ENTREPRENEUR Martin Penny, a founder of the ghd hair products business which started in Ilkley, has made a significant six figure investment in a new recruitment business aimed at the hiring of staff in the grey collar (mainly technicians) and white collar sectors.

He has teamed up with recruitment veteran Howard Slinger to launch Morgan King which started trading this month from its Leeds base. As one of the three people behind the rise of ghd where he led a £160 million management buyout in 2008, Mr Penny helped build the brand before exiting the company two years ago.

He has since founded a number of ventures, including designer handbag label Jack French London.

Martin said: “People are the most important part of every business and in my experience the increasing shortage of certain skills in the market is matched by a shortage of really good recruitment partners who understand what people businesses need and who are willing to look at the longer term rather than a sales driven model.

“I wanted to work with a proven expert in placement and bring a service-centric model to the Yorkshire market. We aim to be an extension of the HR or management team that firms retain to improve the quality of their hiring process and to save long term HR costs.”