Prosperitas Investment Group - Mergers & Acquisitions in Educational Sector of UK

About Us

Prosperitas Investment Group represents a collective of business owners, investors and industry experts who have successfully established, developed, and diversified their own enterprises across multiple sectors.

We are dedicated to upholding values of integrity, transparency, and professionalism in all our endeavours.

Whether you’re embarking on a new venture or managing an established organisation, we offer the requisite expertise, resources, networks, and financial backing to facilitate your growth trajectory.

For those considering the sale of their business, we provide a dependable pair of hands committed to preserving your legacy, working diligently to ensure the continued success of your enterprise.

Our Mission

Prosperitas Investment Group is the trusted partner for sustainable growth, navigating challenges, and capitalising on evolving opportunities across variety of sectors. We elevate companies through strategic direction, creative solutions, and expert support.

Our Values

Expertise

Our team and network of partners consists of seasoned professionals with outstanding backgrounds in operations, management, finance, marketing and other important areas. We leverage our expertise to provide our business partners and clients with sage advice and solutions.

Integrity

In every engagement, we adhere to the highest ethical standards. The foundation of our client relationships is built on trust and transparency, which makes sure that we always operate in the clients’ best interests.

Collaboration

Together, we can develop unique plans and accomplish amazing results by getting to know our clients and understanding their unique demands. We believe that working together can lead to efficiency.

Results-Oriented

Our focus is on delivering measurable outcomes that help our partners and clients succeed. We are dedicated to maximising value, minimising risks, and achieving optimal outcomes in every transaction or engagement we invested in.

Board Members and Advisers

Our Range of Expertise and Interest

Education

Marketing

Live Events

Outsourcing

Accounting

Health and Beauty

Recruitment

Information Technology

Empowering businesses for success.

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Marcel Vonarburg

Board Adviser

Marcel Vonarburg is a Swiss national with industry experience spanning 30 years in telecommunications. In his last appointment, he led the Data Networks, Infrastructure, Managed Services, and Network Sharing divisions at Ooredoo Group, Qatar. He deployed $275M in CapEx and managed $125M to $175M in OpEx per year. Marcel helped Ooredoo divest (sell and lease back) of 5,000 Telecom towers in Java, Indonesia and Myanmar / Burma. He also helped divest 80 percent of an orbital satellite. Collectively these actions raised $1.2B.

Marcel’s track record spans 46 countries, including negotiating a mobile network licence in Sudan, building a green ﬁeld network in Armenia, and leading the Post-Merger Integration of Ooredoo Kuwait and Fastnet Kuwait. He ﬁxes organisational problems and optimizes operations.

At present Marcel consults to, and holds various directorship roles in, companies he acquired in the UK and Switzerland. He has recently exited one of his companies. Marcel has also held the role of Chief Transformation Ofﬁcer with the focus of Pre- and Post-Acquisition Corporate Transformation, Integration, and Growth

He holds a Bachelor of Engineering with honours; Major – Electronic Engineering (UK), a MBA (UK), an E-MBA (INSEAD), an E-MBA ( Tsinghua, China), and a Masters of Research in Finance Accounting (UK). Marcel is also a Chartered Engineer (CEng, IET, UK). .

Samuel Petko

Founder, CEO

With two decades of entrepreneurial experience, Samuel has navigated the tumultuous landscape of business, learning invaluable lessons about the necessity of the right skill set, expertise, and connections for success. Concurrently, his passion for accounting and finance led him to pursue further education, culminating in expertise honed through practical application within multi-academy trusts with turnovers between £30m and £60m.

Leveraging his diverse skill set and experience, he transitioned into the realm of business consulting, focusing particularly on the education sector. In response to the challenges faced by small businesses post-Brexit and amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he established Scale Up Outsourcing Ltd, providing remote specialists in areas like marketing and sales.

Prosperitas Investment Group Ltd was founded to facilitate mergers and acquisitions, ensuring the legacy and ongoing success of businesses transitioning ownership. The Group strategically invests in and acquires companies poised to benefit from our resources, network, capital, and expertise. The company's mission extends beyond mere acquisition; the team is committed to serving as dependable partners for business owners, preserving legacies while strategically investing in sectors such as education, marketing, outsourcing, accounting, health&beauty, recruitment and information technology.

Victoria Sylvester

Board Adviser

Vikki is an award-winning business founder and entrepreneur. Starting her career in nursing, she moved into education starting her first business with her family, and education provider called Acacia Training in 2000.

Vikki has experience in capital markets as previously she was a director of a listed business on the Frankfurt stock exchange, turning over £100m. Vikki is using this experience to now build and grow an education and health-specific group with and ESG centric strategy,

Alongside Vikki’s background in healthcare and education, she has been an active volunteer chairing numerous boards ranging across pre-schools, schools, skill partnerships and other board roles for example with a UK university.

She has experience in areas such as ESG, including implementing strategies and was an active part in her company Acacia Training in 2023 achieved B-corp certified status.

Alongside this, she has undertaken and been involved in mergers and acquisitions. Awards and accolades include Entrepreneur of the Year and Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Care. Vikki holds a firm belief that education is critical in improving people and communities, and is therefore very committed to ensuring education raises people and creates new opportunities.

Maria Reason

Board Adviser

Having worked in education for 17 years, Maria has gained a wealth of knowledge in the education sector including quality, compliance, and regulatory standards.

With extensive experience in the further education sector, Maria is a director of two training providers. The investment of her knowledge, skills and experience has seen the companies grow from strength to strength working closely with regulatory bodies whilst playing an integral part to the implementation of robust key strategies and business planning.

Maria is passionate about quality education with previous teaching qualifications and experience, along side this she holds CMI senior leadership and management qualifications.

For the last 5 years Maria has successfully supported companies to build and thrive with a clear vision, mission, and goals.

In addition, Maria also acts as a Non-Executive Board Advisor for two training providers giving impartial advice and guidance on a voluntary basis.

Working collaboratively, Maria strives to achieve positive changes with clear objectives.

Neil Harvey

Board Adviser

Neil has worked in for-profit education for his entire career. Shortly after leaving university, he started work for Nord Anglia and soon became Principal of their London school, before heading over to become Director of Student Services at the newly acquired School of Finance and Management. Following the acquisition of Nord Anglia’s international education arm by Aspect, Neil was appointed as Operations Director for the UK and Ireland - with full budget responsibilities for 7 different business and a turnover of £19 million.

Following the acquisition of Aspect by Kaplan, Neil worked on the integration process between the entities and pushed margins from the UK and Ireland to just over £4.5 million by 2008. In that year Neil was appointed as MD for Kaplan’s newly acquired businesses in Canada which by 2011 were generating 80% more margin than on arrival.

Neil returned to the UK to take up an MD role with the Chinese firm Gateway and was then head hunted to return to London to be the MD of Kinlay Group’s latest purchase. From there Neil moved to work for the Indian owned, private HE company UKCBC where he served as MD for their language training division.

Neil’s fields of interest are in operations, efficiency and budgeting improvements, whilst being practised in acquisition, takeover and integration.

John F Kettley

Board Adviser

John is a seasoned entrepreneur and business strategist with a remarkable track record of building, scaling, and selling companies across Europe and the United States. With a passion for empowering business owners, John has mentored and trained thousands to achieve greater sales success. Today, his focus lies in helping business owners maximize their exit strategies for optimal returns, offering specialized guidance through The Sales Masters Guild.

At The Sales Masters Guild, John shares decades of expertise in rapidly growing revenues and profits, honed through his own experiences in business. Whether it's assisting business owners in increasing the value of their enterprises or training professionals to become certified specialists in turnaround, growth, and successful exits, John's mission remains clear: to provide clarity and strategic direction in an ever-evolving economic landscape.

Through Consortiat, John facilitates strategic partnerships among businesses, leveraging a global network of mergers and acquisitions specialists to enhance valuation potential. With a wealth of testimonials from satisfied clients across diverse industries, John continues to be a trusted advisor for those seeking actionable strategies to navigate the complexities of modern business with confidence and clarity.

Tania Waghorn

Board Adviser

With a BA (Hons) degree in English Literature and a Post Graduate Diploma in Writing and Personal Development, Tania went on to study teaching English as a Foreign Language, gaining an RSA Cambridge Certificate in TEFLA. She began her career teaching English to a wide range of nationalities, levels and ages both in the UK and abroad. This eventually led to setting up her own private teaching practice based in London where she created tailormade courses catered towards individual client needs. Widening her experience in international education further, she then went on to work for large, established organisations in student welfare, teacher recruitment and operational roles managing summer centres throughout the UK.

This in turn led to roles within the public sector in which Tania manages the Academic content, quality and delivery of Functional Skills English and Maths Courses primarily to non-native speakers.

Most recently Tania, in partnership, owns, directs and manages her own residential summer centre in the South of England running English Language and UK cultural activity programmes to students from throughout the world.

Steve Rooms

Board Adviser

Founder and/or owner of 7 UK-based businesses predominantly in accounting and finance Steve formerly worked as part of an M&A deal team during corporate life working across the UK, France, Germany and Morocco before going on to hold a number of CFO roles and then founding his own business in 2008.

A qualified accountant, entrepreneur and investor in businesses who has founded & built, acquired, sold and advised clients in over 150 businesses with deals ranging from £750k to over £5 million.

His work includes advising entrepreneurs on how to financially evaluate and structure acquisitions and holds equity stakes in groups based in the USA and Canada to whom he provides M&A advice and support. He also acts as a fractional CFO for 2 other groups based in the UK and the Czech Republic.

Steve has a real passion for business and helping entrepreneurs to grow their businesses or helping them to prepare it for sale; he is always looking for businesses to invest in, acquire, re- position and sell. Recent strategic partnerships and clients include N&;P Limited, BP Acetyls, C2 group and DWS.

Specialties:
✳️Financial analysis of businesses that are listed for sale
✳️Acquiring or partnering with entrepreneurs to scale businesses through acquisition
✳️Business process streamlining and financial reporting.

Steve is also skilled at transforming businesses processes to improve efficiency, preparing a business for sale and helping entrepreneurs to structure deals in mergers and acquisitions.