A Cumbrian-based business, which won a prestigious Silver Award in the National Business Women’s Awards in late 2021, is keen to leverage this success, to achieve even more goals in 2022.
Ulverston-based Growthviser, which has shaken up the world of research and development tax credits and grant funding consultancy by adopting novel strategies and continually innovating with its product and service delivery, achieved success in the ‘New Business of the Year’ category.
Its managing director, Darina Ward, who received the award at the Hilton in Wembley, was also a finalist for ‘Business Woman of the Year’. She will now leverage all of this success for even more growth in the year ahead.
The fact Growthviser also made the finals in the Rural Business Awards North and the SME National Business Awards 2021, is illuminating with regard to its strategy. Rather than taking a generalist approach to the provision of services such as R&D tax credit reclaims and grant funding application support, Growthviser has channelled its energies into key areas – farming, food manufacturing and engineering – as well as working with clients in general manufacturing and IT.
It has already assisted some of the north’s leading farming businesses, fuelling their growth and working towards longer term and even five-year targets. This is enabling Growthviser’s clients to capitalise on the financial incentives available from the Government and other bodies and then maximise the benefit.
Growthviser’s approach, with insight delivered by knowledgeable sector specialists, optimises the impacts obtainable from financial incentives and grants. The proposition is a world apart from the form-filling that just delivers an R&D tax credit cheque. It is an added-value approach, focused on nurturing tangible growth and business profitability.
The business has also distinguished itself from its competitors at a brand level, through its verve. It has brought colour into what is a grey world.
Its new product development is another key to success, with Growthviser having developed a hugely popular and unique innovation support service, which removes all the reporting pressure from clients’ shoulders. By doing all the groundwork for clients, the team not only add value to the relationship, but identify even more areas in which grant support and R&D tax reclaims can support the business.
Growthviser has grown phenomenally in its relatively short lifetime, now employing 10 full-time staff. It is headquartered in Ulverston but works with clients nationwide, from a Michelin-star chef in London, to Frank Bird Poultry in Penrith.
It is working on cutting-edge new developments that will set its proposition still further apart from any other business in its sector, whilst also providing compelling competitive advantage.
Darina Ward says: “I am immensely proud of my achievements and of building a business already recognised by national awards’ judges. This is just the very start, however, so watch this space in 2022, as we have phenomenal developments in the pipeline and plan to leverage our awards success. I also hope that my example will inspire other women to dare to dream and ‘do’ and I shall be launching other initiatives to inspire women to fast-forward their business ideas.
“My ‘why’, when launching Growthviser, was to stop the farming community and small rural businesses being the poor relations within the British economy’s growth story. In seeking to achieve this, I have developed tools and systems that have made our team a real catalyst for growth within these businesses. We speak the language of farmers, as well as field-to-fork businesses engaged in food manufacturing and food service, and they greatly benefit from our conversations. That’s good news for Cumbria, as these businesses are the lifeblood of our economy.”
