Innovate Consult Network began in 2016 when our founder, Margaret Callander, left a 15-year career at a large management consultancy. She had grown frustrated watching detailed strategy reports gather dust on client shelves. The problem was not a lack of insight; it was a lack of practical support to turn that insight into daily action.
Margaret opened a one-person office in Great Vonthorpe with a simple rule: every recommendation had to include who would do it, by when, and how the result would be measured. That rule still governs everything we produce.
By 2019 the firm had grown to four consultants. We added a financial modelling capability after several clients asked for help building forecasts that banks would actually trust. Today the team numbers seven, and we work with businesses across Scotland, northern England and occasionally further afield. Our average client engagement lasts eight months, though some relationships have continued for over five years because the work keeps generating returns.
We have never taken on more than twelve active clients at once. That cap exists so every client gets direct access to a senior consultant, not a junior analyst learning on the job.
These four principles shape every project we take on. They are not aspirational slogans; they are the criteria we use when deciding whether to accept a new engagement.
Before we start any work, we agree on two or three numbers that will tell us whether the engagement succeeded. Revenue increase, cost reduction, time saved: something concrete. If we cannot define a measure, we do not start.
We tell clients when an idea will not work. Telling a business owner what they want to hear is easy, but it wastes their money. Roughly one in five initial enquiries ends with us recommending a different type of help, such as a specialist accountant or an employment lawyer, because our skills are not the right fit.
Our goal is to make ourselves unnecessary. Every process we redesign comes with written documentation and a short training session so the client's own team can maintain it. We do not build systems that only we can operate.
The people inside a business usually know where the problems are. They often lack the time or the outside perspective to fix them. We listen before we prescribe, and we test our ideas against the experience of the people who will implement them.
Every member of our team has at least a decade of hands-on business experience before joining us. Here are the three you are most likely to work with.
Founder and lead consultant
Margaret spent 15 years at Deloitte before founding the firm. She specialises in operational efficiency for manufacturing and distribution companies. Outside work she runs a smallholding near Peebles and is a qualified mountain leader.
Senior consultant, financial strategy
Rajan joined in 2019 after eight years as a commercial finance director in the food and beverage sector. He builds the financial models our clients use to secure funding, plan expansions and stress-test pricing changes. He holds an MBA from the University of Edinburgh.
Consultant, people and process
Claire worked in HR leadership roles at two Scottish NHS trusts before moving into consulting. She focuses on hiring processes, team structure and leadership development. Her structured interview method has helped clients reduce first-year staff turnover by an average of 28%.
These figures are current as of January 2025 and drawn from our internal project records.
We track these numbers because they keep us honest. If a project is not on track to hit its agreed metric by the halfway point, we flag it and adjust the plan. In three cases over the past two years, we recommended ending the engagement early because the external market had changed enough to make the original goal unrealistic. We refunded the unused portion of the fee in each case.
Our clients range from £500k-turnover family businesses to £25m-turnover regional companies. The common thread is owner-managers or senior leaders who want a practical partner, not a presentation. If that sounds like you, call us on 0110 736 1839 or send a message through the contact form on our home page.