This Cheshire company buys fixed-line, mobile, broadband and Voip products from operators such as BT and Cable & Wireless, and resells them to public-sector organisations and small businesses. Founder and chief executive David Pollock is pursuing an aggressive acquisitions strategy with backing from Royal Bank of Scotland. Chess has completed 29 purchases in the past four years, taking its customer base to 50,000. As a result, sales have grown 83% a year from £3.4m in 2004 to £20.7m in 2007.