Jamie Waller (entrepreneur)

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Jamie Waller
NationalityBritish
CitizenshipUnited Kingdom
OccupationEntrepreneur
OrganizationFirestarters
TitleChair

Jamie B. Waller is an entrepreneur. He founded the debt collection and outsourcing company, JBW Group, a fintech solutions company, Hito, the private equity firm, Firestarters, and the fintech company Just, where he serves as chair.[1][2]

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.

While growing up in East London Waller was part of the Imps, a charity for disadvantaged children which in 2015 he saved with the help of other entrepreneurs from going bankrupt. [4] He was part of the Imps from age 5 through to 16.[5] As a child from a disadvantaged background, that also suffered from dyslexia, Waller was also helped by the charity, The Prince's Trust [6]

In 2018, Cranfield University awarded him the Entrepreneur of the Year award.[7]

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.[8]

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.[9] 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.[10] 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]

During his career, he was stabbed and held hostage at gunpoint.[6][11]

In 2009, the UK Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued a series of contracts for bailiff services to be provided 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.[12]

Waller founded the private equity business, Firestarters, in 2017.[1] In 2017, he acquired the international consulting firm; Arum[13] and in 2019 founded the FinTech firm; Just.

In 2021, in response to the international pandemic, Waller introduced a technology solution to the industry to protect vulnerable people from being visited by Government collection companies which the Government and industry tried to stop. His business, Just was successful in taking the matter to the High Court which ruled that a person in debt can request that a visit was undertaken virtually and not in person which would go on to save those in debt costs and protect the spread of Covid.[13]

Waller is also the Founder and immediate past Chair of the Prince's Trust Enterprise Network which he formed in 2020.[14][15][16] In 2023 he accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award on behalf of His Majesty King Charles III and The Prince’s Trust at the Business Champion Awards.[17][18]

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.[9][19]

He is also the author of two books, Unsexy Business and The Dyslexic Entrepreneur[6]

References

  1. ^ a b "Angels beware, the bailiff is coming to start a fire". The Times. Retrieved 18 February 2018.
  2. ^ a b 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. ^ "Leading motorcycle charity saved from closure by leading entrepreneurs". Business Matters. 20 May 2015. Retrieved 7 July 2023.
  5. ^ "Imps display team look to keep riding". East London Advertiser. 9 April 2015. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Shirreff, Lauren (18 August 2023). "'I made £1m by being nice – and then a rival stabbed me'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  7. ^ "From Dropout to Billionaire: Is Graduating Essential?". CEO Today. 28 February 2018. Retrieved 11 February 2020.
  8. ^ Tobin, Lucy (20 August 2010). "Student gap years: 'Make money and move on'". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  9. ^ a b O'Carroll, Lisa (7 April 2014). "Panorama bailiffs investigation to be aired after high court bid fails". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  10. ^ Collinson, Patrick (15 August 2015). "I blocked a bailiff – and paid the price". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  11. ^ Moules, Jonathan (29 March 2016). "Jamie Waller: an elegant enforcer and the gritty business of debt". Financial Times. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  12. ^ JBW Group Ltd v Ministry of Justice [2012] EWCA Civ 8, 16 January 2012, retrieved 15 August 2023
  13. ^ a b "UK fintech Just lands court backing to undercut bailiff industry". Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  14. ^ "Prince's Trust Enterprise Network launches in the South West". The Business Magazine. 14 November 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  15. ^ "From debt collection to philanthropy". Fresh Business Thinking. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  16. ^ "Unique Electric Boat Launched for Henley Royal Regatta". Henley Herald. 4 July 2022. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  17. ^ Martin, Cherry (24 March 2023). "National SME winners revealed at Business Champion Awards 2023 finale". Business Matters. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
  18. ^ Shirreff, Lauren (18 August 2023). "'I made £1m by being nice – and then a rival stabbed me'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  19. ^ "TV 'bailiff' set to lose fortune on property". The Oxford Times. Oxford Times. 11 March 2016.
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