Richard Harpin

Richard David Harpin was born in Huddersfield, England, grew up in Northumberland and attended Newcastle’s Royal Grammar School. Companies House records his birth as September 1964.⁠[1][2]

He has recalled selling rabbits, performing magic at children’s parties, running a mail-order fishing-tackle business and trying an earring venture in his youth.⁠[3]

He studied economics at the University of York, graduating in 1986. The university later recalled that he installed a telephone line in his Wentworth Hall room to operate a mail-order fishing-tackle business.⁠[4]

He worked in brand management at Procter & Gamble, then spent more than a year at Deloitte before pursuing entrepreneurship.⁠[2]

He and Jeremy Middleton operated a property-letting business in Newcastle. Difficulty finding emergency tradespeople for tenants prompted them to explore home-repair services.⁠[2]

He established a joint venture with South Staffordshire Water in Walsall and became its CEO. The emergency home-repair operation developed into HomeServe.⁠[2][5]

In a Deutsche Bank interview, he recalled that the early repair business lost money. A test mailing of 1,000 plumbing-cover offers attracted 38 replies, encouraging a shift toward recurring-fee repair cover.⁠[6]

HomeServe expanded into France, beginning a broader international expansion.⁠[5][6]

HomeServe launched in the United States. Harpin later emphasized the importance of local leadership instead of simply transferring British management arrangements abroad.⁠[5][6]

HomeServe separated from South Staffordshire Water and became a separately listed business on the London Stock Exchange, with Harpin continuing to lead it.⁠[5][6]

Ofcom fined HomeServe £750,000 for persistent misuse of communications networks in February–March 2011 involving silent and abandoned calls. The regulator also considered the company’s steps to end the conduct and remedy its consequences.⁠[7]

The FCA fined HomeServe Membership Limited £30,647,400 over insurance mis-selling, complaints handling and compliance failures during 2005–2011. The company accepted the need to restore its customer focus and had paid about £12.9 million in redress by the announcement. The penalty applied to the company.⁠[8]

He founded Growth Partner, investing his own capital in growing businesses and serving as chairman. The firm combines finance with operating experience and entrepreneurial networks to support founder-led companies.⁠[3]

HomeServe joined the FTSE 100, following acquisitions and partnerships that expanded its repairs, home-services and tradesperson-platform activities.⁠[5]

HomeServe and Brookfield acquisition vehicle Hestia Bidco announced a recommended cash offer for all issued and future-issued shares, subject to completion of the scheme-of-arrangement process.⁠[9]

The acquisition became effective, with a Brookfield-controlled vehicle purchasing all HomeServe equity for about £4.1 billion in cash. That figure was company equity consideration, rather than Harpin’s personal net worth.⁠[9][10]

After HomeServe’s acquisition, he moved from CEO to chairman. That year he acquired Ascot Group’s Business Leader media and events business as a platform supporting growing British companies.⁠[6][11]

Companies House records the termination of his HomeServe Limited directorship on this date, with the filing made in January 2025. A later interview described his chairmanship as continuing until 2025 before he focused on other ventures.⁠[12][1][6]

His book How to Make a Billion in Nine Steps was published, covering opportunities, marketing, hiring and business growth. The publisher lists ebook ISBN 9780349445397 and reports its appearance on the Sunday Times bestseller list for the week beginning July 14.⁠[13]

He was named a Knight Bachelor in the 2026 New Year Honours. The Gazette cited services to politics; the government’s account discussed his longstanding work supporting Conservative Party operations, business scaling and apprenticeships.⁠[14][15]

School of Hard Knocks published an interview exploring his early cash difficulties, business-model pivot and the growth and sale of HomeServe.⁠[16]

Growth Partner announced an agreement for VivaGym to acquire Spanish gym chain Synergym, which it had backed since 2019. The announcement specified that regulatory approval and customary closing conditions remained outstanding.⁠[17]

Growth Partner announced a partnership with aesthetics distributor Healthxchange. As chairman, Harpin described providing operating experience and entrepreneurial networks, while Jack Curran continued as the company’s CEO.⁠[18]

The Charity Commission lists him as chair of the Enterprise Trust. Business Leader offers executive coaching, peer groups and growth workshops, primarily for founders and CEOs of businesses with annual revenue above £3 million.⁠[19][20]

Personal X: https://x.com/richard_harpin (opens in a new window); LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rharpin/ (opens in a new window); official website: https://www.richardharpin.com/ (opens in a new window). The separate Business Leader brand’s YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is Google’s video-sharing and creator platform, founded in 2005 by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim and acquired by Google in 2006. Built around video uploading, viewing, and creator earnings, the platform has developed Shorts, YouTube Music, Premium, YouTube TV, and products for children, and is headquartered in San Bruno, California, United States.Open the full entry channel is https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessleaderUk (opens in a new window).⁠[21][3][22]