Late on a Friday afternoon in Shoreditch, we came together for a fireside chat. Although there’s no fireplace in sight at MarketFinance HQ, events like this are an important part of our culture. It’s about inviting our customers in to share their stories so that we can all get a better understanding of their businesses and what it takes to make it as an entrepreneur in the UK.

Our Co-founder and CEO, Anil Stocker, led the conversation with Marvin Patel, Founder and MD of Infinity Energy Organisation.

ONCE AN ENTREPRENEUR, ALWAYS AN ENTREPRENEUR

Founded in 2012, Infinity Energy Organisations installs energy-efficient measures in homes across the country. Serial entrepreneur Marvin Patel has built a multi-million-pound business on a passion for providing affordable and efficient energy to those that need it most.

Marvin is no novice when it comes to launching a business. “I’ve had a convenience store, a hotel, a nursing home, a homeless shelter, a property maintenance business, and now this,” he explained. “What I’ve realised is that startups are what I’m good at. Whether I’ve known anything about the industry I’ve gone into or not, I’ve always been successful.”

It was when the government announced their new Green Deal that Marvin identified his next opportunity. “I invested £2500 to start Infinity Energy. I got my licence, opened the doors in 2013 and haven’t looked back since.”

RAPID GROWTH BORNE FROM SHEER HARD WORK

After a lot of hard work and commitment, and the resulting word-of-mouth about the value of Infinity Energy’s offering, the business really started to take off. “When we started out there were just three of us working out of a little box room. Today, I have 20 employees in the UK and 40 in the Philippines. We’ve really grown rapidly,” said Marvin.

Infinity Energy has a network of accredited and experienced installers covering the whole of the UK. They pride themselves on excellent service from assessment to installation.

Infinity Energy’s growth spurt isn’t over. The company is expecting to double their revenue in the coming year – something many entrepreneurs only dream of!

CASH FLOW PRESSURES ALMOST CURBED GROWTH

Infinity Energy is helping thousands of UK households become more energy efficient through their network of accredited and experienced installers. As the business has grown, they’ve started to feel the pressure of cash flow gaps between paying those installers and waiting to be paid by their clients.

“Our installers are paid at the end of the week based on the jobs done for the previous week. The business only gets paid, however, 45, 60, or even 90 days later. This puts a serious strain on our cash resources,” explains Marvin.

As a result of the ongoing wait to get cash into the business, Marvin approached his bank looking for a solution: “I was surprised that they rejected my application for a loan – they knew the financial ins and outs of our business, but still couldn’t see that it was successful despite the cash flow constraints.”

A FINANCIAL SOLUTION STARTED WITH INVOICE FINANCE

Like many entrepreneurs, Marvin turned to Google to find out more about his options for finance when his bank turned him down. Then an email about MarketFinance popped up in his inbox at just the right time. “I was a bit sceptical about going this route after a bad experience with another financer,” admits Marvin. “Our previous financer wasn’t transparent – they had all these hidden fees and I got a big shock when I received their invoice.

But we had to start somewhere because we needed to bridge the gap between paying supply chain and waiting up to 60 days to be paid by our clients. MarketFinance was really open about their costs and that was important to me because I wanted to build a relationship with a partner I could trust.”

“We celebrate ambitious business leaders like Marvin,” say Anil. “Infinity Energy has helped thousands of British households become more energy efficient and we’re proud to have enabled this by providing the right financial solution.”