For a country that has seen close to a *ten percent growth in employment in just the marketing and advertising industry in the last year alone, it’s not surprising that there has been a flurry of recruitment firms spurring up. MCG& Group is one such recruitment and consultancy group working across Dubai, London, Singapore and Hong Kong. It houses four companies: MCG& Associates, which is a specialist recruitment business in the communications, digital and tech sectors globally; Kemistry, which focuses on HR, finance and operations; Hopscotch, which centres around flexible work and career coaching for women; and the newly launched Ampersand, which is a talent consultancy providing L&D, search, strategic advisory and M&A services.

The structure
Ampersand is Nick Clements’ baby. Clements left his role as CEO at BPG Bates and made the move to MCG& Group as chief operating officer (COO) in January 2017. While continuing his role as COO of the larger group, Clements now jointly launches Ampersand along with Justin McGuire, CEO of MCG& Group. Joining him, as managing director, is Chris Quy, who until now held the position of director at MCG& Associates and brings with him over a decade of L&D and executive search experience internationally gained with Reed International and Pedersen.

The name
“The ampersand (&) is a sign of the closest form of collaboration,” says Clements, symbolizing “the closeness of our working relationships with our clients, our partners and the MCG& Group of companies.” This philosophy, literally translated, also served as a prefix to Ampersand’s three business divisions:

Knowledge: which provides Learning and Development, Training, Coaching and Assessments

Search: an Executive Search and Selection operation focused on the Marcomm sector

Connect: a pitch advisory and M&A service in the creative services arena.

Ampersand is already working with blue chip automotive, airline, financial services and media clients – although Clements wouldn’t name any just yet – although he admits that it has been a “tough year” for many sectors. “But the best companies are weathering the storm and ensuring they retain their key talent and re-orient their businesses for the future,” he adds. And as companies reinvent themselves, it creates a need for Ampersand’s services due to a “growing interest in learning and development, strategic advice (especially around digital transformation) and optimizing existing or new partnerships both regionally and internationally,” explains Clements.