Three NI firms announced as Deloitte Best Managed Company in Ireland 2021

Three Northern Ireland-based businesses have been named by Deloitte as Best Managed Companies for the first time.

The programme is led by Deloitte, in association with Bank of Ireland.

The Northern Ireland companies who achieved Best Managed statuse this year were Ballymoney’s mechanical and electrical specialist contractors Dowds Group, Belfast’s field services management software provider Totalmobile and MPA Recruitment, a Londonderry recruitment agency which provides permanent, contract and temporary workforce solutions.

This year’s programme saw the highest number of new applicants in its 13-year history and culminated in a virtual symposium and awards ceremony. The winning companies represent 26 counties across the island of Ireland and come from a range of sectors.

Delighted to have been one of the 25 new companies that qualified for the first time this year, the MPA team celebrated their achievement in their new HQ in Londonderry.

CEO of MPA Recruitment, Paul McQue, who attributed the company’s growth to its outstanding team throughout all of their branches and the loyalty of their diverse customer base, said; “The team and I here at MPA are delighted to be recognised as a Deloitte’s Best Managed Company in Ireland 2021. After a difficult year for all, we would like to thank all those clients and candidates who maintained their faith in us throughout the pandemic. As we adapted alongside the rest of the world, our main focus was to continue to invest in our people and on a relentless desire to provide best in class recruitment services to our global client base.

“Receiving this Best Managed Company recognition is a wonderful achievement for all of our teams, and one which they ought to be extremely proud of. Our hard work to maintain this standard is now the focus as we move forward.”

With this year’s new winners, there are now 139 companies that are recognised as Ireland’s Best Managed Companies. This network of companies has a combined turnover of €8.5 billion and employs a total of 40,000 people.

The awards promotes and recognises excellence in Irish/Northern Irish owned and managed companies and is the only awards scheme on the island of Ireland that considers a business’ performance from every perspective.

Entrants to the programme compete for the designation in a rigorous process that evaluates the calibre of their management abilities and practices in addition to the strategy, capability, innovation, culture and financial performance of their companies.

Jason Starbuck, director at Deloitte in Belfast, explained: “This year, a record number of applications to the Best Managed Companies Awards programme were received. The quality of the applicants demonstrated the extraordinarily high-quality businesses operating across the island of Ireland today. In a relentlessly challenging year, the winning companies displayed true bravery in how they adapted to change, with many innovating and some even accelerating their plans for their businesses.”

17 companies achieved Gold Standard at this year’s awards, having requalified for their fourth consecutive year and 12 companies were awarded Platinum Standard, requalifying for their seventh consecutive year.

Nikki Canavan, senior director, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking said: “Over the last number of years the companies in the Best Managed Companies network have shown huge strength in the face of disruption and uncertainty. This year in particular – a year that tested Irish businesses like never before – the judges noted the commitment, bravery, resilience and tenacity of the applicant companies.”

The members of this year’s judging panel were Frank Ryan, Chair of the Judging Panel; Harry Goddard, CEO, Deloitte Ireland; Nikki Canavan, Senior Director, Bank of Ireland Corporate Banking; Kate Malone, Director of Human Resources, IMI; Feargal Mooney, Non-Executive Director, Meetingsbooker and Colm O’Reilly, CEO, The Business Post.

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