The Medium Business of the Year award, sponsored by the Eastern Daily Press, at the Norfolk Business Awards 2022 will go to a business with a turnover between £1-5million that demonstrates excellence in all areas.
Here we meet this year's finalists in this category.
Fountain Partnership
Fountain Partnership is a digital marketing agency that employs 51 people in offices in Norwich and Canada.
The agency helps brands accelerate their online performance through paid media, search engine optimisation and conversion rate optimisation. It is dedicated to creating a positive company culture and boasts a strong sustainability agenda with the aim of being net zero by 2025.
The judges called Fountain Partnership an “exemplary digital marketing agency” and praised the care it puts into developing its people, exemplified by its new management team, which they said bring a “fresh energy".
With its main focus for growth being people, sustainability and client growth, the judges said that “Norwich is very fortunate to have such an inspiring, agile agency business with a passion for the city at its heart.”
Direct Plants
A family-run business since 2006, Direct Plants supplies Norfolk-grown plants and trees to home gardeners across the UK from its five-acre nursery site just outside King’s Lynn.
The business successfully trades on multiple online platforms and its own dedicated website, and it employs a team of expert horticulturists who ensure every order is picked, packed and dispatched promptly.
The judges said that the owners and employees at Direct Plants should be “extremely proud of being such a shining example of an online business that seems to get everything right.”
They praised the business’ easy-to-use website, its customer service and the care taken in picking, packing and shipping orders.
The judges felt that its success “relies on a clear strategy underpinned by traditional family values and a passion for what it does”.
Poultec Training
Poultec Training is a private training provider based in Mattishall near Dereham. It delivers apprenticeships, study programmes and short courses throughout the East of England and the UK.
Established in 1997 and originally delivering training to the agri-food sector, Poultec now works with 19 different sectors and delivers more than 3,000 qualifications per year.
The judges were impressed with Poultec and said that “rather than just reacting to a plethora of ever-changing policies and legislation, Poultec has designed its own range of hybrid face-to-face and online courses and developed its state-of-the-art site to bring resilience and modernity to its proposition.”
They said the business has created a new management team with the “appropriate expertise” in place to sustain its impressive growth trajectory and is “flying the flag for Norfolk” in skills development.
Pure Physiotherapy
Established in 2006, Pure Physiotherapy provides expert physiotherapy services to partners in the NHS, corporate health and the wider public with its team of over 200 clinicians and clinics across East Anglia and the rest of the UK.
The organisation helps over 30,000 patients per month to manage pain, feel better and recover from injury.
The judges said that Pure demonstrates “a story of phenomenal growth”, growing from a single physiotherapy couch to a national business over the past 16 years.
They said that offering its services to the NHS and delivering bespoke remote physiotherapy during the pandemic has given Pure the platform to become a “trusted influencer” in the health sector and praised its “innovative analytics and booking systems”, which will enable Pure to achieve “substantial further growth”.
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