Red Gate was founded by Simon Galbraith and Neil Davidson and has become one of the fastest growing tech frirms in the UK. In 2006 the company was nominated in the Excellence Awards for Small Business of the Year, but Neil and Simon so impressed the judges, they put the company in the running for the big one, Business of the Year, and Red Gate won, beating off competition from much larger firms.
Last year Red Gate really pushed the boat out, with Neil taking the entire workforce of 110 on a magical mystery shopping expedition which ended up in the new Apple store in the Grand Arcade, where every member of staff was given £300 tax paid to buy themselves a present.
This was to celebrate the company hitting its five-year stated target of $2m sales in a single month.
Simon nominated Neil for Businessman of the Year, because not only has Neil maintained a full-on position within Red Gate, but he is also playing a major role in promoting Cambridge as a world class centre of excellence.
He was prime mover in starting the prestigeous Cambridge Lectures last year, bringing international speakers to the city, and he has just taken over as chairman of Cambridge Network, where he plans to use the organisation to lift the Cambridge game on the world stage.
"When Red Gate won Business of the Year it was a huge benefit to us, opened doors," Neil told the judges. "I see this as similar and i would use it to try and get organisations in Cambridge working better together.
"I want to encourage the start-ups to stay in Cambridge, to give them the chance to discuss things with people who have helped us to grow. Why shouldn't there be 100 companies like Red Gate in Cambridge."
Pictured: John Granger of Granta Park and Kate Adie presenting the award to Neil Davidson of Red Gate Software.
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