Pop star Prince famously sang about 1999 and when the year came around it certainly proved to be eventful.

Fears over the Millennium Bug and excitement over a rare solar eclipse gripped the nation, the euro was introduced, the dotcom boom was in full swing and Ole Gunnar Solskjær clinched an historic treble for Manchester United by scoring a last-gasp winner in the UEFA Champions League final.

It was also the year that my brother Mikeand I established MDM Resourcing.

Now, as Solskjær once again makes the headlines at Old Trafford, we are delighted to be celebrating our 20th anniversary.

Back in 1999, we were running the family textile business, and thought it would be sensible to diversify into the service sector. Over the years, our textile business had used recruitment consultants to hire staff, yet the level of service we received was consistently poor. This prompted the idea that we could provide a quality of service that a business owner would want and expect but which, from our experience, had been frustratingly lacking.

So, on March 1, 1999, MDM was formed – with no clients and no candidates!

We did, however, have a clear idea of what we wanted to achieve and deliver. Our experience from the customer’s perspective stood us in good stead and, through sheer hard graft and a belief in our business model, we completed 10 placements by the end of our first year and realised the business was viable.

MDM’s ethos has always been one of total honesty and objectivity when it comes to giving advice, and our business has grown almost entirely through networking and referrals. We provide a personal service which is genuinely consultative and focused on achieving the right results for clients and candidates.

We are immensely grateful to all of our clients, candidates and others who have been kind enough to introduce their contacts to us.

In early 2001 – a year before we completed our exit from the textile industry – we identified the emerging private equity market as a potential growth area for MDM. We built close ties with some of the major players, initially with Montagu who instructed us to recruit an investment manager for its Manchester office. This was a much-coveted role amongst the corporate finance community, and suddenly everyone wanted to talk to us.

On the back of that, we built relationships with most of the PE and corporate finance teams that established themselves in the north west and became the ‘go-to’ recruiter in that field.

As the scale and presence of corporate finance and PE houses in the north west has grown, so MDM’s business has expanded with them.

We thoroughly enjoy our role at the heart of the M&A and PE markets in identifying and recruiting professionals at various levels of seniority to their ranks.

Alongside our growth in PE and corporate finance, we have developed a strong presence working with north west entrepreneurs (and their private equity investors) who always need strong finance directors and financial controllers to support the growth of their dynamic businesses. These companies have been, and continue to be, a vital engine for the growth of the region’s economy.

Over the last 20 years we have worked across most business sectors, including technology, manufacturing, construction, real estate, retail, travel and leisure and sports clubs. In recent times we have found ourselves working regularly with technology and ecommerce-based businesses and this trend looks set to continue. The north west is really making a name for itself in these sectors, with some remarkable businesses emerging.

We were born and bred in Manchester and we have derived immense pleasure from seeing the city transformed over the past 20 years. The Commonwealth Games and the development of Sportcity, the expansion of Manchester Airport and the Metrolink network, the Beetham Tower…. the list is substantial and could go on.

The late Tony Wilson once remarked that, when it comes to deciding Britain’s second city, London and Birmingham could fight it out between themselves. How true!

Manchester’s spirit is burning brighter than ever in 2019 and we look forward with optimism to playing our own part in its ongoing success.