The Growth Company (GC) is an award-winning and values driven social enterprise which supports the growth and prosperity of places, businesses, and individuals. It does this through attracting investment and tourists, providing support to start-ups and existing businesses and provides individuals with new skills and employment opportunities.

The Growth Company's journey began in Manchester over 30 years ago. Since then, the organisation has been innovating and continuously finding new ways to help people improve their lives; support businesses to grow; and enable places to thrive. GC has helped to generate hundreds of millions of pounds of investment, helped to upskill and place hundreds of thousands of people in work or progress their careers, whilst working with tens of thousands of businesses to start, grow, internationalise and become more environmentally sustainable.

GC acts as single provider of services, for example through Marketing Manchester, MIDAS and the Business Growth Hub. GC also encompasses a range of services delivered nationally across business support, skills and employment as well as in accreditation and economic development consulting. Last year, the Growth Company’s services enabled 17,000 unemployed people to find work, 11,000 new businesses to start trading and added £657m of GVA. GC is now one of the largest third sector employers with annual turnover in excess of £100m and 1,500 colleagues.

GC was founded in Manchester in 1989 as a Training and Enterprise Company which were public/private partnerships to foster enterprise and employer led skills provision. Today GC retains a public-private partnership Board, whose members are drawn from Local Authorities within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the Private Sector. With over 30 years of impactful programming, the GC Board is looking to bring on several new Board Members to contribute to the next stage of its journey.

GC retains a public-private partnership Board, whose members are drawn from local authorities within the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and the private sector endorsed by the Greater Manchester LEP (GMLEP). GC is unique to GM and unique in the UK.

The successful candidates will join the Board to build on the organisation's 30-year history and play a proactive role in its ongoing development. The Board also has overall responsibility for ensuring the Growth Company meets its legal and regulatory obligations.

The main responsibilities of Board Members include:

• Helping to define and support the organisation's purpose, vision, goals and activities
• Providing effective scrutiny across key areas of business, in particular the Group’s strategic plan, financial plans, financial results and risk management
• Shaping strategy and overseeing and driving impact
• Bringing insights of risks and opportunities from specific areas of expertise to the Board
• Driving organisational delivery and improvement
• Being an active ambassador and champion of GC

The new Board Members will be instrumental in ensuring that GC fulfils its mission and strategic objectives in a way that is driven by its values, remains financially sustainable and delivers improvements in health and patient care. Board Members will ultimately play an important role in determining the future strategy of the organisation and ensure the future success of the social enterprise.

The Growth Company is seeking to appoint up to five new Board Members who will build on and develop the organisation's mission and work. The incoming Board Members will play a key role in guiding the development of GC's strategy and specifically informing the Board on their relevant sector or functional expertise. Those who bring experience of an international scope, scale and perspective are of particular interest to the Board.

The ideal candidates will specialise in one or more of the following areas:

• Technology and Innovation: individuals will bring experience in the technology sector, with interest in those who have led significant and recent digital transformation initiatives. Those with a background in Artificial Intelligence (AI) or have operated across individual business units ranging from £5m to £30m as relevant to GC's programming are particularly welcome.
• Finance and Audit: candidates must hold qualifications as a qualified accountant (A/FCA, A/FCCA or CIPFA), and possess a proven track record in strategic and financial management, analysis, and planning, as well as internal and external audit, and risk & assurance. Those who have practised accounting in a group structure with a subsidiary, or deeply understand the unique financial structure of a social enterprise would be of particular interest.
• Marketing: individuals will bring recent (within the last five years) senior-level experience in marketing in any combination of B2B or B2C businesses, with particular interest in those who have a diversity of experiences having worked across a variety of contexts and increasing customer acquisition and engagement. This could have been gained either through various roles or marketing agency / consulting work.
• Commercial Expertise: candidates will be business leaders with high commercial acumen, and ideally bringing connectivity and influence within the GM business community. This experience could come from expertise in a wide range of sectors, with particular interest in those who have pursued entrepreneurial ventures or worked within or with start-ups. Additionally, individuals who bring a depth of previous board experience would be particularly welcome.
• ESG and Sustainability: candidates will either bring recent (within the last five years) experience in the climate change / environmental sustainability sector or functional expertise leading ESG-related strategy. Ideally, candidates will be leaders in the sector who understand its application in different contexts, as related to GC's varied impact and programming.

Successful applicants will be able to work at a strategic level whilst understanding the detail and complexities of delivery, appreciating the difference between a non-executive and executive role. Although prior non-executive experience is welcome, GC also encourages interest from individuals who have not held such roles before.

Importantly, the successful candidates will demonstrate a connectivity to the GM region and particularly the drivers of, and challenges faced by, the GM economy. Candidates will also demonstrate an appreciation of the value of diversity in order to reflect GM’s diverse community.

Mike Blackburn OBE, Chair
Jane Boardman
Vanda Murray OBE
Emma Sheldon MBE
Councillor Bev Craig
Councillor Nazia Rehman
Councillor Eamonn O'Brien

Councillor Liz Patel

You can find out more about the Board here.

This role is unremunerated, but pre-agreed travel expenses will be reimbursed. The appointment will initially be for three years with the option (for both parties) to extend for a further three-year term. The Board meets four times per year, each lasting two hours. Based on experience, there is potential for successful candidates also to join Committees, Advisory Boards or Groups, most of which also meet quarterly. The overall time commitment for this role is anticipated to be up to two days per month post-induction period.

Board meetings are currently held in a hybrid format, and when in-person they are held at GC headquarters in Manchester.

The Growth Company welcomes applications from everyone regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, faith, or disability. As individuals from ethnic communities are currently under-represented on the Board, applications from those candidates would be particularly encouraged. All appointments will be made on merit, following a fair and transparent process. In line with the Equality Act 2010, however, the organisation may employ positive action where diverse candidates can demonstrate their ability to perform the role equally well.