The magazine Economía 3 interviewed José Roca, managing partner of Kaizen Consulting, and highlighted one of his statements in the headline: “To get funding you have to know who to approach and how to approach them.” In the article, he explains that in three years, Kaizen Consulting, “the consultancy firm founded by José Roca Barrachina, has become a reference for companies that need financing and liquidity solutions” and that their work is based on “maximising the financing options for companies; considering that the financing ecosystem has been drastically reduced, going from more than 60 entities to a dozen in the last twelve years in our country.” José Roca believes that this is particularly detrimental to SMEs because it has reduced their financing options, and “Kaizen Consulting aims to provide companies with all the financing options that exist in the market, both in Spain and abroad, so they have many more financing options to develop their business plans.”
In the interview, José Roca says “we are fundraisers. We look for tailor-made solutions so that any company can obtain the liquidity it needs to carry out its projects. And we open up a range of financial possibilities so that entrepreneurs have access to all kinds of options… we are talking about being able to guarantee that the company has access to all the financiers who are willing to finance that project with the best conditions. To this end, we work assiduously with more than 180 funders and have secured funding for more than 70 companies in the last three years.”
The article highlights the expertise of Kaizen Consulting, which works with all traditional banks, but also with “more than thirty local banks, with a very specific focus that we know well. We have identified them and maximised the possibilities they offer. For example, some banks only finance ESG projects, others are closely linked to agriculture, others to renewable energy… The important thing is that we know the traditional financier very well and we also know alternative banks.” José Roca explains, counting on “hundreds of financiers. What we have done is learn exactly what each one wants including the type of company they are looking to finance, the sector, the situation the company needs to be in to attract them, the size… and depending on these characteristics and the client’s needs, we go to one financier or another.”
In this interview, the managing partner of Kaizen Consulting highlights the guidance they offer clients and the use of novel and unusual solutions. For example, “financing operations where stocks are taken as collateral; operations where I can buy an asset from you and then rent it back to you; or lease-back, where the owner of an asset, whether movable or immovable, sells it and then signs a lease contract… These are solutions for monetising the balance sheet. We also take into account debt and equity funds. The main difference is that in equity financing, the investor receives a percentage of participation in the company, whereas, in debt financing, in a determined period of time, the investor will have to pay back the amount owed plus interest. In other words, he knows that he will have to repay the debt in X years with what is generated from the business. Other ways in which we can obtain financing is by listing the company on the BME Growth market, issuing bonds, promissory notes, etc.”
José Roca also highlights in Economía 3 how Kaizen Consulting supports a company’s financial strategy: “We help them to draw up a three-year business plan; so that they have visibility not only in the short term but also in the long term. And we make sure that on a day-to-day basis, they check which things are going well, and if they are in line with the objectives set or not. In this case, we help them to correct deviations. We believe that four eyes always see more than two.”
