Our Heritage

Our journey began in Manchester 30 over years ago. Since then, we have 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 business to start, grow, internationalise and become more environmentally sustainable.

We are proud of our heritage, our extensive footprint and that we are a leading ethical provider of outsourced services.

We are also proud to be an accredited social enterprise, which sets us apart. We strive for continuous improvement and our business model enables us to drive profits straight back into delivering and developing high-quality service provision.

1990

Starting life

GC starts life as The Manchester Training and Enterprise Council

1990-99

Training and employment initiatives

We develop our own training and employment initiatives becoming the most innovative and entrepreneurial TEC in the country.

2000-04

Continued growth

We continue to grow our offer as other companies join the Group, including Chamber Business Enterprises and Career Solutions.

2004

New contracts

We are recognised as the economic development organisation for Greater Manchester and expand as we win new contracts across the North West.

2006

Group restructure

The group is restructured and becomes known as Manchester Solutions with a clear focus on delivery.

2007-09

Commercial offering

We develop our commercial offer as the Centre for Assessment and IDG join the Group.

2012

Business Growth Hub

GC's Business Growth Hub is established and quickly becomes the leading business growth hub in the UK.

2015

Marketing Manchester and MIDAS

Marketing Manchester and MIDAS join the GC family.

2017

Rebrand

National Skills Training and The Manufacturing Institute join the Group.

We rebrand as The Growth Company to reflect the growing reach of our services in the UK

2018

London office

We continue to innovate and grow. Our London office is launched.

2018

GC Angels

GC Angels established, working with entrepreneurs to grow and scale their businesses

2021

ekosgen acquisition

The Growth Company announces the successful acquisition of ekosgen, one of the UK's leading independent companies providing economic and social research, analysis and consultancy advice.