Ghd entrepreneur puts people at heart of recruitment venture

Martin Penny and Howard Slinger, co-founders of new recruitment business Morgan King

Entrepreneur Martin Penny, one of the co-founders of the world-famous hair straightener brand ghd, is to launch a new recruitment venture in January aimed at companies looking for “white collar” and “grey collar” workers.

The new Leeds-based firm, which will be called Morgan King, hopes to differentiate itself by getting to know businesses and their requirements rather than relying on technology to sift through candidates.

Mr Penny is making what the firm described as a “significant six figure investment” in the new set up, which will be co-founded by Howard Slinger, a recruitment specialist with over 25 years’ experience in the industry.

In the past, Mr Slinger has specialised within the construction, rail and technical recruitment markets, recruiting people at senior and executive levels.

He said his vision is to get back to basics and build a recruitment business based around people.

“I understand how important it is for a recruitment business to be truly consultative and match the right person with the right position,” he said.

“This is an industry centred around people. However, too often, recruiters rely on technology to do the job and put forward candidates without really getting to know the people or business involved, instead of working to find the perfect fit.

“At Morgan King, our proposition is all about people, with clients and candidates being equally important.

“Fostering long term relationships will form the platform for the growth and scale of the business.”

One of the three people behind the rise of ghd, Mr Penny helped build up the iconic brand before exiting the company in 2012.

He has since founded a number of ventures including designer handbag label Jack French London. Mr Penny invested £400,000 in the handbag business, which has won celebrity endorsements from the likes of model Kate Moss, singer Lady Gaga and designer Sadie Frost.