Nick Leader, CEO at Acquis
What do you hope attendees will gain at your webinar?
The webinar will provide an opportunity for senior leaders in the European equipment leasing industry to come together to discuss the impact of the pandemic on leasing, and how leasing will be supporting the economic recovery across Europe. During the webinar we will be exclusively revealing the results of our European SME survey which gauges the impact of the pandemic on SMEs and attitudes to business finance and equipment leasing as part of their recovery plans.
What discussions do you look forward to having with the attendees?
I’m looking forward to connecting with senior leaders in leasing who are at the forefront of driving recovery plans and will be keen to hear views on the challenges leasing faces as we come out of the crisis and how can these be overcome. We are aware of some innovative thinking amongst our own client base from lessors looking to diversify and bring new products to market, and it will be good to learn what companies are doing to support SMEs and ensure a strong recovery.
What do you enjoy most about your role?
Seeing the people around me achieve their ambitions. Because I started at the very bottom of a similar business, I take a lot of interest and pride in seeing other people grow their careers within Acquis. Identifying and nurturing talent is a big part of our culture. If you don’t identify and nurture the talents of your best people you will never get the best from them and eventually they will leave to work for a business that will. Our track record in this regard speaks for itself and one year in particular sticks out – in 2019 one third of the company was promoted.
How did you get into the industry?
At the age of 23, I failed my medical to join the Royal Engineers in the British Army (an injury to my knee, sustained whist playing Rugby for my university, was the culprit), I took an extended holiday to Thailand and quickly exhausted the last few hundred pounds of my overdraft. A few weeks later, I returned to the UK burdened with the debt from my student loans, my overdraft and my credit card. I was desperate to start earning money and so walked into a job centre in the centre of Bristol and said “I don’t care what I do but I need to start earning money as soon as possible”. That day they tested my IT skills and I had the first of two interviews for a temporary job in the Customer Service team at an insurance company. I ended up staying with the company for over 10 years, eventually becoming European Underwriting Manager.
Where is your favorite place in the world and why?
Les Trois Valley in the French Alps. I fell into skiing when I was 30 years old, when a friend said they had a spare place for a trip they had booked. It turned out there wasn’t much spare space at all and I was one of 6 sharing a space of not much more than 16 sqm. Despite my first experience being totally terrifying, it forced me to switch off thinking about work and concentrate on not dying for the week. I loved it so much, I returned 4 weeks later. Since that first trip with friends, I have skied in France every year but nothing ever compares to the vast open space and feeling of adventure that I have when I’m skiing across Les Trois Valley. There are few experiences in life that can combine tranquillity and exhilaration in equal measure and I’m never happier than when I’m standing on top of a mountain with my skis on.
Join Nick Leader on a webinar entitled Forging a path to recovery through leasing by Acquis on 20th of April at 2PM London / 3PM CET.