This week’s #madeinsandwell Monday looks forward to the publication of Sandwell Council’s Top 50 Fastest Growing Businesses Index for 2018.

This will be the fourth year in which Think Sandwell has compiled the report for Sandwell Council. The report lists the 50 top-ranked companies in Sandwell in terms of rate of growth in turnover.

It celebrates the borough’s rising stars and thanks them for their significant contribution to employment in the area and our region’s economy.

As expected in Sandwell with its strong industrial heritage, businesses from the manufacturing and construction sectors have a big presence in the report. But you’ll also find names from the retail, transport, technical and professional worlds – several of which you will recognise.

In the report, due to be launched at the Sandwell Business Awards ceremony on Thursday 12 July, we also share case studies focusing on four of the Top 50 businesses. These businesses reveal the key reasons for their growth, which is extra impressive during this period of political and economic uncertainty.

We won’t give any secrets away yet, but we can say that innovation is a theme running through their success stories.

We should point out that a company’s absence from the list does not indicate stagnation or decline. Far from it: successful businesses need to grow sustainably, so often a spell of growth must be followed by a period of reinvestment or further development.

If you’d like an insight into the form the report takes, you can download the 2017, 2016 or 2015 editions from Think Sandwell today.

And then watch this space!