Mark has spent most of his career to date in the Health & Social Care industry running Claimar Care Group Plc, one of the UK’s largest social care providers. At the age of 28 Mark took over management control of what was a small family business employing around 30 people with a turnover of around £250,000, during a 10 year period the business grew to be the 4th largest provider of care services in the home employing around 4500 people with a turnover of £65m. Claimar Care Group Plc was sold in November 2009 for an enterprise value of just over £40m.
During a 10 year period Mark led the acquisition of more than 30 businesses, split the group into 5 subsidiaries including a pharmacy business, two care businesses, a training business and a franchise business and achieved compound growth of around 65% per annum. As well as growing the business, Mark took the business through multiple fund raisings including a listing on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange.
After exiting Claimar in November 2009 Mark was planning to take 12 months off (do nothing) and concentrate on his list of non work related activities including learning to play piano, learn to fly and a long list of others, in reality the 12 month break lasted 12 days before Mark started to look at the next opportunity!
Since then Mark has created his own Growth Capital fund, investing in small businesses in a variety of sectors where he believes he can add value with more than just money.
Mark is a shareholder and Non Executive of Thebusinessdesk.com (a regional online news service), a shareholder and Non Executive of The Rabbit Hole (a social media gaming engine), largest shareholder and Chairman of Optimo Care Group (a buy and build in the domiciliary care sector), a Founding Investor in Springboard (another tech accelerator based in Cambridge) and mentors a number of other businesses and individuals.
Mark lives in Birmingham, is married to Claire and has two young sons Benjamin,10, and Ethan,7.
