Nationality British Name Matthew Riley | Years active 1997 – present | |
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Born 15 February 1974 (age 50) ( 1974-02-15 ) Burnley, England Occupation Businessman & Entrepreneur | ||
Matthew riley
Matthew Riley is a British entrepreneur.
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He is the founder and Executive Chairman of the Daisy Group, an IT and technology provider to businesses in the UK.
Business career
Riley is known for his work with Daisy Group, and was named Ernst and Young’s Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007.
More recently Riley's interests include:
Daisy Group
Riley established Daisy Communications, his fourth company, in 2001 as an alternative service provider to BT supplying internet and telecoms solutions to SMEs.
Based in his hometown of Nelson, Lancashire, Daisy was created to provide communications services to small and medium sized businesses.
Daisy was named the fastest growing technology company in the UK (Sunday Times Tech Track 2005). and has been repeatedly placed in Deloitte's Fast50.
In July 2009 the business floated on AIM following the reverse takeover of Freedom4 Group plc. The newly combined company was named Daisy Group plc and through the reversal £83m was raised. Riley became CEO of the Daisy Group.
In January 2015, with a market value of £500m and 1,500 employees, Matthew, together with Toscafund and Penta Capital, announced the decision to acquire Daisy.
In July 2015, Daisy Group completed the acquisition of Phoenix IT Group, adding a further 3,600 UK businesses to the Daisy customer base.
The Apprentice
In 2011 and 2012 Alan Sugar enlisted the help of Riley to assist him in deciding the winner in the BBC TV series The Apprentice.
In the 2011 series of The Apprentice, Riley was one of four guest interviewers to be enlisted, tasked with interviewing the 2011 contestants and advising Lord Sugar on who to hire.
Sir Philip Green mentoring
After winning £5million interest free funding for his company through the Bank of Scotland Corporate Entrepreneur Challenge, Matthew was also awarded a high profile mentorship with Arcadia and BHS boss Sir Philip Green.
Since being awarded the mentorship, Sir Philip has provided business advice for both Riley and his business.