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Robert Kilgour

Founder & CEO

Dow Investments Plc

London, UK

Robert Kilgour
Laura Kiernan
High Touch Investor Relations
Scott Kimple
Warrington Asset Management LLC

Robert Kilgour’s Biography

Robert Kilgour is a Scottish property developer, investor, philanthropist and entrepreneur. His first business venture was running a stall selling jeans and t-shirts at Edinburgh’s Ingliston market while still a student at Stirling University. Just over a decade later, in 1988, he founded Four Seasons Health Care, which opened its first care home in May 1989. When Robert left the company in 2000 it was the UK’s fifth largest care home operator, running 101 care homes and employing 6,500 staff. Four Seasons remains one of the UK’s largest care home operators with some 185 care homes, caring for around 8,000 residents and employing 12,000 staff.

In 2004 he founded, and is currently Executive Chairman of, Renaissance Care which operates 16 care homes in Scotland and employs around 1,200 staff. Robert is also founder and CEO of Dow Investments Plc, now in its third decade. He is a Director and co-founder of video and security systems specialists, NW Security Group and was also a founder shareholder and, until he engineered its sale in 2019, Chairman of Kingdom FM Radio. Robert holds several...
Robert Kilgour is a Scottish property developer, investor, philanthropist and entrepreneur. His first business venture was running a stall selling jeans and t-shirts at Edinburgh’s Ingliston market while still a student at Stirling University. Just over a decade later, in 1988, he founded Four Seasons Health Care, which opened its first care home in May 1989. When Robert left the company in 2000 it was the UK’s fifth largest care home operator, running 101 care homes and employing 6,500 staff. Four Seasons remains one of the UK’s largest care home operators with some 185 care homes, caring for around 8,000 residents and employing 12,000 staff.

In 2004 he founded, and is currently Executive Chairman of, Renaissance Care which operates 16 care homes in Scotland and employs around 1,200 staff. Robert is also founder and CEO of Dow Investments Plc, now in its third decade. He is a Director and co-founder of video and security systems specialists, NW Security Group and was also a founder shareholder and, until he engineered its sale in 2019, Chairman of Kingdom FM Radio. Robert holds several other Non-Executive Directorships and Senior Adviser roles.

In 2006 Robert set up the Scottish online political think-tank, Think Scotland, and in 2017 founded SBUK to campaign against a second Scottish Independence Referendum. He has also served on both the CBI Scotland Council and the CBI UK SME Council.

Born in Edinburgh, brought up in Fife and educated at Loretto School in Musselburgh, Robert now divides his time between London and his home in Fife, whenever possible raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Over the last 30 years he has raised more than £2m for the charity and in 2018 he was appointed Macmillan’s first Ambassador.
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Robert Kilgour’s Newsfeed

The Sunday Times
Scottish independence ‘would cost 250,000 jobs’

Robert Kilgour, the founder of SBUK, was quoted in an article in The Sunday Times.

The Times
Take it from Harry: a spare referendum plan will only hurt

Robert Kilgour, founder of Scottish Business UK,  wrote a comment piece for The Times.

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Robert Kilgour’s Background

Dow Investments Plc
Founder & CEO
May 1990 - Present
London, UK
General investments.
Renaissance Care Group
Founder & Executive Chairman
Dec 2004 - Present
Edinburgh, UK
Scottish care home operator with 16 care homes in Edinburgh, Glasgow, East Lothian, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, North & South Lanarkshire, Perthshire and Moray. The company employs approximately 1,200 staff.
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Robert Kilgour’s Gallery

Current Board Positions

Scottish Business UK
Founder
Mar 2017 - Present
Edinburgh, UK
Business and industry in Scotland are facing up to the challenges posed by Brexit. SBUK understand the importance of recasting Scotland's relationship with the EU based on free-trade and new forms of co-operation.
Think Scotland
Founder
2006 - Present
Edinburgh, UK
Established as a virtual think tank in 2006, to encourage greater discussion in Scotland about economic, social & constitutional policies – from the perspective of mainly Scottish Conservative authors.
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Previous Board Positions

Cochrane McGregor logo Cochrane McGregor logo
Cochrane McGregor
Non-Executive Director
1992 - 1994
Edinburgh, UK

Philanthropy

Macmillan Cancer Support
Ambassador
Dec 2018 - Present
Robert Kilgour became Macmillan Cancer Support’s first Ambassador in December in 2018. Over the last 30 years he has helped to raise over £2,000,000 for the charity.
Macmillan Cancer Support
Fundraiser
2007 - 2009
Robert Kilgour part funded and opened the new Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Centre at the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh in 2009. He also part funded the establishment of the first Macmillan Cancer Information & Support Centre in the UK at Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, North London in 2007.
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Memberships

E2Exchange
Ambassador
May 2011 - Present
E2E is a community of successful entrepreneurs; creating an exchange between entrepreneurs, investors, business leaders, and professional service providers.

Awards & Recognition

EY Entrepreneur Of The Year
Finalist, Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year
2001
Edinburgh, UK
Scottish Care: National Care Home Awards
Winner, Special Recognition Award
2019
Glasgow, UK

Pro Bono Work

Local Recovery
Ambassador
Mar 2022 - Present
Robert Kilgour is an Ambassador for Local Recovery, an organisation dedicated to ensuring that UK and Scottish governments prioritise local priorities as communities recover from the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Robert Kilgour’s Education

University of Stirling
Economics & History
1975 - 1978
Loretto School
1970 - 1975

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