Jamie Waller (entrepreneur)


Jamie B. Waller is a British businessman. He founded the debt collection company, JBW Group, a fintech solutions company, Hito, and later the private equity firm, Firestarters, where he serves as chief executive.

Early life and education

Waller was born in London's East End. He attended Raine's Foundation School, but left with no qualifications. He later studied business at Cranfield University, Stanford University, and the London Business School.
In 2018, Cranfield University awarded him the Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Career

Waller started working as a debt collector, but quit at the age of 21, planning to travel the world for a year. In Australia he started a business building and selling camper vans for other tourists.
He founded the debt collection company, JBW Group, in 2004. In 2014 the firm attempted unsuccessfully to obtain a legal injunction preventing the BBC from airing a Panorama episode critical of the company's practices. In 2015 the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against a man arrested for allegedly assaulting a JBW bailiff, concluding that the bailiff was trespassing and that the man was within his rights to use reasonable force to eject him. In 2017, he sold the business to a Japanese company, Outsourcing Inc. Waller founded the financial services technology company, Hito, six days after selling JBW Group. In 2017 the company was also sold to Outsourcing Inc.
Waller founded the private equity business, Firestarters, in 2017. The company invests in UK private businesses, where for some Waller sits as chairman.

Community involvement

He has been a patron of the Princes Trust Enterprise Network since 2018. In 2019, he was appointed as chairman of the Princes Trust.
Waller was a member of the Imps charity, a motorcycle display team that also provides training and mentoring to young children, from the age of 5 till 16. He is currently a supporter and one of the chief donors of the organisation.

Media

Waller featured in the BBC's Bailiffs TV show for two years beginning in 2000 along with other members of WiseHill and JBW staff. He was also featured in the follow-up show The Enforcers and in the debt advice show Beat the Bailiff.
Waller's first book was published in 2018. He also launched the Unsexy Business podcast to support the book in 2019.