Dynamic, entrepreneurial businesses – the kind the Evening Post, the South West RDA and Business Link are highlighting in our 100 South West Business Challengers campaign – are often fast-growth companies. They are constantly looking for new ways to expand and new markets to enter.

They understand growth needs to be planned, controlled and sustainable. They are mindful that some businesses have got themselves into problems by going all out for growth.

Money going out of the business to fund expansion must be balanced with cash coming in.

Get this wrong and cashflow becomes an issue. Let it continue and it becomes a crisis.

Business Link's head of business growth services, Suzanne Hall-Gibbins, said: "Challengers have total focus on their business and where it is heading.

"They know their market and their customers inside out plus they understand that they need to continue to be innovative to drive the business forward."

As a growing business, Challengers consider:

• Planning – They research the market they intend to break into or develop strategies to further enhance their position in their current market segments;

• Marketing – They develop a clear marketing strategy, focusing on the customers they want to target and with key objectives in how to reach them;

• Funding – They research the options early to ensure that sufficient funds are available to finance growth without adversely impacting on cashflow. The return on this investment can take a while to come through;

• Staff – They recognise they will almost certainly need to take on more people and integrate people strategies into their overall planning process. If growth is through acquisition, employment regulations make them responsible for the new staff;

• IT – They recognise the importance of scalability in terms of IT and infrastructure and build that into their plans at an early stage to maximise the benefits of upgrades to accounts, stock control and customer relationship management systems;

• Premises – They understand the need for extra space and consider extending their premises or plan to move to larger premises.