Sowena
Manchester
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Summary
Based in Manchester City centre, Sowena received funding from the North West Business Growth Loan fund, completing drawdown within a month following its initial enquiry.
Founded in June 2024 by award-winning recruiter Perran Cooke, Sowena specialises in placing finance candidates from newly qualified accountants to executive board level for high-growth businesses, pre and current PE-backed companies, and venture capital entities.
Despite being relatively new to the market, the business has quickly established a reputation for quality placements, achieving a 100% success rate across all roles filled to date – a remarkable achievement in an industry where 25-30% attrition is typical.
The six-figure funding will be deployed strategically to accelerate Sowena’s growth trajectory and will assist with the recruitment of three additional fee-earning consultants across different experience levels that will strengthen the firms capabilities across three key pillars of their business: senior executive search for CFO and Finance Director roles, mid-tier finance management positions, and the growing interim and fractional finance director and CFO market.
The investment will also fund the final development and rollout of ‘Kelmi Intelligence‘, an innovative data-led candidate matching platform that uses behavioural and emotional data alongside traditional skillset analysis to deliver superior candidate-to-role fit.
“The speed and efficiency of this transaction from River Capital and Chris has been exceptional. From our first conversation to completing the funding took four weeks, which is testament to their streamlined approach and understanding of growing businesses. This has allowed us to recruit in key positions and to capitalise on the significant opportunities we’re seeing in the market and to meet the demand of our current client base.


