Fast growing businesses, or 'gazelle' companies, as they are sometimes known, are a rare breed. In 2009 NESTA estimated that they represented at most 6% of the UK's business stock - and yet they created up to 60-70% of all new jobs! They are pivotal to the success of government's whole economic policy which -in order to succeed - requires a step change in the rate of private sector jobs

With the abolition of RDAs, responsibility for economic development will transfer from a regional to a local level – in particular into the new Local Enterprise Partnerships. These partnerships will need policies that can achieve tangible, measurable and above all high impacts – especially in terms of return on investment – if they are to access funding streams such as the Regional Growth Fund. Policies to boost the stock of high growth SMEs will be essential - this is the engine of job creation.

Capture The Learning From Europe's Largest High Growth Programme

The North West Regional Development Agency High Growth programme is a £10 million ERDF project involving nearly 1700 North West businesses. Delivered by Winning Pitch, in just over 18 months it has created over 1,200 new jobs (over 200 jobs per month are now being reported). A recent evaluation by EKOS stated that it is delivering excellent value for money - the cost of new job creation is well below the average of similar programmes. This programme therefore provides real insights for policy makers looking to stimulate private sector job creation and achieve value for money from their economic development budgets.