In the 1980s, as the rest of the country were swapping their flares for the "yuppie" look, Bain London was on a mission. We worked with a huge variety of clients during this time and created many successful results stories. It was at this time that the term Bainies was coined by a local journalist working for ITN.
After the recession of the early 1990s, we continued to grow our business, and were again at the forefront of lots of Bain’s innovations. It was during this decade that we established the Bain UK Private Equity consulting practice, which, over the last 20 years, has grown to be the clear leader in advising the world’s top private equity funds.
Given our place at the heart of London’s business community, it was also at this time that we introduced our very successful London Bain Breakfast series, featuring Henry Kissinger as our inaugural speaker. The series continues today, with other luminaries such as Kofi Annan, King Hussein of Jordan, Jean-Claude Trichet and Robert Zoellick. We also became involved with the organisation Business Action on Homelessness, helping it design its initial strategy in order to launch its campaign. Ten years later, we continue to be heavily involved through pro bono consulting work, board level roles for several of our partners and regular work placements in our office.
By the turn of the millennium, having successfully avoided the Y2K bug, Bain London began to receive external recognition. We won the Lord Mayor’s Dragon Award for Education, Training and Employability and, a year later, were named Best Place to Work in the UK by the Financial Times after four years in the top six.v
For London Bainies, our history is an integral part of our culture. We recognise that, without the tenacity, entrepreneurism and results focus of so many individuals, we would not be here—we have a lot to live up to!
