London, 14 October 2026: EverGrowth Group, the founder-led platform growing B2B essential services businesses across the UK, is delighted to announce the appointment of Paul Barry as Non-Executive Chair. Paul has also invested in the group, alongside its co-founders, Chris West and Ferdie Ahmed, and its equity partner, FourLeaf Capital.
Paul founded Phenna Group in 2019 to partner with founder-led Testing, Inspection, Certification and Compliance businesses, and remains its Executive Chairman. More than 90 founders and entrepreneurs have joined Phenna since then. It now employs more than 9,000 people across five continents and has annual revenues in excess of £850m.
Before Phenna, Paul was chief executive and managing director of several international business services and consulting businesses. His experience spans M&A, private equity, corporate finance and value creation, and he has led multiple rounds of financing, acquisitions and successful exits.
His approach, at Phenna and before it, rests on long-term partnership, entrepreneurial freedom and building businesses that are stronger, more scalable and more valuable over time. EverGrowth is built the same way in UK essential services. Each business that joins retains its identity, its specialism and its client relationships, with the backing of expert group support.
Paul will lead the board as EverGrowth builds its four divisions: Soft Services, Hard Services, Environmental Services and Critical Services.
“We are thrilled to welcome Paul as our Non-Executive Chair. He has already built the kind of group we have set out to build, by bringing founders into it and growing alongside them. Owners thinking of joining us want to know who we are, who is behind us and what we bring to their business. Paul is now a central part of that answer. Ferdie and I are grateful that he has backed us with his own investment as well as his time.”
Chris West, Co-Founder and Chief Executive, EverGrowth
“It is a privilege to join EverGrowth. Chris and Ferdie are young, ambitious and driven founders who are building a group of specialist businesses in UK essential services, and they start with creating strong relationships with the people in each business. That is the approach I have taken at Phenna, and it is why I have invested. I am excited about what this group can become, and I look forward to working with the board and the team as it grows.”
Paul Barry, Non-Executive Chair, EverGrowth
About EverGrowth
EverGrowth Group is a founder-led, institutionally backed group partnering with and growing B2B essential services businesses in the UK. Founded by Chris West and Ferdie Ahmed and backed by FourLeaf Capital, with senior debt from OakNorth, it is building four divisions: Soft Services, Hard Services, Environmental Services and Critical Services, with the ambition of becoming a nationwide total facilities management provider. EverGrowth partners with businesses to build on them, not to fold them in: each keeps its name, its people and the trust it has earned with its customers, with the group’s support in finance, people, technology, and health and safety behind it.
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