Case studies

Esteem Training Delivers over £1m of Public Sector Work Following SDP Meet the Buyer Events

Esteem Training is an employee-owned training company that delivers Construction Modern Apprenticeships. Since attending SDP’s Meet the Buyer events, Esteem Training has grown its public sector revenue from £70,000 in its first year of tendering, to reach over £1m in 2025.

Early Days

Founded in Glasgow in 1986 by Trudy Mackenzie, Esteem Training first discovered SDP events through the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce.

Sarah Campbell, Business Development Coordinator, said: “Our training is delivered face to face, so is highly interactive and engaging. Having the chance to show this to buyers at SDP events through videos, real-life examples and testimonials was far more effective than describing it on paper.”

SDP Events

After enjoying the format of its first Meet the Buyer event, Esteem Training started attending them every year. Over the years, the business attended Meet the Buyer National in 2026, 2025 and 2024, as well as Meet the Buyer North, Meet the Buyer South, and regional Meet the Buyers in Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway, Fife, Forth Valley, Lanarkshire, Tayside, and West Dunbartonshire.

Sarah said: “As we run Modern Apprenticeship Programmes throughout the country, the regional Meet the Buyer events work well for us.”

She added: “These events allow us to showcase the quality of our training, build meaningful relationships and gain a better understanding of potential opportunities. Being able to have direct conversations has helped us better understand what organisations are looking for and explain what makes Esteem Training different.”

Attending these events also helped the Esteem Training team overcome their uncertainty around working with the public sector.

Sarah remarked: “We have been contracted by Skills Development Scotland for the delivery of construction Modern Apprenticeships, and the SDP Meet the Buyer events helped us identify suitable companies and candidates.”

First Contract Win

When bidding for its first contract with Skills Development Scotland (SDS) Esteem Training used learnings from the SDP Core Training keynote, delivered at Meet the Buyer

Sarah said: “The speaking sessions at the Meet the Buyer events were very useful. We particularly found the bid writing sessions on how to use Public Contracts Scotland (PCS) helpful.”

In its first year of tendering, Esteem Training won a £70,000 contract with SDS for the delivery of construction Modern Apprenticeships. In 2025, the value of this work rose to over £1m.

Esteem Training now delivers more than 300 Modern Apprenticeships a year for Construction site supervisors, managers, and senior leaders.

Winning this contract has enabled Esteem Training to grow its team, which has doubled in size to 20 people over the past 10 years.

Sarah said: “We take pride in recruiting locally and developing our team. We developed our own Assessor Training Programme, specifically to recruit occupationally competent individuals who would like to learn to be a Construction Assessor. We have also worked in partnership with the Scottish Refugee Council to identify and develop talented people into Construction Assessing roles.”

Future Plans

The Esteem Training team is planning to attend more SDP events in Autumn 2026, including Meet the Buyer North, Forth Valley Meet the “Real” Buyer and Lanarkshire Meet the “Real” Buyer.

Sarah said: “We would recommend other suppliers attend SDP events. They give you a chance to get in front of the people you want to work with, have real conversations, and build relationships that you simply can’t create through emails or tender documents alone.”

She concluded: “SDP events are a great way to build confidence, make connections and open the door to future opportunities.”

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