Business Spotlight – Finito: The Employability Experts
There’s nothing more fascinating than an entrepreneurial tale. Discovering the trials and tribulations, surprises and pitfalls that come with building a business from the ground up.
We recently sat down with Founder and Chief Executive of Finito, Ronel Lehmann, to find out more about his personal journey building his incredibly successful business supporting young people in their transition from education to employment.
From the early days of harnessing a passion for service, to an inspirational editorial pivot that produced interviews with some of the UK’s most prominent figures, Ronel shares with us first-hand the risks, challenges and lessons learnt along the way…
1. When did you first have the idea for your business? Is it something you always wanted to do?
It’s funny when you look back and see how certain things were always pointing the way. Throughout my marketing and public relations career, clients would often ask if I could help their sons and daughters. After I moved on, and had time to look back on my achievements, the feeling of having helped people transition from education to a meaningful career remained with me. This has always been my passion. The gratitude from those you have helped beats anything.
2. What motivates you?
I find constant inspiration in those who give back. Some of those who have particularly inspired me have now passed away and so we have a slot in Finito World – the magazine I founded in lockdown – called Indelible Mark where we honour such people. One piece was about Jeff Katz, the legendary investigator, and my great friend. He inspired me with his can-do optimism, and that’s something I seek to emulate in my own work. I also adored the late Lord Young of Graffham, who was so open to requests. Never say no: you’ll find it’s actually easier to help than not.
Culturally, I won’t say that Coldplay is my guilty pleasure as I feel I have nothing whatsoever to be guilty about – but some might view it that way! I saw the band in Wembley last year and was on a high for a week: something to do with the gumption, attack and joy of their music speaks to me.
3. What did your career history look like before you set up your business?
I had a broad range of roles, including serving as a recruitment consultant, stockbroker, and public relations adviser with the IPS Group, Citicorp Scrimgeour Vickers, McAvoy Wreford Bayley and Citigate Dewe Rogerson, before setting up my eponymously named marketing agency, which I ran for 26 years. During this time, I became particularly well known for my crisis work for clients, and in 2014, was invited as a Witness to the Treasury Select Committee to give evidence on SME bank lending, a cause which I had championed vociferously.
4. What were the initial risks and what do those risks look like now?
I suppose the sheer newness of it: there are no direct competitors to Finito, so we have been trailblazers in the sector. Sometimes people, for understandable reasons, might compare us to a recruitment agency in that our business opens up onto the world of jobs and careers. But that’s really where the similarity ends: we focus entirely on the individual and seek to shape and mould them, help them find their way. In recruitment companies, a fee is taken from employers hiring a candidate. The element of excitement about this is still there. We’re much better known than we were ten years ago, but there’s always more to do. Watch this space, I say.
5. What has surprised you in the process of growing your business?
Well, I certainly didn’t expect to found a publishing arm of the business which is precisely what I did during lockdown by launching Finito World. That in turn has helped us mentor our candidates who can use our journalism platform to help connect themselves, or simply to tell their stories. More broadly, there’s been an astonishing amount of goodwill toward the business. No one has a bad word to say.
6. What makes a good business leader?
I like the question and want to quote back at you John Mortimer’s dictum: “No brilliance is required for the law. Only common sense and relatively clean fingernails”. You can change the word ‘law’ for ‘business’ and I think it still makes sense. It’s certainly easy to overthink in business: but looking the part is important, as is seeing the wood for the trees, which in itself requires a dose of common sense. I’m also a great believer in doing the right things and taking advantage of opportunities: I’m reactive in that sense. I like the way the world is always coming at you – as business leaders, we need to be flexible, otherwise the job loses its crucial sense of adventure.
7. What has been the biggest challenge in your career?
Firing unsuitable people. You worry disproportionately about the decision and yet when you execute it, you wonder why you agonised so much about it. It’s possible to be too nice in business sometimes. Business leaders should know that if you’re discussing someone too much then they probably should already have left the business. On the other hand, that individual may secretly be unhappy and relish confronting the reality of the situation: we all know, deep down, whether we’re performing and everybody hates struggling with their work. It’s usually better to bite the bullet: among many other things, it saves time.
8. What are you most proud of professionally?
Launching Finito World. I suppose if I look back this was an act of inspiration almost indistinguishable from madness: all the newspapers were shrinking, and yet I saw that there was an appetite for something new. Fast forward three years, and we’ve interviewed everyone from Sir David Attenborough to Sir Tom Stoppard, Sir Martin Sorrell, Sir Richard Branson and many, many more. We were also finalists in the 2022 PPA Awards.
9. What has been your largest or most impactful investment as a company?
Right from the beginning, using the expertise of our advisory board member Dame Mary Richardson, we decided we would need a bursary for students who cannot afford our fees. It’s been hugely successful and lifted many out of disadvantage and difficulty. We recently took on our first Ukrainian refugee and we are committed to doing more.
10. What advice would you give to new business owners?
You have to have self-belief – but then perhaps people who have set up their own business already have that or they wouldn’t have taken the plunge. I do think it’s important to take the right decisions on outside investment. You either need to maintain control or have investors who really understand you, believe in you, and who you can bounce ideas off.
222 Kensal Rd,
London,
W10 5BN
T: +44207 138 3556
