Jobs created at Preston agency after Boost help

A Preston-based innovation agency is doubling its staff base on the back of a surge in international enquiries, thanks to Boost, Lancashire’s business growth hub.
Geminus directors Richard Harrison and Nick RoachGeminus directors Richard Harrison and Nick Roach
Geminus directors Richard Harrison and Nick Roach

Geminus has seen 25 per cent growth in its R&D tax credit claims service and is receiving over 100 international enquiries monthly for its new ‘innovator international’ programme.

The agency plans to increase the team to 10 over the next 12 months to further meet demand for its services.

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The growth comes after Boost’s Growth Mentoring programme helped the firm’s founders Richard Harrison and Nick Roach reshape their digital marketing strategy and direction for the business.

Richard Harrison worked in business support for nearly 20 years and set up Geminus Training Ltd in 2016 to provide innovation services, including training and consultancy to help people think differently about business. Fellow director Nick Roach joined the firm 18 months later.

Richard was already familiar with Boost and joined its Growth Mentoring programme. He was matched with mentor Peter Dickinson who specialises in creative and digital marketing.

He said: “Peter’s input was fantastic. He took time to listen to our marketing challenges.

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"He made us step back from what we thought we needed to do, to instead focus on core issues.

“We didn’t deal with what we had thought were our problems until the last session. By then, as Peter had addressed the underlying challenges within our digital marketing strategy, the problems pretty much solved themselves!”

Geminus’ services have become so successful, that it now has a global presence targeting large national and international firms and overseas investors.

It has secured a contract with the Home Office that enables overseas investorsto seek innovative business opportunities in the UK.

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Boost’s fully-funded Growth Mentoring programme is designed to support individuals and SMEs in Lancashire. It offers mentoring support to help them to deal with challenges in sales, marketing, finance, business planning and internal processes.

Peter helped Richard and Nick reappraise their digital marketing strategy and recommended they create a new identity for the business.

Peter said: “Richard and Nick have a very dynamic working partnership and are leading experts in their field. It was a real pleasure to work with them. They quickly grasped the business and marketing concepts used in the business tools I introduced them to, in order to formalise their thinking.

“By the end of the mentoring we had developed a strategy and implementation plan to help them grow to the next level.”

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Operating from its base at Society 1, a co-working space in Preston, Geminüs is now considering opening offices in Manchester and London.

If the growth continues, there may even be further plans for a presence in China, the main source of its international enquiries.