A north-east cyber security specialist has been shortlisted in a national awards ceremony in recognition of its commitment to protecting other businesses from external threats and supporting the next generation of industry professionals.
The TechForce is a finalist for the Micro Business of the Year honour at the FSB Scotland Celebrating Small Business Awards 2020, which recognises companies with fewer than 10 employees that continue to punch above their weight.
Organised by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the winners will be announced at a special ceremony on Thursday, March 19th at the Waldorf Astoria, Edinburgh. The respective category winners will then advance to May’s UK-wide finals in London.
This latest awards recognition follows a nomination in the Cyber Resilience category as part of the CeeD Industry Awards 2020, held in Glasgow last month, while The TechForce was also named New Business of the Year at the Scottish & Asian Business Awards in December.
Jai Aenugu, managing director at The TechForce, said: “We’re proud to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award and look forward to the chance to test ourselves against other leading businesses from across Scotland.
“The FSB and other business support organisations have played an important role in our growth journey so far and I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who believed in our company from the start.”
The TechForce was founded in January 2017, less than a year after managing director Jai Aenugu won the Entrepreneurial Supporter of the Year honour at the 2016 Elevator Awards in recognition of his dedication to inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.
Since then, the business has supported more than 100 diverse clients through various cyber security services and consultancy and extended its reach across the UK into sectors including energy, finance, healthcare and professional services.
As part of its commitment to ‘paying it forward’, The TechForce has engaged with over a thousand people through national events and agreed a partnership with Robert Gordon University (RGU) to sponsor a series of expert discussions around key cyber security issues.
Jai Aenugu added: “The past three years have been a fantastic learning experience for me and the rest of the team, with rising concern around cyber security issues and the increased attention on those cyber-attacks that do occur making this an extremely interesting time to work in the industry.
“This level of interest in cyber security has been demonstrated by the response we’ve received to our series of events over the past couple of years, which have attracted numerous businesses, students, academics and esteemed guests to help build a genuine community.
“The decision we made last year to sell our managed IT services portfolio and focus completely on cyber security services has allowed our team to better serve clients across the country by concentrating solely on our niche.”
Located at Balmoral Hub, Aberdeen, The TechForce specialises in cyber security solutions, consultancy and security awareness training to medium-to-large organisations.
The business was recently awarded a place on the highly competitive G-Cloud 11 framework, the Government’s cloud and IT services procurement platform, and has been recognised with Approved Cyber Essentials Practitioner (Advanced) status to support clients achieve Cyber Essentials Plus.