The Yorkshire Fastest 50 awards shine spotlight on the One to Watch

The One to Watch Award recognises businesses from across Yorkshire who have huge potential and are on course to rank among the 50 fastest growing, privately owned companies in the region.

These businesses sit outside of the Fastest 50 but are showing a rapid pace of growth, innovation and influence which is why they’ve secured a position in the overall top 100 of best performing businesses.

A spokesman for top 100 law firm Ward Hadaway said: “Out of those who secured a position between 51 and 100, we have shortlisted five companies and the winner of the One to Watch Award will be announced later this month.

The shortlisted nominees consist of thriving, progressive businesses who are growing strongly in their sector. They are Galtec, High Speed Training, Mosaic Fulfilment Solutions, Pace IT and Sonocent.

Established in 2004, Galtec provides IT services for many organisations across the UK. With 45 employees and an annual turnover of around £16 million, the company has a broad client base including public sector organisations and private sector clients.

Horbury-based Pace IT, which designs bespoke software solutions for UK businesses, has also made the shortlist. Operating for 13 years, the provider is a technology partner for high profile brands such as Your Move and UK Mail Group.

Training company High Speed Training, which is based in Ilkey, and established in 2008, has been included on the shortlist because of its rapid growth as one of the UK’s largest online training providers.

Supplying specialist learning courses to businesses across a wide range of areas including health and safety, safeguarding and professional development, the 55-strong team is flying the flag for similar training providers in Yorkshire.

Mosaic Fulfilment Solutions has been delivering outsourced business services since 2009. Initially established with just a handful of staff and a few clients, the firm has continued to grow strongly and now has 150 employees and supports more than 100 clients across a vast range of sectors including retail, eCommerce, FMCG and not-for-profit.

Sonocent was founded in 2007 by Dr Roger Tucker who wanted to explore the value of audio notes. The company created a product called Audio Notetaker, recognising that students with disabilities like dyslexia often relied on lengthy digital recordings for note taking.

Today, Sonocent’s note taking technology helps hundreds of thousands of users to improve their study skills by using spoken information more effectively.

Gareth Yates, a partner at Ward Hadaway’s Leeds office, said: “I am delighted to welcome a brand new and very exciting award to this year’s Fastest 50.

“The One to Watch Award is testament to those thriving, hardworking companies within the cities and towns of Yorkshire that are showing high growth potential and a real aptitude to succeed.”

The invitation-only awards ceremony takes place on Friday, March 20 at Aspire in Leeds.