Post by Christopher Maguire

It’s Friday so it’s my good news blog. 1.   Congratulations to Sam Gregory & Mary Harding who  have been promoted to joint CEOs at Manchester’s Tangerine. The pair have been joint MDs at the agency, which is flying. Tangerine was founded by one of my favourite people Sandy Lindsay MBE, who took the business down an Employee Ownership Trust routel; 2.   I met two impressive sisters this week called Laura Pomfret (Financielle) & Holly Holland (Financielle), who have set up a new female-focused personal finance app called Financielle. It’s a brilliant idea. Watch this space; 3.   Congratulations to Fund Her North , which has supported six female-founded businesses facilitating investment worth more than £4.2m in its first year. Fund Her North is led by Helen Oldham and the steering group includes Jessica Jackson Charlotte Ashton Samantha Piddington & Jordan Dargue. The first six businesses receiving investment are Umii, Supplywell, Green Bean, K9 Nation, Settl'd and Culture Shift. Well done. 4.   Salford-based recruitment specialist Morson Group has expanded its reach into London with the acquisition of Cornwallis Elt. Ged Mason, OBE, HonDBA is a great guy and he runs Morson Group and the deal will enable them to capitalise on growth opportunities. 5.   Quick shout-out to Chorley-based fulfilmentcrowd, which reported a 71 per cent growth in the year to the end of March, 2021. BGF invested £7.5m in the fast-growing business earlier this year so the future looks good too. Well done to MD Lee Thompson. 6.   Excellent work from Paul Fleming, director of resources at Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, after topping the 2021 CIO UK 100 after leading the council’s digital response to Covid-19. 7.   Last week  I reported how Dominic McGregor David Newns & Charlie Yates had opened Fearless Adventures to support founders with funding, marketing services and talent. The new company has already received more than 250 enquiries for investment; 8.   Finally, congrats to Ian Parry who has joined Utility Collections Ltd as a non-executive director. He’s previously held roles at British Gas, Experian and Shell Energy and is big hitter.