Award-winning Scottish entrepreneur shares blueprint for rapid company growth

Ernst & Young’s 2017 ‘Scale-Up’ Entrepreneur of the Year for the Midlands, Alf Gordon, has revealed the methods he employs for rapid and sustainable company growth.

Gordon, also a winner of Aberdeen’s Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 award, has a proven track record of implementing business change, and laying the foundations for considerable growth.

Subscribe to our daily newsletter

Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.

With over 35 year’s experience in innovation, Alf has a track-record of growing businesses from start-up phase, to delivering a combined turnover in excess £3bn. 

Alf’s most recent move saw him finance the management buyout of integrated business solutions provider, The Qdos Group.

In less than three years, he helped to transform the Group from a £15million UK business into one now valued in excess of £200million, and one which trades across Europe and has global growth within its sights.

Driving 150% Group growth since 2014, Alf’s involvement has been telling as it received the Queens Award for Enterprise 2017 in Innovation as one of the UK leading ‘InsurTechs’.

On what he believes makes up the core elements for rapid business growth, Alf explained:

Innovation

“Creating innovative products, systems and processes which deliver higher quality at a lower cost while meeting the current and future needs of your customers, is critical in enabling fast growth. Innovation should be a core value of your business, allowing for rapid change as opportunities present themselves.”

Technology

“Introducing products and services into the mass and global markets, requires investment in smart, cutting edge technology with real-time one click selection, sales and delivery. Continuous investment in forward-thinking, disruptive R&D projects should be mandatory.”

Digital Marketing

“Traditional marketing methods should complement a dynamic digital marketing strategy. The so-called future of technology, ‘AI’, is very much the present. Artificial intelligence will give you greater insight into what works and what doesn’t, helping streamline your marketing, while recognising new sales and marketing opportunities.”

Intrepreneurship;

“Identify potential entrepreneurs to bring in, or develop internally and inside your business. Offering share capital as a reward will bring a unique, dynamic and ambitious energy to your business. If chosen carefully, ‘intrepreneurs’ will drive unparalleled growth and recognise rare business opportunities.”

Entrepreneurship

“Think like an entrepreneur. View each business as a project with a limited lifetime under your tenure. With focused investment, clear and time-lined strategies with transparent entry and exit plans, you have a purpose and set goal to work towards.”

As well as creating and growing businesses in the UK, Alf’s global portfolio extends to opening and running offices in America, China, the Middle East, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Africa.

His successful ventures range across the Technology, Accounting and Finance, Engineering, Consulting, Insurance, Training and Property industries.

The latest stories