For anyone who knows us and works with us, they’ll know that we’re passionate about pursuing growth in order to provide great service, brilliant visuals and quality code to as many businesses who are willing to grow as possible. We intend to keep growing, keep hiring and keep striving for more. So with this we’ve sought out key relationships through which to be empowered to grow. Last year we engaged in conversations with Welsh Government about how to grow strategically and bring new work to Wales. As a result we applied and have been officially accepted on the Accelerated Growth Programme!
This is incredibly exciting news as it provides a confident platform from which we can grow and give more to our existing clients, as well as the new clients we’ll find as we strive.
Funded by Welsh Government and run by Business Wales, the Accelerated Growth Programme (AGP for short) is designed to help startups and high-growth businesses go to the next level by providing tailored individual support from experienced entrepreneurs, business leaders and coaches.
As an agency we’re a perfect fit for a programme like this because, as specialists ourselves, we know that experts are the best people to learn from – and the AGP gives us access to business experts who are passionate about helping determined businesses like us go to the next growth level!
As part of the AGP, we’ve set ourselves some really high targets and we’re already on our way to realising some of them! Over the next 3 years, we want to become a 30-50 person agency, with an international reach. We want to invest in young people and in people who want to move into the digital world for a career change. We’ve started this already but being a part of AGP will help make this a central part of our culture and personality as an agency. As WordPress continues to attract the biggest and best brands, it makes sense that we, as a WordPress Specialist agency, continue to grow too!
Another great addition to Illustrate Digital is the Advisory Board that we’ve assembled – kind of like the Avengers. These group of business and thought leaders will meet monthly to provide oversight and valuable financial and business insight, all which will help accelerate our growth!
The AGP has also opened up a whole new world of exciting challenges! As we learn to balance bigger opportunities, new staff and a bigger agency, we’re stretching ourselves in the best way. The introduction of GDPR and new security regulations mean our team is working harder than ever to make sure Illustrate continues to be an expert in an ever-growing digital world.
So why did we apply to be on the AGP? Well, if you know anything about Illustrate, you know that we’re hungry. Yes, Josh is hungry for Coco Pops but as an agency, we are hungry for growth. We love to challenge and grow and it’s at the core of who we are. In order to keep it that way, we’ve got to be open to input and learning and that’s exactly what the AGP offers. Through AGP, our clients and brands will also benefit for the higher level of value we provide – and the bigger number of experts we have!
