East Midlands Development Agency (emda) has announced the names
of the 67 ambitious companies that have been accepted to take part
in its latest Growth Readiness programme. Funded by emda and
the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Growth Readiness is
part of the HighGrowth East Midlands programme and provides
intensive, tailored and rigorous support to help businesses prepare
for and sustain high growth.
This represents the final year of the £4.1 million
HighGrowth East Midlands programme. Despite the challenging
economic climate, demand for this year's programme has been
extremely high, with the programme exceeding the 49 of businesses
who signed up in 2008.
The Growth Readiness programme provides 10 days of intensive
coaching and includes specialist support in areas such as strategic
planning and creating a competitive advantage. This support is
provided over a 12 month period, helping businesses to clarify
their vision and strategy for growth. In doing so, the programme
helps managing directors and business owners to pin point and
overcome barriers to growth.
DDC Outsourcing Solutions Limited (DDC OS) based in Worksop is
one of the companies that have joined the 2009 programme. The
company specialises in document scanning, data capture and contact
centre solutions, and also offer a range of rules-based back office
services to a wide spectrum of industry sectors. The clients which
have used DDC OS range of services include Wilkinsons, GB Energy
and Comic Relief
DDC OS is part of The DDC Group a global amalgamation of data
processing companies. The Group has a wide geographic spread with
operating units in the UK, the USA, the Philippines, Holland and
Bosnia. Additionally the Group has affiliates and associates in
India, Australia, Morocco, Brazil, Hungary and Ireland.
Speaking about his company's involvement in the 2009 programme,
Colin Gray, Managing Director, said "DDC OS joined the Growth
Readiness programme as we recognise that we need support to help us
grow further as a business. We are looking forward to working with
our growth coach over the coming months to help us put in place a
clear vision and strategy".
Alongside the Growth Readiness programme, HighGrowth East
Midlands also includes the High Growth programme which helps
existing high growth businesses sustain their rapid growth. This
year's HighGrowth programme began earlier this year and over 50
regional businesses are taking part in it.
Speaking about the HighGrowth East Midlands programme, Michael
Carr, emda's Executive Director of Business Services said: "Demand
for places on this year's Growth Readiness programme has been
extremely high and I am delighted that we have been able to recruit
another class of ambitious businesses for 2009. Despite the
challenging global economic climate, the increased demand for this
support gives an indication that businesses in the East Midlands
are now preparing themselves for future growth."
The HighGrowth East Midlands programme now is supporting nearly
170 high growth and potential high growth businesses across the
region. In total these businesses have a combined turnover in
excess of £360 million. The support provided by HighGrowth
East Midlands will help these businesses expand further, enter new
markets and create new jobs. It is part of emda's long-term
strategy to stimulate high-quality innovation and accelerate
regional economic growth.