Jamie Waller (entrepreneur)

Jamie B. Waller is a British businessman. He founded the debt collection company, JBW Group, a fintech solutions company, Hito, and later the private equity firm, Firestarters, where he serves as chief executive.[1][2]

Jamie Waller
NationalityBritish
OccupationBusinessperson
OrganizationFirestarters
TitleCEO

Early life and education

Waller was born in London's East End. He attended Raine's Foundation School, but left with no qualifications.[3] He later studied business at Cranfield University, Stanford University, and the London Business School.

In 2018, Cranfield University awarded him the Entrepreneur of the Year award.[4]

Career

Waller started working as a debt collector, but quit at the age of 21, planning to travel the world for a year. In Australia he started a business building and selling camper vans for other tourists.[5]

He founded the debt collection company, JBW Group, in 2004. In 2014 the firm attempted unsuccessfully to obtain a legal injunction preventing the BBC from airing a Panorama episode critical of the company's practices.[6] In 2015 the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against a man arrested for allegedly assaulting a JBW bailiff, concluding that the bailiff was trespassing and that the man was within his rights to use reasonable force to eject him.[7] In 2017, he sold the business to a Japanese company, Outsourcing Inc. Waller founded the financial services technology company, Hito, six days after selling JBW Group. In 2017 the company was also sold to Outsourcing Inc.[2]

In 2009, the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued a series of contracts for bailiff services to be provides for magistrates courts in England and Wales. JBW Group's tender was unsuccessful and the Group challenged the MoJ, alleging that there had been a breach of the Public Contracts Regulations 2006 in the way the tender exercise had been undertaken. Their claim was dismissed on the basis that the contracts concerned were service concessions and not public services contracts, and the dismissal was upheld by the Court of Appeal in 2012.[8]

Waller founded the private equity business, Firestarters, in 2017.[1] The company invests in UK private businesses, where for some Waller sits as chairman.

Community involvement

He has been a patron of the Princes Trust Enterprise Network since 2018. In 2019, he was appointed as chairman of the Princes Trust.[9]

Waller was a member of the Imps charity, a motorcycle display team that also provides training and mentoring to young children, from the age of 5 till 16. He is currently a supporter and one of the chief donors of the organisation.[10]

Media

Waller featured in the BBC's Bailiffs TV show for two years beginning in 2000 along with other members of WiseHill and JBW staff. He was also featured in the follow-up show The Enforcers and in the debt advice show Beat the Bailiff.[6][11]

Waller's first book was published in 2018. He also launched the Unsexy Business podcast to support the book in 2019.

  • Waller, Jamie (2018). Unsexy Business: How 12 Entrepreneurs in Ordinary Businesses Achieved Extraordinary Success. Petersfield, Hampshire, Great Britain: Harriman House. ISBN 9780857197139. OCLC 1041762909.

References
  1. "Angels beware, the bailiff is coming to start a fire". The Times. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  2. Evans, Peter (29 April 2018). "Q&A with angel investor Jamie Waller". The Sunday Times.
  3. Duguid, Sarah. "First Person: Jamie Waller". Financial Times. ISSN 0307-1766. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  4. "From Dropout to Billionaire: Is Graduating Essential?". CEO Today. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  5. Tobin, Lucy (20 August 2010). "Student gap years: 'Make money and move on'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  6. O'Carroll, Lisa (7 April 2014). "Panorama bailiffs investigation to be aired after high court bid fails". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  7. Collinson, Patrick (15 August 2015). "I blocked a bailiff – and paid the price". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  8. JBW Group Ltd v Ministry of Justice (2012) EWCA Civ 8 (16 January 2012), accessed 3 January 2021
  9. "The Business Growth Magazine - Spring 2020". Issuu. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  10. "Property Porn: We visit TV bailiff and multi-millionaire Jamie Waller's lavish Bucks pad". Metro Newspaper UK. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  11. "TV 'bailiff' set to lose fortune on property". The Oxford Times. Oxford Times. 11 March 2016.
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