Driving Growth: Reflections on 12 months of Growth Flag

Since its inception 12 months ago Growth Flag has transformed from an idea into a ground-breaking tool that is being used around the country to successfully support economic development efforts. Over the past year, Growth Flag has led the way in helping businesses understand their growth potential by using data, and challenging the misconception on what people expect growth to look like, and where it should be enabling organisations to understand their strengths of their local economies or understand their regional strengths.  

Using our innovative data platform, businesses can understand how they can use the insights we provide to maximize their success and growth. Some of our biggest achievements, partnerships, and collaborations over the past year can be understood through client testimonials. 

We have collaborated with Northern assisting the rail industry in understanding the transportation needs of businesses and employees. Rob Warnes, strategic development director at Northern, said: “This partnership with Growth Flag is an important step in our long-term vision to make a positive impact for the North in all we do and for all we serve. He added, “Using their extensive data intelligence, we can better prepare for the future and prioritise business activity in areas where growth potential is best. Just like our drivers, we need to know what’s coming further down the track.” 

We have partnered with Salford University Business School; working to enhance student learning by incorporating Growth Flag into their curriculum with a dedicated student learning tool. Dr Francine Morris, Associate Dean for Enterprise and Engagement, Salford University Business School, commented: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Growth Flag to create such a fantastic opportunity for our students. Every great strategy is rooted in strong data. So, for our students to have access to this, as well as the opportunity to gain first-hand experience with the organisation via sandwich year placements, prior to embarking on graduate careers, will be invaluable.” 

Growth Flag began its journey when Red Flag Alert and The Growth Company had a vision to drive sustainable growth through the predictive power of data. Since our launch at the Convention of the North in January 2023, the response has been overwhelmingly positive and gained key clients and partnerships. 

Throughout the past year, we have attended various insightful events, including Tomorrows Science and Innovations Clusters event (by UKREiiF), where our Technical Growth Consultant Megan Barker discussed challenges they have faced and showcased how they used our invaluable data to see where potential growth opportunities are.  

In June, our Co-founder, Richard Jeffery delivered a speech at Small Biz Britain 2023 discussing the future of SMEs and sharing insights from our tool that could contribute towards their improvement. Richard Jeffery also featured on an Enterprise Research Centre (UK) podcast discussing the future of business support and the importance of focusing on businesses that could make the greatest contribution to growth.  

We also had the privilege of participating in various virtual events. In July, we collaborated with Red Flag Alert for a joint webinar focused on the topic of ‘Flagging Growth During an Economic Turndown’.  

Other clients we partnered with throughout the past 12 months include: Enterprise Research Centre, Aston University, Centre of Local Economic Strategies (CLES), Cheshire & Warrington Growth Hub, Lancashire County Council and more. We have quickly become experts within higher education and we are striving towards being the go-to hub across Growth hubs and Councils in the UK to maximise business growth activities.  

Our client, Centre of Local Economic Strategies (CLES) launched a report identifying how wealth flows throughout Greater Manchester, where our data was utilised to identify those sectors that are creating wealth for residents, to gain further understanding on how to support local economies to improve the quality of lives for many people. The Growth Flag tool is an evidence-based approach to understanding where investments will have the best impact on growth. Leah Millthorne, Head of Local Economies at CLES, said: “Growth Flag insights provides us with deeper place-based intelligence on business sectors, which will inform the community wealth building strategies and practices that aim to create more inclusive local economies.” 

In December 2023, we welcomed Edge Hill University to our growing education client portfolio. Our Co-Founder Richard Jeffery expressed his excitement about collaborating with Edge Hill University, highlighting how the Growth Flag tool can support colleges and universities in understanding their local economy and identifying sectors with high growth potential. 

Amongst our achievements are several innovative functionalities we have incorporated to improve the Growth Flags user’s satisfaction. To name a few, we have introduced the Single Company Search Feature, which enables users to locate and obtain valuable information about specific companies easily.   

Furthermore, we enhanced the ‘Standard Industrial Classification’ (SIC) codes feature, which provides a detailed description of a company’s business nature.  As a dedicated team we are constantly working towards enhancing our tool and ensuring its reliability for our valued clients. 

A key milestone was the launch of our Growth Flag Annual Report which launched on 25th January via a hybrid event, where we introduced the power outlook, as a new way of identifying growth potential and the value towards local economies across the UK. 

We look forward to continuing to challenge the misconception of growth and enabling organisations to understand regional strengths and how they can use them to maximize their success.  

Why not book a demo with us, to see how we can help your business. Contact us via the link below.

Contact Us | Data Analytics, Visualisation & Integration (growthflag.com) 
Other ways to get in touch: 
T: 0330 460 9877 
E: hello@growthflag.com