Driving SME Growth: Insights from Manchester’s Scale-Up Roundtable

13 Feb 2025

Following the recent publication of the SME300, North West Business Insider gathered some of the region’s business leaders to discuss growth and the ways to achieve it.

The University of Manchester’s Business Engagement and Knowledge Exchange team is sponsoring a series of scale-up roundtable workshops in partnership with North West Business Insider with some of the region’s most innovative SMEs. The series brings together a range of industry experts and fast-growing companies of different sizes to discuss their strategies for growth and the role of research and development in scaling up.

Held at JMW Solicitors in Manchester, this week’s theme was ‘Pushing for Growth’ where businesses came together to share successes and challenges that they have experienced throughout the scale-up journey. Growth in scale up companies is often bolstered through working with universities, industry bodies and R&D experts, who can support scale up companies to diversify their offering, access talent and world-leading infrastructure and expertise, and find innovative solutions to business challenges.

With a focus on developing talent, recruitment, investment and maximising opportunities, we heard how business leaders from some of the North West’s best performing SMEs are growing their businesses and planning for future expansion.

The workshop provided a great opportunity to gain insight into some of the high growth companies within the region, and how they are continually refining their recruitment strategies to meet the evolving demands of employees, balancing competitive salaries with flexible working arrangements, career development opportunities, and a strong workplace culture.

There was further discussion around how businesses are striving to balance recruiting new staff and developing their own employees. Engaging with universities allows organisations to develop a talent pipeline, such as through internships and placements, and also offers programmes of support to develop skills and capabilities in-house, such as through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP). By integrating external recruitment with internal growth opportunities, companies can future-proof their workforce while fostering a culture of flexible continuous learning and career progression.

“We’re pleased to be working with Insider Media on this SME300 Series, to shine a light on some of the most successful SMEs in the region and more importantly, to discuss the challenges to growth that they face" said Caroline Stanton, Head of SME Partnerships at The University of Manchester. 

"The University of Manchester has wealth of opportunities for businesses seeking to gain a boost with innovation and growth, ranging from collaborating with our academic research base and applying for funding, to accessing world-leading facilities and equipment, to engaging with our student and graduate talent pool, and joining our Scale Up Forum.  

"We look forward to continuing the discussion with the business community, to ensure that they are able to effectively harness the University’s expertise, infrastructure and ecosystem to address some of their challenges to growth."