Innovation, geo-cloning & going global with Easyfairs
While still at university, Eric Everard was already juggling three businesses, studying hard, and even learning Mandarin — a true display of entrepreneurial drive. Shortly after graduating, he launched yet another venture: the beginnings of what would become Easyfairs. Fast forward two decades, and Easyfairs has evolved into a global events powerhouse.
In this episode, Eric shares the Easyfairs journey, including how he sold the business and bought it back for €1, and how his early commitment to technology has positioned Easyfairs as one of the world’s leading tech-driven event companies today, built on a scalable and purpose-built platform that continues to evolve. He also dives into the role of geo-cloning in their expansion, the growth of Comicon across Europe, the strategic M&A engine behind their success, and why, in his view, people don’t leave companies — they leave bad bosses.
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Transforming recruitment across Europe with YER
From full-page newspaper ads in the 1980s to today’s cutting-edge, data-driven talent platform, YER has transformed into a leading European specialist recruitment agency. Over the decades, the company has navigated major industry shifts, weathered the financial crisis, adopted a secondment model, and expanded across Europe through strategic acquisitions, all while maintaining a strong focus on vision, leadership and adaptability.
In our latest podcast episode, YER CEO Johan Overgaauw and Inflexion’s Sander Ruijter join Tim Smallbone in Amsterdam to unpack the key milestones behind YER’s growth, from Inflexion’s minority investment to international expansion and M&A, and explore how the company continues to thrive as a people-first business in a fast-changing market.
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10 years for an overnight success with Mountain Warehouse
A true entrepreneur, Mark Neale always knew he wanted to build his own business. After a few early ventures in retail, he founded Mountain Warehouse in 1997. From opening the first store in Swindon almost 30 years ago, Mark has led the company through nearly three decades of change - navigating the rise of e-commerce, international expansion and the unprecedented challenges of a global pandemic. In this episode of Inflexion Point, Mark joins Inflexion Partner Tim Smallbone, to share the journey from those early days to becoming a global outdoor retail brand, reflecting on the pivotal moments, lessons learned, and what it really takes to scale a business.
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Capitalising on the right strategic opportunities with Ocorian
Ocorian, a leading corporate, fund, and trust administration business, has undergone a remarkable transformation since partnering with Inflexion in 2016. In this episode of Inflexion Point, Ocorian CEO Chantal Free and Inflexion’s Managing Partner Flor Kassai delve into the combination of organic and inorganic growth that has fuelled Ocorian’s success, including a strategy-led M&A programme and the transformational acquisition of Estera, which doubled the size of the business overnight. They also explore Ocorian’s relentless focus on integrating acquisitions, its commitment to being a client-led firm, and its ambitious plans to expand its global footprint into the US market.
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Carving-out GRC to accelerate growth
Alex Dacre is Founder of Marlowe plc and CEO of Inflexion carved-out GRC, a leading governance, risk, and compliance tech-enabled services and software business. In this episode, Tim speaks with Alex and Inflexion Partner Isabelle Pagnotta about how Alex identified a significant gap in the regulatory market, the pivotal role of taking GRC private in scaling the business and what the future holds and the opportunities presented by AI.
Ireland