GC Insight is a social enterprise providing advisory, research and evaluation services that offer expertise and insight on the factors that shape economic performance.
We are trusted by the public and private sector to deliver robust and informative analysis that helps them set strategic priorities, secure investment, understand impact and evaluate their performance.
Backed by 30 years of experience, our dedicated team works closely with each client to understand their needs and provide advice on how their organisation can make a bigger positive impact
How we work
GC Insight is wedded to a core set of guiding principles that shape how we work with clients and our staff:
We will only undertake work where we believe we have clear value to offer and strong methodological or subject matter insights that allow us to offer a well-informed and fair professional assessment, whether from our in-house team or with expert associates onboard.
We recognise the impact we have on people and the planet as we do our work. We take steps to minimise the harm we may cause and take steps to leave a positive legacy behind us.
We will help our clients solve the challenges they face on time and to a high quality.
We work in ways which protect the reputation of our clients as well as the well-being and safety of our staff as they go about their work.
We will only work with clients whose values and purpose align with ours, and on studies where we believe positive impacts for people, place and planet can be secured.
We respond to the specific needs of our clients as they reveal themselves and we provide our staff with the space to do their jobs in the best way that matches their personal circumstances with the needs of our clients.
We will continue to evolve and adapt to changing market conditions and be ready to make swift decisions particularly where that means learning from our mistakes.
We are a team of people delivering a service to other people and we will treat everyone we work with respectfully, supportively and with our individual characters on display.
We will keep our methods, processes and language clear, accessible and proportionate so that we continue to be nimble and retain our relevance and efficiency.
We are one team operating from four offices, with staff working right across the UK and will offer clients our best team regardless of location and we will join forces with other teams to strengthen our offer to clients.
We will grow our offer by building on our solid foundations into clearly defined target work areas where we believe we can add real value.
We aim to keep ahead of our competitors and provide clients with the latest insights and always look to build on our skills and experience to deliver enhanced products and services over time.
Profit for purpose
We are a social enterprise that operates commercially,
which means we reinvest the money that we make into
developing higher quality services that help our clients
make better-informed decisions with a bigger positive
impact.
Journey
The Growth Company (GC) was founded in
Manchester as a training and enterprise agency.
Over the years, GC expanded into an award-winning social enterprise, generating hundreds
of millions of pounds in investment, upskilling
and placing hundreds of thousands into work,
and supporting tens of thousands of businesses
to start, grow, internationalise, and improve
sustainability.
Winning Moves, a leadership and management
consultancy, was established.
ekosgen, an economic and social research,
analysis and consultancy service was created.
Winning Moves bought Databuild, a respected
research and evaluation consultancy.
The Growth Company acquired ekosgen to
strengthen their ability to deliver strategic
insights and data-driven solutions.
ekosgen had grown into a company that
specialised in building robust business cases,
appraising public funding schemes and
developing comprehensive socio-economic
bases. Their work also encompassed evaluating
project and programme effectiveness,
assessing social and economic impacts and
providing detailed evidence to support planning
applications.
A year later, GC expanded further by acquiring
Winning Moves. This strategic move brought
two distinct services into their portfolio, aligning
with GC’s vision of a national consultancy and
complementing the expertise of ekosgen.
Winning Moves’ research and evaluation team
helped clients understand, measure and
demonstrate the economic, environmental and
societal impact of their work, using a broad
range of methodologies across sectors. Winning
Moves also brought a suite of established
business diagnostic tools, Benchmark Index,
along with software development expertise, and
years of experience in SME support - enhancing
GC’s existing business support services.
We added expertise to our Destination
team to better help towns, cities and tourist
attractions create and implement investible
propositions and attraction programmes, and
strengthened our Infrastructure offer which
provides impact assessments and evaluation
of digital connectivity, housing and energy
schemes.
We also enhanced our Place capability
to offer a wider package of support to the land
and property sector and clients involved in the
planning and development process.
GC Business joined our ranks to
broaden our consultancy service, focusing
on sectors, enterprise and business support.
The business team also bring extensive experience in
business support delivery to our portfolio, as
well as Growth Flag, a unique dataset of UK
businesses designed to identify growth potential
and guide economies in making informed
investment decisions.
These combined capabilities are now delivered
through GC Insight, offering seamless, data-driven solutions to help clients make informed decisions at every stage of a project—from strategy and investment to delivery and evaluation.
