A global private equity investor specialising in recruitment
Empowering recruiters to build something for themselves.
Recruitment Entrepreneur is one of the most successful private equity investors in recruitment businesses. Our mission is to help founders globally, launch, scale, and eventually exit their own recruitment businesses, generating a wealth creation event. We invest in all sectors within the recruitment industry, which provides a diverse portfolio of businesses, each one a specialist in its own niche.
We have fostered a community of businesses that benefit from the expertise of our dedicated team who provide; funding, financial expertise, operational strategy, back-office support, legal advice, marketing, and talent attraction solutions, all of which enable our partner businesses to flourish.
CEO Abid Hamid on his vision for Recruitment Entrepreneur
Our founder & Chairman
James Caan CBE
Having founded Recruitment Entrepreneur in 2014, former Dragons' Den star and serial entrepreneur James Caan CBE plays a pivotal role in shaping each business within our portfolio.
James has been in recruitment for over 30 years and invests in recruitment companies of all sizes across various geographies and sectors.
Alexander Mann, his first recruitment business, sold in 2013 for £260 million. His second recruitment venture, Humana International, grew to 140 offices across 30 countries.
With 3 million followers, James was named LinkedIn’s second most influential voice of 2017. His global network, both online and offline, has assisted our current CEOs in attracting the best talent, clients and candidates to their businesses.
Meet the leadership team
James Caan CBE
Chairman
James Caan CBE
Chairman
As Chairman, James takes an active role in the investment process, working closely with the Recruitment Entrepreneur team to support you and your company. His hands-on approach enables entrepreneurs to learn from his considerable experience in founding and scaling recruitment businesses.
Abid Hamid
Chief Executive Officer
Abid Hamid
Chief Executive Officer
Abid trained as a lawyer working in corporate finance before entering recruitment 25 years ago. He has worked in over 35 countries in various CEO roles and has been an investor in several recruitment businesses over the years, and has exited several recruitment companies successfully.
He founded ARBP, which trained recruiters in 22 countries and has a wealth of experience in building and managing teams. Abid is a shareholder in RCV and oversees all group activity at board level and works closely with each of the portfolio partners to assist them in achieving their long-term growth plans.
He is currently a mentor for EY Entrepreneurs and judge for the Global Start Up Awards.
Greg Hollis
Chief Operational Officer
Greg Hollis
Chief Operational Officer
Greg is Recruitment Entrepreneur’s COO, based in our Manchester hub.
With over 22 years’ business development and management experience, Greg develops our operational strategy and supports the portfolio partners with increasing sales performance and attracting the right talent to join them in the portfolio.
Greg assists the portfolio partners with setting their sales and business development strategy and ensuring the latest tools and infrastructure are successfully adopted and implemented across the group.
Angus McDowell
Chief Financial Officer
Angus McDowell
Chief Financial Officer
Angus is responsible for the investment and finance activity of the group. His time is mostly spent helping the portfolio businesses with growth strategies and value creation, structuring and executing deals for new investments and preparing portfolio businesses for exit.
Angus has 15 years of managerial and board-level experience in businesses across a wide variety of sectors. He is a qualified accountant and holds a degree from Newcastle University and an MBA from Cass Business School.
Daisy Betteridge
Operations Director
Daisy Betteridge
Operations Director
Daisy has been involved in the launch and growth of Recruitment Entrepreneur since inception and now oversees and manages all operational activity within the RE portfolio.
She implements best practice business guidelines and strategies and works closely with partners and other department heads to ensure everything runs smoothly and efficiently, allowing the portfolio companies to focus on running their businesses.
Daisy oversees all HR, office, and IT systems and services, including the CRM across the group. She is also our GDPR ambassador and manages all compliance and regulatory-related activities.
Tom Burkinshaw
Marketing Director
Tom Burkinshaw
Marketing Director
Tom leads the Marketing Team and has over 15 years in senior management and marketing roles. He has vast experience in managing marketing strategy, integration and brand development of multiple business and acquisitions in fast paced, high growth businesses.
Tom and his team oversee the group, and individual portfolio businesses; marketing operations, strategy, brand and communications to help achieve maximum awareness for scalable growth and ROI.
Alex Niarchos
Investment Director
Alex Niarchos
Investment Director
Having worked in the recruitment industry since 2001 for companies such as Morgan Stanley, Joslin Rowe, and Randstad UK, Alex has run businesses ranging from 3 people to over 100 consultants across various markets. Before joining Recruitment Entrepreneur in 2020 he was responsible for a care and education business with 200 headcount and a £25 million GP. Alex takes pride in developing teams and throughout his career has promoted over 100 staff from consultant level all the way up to Operations Director. At Recruitment Entrepreneur, Alex is responsible for identifying and securing potential investments to join the portfolio.
Jeremy Roberts
Group Financial Controller
Jeremy Roberts
Group Financial Controller
Jeremy is a chartered accountant experienced in leading both finance and operational functions, with a strong track record of delivering new reporting suites across a number of different sectors. He has excellent commercial awareness with a keen eye for improving how organisations operate, with the aim of improving EBITDA whilst also simplifying approaches to work.