Partner Article

Birmingham firms join forces to launch The Ant Hill Mob

Two companies that both chose to relocate from London to Birmingham are teaming up to deliver communication and executive recruitment services to clients across the UK.

Masgroves, which moved into offices in the Assay Studios in June, has joined forces with re:find to launch ‘The Ant Hill Mob’, a new collective that is looking to win business by collaborating with complementary professional services providers.

The two firms are already working together on a number of high profile contracts and have decided to formalise the relationship with the aim of adding more members over the next six months.

“Our belief is that by working together we can grow stronger, make more noise, and do more,” explained Stuart Thomas, who runs Masgroves alongside business partner Tony Cosgrove.

“We all know the West Midlands is awash with fantastic SMEs and we want to join forces with other like-minded, but non-competing, firms. It’s about thinking differently, which is why we loved the idea of The Ant Hill Mob.

“We were inspired by the incredible feats ants achieve by working together and some of us are children of the 70s, who loved watching Wacky Races – it seemed the obvious name.”

He continued: “re:find is the perfect first partner as it buys into the approach. We have mutual clients who are already benefitting; for example, we are providing ‘First 100 Days’ support to a newly appointed director re:find has found and placed, making sure they will have an immediate impact as soon as they start their new role.

“This is just the beginning. We are now opening The Ant Hill Mob up to other West Midlands specialists, who are keen to work together to promote and deliver their expertise through collaboration.”

re:find was formed in 2014 by James Cumming to exploit a gap in the recruitment sector for a provider who made executive and interim search solutions simple and honest.

Clients from across the public and private sector soon signed up and a growing number of West Midlands contracts saw the company take the decision to move to Birmingham in 2016, where the management team expanded with the appointment of HR specialist Carl Hinett.

Since relocating to the Midlands, the firm has seen turnover double year-on-year and recent contract wins are putting it on course for a record turnover in 2018. This includes working with a client list that features Birmingham Airport, Holland and Barrett, Kingfisher Plc and Taylor Wimpey.

James went on to add: “Our business has been built on trust and working with strategic partners to deliver the right person to the right business and to make sure they have an impact as soon as they join.

“We see The Ant Hill Mob as an extension of this approach and are looking forward to working with Masgroves to build one of the best collections of professional services expertise the region has ever pulled together.

“There’s no reason why, as a group, we can’t be a single-source solution for clients that favour a boutique approach.”

A new logo has already been created for The Ant Hill Mob and the launch of a new website will be completed shortly.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .