Category Archives: Manchester

Awards, Healthcare Tech, Manchester, News, Technology

Former NHS Nurse Wins ‘Innovator of the Year’ at Women in Tech Awards

A Nurse turned health-tech founder who lives in Greater Manchester has won an award at this year’s Computing Women in Tech Excellence Awards.

The awards, in their seventh year, recognise top-performing women from across the technology space and play an important role in increasing diversity in tech across the UK.

Emma-Louise Fusari, 42, the founder of health-tech startup In-House Health, won the ‘Innovator of the Year’ award for developing her data-informed workplace health and wellbeing solutions and for her commitment to helping business leaders establish and eliminate the root cause of issues causing work-related ill-health.

Emma-Louise said, “I’m delighted and very proud to have won this award, especially as I was up against women from household-named businesses such as Lloyds Bank, Natwest, BT, Amazon Music and Transport for London. I would like to thank the judges for recognising that I’m changing the status quo of current workplace wellbeing and that there is a better way of working that will impact and improve health, productivity and economic outcomes.”

 

Having built a business that allows her to use her 21 years of nursing knowledge and experience in chronic disease management and public health promotion, Emma-Louise is enabling organisations to make a measurable impact on their people, performance and profits through her newly developed clinically led and evidence-based health and wellbeing risk audit and programmes.

 

“To be recognised for doing what I love, which is making a difference for those I have the pleasure of working with and supporting, is truly humbling. For others to see and share my vision is phenomenal too and to be acknowledged and celebrated in a prestigious tech award is also pretty cool,” added Emma-Louise.

 

Computing’s Women in Tech Excellence awards took place at Magazine London on Thursday 23rd November and received more than 3,000 nominations. At the ceremony guests were welcomed by international rugby star Maggie Alphonsi and the awards were hosted and presented by comedian Lucy Porter.

For a full list of those highly commended and the winners, visit https://womenintechexcellence.co.uk/womenintechexcellenceawards2023/en/page/2023-winners

 

Birmingham, Digital Skills, Investment, Investment News, Leeds, Manchester, News

Basecamp Skills Secures £2M to Tackle England’s Digital Skills Gap

Today sees The Department of Education (DfE) award a fast-growing regional training academy over £2M in funding to tackle England’s digital gap as part of the Skills For Life Bootcamp program. Basecamp Skills Academy, which has central locations in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham, will use the funding to launch its 12-week digital marketing bootcamps.  Already recruiting for their 6th Cohort, starting on the 9th of October 2023, it provides life-changing workplace skills to its students.

Basecamp Skills delivers fully-funded industry-led digital marketing training to help individuals over the age of 19 looking to upskill, retrain or kick-start a career in digital marketing. They promise every single learner access to a fully-funded training course, delivered by industry marketing professionals and secure a job interview should they wish to pursue a career in the sector. To date, it has already successfully enrolled over 200 learners across 7 cohorts, with 48% being from gender minorities and 48% from an ethnic minority background.

Uniquely the training scheme is linked to Fearless Adventures, a company which helps British digital startups grow with venture capital funding, staffing and digital marketing solutions. So it is  well placed to link the Basecamp Skills Academy students to businesses in need of their new skills. Set-up by Dominic McGregor, the former COO of digital business, Social Chain, with  entrepreneurs David Newns and Charlie Yates, it started life in 2021 as The Fearless Academy before re-branding to Basecamp Skills Academy this year.

David Newns, Fearless Adventures and Basecamp co-founder said: “If you think about the sort of talent we’ll need in the next economic cycle, diversity of thought and opinion is absolutely essential. Widening talent searches beyond university degrees into work-based training, such as Basecamp Skills Academy’s best-in-class training, is a way to broaden that scope.”

Amy Wild, Basecamp Director, said “Our digital marketing bootcamp is simply different. We consistently enhance our curriculum to ensure that we are upskilling the next generation of ambitious talent with the skills desperately needed by the industry. Every life we positively impact cements our mission and we are on track to upskill 1,000 individuals by 2025.”

Emily Moffat, Head of Talent, said: “Basecamp Talent was born out of the need for a genuine talent service, offering trust, transparency and support. After speaking to over 1000 founder-led businesses, there was an obvious recurring problem; hiring and retaining the right people. It was clear that after spending time sourcing best-in-class people for our investment portfolio, we should extend our services to the wider business ecosystem.”

Dominic McGregor, Fearless Adventures and Basecamp co-founder said: We launched The Fearless Academy with the aim of bridging the digital skills gap. With this rebrand, we are confident that it will enable us to further pursue our mission and scale our efforts in creating an inclusive environment, accessible to everyone seeking to acquire essential digital skills.”

Acquisitions & Partnerships, Manchester, Mergers, News, Tech, Technology

North west tech firm acquires award winning Manchester business.

HAT-TRICK: CONNECTUS SEALS THIRD ACQUISITION IN THREE YEARS

BUSINESS managed service specialists Connectus can today announce they have acquired an award winning tech business.

The acquisition of Mango Tech – named last year as the Best Cloud & IT Services Provider in Manchester – will further accelerate Connectus‘ growth in terms of customers, employees and monthly recurring revenues.

The deal, which is in line with Connectus’ ongoing growth strategy, completes a hat-trick of recent deals for the Doncaster based firm. Since 2020 they’ve acquired YouCloud IT and Cybersity. This is the first acquisition Connectus has secured since they announced a new revolving funding package with Time Finance earlier this year.

Following the acquisition, Greg Buchanan, the founder and Managing Director of Mango Tech, will become Technical Director for Connectus.  He will be based at Connectus’ main Salford Community Stadium office but will work across all regions.

 

Commenting, Roy Shelton, the CEO of Connectus, said: “This deal enhances our engineering and technical leadership, and will help swell our customer base across the North West. I am very excited about the acquisition of Mango Tech, and am delighted to welcome Greg to Connectus in the newly formed role as Technical Director.

“I have been a long term fan of Greg and his achievements over the years. I feel both the technical and commercial experience Greg brings into this new role will further fuel our growth plan. It will allow us to continue to meet the growing demand for our Connect-Protect-Collaborate IT managed services portfolio.”

 

Greg said: “I’m thrilled to be joining Connectus as Technical Director and I’m looking forward to working closely with both the leadership and engineering teams to help drive forward the company’s vision.

“The opportunities that lie ahead are incredibly exciting, and I’ll be working hard to help the business achieve its strategic objectives. Whilst the business is excited about the expertise I’m bringing to the table, I’m personally excited by this opportunity to learn from some of the industry’s brightest minds.”

 

Mango Tech was founded in 2012 and has grown to become one of Manchester’s brightest technology companies. Their ethos is to recognise the massive growth potential of each of their clients, regardless of the stage in business they are at.

They specialise in the provision of Azure Virtual Desktop, Enterprise Grade Broadband, Teams Phone Services and outsourced CTO services fit perfectly across the spectrum of businesses within the SME market.

 

L & D, Manchester, News, Recruitment, Talent Management, Training

Award-winning, Manchester-headquartered emerging talent consultancy secures public sector supplier status

Grayce has been awarded preferred supplier status as part of Public Sector Resourcing’s (PSR) Recruit Train Deploy (RTD) service. This will enable the business to provide Grayce’s Hire, Train, Deploy and Develop solutions to the public sector, ensuring digital transformation is supported, new skills are brought to the public sector and emerging talent is given the spotlight it deserves.

The appointment will enable Grayce to directly deliver services across Central Government, Local Government, Health and the wider public sector through a recognised and compliant framework.  Expanding on its existing public sector capability, the company will provide these organisations with carefully selected Grayce talent, employed by Grayce, and supported through tailored development pathways encompassing digital, data and business skills, while supported by Grayce’s dedicated delivery team and support structure. Government organisations will have an option to permanently employ Grayce talent directly following completion of their development programme.

Flexible technical resource

Using Grayce enables clients to build and develop their technical and transformation teams as their business requirement grows. Grayce also attracts a diverse range of emerging talent with low risk to the clients – providing a proven model and high client satisfaction rates.

 

Jo Matkin

Jo Matkin, CEO at Grayce said: “We are delighted to be part of this procurement framework for the public sector. All organisations need to focus on their digital transformation right now, and I believe that by partnering with us for digital, data, commercial and transformation talent, we will not only match talent with business demand, but also equip the public sector with skills for the next generation.

 

Building individuals’ careers and clients’ talent capability 

“Although our analysts are employed by us, as our clients’ needs change, they have the opportunity to take the analysts on as direct employees. Our business model enables us to help build individuals’ careers and clients’ talent capability. This means we can enhance their workforce, building digital and business skills for the future.”

 

For further information about how Grayce can help you meet the changing dynamics of your business, visit: www.grayce.co.uk

Food & Drink, Manchester, News, North of England

Hydes appoints Experienced General Manager for Wirral Premium Dining Pub

A leading North West brewery and pub retailer has appointed an experienced general manager to run its newly acquired premium dining pub in Heswall, on the Wirral.

Salford-based Hydes brewery has appointed Roy Wilson to head up the team at The Harry Beswick which is due to open this Autumn. The new pub restaurant will create up to 40 new jobs.

With almost a decade of experience with Hydes at some of its most successful premium dining pubs, Roy previously managed The Hornsmill in Helsby, near Chester since 2018. Prior to this, he was at The Jolly Thresher in Lymm.

Hydes acquired the building in Heswall on Telegraph Road earlier this year, which will see the conversion of the town’s former police station into a premium dining and drinking establishment. The Harry Beswick is named in honour of the original architect of the building.

The £1.3million acquisition of the Harry Beswick building is Hydes’ first property acquisition in over five years. The building has been empty for several years and is currently undergoing a £2.3m transformation. It was originally built in 1911 and was the town’s police station for over a century.

New general manager Roy Wilson, commented: “I know Heswall very well so the chance to establish and run The Harry Beswick from scratch is a major opportunity for me in terms of furthering my career with Hydes. Operating The Hornsmill for the past five years has been a great experience and to turn it into the successful operation that it has become, under the most challenging conditions the hospitality industry has ever faced, has been extremely rewarding. I’m hoping to replicate the success I had there to ensure that The Harry Beswick is equally successful. 

“The location and the building are both outstanding. This coupled with a £2 million-plus investment from Hydes will ensure its reputation for providing customers with a premium dining and drinking experience will fit in very well with the vibrant bar, restaurant and social scene in Heswall. I’m also keen to ensure that such a magnificent building will now continue in such a positive way, bringing jobs and further prosperity to the area. Thanks to Hydes, The Harry Beswick will once again become an important local community hub.”

Hydes operates nearly 50 pubs ranging from Lancaster in the North to Stoke-on Trent in the Midlands and across to North Wales including a wide selection of premium dining destination outlets, craft style bars and traditional community pubs. Hydes currently operates one other establishment on the Wirral, the Boat House in nearby Neston.

Managing director of Hydes Brewery, Adam Mayers said: “Roy is a first-class manager and has done an outstanding job at The Hornsmill over the past five years. His experience and commitment is second to none and he possesses all the key customer service attributes that Hydes looks for in its employees. His skill in building dedicated, committed teams will undoubtedly help The Harry Beswick to hit the ground running when it opens and I have no doubts that, along with the team he assembles, a loyal customer base will be very quickly established.

“We are working hard to make sure The Harry Beswick will deliver a great experience for customers  with a quality, contemporary new design scheme and feel, combined with a premium dining and drinking experience and Hydes’ standards of customer service.”

The acquisition of the premises forms part of an ongoing multi-million pound investment programme across the Hydes’ estate over the next few years. Last year, Hydes committed over £4.5m to refurbishments of pubs across its estate and it intends to increase that investment substantially throughout 2023.

Adam Mayers continued: “After being left for years, it’s great to see such an iconic building being revitalised, fully retaining its significant heritage and history, which is very important to us and our customers. Now that we have Roy in place as general manager, we’re looking forward with great excitement to building an outstanding team of kitchen, bar and serving staff in readiness for The Harry Beswick opening its doors for the first time later this year.”

Hydes, with its brewery in Media City, Salford, was formed in 1863 and supplies beers to wholesalers, pub companies and other brewers throughout the UK and a pub retailing estate of nearly 50 pubs across the North West of England and North Wales.

 

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Anyone interested in joining the Hydes team at The Harry Beswick should register their interest by calling 07917 575256. Positions of various levels of experience are available across all areas ranging from kitchen and bar to service and front of house.

Pictured: Roy Wilson, new general manager of The Harry Beswick, in Heswall, on the Wirral.

Appointments, Manchester, News, Technology

FourNet appoints Capita’s former Innovations Director to new role

Digital transformation and customer experience specialists, FourNet, have appointed Capita’s former Director of Innovation, Alan Linter, as the fast-growing technology firm’s new Group Consulting Director.

Alan Linter joins FourNet after nearly 20 years at Capita plc where, as the company’s highly regarded Director of Innovations and Solutions, he led a team of innovation leads and solutions directors delivering successful digital transformation outcomes for some of the biggest global brands.

Alan Linter

Linter broke new ground for the international business process outsourcing and professional services company in 2020 by delivering the first Open AI based Conversational AI solution, and real-time AI-powered agent assist technology a year later.

Award-winning FourNet is one of the fastest-growing privately owned technology companies in the UK and has recently created a new sector-leading CX function.

 

Richard Pennington, Chief Executive at FourNet, said: “Alan Linter’s expertise and background speaks for itself. He is one of the most highly regarded leaders in the industry. He’s worked across almost every sector and helped to deliver CX transformation for some of the biggest brands around.

“We are delighted to welcome Alan to the FourNet family, where he will help us design, develop, and deliver CX transformation for our customers through our newly created, genuinely unique CX function which is already delivering rapid results for our customers.”

 

Linter has already helped design and launch a new shared housing sector service for FourNet, unveiled last month, which will cut the cost for housing organisations to buy, install, use and manage sector-specific AI-powered tools.

 

Alan Linter, Group Consulting Director at FourNet, said: “FourNet is one of the most highly respected and innovative technology businesses in the UK, which is making great strides in the CX marketplace with a highly experienced, sector-leading team who’ve worked across all industries and have delivered phenomenal results already.

“I’m incredibly excited about the future with FourNet. We are a small, dynamic, rapidly growing business with an outstanding reputation among partners and customers as an agile, entrepreneurial, data-driven and outcome focused business which gets speedy results. We are CX led and not technology led, which for me is crucial, and we are taking on the biggest and best providers and beating them on cost and delivery.”

 

Over the past two decades, Linter has worked across financial services, water, energy, insurance, retail, telco, broadband, public sector and the charity sector.

FourNet’s new vendor-agnostic CX specialist consultancy function is comprised entirely of highly skilled contact centre customer experience experts – from data scientists and business analysts to service designers and technologists – who have worked across the private and public sector, for some of the biggest names in the corporate world.

FourNet uses a 10-day rapid-scan, outcome focused, data-driven diagnosis with a unique in-house 100-point best practice benchmarking exercise which delivers pre-determined value for customers in weeks, not months, and enables FourNet to find or build the best tailor-made solutions to solve that organisation’s problems.

 

Linter adds: “I’ve worked with all of the best big technology vendors, and I also know about the new technology being developed, and the startups that FourNet is, or may, work with in future.”

 

Based in Manchester, with offices in London and Derby, FourNet is one of the UK’s leading privately owned tech companies, with around 150 employees and revenues in 2022 of £37 million.

FourNet works with some of the most secure, critical and commercially driven customers in the UK, including more than 30 UK Government departments and agencies, as well as emergency services, housing associations, and local authorities.

Manchester, Marketing, PR and SEO, News, PR and SEO

Digital marketing agency Dark Horse seizes new opportunities in the UAE

Manchester-based digital marketing agency Dark Horse has won three new clients in the UAE.

It’s bolstering ahead with its ethos of disrupting the traditional agency approach by doing digital marketing differently to ensure that every client that it works with are SEO winners.

The agency is now going global having secured contracts with several new brands that operate within the UAE including Grout King, Tile King and Reno King.

The brands have appointed the digital marketing agency to take over its PPC and SEO campaigns to boost growth online in the UAE.

In addition to those UAE clients, the agency has recently won a raft of new business in the UK including award-winning UK outdoor brand Khyam, as well as Career Navig8r, the first dedicated mentoring platform focussed on job-role specific career guidance and development. Plus, Talos360, a market leader in talent software as service solution and online recruitment media that offers businesses in the UK a better way to attract, engage and retain the best talent to grow.

 

Michael Widgery at Grout King, explains: “I knew from the initial audit phase that Dark Horse was the right agency for us as it took the time to understand our goals and needs.”

“The experience of both the PCC and SEO team was clear from the outset, and we like that it rose to our challenges.”

 

Dark Horse’s managing director, John Keating, said: “We’ve done our homework and we’re confident that our famous ‘Dark Horse Digital Difference’ will be as successful in the UAE as it has been in the UK.”

“Dubai is the perfect location to build our business in the region and capitalise on growth opportunities as all three businesses are really focused on super-charged growth through digital.”

 

Dark Horse is a growing Google Premier Partner based in Manchester and recently rebranded with a new website and brand identity as it bolsters its reputation for pushing boundaries in digital marketing. It works best with brands that are bold, willing to challenge the status quo and “looking for innovative ways to take on the giants in their market.”

 

 

Birmingham, Engineering, Manchester, News, Science

Birmingham-based engineering giant adi Group opens new Life Sciences division in Manchester

UK engineering firm, the adi Group, is continuing to strengthen its position in the marketplace with the launch of a new Life Sciences Division, it can be announced today.

The Group, which has a HQ in Birmingham and operates across 12 sites in the UK and Ireland, said the launch forms part of an exciting new phase in their ongoing development.

Via a new Manchester-based Division, from today the team at the adi Group will be working to directly support the requirements of the global life sciences industry.

The Division – based at Ashton Old Baths, Tameside, is made up of 13 people and two more will be joining in September.

Those spearheading the division’s output will be offering groundbreaking end-to-end project servicing capabilities which focus on the creation and management of sophisticated environments.

They will focus on delivering vital medical products that can be produced safely, compliantly, and sustainably.

The Division will utilise cutting-edge digital twin technology, where the team will essentially have a virtual representation of the client’s project.  This will allow them to make concept changes within the virtual world before making a decision in real life.

The adi Group say this will not only mitigate risk, but also provide a shared collaborative environment with real-time yield data where all parties can view and assess progress.

This, in turn, will deliver clients with an opportunity to adjust parameters to meet the demands of the project as and when required.

Commenting on the launch of the new Division, Darren Lewis, who was recently appointed managing director and head of adi Life Sciences division, said: “I’m excited to be leading the new division, which is backed by an elite team of high-quality professionals.  This is an exciting new branch to add to an already largely established engineering firm with various divisions across a wide range of major industries in the engineering and manufacturing sectors.

“It was an opportunity to bring a high-performing team of like minded people to an already established and successful business. The basis of adi Group has always been to provide a service with a multifaceted end-to-end approach, and we want to utilise those values for the new division to become a single point of responsibility for our clients.”

Mr Lewis, who has 30 years of experience in Pharma, said his aim is for the adi Group  to be the “partner of choice” in the life sciences sector. He also wants to deliver sophisticated solutions via efficient and effective designs aligned with the requirements and end goal of the clients.

Paul Smith, Chief Operating Officer of the adi Group, added:  “I’m thrilled to see a new team of progressive, technologically advanced experts within life sciences – the potential is enormous, bringing a service offering to the market that is entirely new and which conceptualizses the production of the life-saving medical products of tomorrow.”

The new division has been set up in Manchester-based offices that have been acquired to provide an innovative and modern space for the new team.

It becomes the second office in the North-West for adi Group, which is headquartered in the West-Midlands, but has primary hub offices across the UK and Ireland and project offices across a range of all the regions.

The adi Group has previous experience and partnerships working with 15 out of the top 20 pharmaceutical companies in the world , and has delivered a variety of projects across many years.