Boro in top five for growth potential

IT might be more accustomed to topping national tables for teenage pregnancy rates and being voted as the UK’s worst place to live, but these days, Middlesbrough has a more positive claim to fame.

The town has been pinpointed as one of the top five areas in the UK for potential high-growth companies – and that’s no mean feat when you consider that 400 locations were considered by researchers.

The creative and cultural sector in the North-East employs about 60,000 people, with more than 5,000 businesses, many in the digital sector.

Fuelling this entrepreneurial boom has been the technology sector, specifically digital, which has rapidly grown in part thanks to Digital City.

Established 12 years ago under the now-defunct regional development agency, One North East, Digital City has gone from strength to strength under the leadership of Mark Elliott.

Formed to help use Teesside University’s success in the computing sector to create an economic hub of digital companies in the Tees Valley sub-region, the organisation helps fledgling companies and entrepreneurs with ideas set up, attract investment and grow rapidly.

“One North East came up with the idea that what was needed as a region was to look at the universities, take what they were good at and help develop that area into a strong business sector,” Mark says.

“Teesside is historically one of the great centres for computing administration and virtual reality.

“Newcastle got Science City, Sunderland got Software City and Teesside got Digital City.

“I agreed to join the project, and, nine years later, here I am.”

He said the organisation’s success has come from the fresh approach they had implemented.

“We have turned it from a paper exercise into one of the most successful projects in the world. We are very highly regarded.

“We have done it by being really quite radical about how we have approached things.

“The people hired to come on board were business people. We still are. They bring a level of expertise which I think possibly had been missing from the project.

“I have been running businesses since I was in my early 20s. We put in place a system which had a lot to with running a business and making it successful. It was an entirely new business support system, based on experience.

“We brought in very successful creative professionals. That led to a much more tough love approach to support.

“We absolutely nailed our colours to the mast in terms of aspirations, business and wealth.

“We have gone from having virtually nothing in place to a booming emerging sector.”

And Mark is convinced the boom is yet to reach its peak, with Digital City’s hub, Boho One, now housing about 30 firms, and rapid expansions in short periods of time common-place for technology firms in Teesside.

Ones to watch include digital application company Thap, and education system software firm, Sound Training for Reading, which are both in the process rapidly expanding their markets after securing large investments.

Also set to expand rapidly are web design company DS22, which is housed at the Multi-Media Exchange on Middlesbrough’s Corporation Road, after bringing on board an angel investor who is set to help steer the firm onto bigger things.

Game development firm Double Eleven has expanded to the point where it occupies almost half of Boho One after securing a lucrative contract develop industry giant Sony’s Little Big Planet PS Vita.

“We have a lot of potential high-growth companies,” he said.

“Recent figures show Middlesbrough came fourth out of 400 areas in terms of the highest concentration of high-growth companies – and yet we are in the worst recession of all-time.”

However, Mark refuses to become complacent about Digital City’s success.

“We are not resting on our laurels. We will continue to on this path.

“We are doing something quite extraordinary.”

Double Eleven is game firm on a roll

MANAGING to expand from three staff to 40 in two years and with no outside investment is no mean feat, but games development company Double Eleven has managed precisely that.

The company has a solid development plan which means it has grown organically, with profits ploughed back into the company, and it has secured a lucrative contract for Sony to develop Big Planet Little Planet for the PS Vita.

Originally working out of 31-year-old chief executive Lee Hutchinson’s loft, the company went on to develop games for the Apple iPhone.

Since then, the company’s growing reputation within the gaming industry has seen them pull in a steady stream of work, to the point where it moved to Boho One and opened a satellite office in Leeds.

The company focus on an environment to encourage creativity, bringing in a chef to cook for staff working late and allowing them to watch sporting events on the giant TV bought for the purpose.

Along with other directors, Teesside University graduate Lee takes home a modest salary similar to that of senior staff to ensure the maximum amount of profits is re-invested in the company.

The firm will represent the North-East at this year’s British Chambers of Commerce annual Business Awards in the Award for Commitment to People Development.

Investment triggers recruitment at Thap

DIGITAL app company Thap is on a major recruitment drive after securing a major investment.

Tom Howsam, of Thap

The company, which is set to grow from just three employees to 30 by the end of the year, makes applications, or apps, for mobile phones.

Now, after securing an undisclosed investment from a Dubai finance house, the firm, which already has a global client base, is set to expand even further.

'Ideas are central to our business'

PROVING ideas are just as important to digital companies as business expertise, is teacher Katy Parkinson, left, whose firm, Sound Training for Reading, is set for six-fold growth over the next year.

Katy went to Digital City with a digital system which can improve children’s reading ages by two years in just a few weeks, and the organisation provided her with support and advice to take the programme forward.

The assistance has helped the system go from being used by ten schools to 162 inside 12 months, and turnover grow to £80,000 turnover in its first year. Following undisclosed cash injections from two Tees Valley investors, the system is being rolled out across schools nationwide, and the firm’s turnover is expected to grow to £500,000 by the end of the 2012-13 financial year.

Investor brings new direction for DS22

A NEW investor in website design firm DS22 has prompted expansion and a new direction for the company.

An angel investor has spotted the firm’s potential and become a shareholder, providing business expertise in a bid to help the company grow rapidly over the next six months.

Director Stephen Gunn, 30, set up the firm a year ago after a number of years experience in website design.

Originally training in fashion design at university, Stephen quickly realised graphics were his passion and teamed up with some of the experts in computer code he now employs to make his visions become a reality.

They secured a steady flow of clients, which Stephen believes is thanks to their commonsense approach and focus on customer service – something which he says won’t change following the investment. The flow turned into a stream, prompting Stephen to set up DS22 last year.

Since then, they have brought on board a new shareholder to help the company expand. They now have a potentially lucrative deal on the table with a public sector client for series of websites, and are looking to recruit two web developers either on staff or freelance contracts.

“We are a company with big ambitions,” said Stephen. “We are looking to take on staff – we need two new web developers now. You can only grow your company with staff – you have to invest in people, and in your business, to expand.

“What makes us stand out from other website design companies is that we can talk to our clients in a way they understand, and we give the best possible customer service.

That is our top priority.

“We do not just finish the site and have no further contact – we keep in touch with our customers to make sure it is what they want and working for them.

“We are creative and innovative – we like to push ourselves to find new solutions to clients’ problems.”