In 2015 Peter Ahye and Sue Williams founded Hexagon Consultants. A new business that started with zero revenue, and no clients, has rapidly grown into a profitable business with a prestigious catalogue of clients and projects under its belt.
Peter says: “I’d spent the previous 15+ years of my career as CFO or FD in a number of blue chip businesses such as United Biscuits plc, Next plc and Shop Direct which had just been bought by the Barclay Brothers. As I left the last ‘employed’ role I had with Pattonair, I was asking myself ‘what do I want to do next?’ I had turned down a number of CFO roles along the way as I tried to make up my mind. It’s hard to get to the top of the ladder and jump down to start two businesses from scratch with zero revenue. But that’s what I did!”
Both Peter & Sue have worked to build Hexagon Consultants, growing it to become a multi-million revenue business over the last 5 years whilst working with clients such as Jaguar Land Rover, Liberty Steel and Dyson to name a few.
Sue says: “In the early days at Hexagon, we were focused more on working with clients on supply chain projects but were continually being asked for more once clients understood the broader teams’ capabilities – including M&A, Finance, Complex Debt Funding and Transformation”.
So how did Hexagon Consultants reach such high levels of success in a short space of time? With a healthy combination of insight, strategy and a sleeves rolled up attitude.
Fast forward to 2020 and Hexagon Consultants are marking this milestone year with an exciting re-brand and a new website. Peter says “Our new tagline ‘Rising to Every Challenge’ really reflects how we operate and was inspired by feedback received from existing clients. Over 90% of our work comes from recommendations and referrals and we’re committed to working alongside our clients to deliver sustainable results.”
Phase two of Hexagon’s growth is already underway as they continue to grow their client list coupled with the biggest pipeline ever. Despite a year with many challenges for so many businesses, Hexagon has made some key hires during the course of 2020 with the appointment of two new Managing Directors in Ben Willis and Paul Hawkes who will look after the Retail and Finance Practices respectively. Peter says “our clients certainly appreciate not just help with the strategy but going on to help deliver it so they get tangible results and not just a report!”
In recent months, they’ve ramped up their activity in the D2C space, providing clients with insight, tools, methodology and partners needed to ensure they can take advantage of extraordinary digital acceleration as a result of the current pandemic. Hexagon can provide “end to end” consultancy for brands and manufacturers’ D2C proposition and expect 2021 to be an exciting year as they help simplify and deliver D2C capability as a one stop shop.
The company’s incredible growth has recently landed them some high-profile and highly confidential projects that will make a huge impact on society once complete, Peter explains more: “Some confidential projects currently keeping us busy are significant, both in terms of the role that Hexagon has been asked to play but also because one will provide significant value to the Yorkshire region whilst the other has huge implications for the whole of the UK. We are truly excited to be providing such critical resources and I look forward to revealing more once we are able to do so.”
