Changemakers: Parminder Basran

After early success as a youth footballer, Parminder Basran MBA2010 didn’t quite make the grade for the adult game. Undaunted, he changed focus, studying first at Rutgers University in New Jersey and then taking a business degree at the University of Leeds. After graduating, he worked for seven years in his family’s food manufacturing business, but an ambition to set up his own investment business led to him taking an MBA at London Business School in 2010.

A year after he graduated, Basran founded VGC Partners. It grew rapidly, with a series of highly successful investments. Eight years on, the firm has £100 million under management across several funds and investment vehicles.

As a growth capital investor, VGC Partners takes significant minority stakes in private companies in the consumer, media and technology sectors, then helps them reach the point where they can sell to private equity or trade purchasers. The business’s particular talent, Basran believes, lies in its use of a network of corporate partners such as Nike, Amazon, WPP and Adidas to help drive growth for portfolio companies.