Paul Gibbons

What experience do you bring to the table?

I trained as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, which included three years working overseas with Corporate Finance work in addition to audit and tax work. I worked in a number of senior finance roles, in businesses of differing sizes in various sectors. My last major role was in a telecoms business where as Finance Director, I was part of a four person team that completed fourteen acquisitions over an eight year period. As a result of the value created, we did a preliminary exit to private equity fund at a £32m valuation and three years a secondary exit at a valuation of £108m. I took a decision to leave that business on the secondary exit, but subsequently, I have joined with three former colleagues to acquire a specialist telecoms business which we have grown from £0.65m to £1.15m EBITDA over the past four years.

I like to think that I bring a deep understanding of how to get acquisitions done, in addition to broad experience as a Finance Director over a number of years.

What do you like to get up to outside of work?

I have five adult children and four grandchildren plus one dog so family activities take up a lot of my time. I had a long held ambition to learn Arabic, and attend an evening class at Southampton University. In doing so, I have proved conclusively that I have no talent for languages.

I also volunteer as Street Pastor in Basingstoke which is a blessing being able to support the wider community.

What’s the best thing about working at Entrepreneurs Hub?

I enjoy being able to support business owners through their business growth and sales process. Selling one’s lives work is something that most people only do once, so it is great to be part of the support structure that helps business owners get the best possible outcome from the process.

You can only listen to one artist or band for the rest of your life. Who is it?

This is a very unfair question. I could easily name twenty bands all of whom I have seen live in concert in the past few years. My favourite band is Dream Theater, but other favourites include Neal Morse, Transatlantic, Porcupine Tree, Devin Townsend, Haken Avatar, Jinjer, Ne Obliviscaris, Opeth and not forgetting King Gizzard and the Wizard Lizard. I also enjoy classical music and usually attend at least ten proms each season.

What’s something we might be surprised to learn about you?

My enthusiasm for extreme music does surprise people. And yet, my guilty pleasure is Midnight Train to Georgia by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Another surprising thing is not only did I not have a stag do when I got married, I have never been on a stag do in my life. My insensitivity to the cold is infamous and I do not own a pair of jeans. Trousers are worn under protest.