Iain Hendry appointed to a newly created role of National Head of Sales to drive future growth

Iain Hendry has been promoted to become our National Head of Sales, in recognition both of his own contribution to the team and the exceptional performance of the business in introducing more small businesses to a critical source of cashflow funding.

In the newly created role, all UK sales responsibility will fall within Iain’s remit. He will be responsible for the new business strategy, nurturing existing and identifying new introductory channels as well as recruiting, training and developing current and future teams to best serve the needs of customers across multiple sectors and regions.

“There is a huge opportunity to introduce more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to Invoice Finance,” Iain explains. “Those who use it, know how invaluable it can be in supporting business growth. As a business and as an industry there is so much more we can do in promoting the product to those who may never even have heard of Invoice Finance but who can benefit from it the most.

“Whilst I will be continuing to work closely with our existing valued introducer partners I will be looking to identify new routes to market and welcome mutually beneficial conversations. I will also be looking to build our existing Sales function within Optimum.”

Ant Persse, Chief Executive Officer of Optimum Finance, says that Iain’s appointment is a pivotal moment for the business: “It’s a reflection both of how far we have come in such a short space of time and our appetite for future growth,” he explains.

“This direct leadership of the sales team will deliver complete focus on new business and demonstrates our ambition of becoming the foremost provider of invoice finance solutions to SMEs in the UK.  Iain will add a huge amount of value through his experience. He has already delivered significant value in his previous role so this is a logical next step for Iain and Optimum.  I am thrilled to be making this appointment.”

Iain joined Optimum Finance four years ago as the Senior Regional Director and has spent the past 15 years in the Invoice Finance space, working with many of the leading brands. Prior to this he worked in a range of different industries gaining experience which will prove extremely valuable considering Optimum’s broad client sector reach.

During 2023 Optimum saw an increase of 21% of new clients onboarded compared to 2022, contributing to an increase of 34% in revenues.