Rotherham Entrepreneur named amongst Yorkshire’s ‘brightest and best’

The co-founder of a Rotherham-based IT provider has been named as one of Yorkshire’s top entrepreneurs.

Louis Marcus, who runs Balliante, has been named by influential regional business publication Yorkshire Business Insider as one of Yorkshire’s top 42 entrepreneurs aged under 42 and will be presented with his award at a glittering ceremony held at the Royal Armouries later this month.

Louis secured his place on the list, which celebrates the region’s ‘brightest and best’ young entrepreneurs in the region, in recognition of the growth and success Balliante has enjoyed during the past 12 months and the key role Louis has played in bringing a number of innovative new products to market.

Responsible for overseeing all aspects of Balliante’s technical development, Louis has overseen the development of several key projects, including overseeing the building and development of a purpose-built data centre, as well as developing from scratch a bespoke CRM system, aimed specifically at helping SMEs harness technology to operate more effectively.

Louis began his own business journey when he was just 18 years old, when he launched his first web-hosting business whilst still at college. After successfully selling the business, and pursuing a career in IT, Louis co-founded Balliante with business partner Craig Boddy in 2019, who was named on the prestigious list of top 42 entrepreneurs under 42 last year.

Together, Louis and Craig have overseen a significant period of growth, and today, Balliante supports a diverse range of businesses throughout the UK, Europe and the US. Last November, the company was crowned Small Business of the Year by Barnsley & Rotherham Chamber, not only in recognition of the company’s impressive growth journey but also their commitment to helping business owners across South Yorkshire to forge stronger connections, creating new jobs, as well as acting as a mentor to Balliante’s growing team.

Louis Marcus, co-Managing Director, Balliante, said:

“Over the past 12 months, Balliante has been on an incredible growth journey, and being named as one of Yorkshire’s top entrepreneurs is an incredible honour.  With many business owners turning to technology to improve efficiency and boost productivity, I think Balliante is well-placed to enjoy future growth and success.

This year, we set our sights not only on growing our business but also diversifying and expanding the products and services we provide. This has seen us invest in building our own data centre, giving our customers greater flexibility, as well as investing in developing and designing our own products – most notably our bespoke customer relationship management software, which we  developed specifically to support SME business owners. Being recognised in this way isn’t just a terrific moment for me personally  it’s the result of the efforts of the entire team, and we’re hoping to continue building on the success we’ve enjoyed during the next year.”

Craig Boddy, co-Managing Director, Balliante, said:

“When Louis and I sat at a kitchen table back in 2019, never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined that the business we decided to create would be one that is working with businesses across the world, and  Louis has played a vital role in the success we’ve enjoyed.

Over the past 12 months, Louis has immersed himself in developing some incredibly technically challenging pieces of work – from building a data centre from scratch to writing a bespoke CRM system, which I’m sure will help a wide range of business owners. Louis’ place on this year’s 42 under 42 is very well deserved, and together we’re very much looking forward to seeing what the next year will bring.”

Founded in 2019, Balliante is a specialist IT provider that helps businesses to harness technology to boost productivity and efficiency, by managing IT systems and networks, developing web-based solutions and producing custom-built apps and software.