An accomplished Operations Director with over 30 years’ experience in a global company has made an impressive career move to help small businesses flourish in South East England.
Peter Searle, who has worked for 34 years for global construction, property and services company Kier, has become the UK’s latest certified Business Doctor.
He will be supporting SMEs in Kent county town Maidstone and the unitary authority of Medway.
The region boasts a large number of SMEs, including light industrial and services. Maidstone and Medway is connected by High Speed 1 (HS1) to London and is close to the proposed site for Paramount London, a world-class entertainment resort set to open in 2020.
Peter says he is looking forward to supporting a mixed portfolio of businesses run by passionate people.
“I respect people who love what they do when it comes to their business,” he says. “What particularly fascinates me is hearing about different people’s businesses; their stories and strategies, and the decisions they have made to make those businesses so special.”
Peter’s background is in construction. With a civil engineering degree, he started at Kier as a graduate before progressing up to Operations Director in the Kent office, a position he held for ten years.
The role involved managing around 135 employees and projects up to £50m in value.
Peter managed bid winning, delivery and post-contract requirements.
He led recruitment and restructuring processes, which gave him a complete overview of managing a medium-sized business.
He achieved an MBA in 2003 and has been a judge for the Construction Manager of the Year Award (CMYA) for the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) for eight years consecutively.
He is also the founding chairperson of the reformed Constructing Excellence Kent Club, which aims to improve performance in the construction industry in Kent and across the UK.
Peter, who is married and lives in West Malling near Kent, says he was attracted to the Business Doctors support network because it offers SMEs the “widest scope” to swiftly grow and develop.
He also says the Business Doctors ethos fits well with his MBA in the way it is organised and structured, making his skills beneficial to developing small businesses.
“Business Doctors provides SMEs with a proven structure and framework,” Peter says. “With its support, a small business is already on the first step up the ladder to quickly progress.”
Co-founder of Business Doctors Rod Davies, says: “Peter’s business skills and experience, alongside his impressive career progression in a global company is certainly credible and fits perfectly with our aim to help SMEs successfully grow and flourish.
I think they will find his support imperative to achieving these goals.”
Business Doctors was launched in 2004 by Rod Davies and Matt Levington to provide first class business support that adds real value to small and medium-sized businesses.
