 months.

Sustainability

Particularly relevant to a young company that creates 20 million products per year, Curious Universe has paid particular attention to building a sustainable future for people and the planet. While

continuing to excite children, adults, and retailers with innovative and inspiring products, they are working hard behind the scenes to play a part in making the shift towards a better future.

Diversity

Curious Universe celebrate diversity in all its forms and support this through product content and in their promotion, bringing reading, fun or creativity to everyone, regardless of their culture or background. In 2022, they achieved the following:

• Delivered company wide Diversity & Inclusion training

• Expanded recruitment channels to ensure a wider audience can be reached

• Recruitment advertisements are all checked for bias to ensure a fair and inclusive approach

• Training on unconscious bias

• Established a Leadership team which is 71% women

• 5 of our 8 Head of Roles are female (62%).

Curious Universe is a young and rapidly growing creative and passionate company. Dedicated not only to producing fun, exciting, educational and inspiring products, they are a team that strive to look after each other, their community and the environment. With recent exhibitions at the London Toy Fair, Frankfurt Book Fair, Bologna Book Fair and the London Book Fair their appetite for growth is clear – the Curious Universe journey has just started!

Join Talent 2

In at number 2 in the EB100, multi-award winning embedded recruitment support provider, Join Talent, is clearly doing something right

2018 Angus Business Services 231

Join Talent is a multiple award winning British start-up/scale-up success story, providing embedded recruitment support as a managed service into some of the most exciting companies on the planet – from start-ups to international household names.

Headquartered in Angus, Scotland – but with employees across 21 countries – Join Talent provides ambitious businesses with an impactful but cost-effective way to create strategic advantage via your ability to attract world-class talent. The rocket fuel you need to sustainably deliver on your business’s growth strategy.

With globalised expertise Join Talent’s team can help with talent strategy & attraction across skills domains including:

• Technology.

• Data.

• Product.

• Digital.

• Machine Learning/AI.

• Cybersecurity.

• Sales & Marketing.

• Central functions (HR, Finance, Risk, HR).

Typically, this is in teams of 2-35+ recruiters and from 6 months to 2+ year-long engagementsfully agile depending on client needs. We also have a strong niche management consultancy arm to support broader talent acquisition transformations.

A large area of Join Talent’s expertise is helping UK businesses grow into new markets. Our international reach combined with our experience supporting businesses from start-ups to large household name corporates in exploring new talent markets and/ or setting up new office locations, gives us a truly unique set of capabilities in this space.

Join Talent’s Chief Revenue Officer and Co-Founder Kevin Blair says: “No client has ever come to us with the ‘easy ask’ – we specialise in businesses facing tough challenges, and we most enjoy working with those companies who want to take as much value from us as possible in our partnership. Our team is always as delighted to be creating hiring processes or improving a client’s recruitment efficiencies as

they are helping them hire great new talent.”

To aid with that - both hiring in the UK and beyond - we are the only company in our sector to have developed branded technology in the talent sourcing space. Our inhouse sourcing tool YOKE unlocks access to 92% of the addressable talent market – nearly 1/3 larger than the available candidate pool on LinkedIn.

Founded on a boot-strap basis in Jan 2019, our own stellar growth as a brand is creating meaningful jobs in the UK and beyond - proving ethics and passion can work hand in hand for scale-up success.  Where our competitors are driven by bottom line, we are obsessive about quality – hiring great people and delivering a phenomenal product & service for our clients. Our founder Katrina HutchinsonO’Neill grew up in the latter troubles in Northern Ireland.

With no degree she started as an ‘agency temp’ in a start-up, but rapidly worked her way up over 15 years to ‘CEO-2’ level in Banking –leading recruitment at RBS and at Nationwide Building Society. On that journey she repeatedly had to face a decision between turning down career opportunities unless she was willing to relocate with her young family for work.

She founded Join Talent in January 2019 on a mission to reinvent embedded recruitment on a bootstrapped basis from her home in rural Scotland. Along with CoFounder Kevin Blair, who joined in 2020 after a successful career leading global In-House Talent Acquisition Teams including for IBM & Cisco globally, they set up the company as a 100% remote business – well-paid careers for amazing humans wherever in the

world they live.

Their innovative model, added to an obsessive focus on client success, means they have secured the best talent in the market and experienced growth that has seen the company expanding into 21 countries and with a team of over 250 in the space of just 4 years.

Nobody has ‘written the book’ on building with scale, substance & great culture on a fully remote international basis… so Join Talent are innovating daily to do it so successfully and sharing their learnings and experience with their clients also.

The Join Talent team have been delighted to win several in-sector

awards including Best New UK Embedded Recruitment Provider in 2020 & 2021.

They also won Great British Entrepreneur Awards Start-up of the Year 2021 for their region, the first company in their sector to do so, and again in 2022 the regional award Great British Entrepreneur Awards Scale-Up of the Year category.

Our CEO Katrina was announced by the Sunday Times LDC as one of the Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders of the year for 2023 and also was announced as the winner of the title of UK’s Most Disruptive Business Leader of the year 2023 in The Times.

N0.1

Cotswold Fayre

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cotswold-fayre.co.uk

Cotswold Fayre launched in the late nineties when Paul Hargreaves was made aware of the challenges of independent retailers sourcing the growing range and variety of British speciality food and drink. Huge amounts of time were wasted buying products from too many suppliers and there was a clear need for a ‘one order, one delivery, one invoice’ solution which would significantly reduce the administrative burden of these new growing stores and enable them to stock a much wider range of interesting artisanal food products. Cotswold Fayre was born, that need remains and twenty-four years later the company supplies over 2,000 food retailers across the UK with over 4,000 products.

The business model of consolidating numerous small brands is already significantly carbon reducing, and this is one of the main factors motivating Cotswold Fayre to drive their growth further. In addition, the business has a clear carbon reduction plan to reach net zero by 2030; until then they will offset all their carbon, as well as encouraging their 400 suppliers to follow suit.

Topping the 2023 EB100, Cotswold Fayre continues to demonstrate its low impact distribution model and responsible partnerships in the speciality food and drink space, is a winning formula

Food & Drink, Wholesale Distribution

Cotswold Fayre is now the leading wholesaler of speciality foods to independent food retailers in the UK – the company supplies most of the best food stores in the UK and attracts many of the best new food brands to work in collaboration with them. Customers are made up of farm shops, delicatessens, garden centres, food halls, high street shops and a small amount of mainstream retail. Partly due to the company’s impact for the past two decades raising the bar on quality food, consumers all over the UK are buying and eating better quality food now than when the company was founded in 1999.

Over the past two years the company’s growth has been spectacular as retailers consolidate more and a higher number of consumers shop for better food more locally. This trend accelerated during the Covid pandemic and Cotswold Fayre was a vital link for many local retailers during that

time, keeping them stocked up with food when other supply chains were breaking down.

Cotswold Fayre’s impact and influence on their suppliers has started to change the face of the wider food and drink sector. The business was one of the first UK companies to be certified as a B Corp in 2015. B Corps are companies putting people and planet before profit and is the fastest growing business movement throughout the world. Since certifying, Cotswold Fayre has actively encouraged suppliers to become better for the world and they run an accelerator programme to help more businesses to become more environmentally and socially responsible. As of January 2023, the wholesaler is proud to have 50 suppliers now also certified as B Corps – more than the total UK B Corp community in 2015. Having supplied the best food retailers in the UK for over 20

years, in 2019 the business had the opportunity to develop their own retail and hospitality site. Flourish, situated between Bristol and Bath, finally opened in June 2021 and is a great example of vertical integration. Flourish has been a huge asset for the company and Cotswold Fayre’s social and environmental values are more clearly expressed in a consumerfacing business. Flourish has increased the gravitas of the business with their B2B customers and is an exemplar of good practice as well as providing a live showcase for many of the company’s brands.

Future plans include growing the influence and range of the wholesale business with the addition of the frozen category and there are plans to have two further retail sites in the next few years.

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