Growth Index

Founder

ORESA Executive Search

ORESA help ambitious companies prosper by headhunting impactful leaders and providing strategies to power growth. Our unique system, Growth Architecture; aligns strategy, structure, culture, and people.

The intersect of technology and consumer is the territory in which we work: with clients operating in Technology, Sports, Fashion, Retail, Grocery & GM, Beauty & Wellness, Food & Drink and hospitality in leisure. 

My particular interest is in solving complex challenges for ambitious clients seeking to start or reinvigorate their ambitions for growth. My part in their stories, has been to provide strategies and people to power growth.

I am passionate about the work we do at ORESA because we tangibly see the success of our clients and the impact on the communities in which they operate. For this reason we have also offered our expertise and network to societal change-makers and CEOs of charities.

Day to day, I lead the strategy, manage a team and actively run consulting assignments and Board & C suite level searches.


My Role 

•	Interpret the challenges of client CEOs and Leaders
•	Build strategies and plans to accelerate client growth•	Broker deals
•	Mentor/ Strategic Adviser to Changemakers and CEOs of charities
•	Investor

Projects

Executive Search:  FTSE 100 NED | CEO | C suite Role | Global Chief Apparel Officer | Chief Data Officer | Chief Product Officer | Chief Customer Officer |Project Builds

Leadership Consulting: Board Audit | Leadership Audit

Strategy: Strategy Review | Growth Audit | Organisational Design | Transitional Plans

CEO, Consultant & Headhunter

Berkeley Search and Selection

Successfully established the Executive Search proposition at Berkeley. 
Developed and opened a multitude of new accounts with international consumer facing businesses from fashion, grocery, footwear and brands. This covered digital, retail and direct. 

Key projects during this time included:
 
Talent scouting and search assignments for ASOS.com operating board and senior leadership team
International search assignments in the Middle East and India including Managing Director, CEO, Operations Director and Master Tailor 
UK centric board and senior leadership roles: trading, publishing, studio, digital production, sales, buying & merchandise and retail operations.

Managing Consultant - Executive Search

Quantica Plc

Fast tracked from researcher to senior consultant within 18 months, I worked across both hospitality and retail sectors. Achievements during this time included developing business with clients including John Lewis Partnership, Loch Fyne, Barratts, Revolution Bars, ASOS.com, Blacks Leisure, Flying Brands and Mosiac Fashions. 

I successfully delivered on senior assignments including:
 
•	Group Operations Director for Blacks Leisure Group
•	Marketing and Operations Director and Buying and Merchandising build at ASOS.com
•	Merchandising team build (’00) at John Lewis Partnership
•	Operating board and vertical streams at Heals
•	Pan European Buying & Merchandising build for a top 3 Global sports brand 
•	Multiple specialist Ecommerce, Direct Marketing and CRM placements.
•	Head of HR, GM and specialist roles were placed in catering, leisure & hospitality businesses

Senior Consultant

Various

Past experience included: 

• Leading the business planning, investment strategy and operations for a successful e-commerce start-up (media & retail: www.studentproperty.co.uk)
• Consulting (e-commerce, marketing, print and design & leisure  - www.ctrlp.com) 
• General management (hospitality - various)
• Development and operational implementation of: strategy, sales, branding, operations and people.

It was during this period that my passion for business was established.

General Management / Consultant

I am obsessed with business and the leaders that drive accelerated and sustained growth. 

Through ORESA, I have supported such Founders and CEOs of scale-ups, global brands and FTSE 100’s. 
The result – an average of 77% growth for ORESA clients over the past 5 years.

I am a founder but unlike most founders, I have had the privileged opportunity to not only experience but also study growth and ‘people fit’ academically and through the lived experiences of my fast-growing clients.

I would like to share some of that knowledge.  So after 20+ years consulting, I am taking the next step in my mission to support business growth by founding a second company, Growth Index, which will recognise and celebrate the UK’s fastest growing companies.  

I also mentor and support CEOs of  select NFP, NGO & Charities


TECH | RETAIL | FASHION | CONSUMER | STRATEGY | PEOPLE | GROWTH

The problem isn’t AI. It’s people forgetting how to write.

I’ve recently become a quiet convert to the power of large language models.

Not because I had a “Damascene moment”, but because I finally learned how to prompt properly.

What used to take me half an hour of note-writing now takes eight minutes.

My life’s better, my co-pilot (ChatGPT) is thriving.

And yes, I’m sleeping better.

But here’s the interesting bit.

While interviewing a junior candidate, I gave them three versions of notes: 

- One from a raw AI transcript (from a voicenote)
- One that I’d prompted ChatGPT to tidy up,
- And, one where ChatGPT was told to “make it impressive”.

The result was clear.

The tidied-up version (the one that kept the human thinking but improved the presentation) won hands down.

The “impressive” one? Overpolished, overconfident, and missing depth.

It reminded me that AI is brilliant at sharpening what you’ve already said.

But the moment you hand it the pen, it stops being your voice.

In business, as in writing, people still want to hear you. The thought process, the tone, the intent behind the words.

AI can support that. But I don’t think it can replace it.

That said the future of work is seismically changing. 

Ps. 

In a world where customer engagement is harder than ever, IRL activations are becoming more and more the order of the day. Photo Uber Eats, yesterday, Kings Cross, London.

Orlando Martins

CEO at ORESA | Founder of Growth Index | Founder of Retail Index

Good moves.

Each week, we’ll be spotlighting standout leadership transitions shaping Retail, Consumer and Technology.

This week’s highlights include:

1/ Debarati Sen: from Chief Executive Officer, HMTX Industries -> Chief Commercial Officer, Kingfisher

2/ Paula Bricks: from Store Experience Director, COS -> Retail Director for Fashion, Home and Beauty, Marks & Spencer

3/ Nick de la Vega: from Senior Vice President, Global Head of Sales, Atos -> Chief Revenue Officer, Ocado Group

4/ Fiona Gaughan: from Vice-President of Commercial, ASOS -> Chief Commercial Officer, The White Company

5/ Sebastian Picardo – from President & Chief Executive Officer, Holt Renfrew -> Chief Executive Officer, Monica Vinader

6/ Thomas Schwulera – from Country Division General Manager, Switzerland, L'Oréal -> Vice President of Beauty, Zalando

7/ Martin Swadling: from Customer Director, Booker Group -> Customer Director, Co-op 
Wholesale

8/ Paul Stafford: from Head of Retail Media, Superdrug -> Head of Very Media Group, The Very Group

You can tell a lot about a sector by who’s moving where.

This week’s shifts point to one thing - retailers doubling down on people who really understand customers.

If you’ve spotted a recent leadership move that deserves a mention in next week’s round-up, DM me. 

See you next week!

Every year, Retail Index captures a moment in time.

A reflection of who and what is driving the next chapter of British retail.

This year, one theme stood out: the nature of leadership is changing.

A new generation of founders is coming through.

More women at the helm.
Younger leaders building with conviction and clarity.
More diverse voices shaping brands that mirror modern Britain.
The collective energy feels different.

Purposeful, open, grounded in collaboration and community.

What unites this cohort isn’t background or age.

Rather, it’s a mindset.

A belief that business can grow and do good.
That ambition and empathy belong together.

It’s this blend, optimism matched with pragmatism, that gives me heaps of confidence in the next wave of British retail leadership.

You can read more in Retail Index 2025. Find the link in comments below.👇

I caught up with my friend Shriram Jatar today and he shared his observations on the Retail Index (go to Growth Index to download)

I thought they were worth sharing....

"In all the doom and gloom news about cost of living and closures, its refreshing to see entrepreneurs shining and innovating in the retail sector."

His observations were as follows: 
 
👉 Being niche is not a bad word anymore
👉 Creating a community is almost as important as creating a good product 
👉 The best founders are those who make the most out of their respective situations or industries 

He went to say that the large retail stalwarts should be keeping a close watch 👀 

I agree large company market share is... not just being nibbled but eaten by smaller, nimbler players... 🧀 🐁 

So what is the challenge? 

According to Shriram, there are limited exit options for founders of brands via M&A or IPO activity as neither are currently strong in the 🇬🇧 currently  - has the money 🌳 dried up?

Photos for the day:
1. Pasta Evangelists IRL on Oxford Street
2. Uniqlo making good value 'waves'
3. United Colours of Benneton looking very nicely merchandised
4. A sculpture that caught the eye
5. The one and only James Smith & Sons Umbrellas. For the 'someone' who has everything this Christmas...

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