M247 Managing Director Champions Manchester at World Entrepreneurship Forum

David Buckle, Managing Director of M247 Limited, has been invited to join the World Entrepreneurship Forum taking place this November in Singapore.

While attending the forum David will contribute to a number of high-flyer technology workshops and will also explain why locating in Manchester, where he found highly competitive datacentre accommodation and a wealth of talented people, has been key to the company’s success.

The forum is an international “think tank” of 150 members drawn from 70 countries and some of the world’s top business and social entrepreneurs, politicians, experts, scientists and academics, chosen for their entrepreneurial achievements and their commitment to society. Recognising that entrepreneurs make a real difference to society and are a powerful driver for innovation and technological change, the forum has the attention of many governments around the planet and concerns itself with shaping the world with an entrepreneurial vision, creating wealth and social justice.

High ideals indeed and all very pertinent when viewed against the economic and social problems that have developed in recent times.

David Buckle who plays an important role in his community as a Governor of his local college, was born in South Africa and, before co-founding M247 Limited, travelled the world developing his business acumen. In 2003 a small “grass roots” internet hosting company was formed in Bolton and just seven years on has grown to provide 32 jobs in Manchester with plans already well developed for additional growth in the very near future. The company has a number of Divisions providing a variety of internet services and products and was recently ranked by Deloitte as one of Europe’s fastest growing I.T. companies with infrastructure and operations in London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Brussels, Prague and Paris as well as Manchester. M247 Limited was recently valued at almost £13million and now handles a significant percentage of the entire UK internet traffic.

David says “we can account for our early growth by sheer hard work, being open and quick to act on some great ideas and also by reinvesting profits in R&D and improvements to our offerings, foundations that are still important to us today. After gaining momentum we were eventually able to acquire a number of complementary businesses that have extended our services and range. Unsurprisingly we’ve attracted interest from a number of companies who would like to buy us but M247 Limited and each of its Divisions are a young team with a young board of directors that have a great deal more growth in them yet; why would we want to sell?. Our strength is in our team, everybody is encouraged to contribute ideas which enables the business to continue growing. We really enjoy what we’re doing and are proud that we are contributing, in a small way, to the local economy.”

Only 2 individuals from each member country are ever invited to join the World Entrepreneurship Forum so when asked why they selected him, with typical understatement David said “ frankly I was astonished; I know we’ve invested a lot in ensuring our team has a bright future but it came as a surprise to me that our efforts had reached the ears of these prestigious international forum members.”

A member of his staff says “perhaps it’s got something to do with his South African roots but David has always been an outspoken supporter of fair play and justice in every walk of life. He has fostered an atmosphere of openness in the company and honestly cares about his team and is very hands-on when it comes to giving us opportunities to realise our potential. I guess this is his way of making sure we have the edge over others in our industry and at the end of the day, our customers see real benefits. We’ve enjoyed phenomenal growth but its David’s influence that has ensured that the growth is also on a sustainable and ethical path”.

It’s likely that all of these qualities were taken into account when the World Entrepreneurship Forum contacted him a couple of months ago.