The Five Minute Interview with Faye Wilcox, Director, Valorem Partners

By Tony Sanchez 30th July 2020

Valorem Partners – Helping SME’s and Challenger Banks in the Specialist Finance industry solve their business challenges by helping them hire game-changing talent to create diverse teams, maximise performance and achieve their financial objectives.

We speak to director Faye Wilcox:

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

For me it has to be the community spirit, engaging and friendly people that work within this industry. Also the resilience and positivity that all the businesses and people associated with this market has.

Despite all the unprecedented challenges the market has faced this year, everyone seems to be very optimistic and excited about the future of the industry.

I love how fast paced the industry is and from a recruitment perspective, this makes it more dynamic and very interesting to work in.

What keeps you focused?

I have never lost sight of my “Why” I have always been very career driven and worked incredibly hard to be successful.

I learned from a young age that working hard and being the best version of yourself would ensure that I achieve my goals.

I am also very passionate about how you can always improve something.

Whether it is the Value we bring to the customer or the technology and insight we use to help our clients make better hiring decisions.

The opportunity to get better everyday, gives me a tremendous feeling of focus.

I am always striving for improvement and I think that this is demonstrated in our company processes and how I engage with my trusted clients and candidates.

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

For me it’s all about work ethic and attitude. With these you can pretty much learn anything and be as successful as you want to be.

The success of your business is down to the people, culture, diversity and the environment you create.

How you treat your colleagues is massively important and creating an environment where they totally enjoy what they are doing and feel valued and part of a team, wanting to come in each day and do it all over again, will have a huge impact on the success of your business.

Are you an optimist or a pessimist?

I am a very optimistic person and love working with similar people who have a shared focus and enthusiasm to start a new hiring project and together feel excited about bringing that project to a successful conclusion.

What did you want to be as a child?

I wanted to be a make-up artist for video and theatre productions.

I am a huge Michael Jackson Fan and at the age of 8, I watched the video Thriller and was extremely fascinated with how Michael was made up to look like a werewolf.

That was when I decided I wanted to be a make- up artist, all in the hope that one day I would be lucky enough to meet Michael Jackson.

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

I think it will be interesting to see what bridging & development companies will be here in the next few months as we accept that some will not survive the devastating repercussions of COVID-19.

Development Finance seems to have weathered the storm very well and there has been a noticeable increase in enquiries and significant lending in this area in recent weeks.

I think the stamp duty holiday has helped considerably to kick start the housing market and expect this to continue to have an impact on the wider industry.

In 2021 I believe we will see a huge leap forwards in terms of M&A activity with a number of smaller Bridging firms looking to scale up and grow quite quickly as the market continues its recovery.

Who or what makes you laugh?

My six-year old son, he comes out with the most -funniest things.

To be honest you can’t beat a good belly laugh and I have to say Mickey Flanagan is extremely funny also.

Do you dread Monday mornings?

No, quite the opposite – I look forward to the challenge of helping our client partnerships make better hiring decisions and the continuous improvement opportunities that may present themselves during the week.

I see every new week as an opportunity to better the last one and love having the opportunity to build new and exciting relationships again in this wonderful market I work in.

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

I would love to be taller, I am only 5’5; I would like to be at least 3 inches taller. 😊

With whom would you most like to have dinner?

It would have to be Karen Brady. I love how she has created her own success and everything that she stands for as a female leader in business.

My sister has previously worked for Karen and has commented to me on her outstanding leadership and business skills, whilst being an incredibly nice lady to work for.

We also live close by so we could share the taxi home. 😊