Greater Manchester Fastest 50: Q & A with Ian Simkins of Silven Recruitment

Silven, which was established in 2012, won the fastest-growing overall business and was also named the fastest-growing small business at the Fastest 50 Awards in 2016. We caught up with Ian about the challenges of growing a company.

What inspired you to set up your business in this particular sector?

Recruitment is something I love and the food and drink manufacturing sector is a great sector to recruit into. Everyone has their favourite brands when they are shopping…..

What’s the most rewarding part of your job?

Seeing members of the team progress, get promoted and enjoy the job as much as I do.

And the most challenging?

Even as a recruitment company the most challenging part of the job is to continually hire high quality staff into Silven to continue our growth.

What would you like to achieve for the business?

Double our turnover and profit. My old non-executive director often said – double or die….

What areas does your business plan to invest in?

The team and their development and we are also looking at Europe and America as markets for the future.

How has being in the Fastest 50 list helped your business?

It helped massively from a PR and marketing point of view and it has also helped us attract staff.