We started in 2016 with two people, a rented desk in Oxford, and one question: why do mid-market companies keep paying for strategy decks that sit in a drawer? Nine years later we have a team of eleven consultants and a simple rule: every recommendation must include a named owner, a deadline, and a way to measure whether it worked.
Our founder, Marcus Ellwood, spent fourteen years at a large management consultancy. He left because he kept watching the same pattern: a six-figure engagement, a 90-page report, polite handshakes, and then nothing changed. The client's team didn't have the time or the skills to implement the recommendations, and the consultants had already moved on to the next project.
Marcus wanted to build a firm that stayed until the work was done. He hired Rachel Okonkwo, a former operations director from the logistics sector, and together they took on their first client: a family-owned food manufacturer in Oxfordshire with £8m in revenue and a warehouse that was losing stock to spoilage at twice the industry rate.
Within ten weeks they redesigned the cold-chain handling process, retrained the warehouse staff, and installed a simple daily temperature-check protocol. Spoilage dropped from 6.1% to 2.3%. That client is still with us. They call every January to plan the year ahead.
By 2019 we had grown to six consultants. The pandemic forced us to learn how to run diagnostic workshops remotely, which turned out to be faster for some types of analysis. We now use a mix of on-site and remote work depending on what the project needs. A supply-chain mapping exercise requires walking the warehouse floor. A board governance review can happen perfectly well over video.
These four principles shape every engagement we take on. They are not aspirational slogans. They are rules we enforce internally, and clients are welcome to hold us to them.
We do not walk into a business and prescribe solutions on day one. The first two weeks of every engagement are spent collecting data: financial records, process timings, staff interviews, customer feedback. Only after we understand the numbers do we suggest changes. Guesswork is expensive.
A recommendation without implementation support is a suggestion. We embed a consultant in your team for the duration of the project. They attend your meetings, build the tools, and coach your people. When we leave, the capability stays.
We turn down roughly one in five enquiries because the problem falls outside our expertise. If a client needs IT systems integration or employment law advice, we refer them to a specialist rather than pretend we can handle it. Saying no to the wrong work protects the quality of the work we do accept.
Most of our engagements use a fixed-fee structure agreed before work starts. The fee is tied to the scope of deliverables, not to how many hours we spend. If we finish early, you don't pay more. If we need extra time to get the result right, we absorb the cost.
Every consultant at the firm has held an operational role in industry before joining us. We do not hire straight from university. The minimum requirement is ten years of hands-on experience in a relevant sector.
Marcus spent fourteen years at a Big Four consultancy before founding the firm in 2016. He specialises in financial strategy for manufacturing and distribution businesses. He holds an MBA from Warwick Business School and is a fellow of the Institute of Consulting.
Rachel ran distribution operations for a national logistics company before co-founding our operations practice. She has led over 40 process-improvement projects and holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt. Her particular focus is warehouse and fulfilment efficiency for e-commerce businesses.
Daniel was a non-executive director for two private-equity-backed companies before joining us. He facilitates board effectiveness reviews and helps leadership teams build decision-making frameworks that actually get used. He is a chartered director with the Institute of Directors.
The wider team includes eight additional consultants and two project coordinators. We keep the firm deliberately small so that senior people stay involved in every project rather than handing work down to junior analysts.
Our initial review is free and takes about an hour. We will ask you a set of diagnostic questions, review your most recent accounts, and tell you honestly whether we think we can help.
Request your free reviewOur office is in Lynchworth, Oxfordshire. We meet most clients on their premises, but you are welcome to visit us.
Address: 31 Grimes Fields, Lynchworth, OX9 5UT, England, United Kingdom
Phone: +44 70 1763 2077
Email: [email protected]