One hundred of the most digitally transformational, resilient and innovative businesses in the Leeds City Region have been recognised in this year’s Digital Enterprise TOP 100 report, which has been announced today following a highly competitive nominations process.
Small and medium-sized businesses from across nine Leeds City Region local authority areas (Leeds, Kirklees, York, Harrogate, Craven, Calderdale, Bradford, Selby and Wakefield) feature in the TOP 100, which can now be viewed online. The list represents a diverse range of industries from award-winning game development studio, XR Games; one-stop local online shop, ShopAppy; and animation studio, Distant Future, to fly tying materials specialists Semperfli; energy system installers, Eclipse Energy; and landscaping supplier Green-tech.
Digital technology has played a crucial role over the past 12 months helping businesses to continue operating throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, attitudes around digitalisation have changed with enterprises of all type and sector investing in a wide range of new technology, which has changed how they operate - not just now, but in the future.
The Digital Enterprise Top 100 profiles and celebrates those companies that use digital technologies in the most innovate and transformational ways.
The index also highlights ‘ten of the best’ that the judges believe deserve a special mention. One of these companies is m2r Education, an education services company based in Wakefield that offers teacher and edtech recruitment, online English courses and online tutoring services across the globe.
Munir Mamujee, m2r Education director, said: “When the first lockdown was announced, we recognised that our current business was going to struggle if we didn’t adapt. We made good use of Digital Enterprise’s support, watching 60 webinars and putting the digital skills we learned into practice to attract new business. We developed our understanding of social media, SEO, MS Teams and MS Forms, which have helped us to launch two new websites, streamline our process and communications, safeguard all our jobs and create new ones.
“Before the pandemic, our focus was on the overseas schools’ market, which relied on the global mobility of teachers. From one existing client that we provided online teachers to, we have grown to six, making the jump from supplying 150 applicants per month to over 3,000 a month. In a heavily saturated and competitive marketplace, a 600% increase is amazing. If it wasn’t for watching and using the advice, strategies and tips from the webinar series, this would not have been possible.
“My team work extremely hard and having gone from one business in March 2020, to now offering online services to learners of all ages, across the globe, is a testament of our dedication and diligence.
“Our inclusion in the Digital Enterprise TOP 100 shows the team that our hard work has been recognised and hopefully this will serve as inspiration to other similar businesses.”
Digital Enterprise Programme Lead Muz Mumtaz added: “These 100 diverse and pioneering businesses have made an investment in technology that has really paid off for them. They have been pivoting, driving growth, securing and creating jobs by harnessing technology to adapt to a constantly evolving business landscape.
“The quality of the entries was so high that the judging process was a real challenge to arrive at the TOP 100. We congratulate all of the companies that were nominated and we are looking forward to celebrating all the entrants at our virtual event in March.”
The campaign will continue with the publication of the TOP 100 report and an online celebration event, scheduled for March 2021. At the event, guests will be able to meet with campaign partners, local business leaders and influencers and fellow members of the TOP 100, and hear from special guest speakers.
