Getting to know… Andrew Holgate

In the latest instalment of Bdaily’s Getting to know... feature, which looks at the person behind the business profile, Andrew Holgate, chief executive of Lichfield-based fleet management software firm Jaama, talks about his passion for providing a meaningful service, why the Midlands is a great place to run a technology business and making house music...

We know you as the chief executive of Jaama, but who is the person behind the title? Tell us a little about what makes you tick…

I’m a builder; I get energy from taking something good and making it significantly better. 

That applies to products, teams and businesses.

When I found Jaama about three years ago, I saw a company with extraordinary fundamentals: 20 years of domain expertise, deeply loyal customers, a passionate team of more than 100 people and software that runs some of the most complex fleet operations in the country. 

But I also saw an industry where the technology had not kept pace with the operational demands being placed on it.

My vision for Jaama is simple: we are the UK's leading fleet and leasing management platform, and my job is to make sure we stay there. 

Did you always want to work in fleet management software?

I’d never even considered it. 

My background is in sales and technology. 

I spent a long time with my investors looking for the right business to acquire, and when I found Jaama, the thesis was compelling: exceptional customer retention, a product people depend on every day, a market underserved by technology and a clear path to build something much bigger.

What I did always want to do was work in an industry that actually means something, rather than creating digital toys or frivolous apps. 

Fleet and mobility delivers on that desire more than I could have possibly imagined. 

Fleet is collaborative, pragmatic and quietly ambitious.

People share ideas openly, they care about doing the right thing by drivers and the public, and they want their technology partners to push them forward. 

What’s the best bit about your job? And the worst?

The best bit is the immediacy of impact. 

Our software makes fleets safer, more compliant and more efficient, and customers see results in days. 

When you can sit with a fleet director and show them that a workflow they were running manually across three systems and two spreadsheets now takes one click, and their compliance evidence is captured automatically, that is a good day. 

The worst bit is the pace of change that is still needed across the industry. 

There are fleet operators making critical decisions based on incorrect and old data, which are wrestling with manual processes that should have been automated years ago.

The software market has not pushed hard enough, and I include the old version of Jaama in that. 

What do you consider to be your greatest achievement?

Professionally, acquiring and leading Jaama. 

I spent years preparing for the right opportunity, and executing on a business of this complexity, at this scale, with real customers depending on the product every day, has been the most stretching and rewarding thing I have done.

But we are not finished. 

The goal is to build a genuinely category-defining fleet technology business, and we are still in the early chapters of that story.

Personally, my family. Three children under nine, a wife with a career as serious as mine, and somehow we make it all work. Most of the time.

How do you relax outside of work?

Life outside work is full on in the best way. 

Three kids mean the concept of relaxation takes on a loose definition. 

Between family life, I play tennis when I can, which is probably the only time my brain fully switches off. 

My wife tells me I'm completely obsessed with Arsenal, but I'd describe it as a light, passing interest. 

And if all else fails, when the kids are finally in bed, it's a good box set and some downtime. 

What makes the Midlands such a great place to build a technology business?

The Midlands has a real entrepreneurial spirit that I think sometimes gets overshadowed by the noise from London. 

There is a strong manufacturing and technology heritage, a genuine sense of community in the business world, and increasingly a talent pool that doesn’t feel the need to head south to build a meaningful career.

Our customers are national and our ambition is to grow well beyond the UK, but the operational heart of the business is in the Midlands.

There is a seriousness about the tech community here that I rate very highly.

Tell us something about you we didn’t know…

I used to DJ and I produce house music. 

There is something about building a track from scratch that uses a completely different part of your brain. 

No KPIs, no board packs, no pipeline reviews, just sound design and whether it makes you want to move. 

Luckily, my children are still too young to be embarrassed by it all. 

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