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Douglas Alan Barrowman (born March 1965) is a Scottish businessman. He founded the Knox Group of Companies and has invested in
Ve Interactive Ve Global ("Ve"), formerly Ve Interactive, was a technology company based in London which has about 400+ staff. Founded in 2009, it was bought out of administration for £2 million in 2017. In September 2017, Ve announced a £15 million inve ...
, Aston Ventures, and Equi Capital. He is married to Michelle Mone. In 2022, in a series of investigative pieces, ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' reported that Barrowman, Mone and their children had secretly received £45.8 million in payments to offshore accounts from government PPE contracts, which they had lobbied for during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...
. The police launched an investigation into Barrowman's activities in January 2022. On the 17 December 2023, Barrowman denied any wrongdoings when interviewed with his wife Baroness Mone on BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg. He explained that as a businessman and
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resident he had led a consortium that were awarded UK PPE contracts. He stated neither his wife or children had received proceeds from the business deal but admitted that profits had been placed in a Trust from which they might benefit upon his death.


Early life

Barrowman was born on 1 March 1965 in
Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
, Scotland. He was raised in
Simshill Simshill is an area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is on the South Side of the city, approximately south of the city centre. Adjacent areas are Cathcart, King's Park, Croftfoot and Castlemilk. Linn Park is to the south-west of Simshill. The area h ...
, before moving to
Rutherglen Rutherglen (, sco, Ruglen, gd, An Ruadh-Ghleann) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, immediately south-east of the city of Glasgow, from its centre and directly south of the River Clyde. Having existed as a Lanarkshire burgh in its own ...
at the age of 13, where he attended
King's Park Secondary School King's Park Secondary School, on Fetlar Drive, in the King's Park area (or specifically in the Simshill area) of south Glasgow, is a Scottish non-denominational state school. It was established in 1962. Head Teachers *John Bell *David Bailli ...
. He later attended
Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...
, graduating with a
Bachelor of Accountancy The Bachelor of Accountancy, also known as Bachelor of Accounting, is the principal academic degree in accountancy in several countries, and is often the only (undergraduate) degree recognised for subsequent practice as a professional accountan ...
degree in 1985.


Career


Early career

After graduating, Barrowman completed his professional examinations and qualified as a chartered accountant. He worked for 3i, a
private equity fund A private equity fund (abbreviated as PE fund) is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity (and to a lesser extent debt) securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equit ...
. Barrowman resigned from 3i in 1992, to set up his own corporate finance practice during the 1990s. He exited from the practice in 1999.


Aston Ventures

In 1999, Barrowman founded Aston Ventures, a private investment vehicle. Over the next ten years, Aston Ventures made 13 acquisitions of "old economy" businesses, including the third largest cable making company in the world B3 Cables, with a total turnover of about £400 million over that period.


The Knox Group

In 2008, Barrowman moved to the
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and founded The Knox Group of Companies which owned several businesses, including Aston Ventures. Barrowman was also a director of Aston Management Ltd (AML), which provided tax advice and offshore loan schemes to freelance workers including social workers,
locum doctor A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a ''locum tenens physician'' is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician. ...
s, nurses and engineers. AML's services came under scrutiny after the UK government announced in 2017 that it would be claiming back tax from 50,000 scheme users through the Loan Charge measure, leading to criticism in the
House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
. AML ceased trading in 2010 before the tax rules changed. In October 2020, a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
report highlighted how thousands of AML customers were left facing a retrospective Loan Charge by
HMRC HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...
. In 2011 Barrowman co-founded the KHG Private Equity Fund.


Financial Provisions Solutions

Knox Group owned Financial Provisions Solutions, which went into voluntary liquidation in January 2019. In December 2022, the Daily Record reported that Army veterans lost tens of thousands of pounds when they transferred out of the final salary Army scheme to Financial Provisions Solutions.


Other business activities

In 2017, Barrowman became the interim chairman of Ve Interactive, after an emergency cash injection and investment into the firm. In the same year, Aston Plaza and Residences, a residential and commercial property development in
Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics ...
priced in
bitcoin Bitcoin ( abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public di ...
, was launched.


PPE Medpro

''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...
'' released a set of articles, first in 2020 but then again in November 2022, detailing Barrowman and Mone's implication in lobbying for government PPE contracts, and the financial rewards they saw from these government contracts. Barrowman received £45.8 million in payments to his private offshore accounts from £200 million government contracts with the money earmarked for PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.


Personal life

Barrowman has four children from his first two marriages. He married
Michelle Mone Michelle Georgina Mone, Baroness Mone, (''née'' Allan; born October 1971) is a British businesswoman and Conservative life peer. She has set up several businesses, including MJM International Ltd in 1996 and the lingerie company Ultimo alon ...
in 2020. The Prince's Trust Doug Barrowman Centre in the
Ancoats Ancoats is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is located next to the Northern Quarter, the northern part of Manchester city centre. Historically in Lancashire, Ancoats became a cradle of the Industrial Revolution and has ...
area of
Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
opened in 2019 following a donation by Barrowman of £2 million to the
Prince's Trust The Prince's Trust ( cy, Ymddiriedolaeth y Tywysog) is a charity in the United Kingdom founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are u ...
. Barrowman has six homes, a collection of fifteen cars and a private jet. He was featured on a 2015 episode of the television series ''Million Pound Mega Yacht'', featuring his 55-metre yacht named ''Turquoise''.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrowman, Doug Scottish philanthropists Businesspeople from Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish accountants 1965 births Living people British investors Spouses of life peers 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople Scottish company founders