At Elephants Child, we help ambitious SME business owners unlock sustainable business growth through practical, experience-led business advisory support. Whether you are looking to improve profitability, scale your operations, prepare for investment, strengthen leadership, or plan for a future exit, our advisors work closely with you to develop clear strategies that create long-term value and measurable results.
Unlike traditional consultants, we combine strategic thinking with real-world commercial experience gained from building, growing and exiting businesses ourselves. Our approach is hands-on, tailored and focused on delivering practical solutions that help businesses overcome challenges, improve performance and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.
Why? we create a clear line of sight and strategy to achieve your desired future state:
- The value of your company is maximised
- Your operations are optimised
- Your people are energised
- Corporate governance and social responsibility are centralised
We help curate your story for valuable growth…
Why our clients enjoy working with us
Lightfoot International
Terry Nichols and Paul Hopkins wanted more than just a successful transaction. They wanted to maximise the value of the business, build a sustainable leadership team, and find a buyer who would continue the company's success and ethos. Working with Elephants Child over an 18-24 month period, Lightfoot International transformed the business, approximately doubled its valuation, and successfully completed the sale.
Four Legs
It’s helped me not only understand where I need to position myself in the business, but also how to look at things a little bit less emotionally than I did before, when it was my restaurant. Now, I can focus on future-proofing.
flex7
The process generated strong buyer interest and developed into a competitive bidding situation. Ultimately, the business sold for more than double the value Steve and Andrea had originally anticipated. The outcome allowed them to step away from flex7 with confidence and focus fully on the next chapter
Graves Aircraft Components
The company was already growing anyway so it was really just the advice around the exit that I needed and I would definitely recommend elephants child to other people, you know especially if you're not sure where to go to sell your company, it's really good to get some expert advice from someone who's also independent.
MES Special Projects
Our Business Growth Advisor Crawf was incredibly supportive, knowledgeable and reassuring throughout the process. We always felt completely at ease knowing that any questions we had would be answered honestly and thoroughly. Elephants Child guided us seamlessly through the entire transaction offering expert advice on restructuring, funding and cashflow. Their guidance has been invaluable in ensuring our business is well-positioned to continue operating successfully and profitably for the long term.
Immediate Transportation
We’re now better positioned to grow with purpose and flexibility. Our sector is changing rapidly, and we now have the mindset and framework to pursue growth opportunities while remaining agile and resilient.
MSX
We have worked with MSX, leaders in UK Bonded Warehouse Services and Distribution, since 2023, beginning with a Business Growth Plan, but have since provided ongoing Board Advisor support and consulted on their ESG journey.
K Pak
The catalyst really came through Kim, the previous owner of K Pak. We were looking to work out an exit strategy for Kim, and we didn't have a route to achieve that. Kim got in touch with elephants child and we discussed structuring the company and what we could do. We weren't in any particular difficulties, but wanted to enable Kim and myself, along with the other senior managers, to move the company forward and provide Kim with an exit strategy. So the management buyout was really the underlying goal that we were working towards with the help of elephants child.
Datalynx
Business Growth Planning & SME Strategy Datalynx Case Study Fred Keeling, Operations Director at Datalynx tells us about his experiences of going through our Business Growth Planning process: What was the catalyst? For us it was that we are a small company going through a period of growth and had transitioned to a point that we've not been at before. We're a small senior leadership team and we wanted some advice from people who've been in our situation before and could help us.
Alpha Projects
We were thinking in the medium term about what our plans were for the business, how to think about exiting at the right time, and how to realise the value in our company. This was following discussions with our financial advisor and we felt it will be beneficial to talk to some business advisor.
Bobabox
Boba Box were the first company to launch Bubble Tea and Juice Balls in the UK. In 2022 they sold the equivalent of 7,070,634 cups of bubble tea across 28 countries. We asked founder Yoshi Lee about her experience of working with elephants child. I really felt all advisors were on my side, were really encouraging and knowledgeable but most importantly, the company worked with integrity and passion. They in turn have recommended me to other companies where they felt might be aligned which has been very beneficial.
YRH Finance Team
YRH Finance Team works in a flexible, affordable way to professionalise the operational finance function of SMEs, so those businesses can grow faster and be even more successful; more efficient and profitable, with better cash flow and less business risk.