A WORKING-CLASS COMPANY DIRECTOR’S JOURNEY

irector of commercial finance brokerage 2XL Commercial Finance, Darren Willoughby has a presence in seven locations across the UK and has been up for numerous awards since the company’s formation nigh on 15 years ago. But he confesses: “The finance arena wasn’t a world I was brought up in.” many business owners and understand their journey.”

Words by Kerry Smith

His working class parents, employed in printing and retail, worked hard to be able to afford to put him through university; one of the first in the family to do so which is reflected in his work ethic. As well as studying, he put in 30 hours a week working behind a bar, a chip shop, and in a call centre for a bank to help fund his way through his law degree at university.

“I come from a humble background and have a working class mentality and work belief instilled in me,” Darren said. “Now I like to operate in the corporate space but that really wasn’t what my upbringing was about and I think my roots allow me to speak to

Taking a minute to compose himself, he continued: “My mum and dad made sacrifices to put me through university and it’s something I am forever grateful for but when I phoned my father one day and he told me he’d been made redundant, it brought home the sacrifices they were making which made me even more determined to succeed. I still remember I was on the payphone in the Union when I heard. Seeing the impact that had on my family just made me more determined for that not to happen to me.”

The family couldn’t afford for Darren to go on to complete the postgraduate Law Practice course after graduating with his law degree. But, while working for the bank, he discovered he had an innate understanding of finance and a flair for client understanding and customer service, which led to an opportunity to apply for a Lloyds bank corporate graduate scheme. Out of the 12,000 who applied, only 10 were granted a place – one of them was Darren, who immediately made the move to Manchester to start the graduate scheme in business and commercial finance.

Over the next seven years, he climbed the ranks and became a business development manager for Lloyds bank liaising with introducers such as IFAs, brokers, and accountants for commercial finance deals. “The motivation behind setting up 2XL was the fact that at that time, there was a lot of negative connotations surrounding brokers. Myself and my business partner Tim thought we could do it better and instil some integrity into the broker marketplace.”

Darren added: “The business was born using £3,000 of savings which was actually all the money I had and was the last bonus I was given at the bank which paid for a website and a set of business cards. I had no choice but to make it work as I simply didn’t have anything else to fall back on. The hours were long and arduous and developing a network of introducers was the biggest challenge but we were persistent and it paid off. Once people started using us, the word spread and we continued to grow with great clients and referrers.”

Business was going great for 2XL in Manchester until Darren’s dad passed away 11 years ago. “Dad was the head of the family so I wanted to move back to Leicester to support my mum and brother. It was very difficult having to start all over again in the Midlands but I also knew I had to be here to support the family so I decided to launch the East Midlands office and the rest, they say, is history.”

Now, aged 41 and living in Burton on the Wolds with his six year old son Paolo, the struggles of establishing and relocating business are behind him and 2XL continues to improve and grow having six different office locations in the UK. And, despite the pandemic, the company was responsible for placing £33.65million of lending to business and property owners, an impressive sum considering the environment.

Darren commented: “The pandemic hit many business owners hard including ourselves but we adapted and our reputation, loyal clients and introducers meant that we could continue supporting our clients in their time of need which in turn supported us. The business is about relationships and we are thankful for that.”

So what next for 2XL and Darren? “We want to continue growing by recruiting top quality, hungry people and to make sure we continue to offer a great service to our introducers and clients. On a professional level, I want to work more ‘on the business’ rather than in it but still very much enjoy the cut and thrust of placing cases as that’s what pays the bills. On a private level, my son is what makes me get out of bed in the morning so to continue to work hard to ensure he has a good and positive start to life and to spend as much time in it and watch him grow is the motivation now as opposed to the goals I had 15 years ago.”