The Five Minute Interview with Lauren Gill, Business Development Manager, Dragonfly Property Finance

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Lauren GillDragonfly Property Finance, are 100% committed to providing their key partners and clients with exceptional service and a flexible, highly competitive product range. Dragonfly Property Finance are a principal lender, self-funded and have a genuine appetite to lend.

We speak to business development manager, Lauren Gill:

What is the best thing about being in the bridging finance business?

Variety – no one deal is the same so every call and meeting is different.

I love getting under the bonnet of a situation and understanding all those nuances – it makes the day absolutely fly by!

What keeps you focused?

Being challenged and kept busy. There’s nothing worse than thinking of things to fill your time. We all spend so much of our lives working, so it should be enjoyable and push you at all times.

What qualities do you look for in your employees or colleagues? 

Drive and passion. If you’re all working towards the same goals with the same enthusiasm, your place of work becomes somewhere you want to be, not somewhere you have to be.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

I’m definitely an optimist. We need both in the world to balance one another out but I love to see the best in everything!

What did you want to be as a child?

I think I wanted to be a Spice Girl for a significant portion of my youth! Girl power and all that. Unfortunately, singing is not my forte.

What will be the greatest challenge facing the bridging finance industry in the coming months? 

The greatest challenge will be the uncertainty of the housing market. With the 23rd June fast approaching and changes to stamp duty for buy-to-let properties just coming into play, there’s a lot of change.

However, despite this, the need for short term finance is still as strong as ever.

Who or what makes you laugh? 

My sister is one of the funniest people I know. If I need a bit of silliness, she’s my go to person. Otherwise, dreadful pun jokes are my weakness.

Do you dread Monday mornings? 

Not at all. As I said, you spend so much of your life working, there’s no point being somewhere that makes you dread Monday mornings.

Life is too short. Dragonfly and the Octopus group has been somewhere that has never made me dread my Mondays.

That’s down to the people who work here being helpful, fun and hardworking, and their enthusiasm and collective passion for the tasks at hand.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? 

Probably my addiction to junk food. I’m rarely without a bag of crisps or chocolate and I’m partial to a quarter pounder with cheese or a KFC.

With whom would you most like to have dinner? 

Chris Evans (Captain America, not TFI Friday!). In the event that he isn’t available, my boyfriend or family would do!