Diversity is the key to growth of Milk marketing - Angela Prentner-Smith

Angela Prentner-Smith, founder and managing director of This is Milk

Human-centred training and consultancy business This is Milk has had its most successful trading year to date having pivoted its operations to meet new client opportunities, despite the pandemic.

The Glasgow-based business has quadrupled the size of its core team this year from three in January to twelve in just a few short months, also adding to its key subcontractors and associates. Key hires have included a product manager, inclusivity and diversity specialist, software development team and a community manager. As a result, they have increased the depth and breadth of services they can offer their clients while improving their own capacity for growth.

This is Milk has also saw its turnover rise by 9.3 per cent to more than £360,000 during a year in which trading was materially affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Last year saw the business achieve a net profit margin of over 34 per cent, with profits made during this accounting year invested back into the business as it seeks to expand with the development of a new inclusive learning platform.

Its forward order book is also looking very health with the business having sold a total of £600,000 worth of work in the months between January and August, a figure that was more than double the turnover of the previous year.

The key to our growth is diversity. The fact that we are a diverse group of people with a range of approaches has allowed us to thrive particularly in this very different marketplace.

We are a transformation consultancy, and this period has created a market full of individuals and organisations urgently needing to understand how they can evolve and adapt to the latest ways of working.

We were told through the first five years of trading, that the market wasn’t ready for us, and that wasn’t easy. But when the world had to change, we were here and will be here to support with the change businesses need to make to grow and evolve. We’ll grow as you need us and keep one eye firmly on the future.

This is Milk recently won a new £200,000 contract with the Scottish Digital Academy to deliver a suite of its agile courses in business analysis, project management, delivery management and agile leadership.

The consultancy has also started working with CivTech, the Scottish Government’s tech and innovation arm. It was announced in the Scottish Government’s Programme for Government 2021-22 that £13.5 million, will be invested over the lifetime of this Parliament to scale CivTech 's operations, and provide a further £46 million to fund the delivery of innovative products and services across the public sector.

This is Milk also has won contracts with Sage Group, the accounting software business, and a range of private and third sector clients to deliver training, research, development and strategy work. These clients include two yet to launch start-ups.

The company’s international sales include a long-running contract with Dubai-based Plus Training to deliver training in the Middle East, as well as working with several Canadian clients. Plans for further expansion of the business in Canada have been delayed because of the Covid pandemic.

Angela Prentner-Smith, founder and managing director of This is Milk