LDC Top 50 2026
Elizabeth Vega OBE DUniv
Group CEO
Informed
Elizabeth Vega left a multinational technology giant to start her own business in 1992. “I loved my job but wanted to create a different workplace culture,” she says. Her Manchester-based company, Informed, has delivered digital, data and AI solutions in over 50 countries.
Appointed an OBE in 2020 for services to digital transformation and international trade, Elizabeth says “My intention has never been to scale up and then sell. It’s to grow sustainably into a truly great business.” Informed is a certified Great Place to Work, with 250 staff as well as a wider ecosystem of 600 contractors and associates.
You go faster alone but we go further together.”
Q&A
How do you retain staff?
There’s no point hiring and upskilling the best people if you can’t keep them. We invest in people and relationships, including extensive training and development and a loyalty programme designed by our own people, which includes enhanced family leave, profit share linked to length of service, gym membership and private medical insurance for staff and their families. We also encourage everyone to spend at least three days a week in the office to facilitate coaching, mentoring and conversations that build trust because these happen far more naturally over a cup of tea than on Zoom. Creative brainstorming is different too; online it’s rude to interrupt, although in person I always say you’re not excited enough until you’re talking over the top of each other.
What’s your attitude to growth?
Our ambitions are bold, but we aren’t brash. We’ve won two Queen’s Awards for Innovation, three World IT Services Alliance Innovation Awards, and we’re one of only a handful of companies globally to hold ISO 42001, the definitive standard for AI governance. We hold international standards for cybersecurity, quality and environmental management. We need to celebrate unicorns, but the strength of the economy is built on resilient, profitable businesses like ours that grow by 10-20 per cent year after year.
What’s your proudest moment?
There have been so many: winning our first £1 million contract, moving into our first office in Manchester, opening our second office in London, winning our first overseas client, receiving an Honorary Doctorate and OBE, which was a complete shock. I genuinely thought someone was pranking me. Entrepreneurship isn’t lonely when you have trusted, capable colleagues around you and I’ve been lucky to share and celebrate those proud moments with the best possible people.
