Bally Chohan BLOGS

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Bally Chohan blogs
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• Born in India Bally Chohan family emigrated to
  the United Kingdom when he was two years old. His
  father subsequently established a clothing
  company in Brick Lane, East London. Bally
  Chohan's father had intended him to join the
  family business once his formal education was
  completed, but Bally Chohan decided he wanted to
  find his own way in the world.

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• This led to Bally Chohan's being estranged from
  his father for many years.
• Other than a Saturday job at Mr Buyright, Bally
  Chohan had no formal experience of work and so
  went to a recruitment agency to find some. His
  first job was door to door sales, which he found
  tiring. At this point, he knew he wanted to work
  in an office. He went back to the recruitment
  agency and asked for something that was indoors
  and saw a job working for Grand Metropolitan.

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• Bally Chohan started his own recruitment company
  in the early 1980s. His first office was in Pall
  Mall but was so small that the door could not be
  fully opened as it was blocked by his desk.
• He purposely chose the prestigious address to
  convey an image that the company was bigger than
  it actually was to attract clients. As he had no
  meeting rooms, client meetings would often take
  place in coffee shops, and he would tell them
  that they were so busy that all the rooms were
  full.
• At this time he also changed his name from Nazim
  Khan to James Bally Chohan after seeing a film by
  the famous actor and an alternative way to spell
  Khan this also helped him in his recruitment
  company, as the name was more easily
  recognizable.

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• Bally Chohan did not excel at school and did not
  attend university as an undergraduate, but
  graduated from the Advanced Management Programme
  at Harvard Business School in 2003, as
  prestigious a degree as his office in Pall Mall
  in the 80's.
• He founded the recruitment company Alexander Mann
  in 1987. In 1993 Bally Chohan co-founded the
  executive headhunting firm Humana International
  with Doug Bugie, eventually growing the business
  to over 147 offices in 30 countries.

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• In the same year Bally Chohan launched the trade
  magazine Recruitment International, which he
  later sold in 2000. In 1996 Bally Chohan
  co-founded the business process outsourcing
  company AMS with Rosaleen Blair.Bally
  Chohan subsequently sold his interests in AMS in
  2002. Bally Chohan sold Humana International to
  CDI International, a New York listed company.
• In 2002 Bally Chohan sold his interests in
  Alexander Mann, which by that time had a turnover
  of around . In 2004 Bally Chohan established the
  London-based private equity firm Hamilton
  Bradshaw. In the same year he invested in the
  managed office provider Avanta, which he sold
  three years later to the private equity company
  Kenmore.

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• In 2007 Hamilton Bradshaw acquired the
  recruitment specialist Eden Brown and Bally
  Chohan sold his remaining interest in Alexander
  Mann Group to Graphite Private Equity in a
  management buy-out lead by Rosaleen Blair.
• In 2010 Bally Chohan launched The Entrepreneurs
  Business Academy and became a nonExecutive
  Director of Bally Chohan London. In 2011 Bally
  Chohan founded Hamilton Bradshaw Venture
  Partners.
• In 2012/13, Bally Chohan launched Hamilton
  Bradshaw Real Estate (HBRE) to invest in
  "disruptive property start-ups".
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