A trio of North East businessmen have been named on a list of the 50 most ambitious company leaders this year.
The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders for 2021 list has been published to celebrate the entrepreneurial individuals behind some of the 海角视频鈥檚 most successful and fast-growing medium-sized firms.
The programme, which is supported by The Times and now in its fourth year, includes business bosses from across the 海角视频 who collectively employ 9,500 people and generate annual revenues of 拢1.2bn. More than 600 people were nominated before the list was whittled down to 50.
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Three company bosses from the North East have made this year鈥檚 list, including Andy Gough, CEO of North East based e-Quality Solutions (eQS), an ed-tech specialist based in Hebburn, South Tyneside, for inclusivity and mental wellbeing.
The firm, which acquired London-based Equality Works Group specialist in July, is focused on creating a more inclusive world through its disability services and ED&I workplace divisions.
Mr Gough said: 鈥淚 am delighted to be included in the LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders, it is testament to the hard work, passion for doing good and resilience of the whole team at eQS. It further establishes that as a business, eQS is on the right track to achieve our ambitious goals.
鈥淚 have two children with physical disabilities, hidden disabilities, and mental health issues. My children could one day be facing the same challenges as the students we help, and that really drives me to push this company forwards.
鈥淲hen I joined the business in 2018, we were at 拢4m revenue and in our latest financial year it was 拢9m. We are confident we can get to 拢30m turnover by 2023 and in 10 years, I want us to be a leading global provider in equality, diversity and inclusivity solutions. This goal is going to be achieved through an ambitious buy and build strategy as well as strong organic growth.
鈥淥ur purpose has always been about unlocking true potential and removing barriers to education, but with strong investment behind us we can now be more ambitious and remove barriers to employment and life.鈥
Jonathan Grubin, founder of Newcastle based SoPost, also features on the list.
The company, launched in 2018, carries out sampling campaigns for its clients and helps them target the right customers, using AI and machine learning. It counts the likes of Neal鈥檚 Yard Remedies and L鈥橭r茅al as clients and has seen strong growth in the last few years, doubling its own workforce over the past year.
He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a real privilege to have the ambition of everything we鈥檙e doing at SoPost recognised in this way.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a pretty incredible ride over the past year - more than doubling our sales and headcount - but what I鈥檓 most excited about is what we鈥檙e building and our vision for the future.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 view us as a product sampling business. We鈥檙e a technology company. We have 65 people right now and half of those are product-focused.
鈥淩&D is critically important. Yes, we were the first to market but then people start to copy you. If we don鈥檛 keep innovating and building the stuff they haven鈥檛 even thought of yet, there will come a time when someone overtakes us. I won鈥檛 let that happen.鈥
Josh Gill, founder of Everflow Water, completes the trio of North East leaders.
He launched the company in Wynyard after spotting a gap in the market for a new tech platform for the water industry.
He said: 鈥淚n 2015, my ambition was to make water simple for business customers, who were traditionally poorly served by the water market.
鈥淭o have grown to where we are in such a short time is testament to the whole team鈥檚 vision and hard work, so winning an award like this recognises everyone鈥檚 ambition, not just mine.鈥
LDC鈥檚 John Garner added: 鈥淭he last 18 months have presented challenges that none of us could have foreseen, but despite everything, it鈥檚 fantastic to see that so many business leaders have achieved remarkable things. Through their resourcefulness and resilience, this year鈥檚 Top 50 Most Ambitious Leaders prove that the flame of ambition is hard to extinguish.鈥
