The Entrepreneurs’ Forum is celebrating the latest cohort of entrepreneurs to graduate from its Scale-up Leader’s Academy.
Twelve North East entrepreneurs completed the six-month programme this month following a final session with Scale-up Leaders’ Academy coach Ian Kinnery.
The 12 taking part were: Samantha Read of APM Cleaning & Repair; Lee Quarzi of Lumo; Michael Beaton of DRS; Ben Tansey of re:heat; Sally Marshall of the Marshall Robertson Group; Nick Salloway of Qrious; Kim Binks of Apricity; Richie Gledson of Sky High Sports; Martin Wakefield of Wakefields; Dan Parker of Aspect Facades; Alisdair Beveridge of The Build Directory and Keian Sanchez of A Greener Solution.
The entrepreneurs made up the fourth cohort and, since its launch in 2017, the Academy has supported more than 35 North East entrepreneurs to focus on achieving sustainable high growth by creating a blueprint for future business success.
The second cohort of businesses, which were the subject of research conducted by Newcastle University, reported a 140 percent rise in operating profit, with an average increase in turnover of 13.2 percent and a rise of 8.6 percent in employment. A quarter of scale-ups participating in the programme also increased their level of export sales within the previous 12 months.
Often delivered through physical workshops and coaching sessions, since March, the Academy has switched online, with speakers from across the UK offering their expertise on issues such as leadership and branding through webinar and video conferencing platforms.
Jonathan Lamb, chief executive of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, said: “The Scale-up Leader’s Academy is delivering a toolkit of invaluable knowledge to business owners that allows them to prepare for rapid and sustained business growth.
“Like our members, we’ve had to respond quickly to a changing environment. Consequently, our latest cohort has had a unique learning experience, a combination of physical and virtual sessions due to the lockdown.
“The feedback so far has been excellent and shows that our blend of individual learning, team-based workshops and expert-led sessions is helping our region’s businesses to put the foundations in place to scale their businesses rapidly and sustainably.”
Ian Kinnery, Gazelle International Scale-up Coach, said: “This year’s cohort has been exceptional in the way they have dealt with the coronavirus crisis and still continued to learn and scale their businesses.
“Despite everything that has happened in the world we are still experiencing significant growth across the whole range of businesses represented.”
Recruitment for the fifth cohort begins in September. For further details of to apply visit www.entrepreneursforum.net.