Throughout my career, I have noticed a gap between legislation, expectations, and actual business capabilities. Many small businesses need guidance but can’t afford high consultancy fees that come with that guidance so access to support is often blocked. As an example, estate agencies were fined £1.6m collectively in 2023 for AML non-compliance, many who had failed to even register for supervision with HMRC. They wanted to comply, they just didn’t know how and couldn’t afford the advice they needed.

Recently, I had the opportunity to work with small businesses who were facing serious compliance issues. They had received letters about desk based reviews and potential penalties from their supervising body. I’m not ashamed to admit that I wasn’t their first point of call. They had gone to other consultants, big firms and lawyers but were quickly finding themselves looking around because the cost of obtaining the help was sometimes more than the penalty itself, neither of which these businesses could afford. i’m not ashamed to admit I was the last person they had called. Many of the people I ended up working with had stayed in touch from a previous line of work, when they asked if I could help, I agreed and I did. Together we provided evidence of compliance, put in place remediation plans and after some requests for information which we satisfied over the coming weeks, their cases were closed without penalties. Sam, who was part of the group of people I was helping, joked I should be doing this on my own because small businesses were looking for independent contractors who didn’t come with high price tags but had demonstrable experience in the area. 

I considered what he had said but sat on the advice for a while. Throughout this time I was lobbying for government change in relation to various components of the regulatory framework in the UK but without a platform to do so, my efforts weren’t yielding any results. I’ve long been a data driven decision maker and I knew that if I really wanted to launder my funds I would pick a small business hands down because the data showed they are often the least prepared to deal with criminals attempting to exploit them. It was this area I really wanted government to take a deeper look at. 

Fast forward I discussed the idea of launching my own consultancy with two people who I’d know would tell me if the idea was a non-starter. With some words of encouragement, I began work on creating a brand. The idea wasn’t to build something big because I was and am fortunate to work for some incredible companies both in the past and present but it was to offer what I did for them to smaller businesses and make sure that support was accessible. This would let me do more of what I love doing but allow me to get important insights from the front-line to continue my lobbying efforts for change. I also wanted to build something that I found was lacking in consultancies I’d worked with:

1. Personalisation - solutions provided by other firms were too standardised and not tailored enough to the specific needs of the business and its unique challenges

2. Cost and value perception - whether the value delivered justified the cost

3. Implementation support - there was a gap between the strategic advice given and the practical support needed for implementation with  consultants unable to provide enough hands-on help.
   
   I don’t have an ambition to grow this consultancy to the size of a big four, nor do we have any radical plans to challenge the incumbents. The objective is to serve a niche market for the players of the financial ecosystem that are often overlooked but most at risk of financial crime.

Our values are reflect my personal values in each component of Exoriya:

• Transparency: When I was picking the colours that would represent Exoriya, I wanted it to reflect my personal values. Exoriya’s simple branding reflects this value with black and white symbolising simplicity, easy to understand, and operating with absolute clarity. Lilac honors a late mentor who told me early in my career, 'Go make mistakes and learn. Your job is to learn; my job is to help you fix them until you don’t need my help fixing them anymore.’ Later explaining, it doesn’t really matter how good you get at the job, you will always make mistakes. Competency and true capability came from knowing how to fix those mistakes.. 

• Value for Money: Quality service without jargon. Exoriya aims to provide clear and helpful advice. We discourage the use of a lot of buzz words that tell you very little and focus on deliverables. It’s important to us that you’re not overpriced for advice and therefore our pricing strategy always attempts to price below the market rate. We don’t have major office space, expensive assets to maintain and so we’re quite well placed to pass on those savings to you.

• Help, Even When You Can't: If we can't help you directly, we will find someone who can. The choice to accept that help is entirely yours and we won’t charge you for making the introduction regardless of your decision.

As and when Exoriya grows, its values will continue to evolve, shaped by clients and the team. For now, this is what we offer to those who choose to work with us. I have spent over a decade supporting big businesses with their compliance programs. Let me help you. If you’re curious about my background, check me out on LinkedIn. Whether you’re being proactive and looking for advice to get started or find yourself receiving a letter that has got you worried, please reach out. If I can help you, I will.

Best