A Bristol millionaire who set up a finance company from his kitchen table in Clifton 40 years ago jokes that the secret to his success is “being too stupid to know when he’s beaten”.
Adam Tavener left school in the 1970s with just a handful of O Levels and shortly afterwards was forced to leave home due to a family fall out.
Following a stint working on a yacht in the Mediterranean, he returned to Bristol to find work. He spotted an advert in the Bristol Evening Post newspaper for a job selling insurance and finance products – and decided to try his hand at it.
The role was commission-only, but Mr Tavener soon discovered he had a knack for sales and decided to set up his own company from his flat in Southleigh Road.
Without any access to start-up capital, the young entrepreneur, then aged 23, had only a phone, notepad and diary.
After finding early success selling finance products – and moving to new offices on Whiteladies Road in the city – Mr Tavener saw a gap in the market for an alternative source of business funding for SMEs.
The company launched a pension-led funding product, which allowed business owners or directors to take money from pension savings and lend the cash to their company at commercial rates. The innovation later gained the backing of the Ƶ government.
By the start of 2025 Clifton employed around 140 staff across the Ƶ and had assets under management of £2bn.
The company, which has been based in Ham Green in North Somerset for the last two decades, was sold to private equity house CBPE in February in a deal worth tens of millions of pounds.
Following the exit, Mr Tavener retired.
“Weird is the best way to describe [retirement],” Mr Tavener told Business Live.
“I had built something which was an integral part of my whole life. It did feel odd for the first month or two and quite emotional saying goodbye to the staff; they were close personal friends not just colleagues.”
Mr Tavener proudly describes himself as an “innovator” and says he has watched his company weather a “regulatory evolution”.
When he launched Clifton in 1985, there was no regulation of the financial services industry in the Ƶ – and he admits “not everyone had [the] integrity” he would hope for.
“You had to be pretty agile and focused to make sure you were delivering what the customer expected of you.
“A business like Clifton is built on bi-lateral relationships with the client base - they are entrusting you with their life savings.”
The company’s agility stood it in good stead as challenges arose. The financial crisis of 2008 saw the firm adapt its business model – and demand for pension-led funding exploded.
“Small businesses were finding it exceptionally difficult to raise finances so we innovated pension-led funding and it proved to be a rip-roaring success.”
The pandemic was also “transformative” for the business, according to Mr Tavener. Clifton had invested millions in tech in the decade running up to the Covid-19 outbreak, including a remote-working system and IT infrastructure.
“It allowed us to operate in an entirely virtual nature ahead of the pandemic, so when it arrived we didn’t miss a beat; we became an online business,” he explained.
“Face-to-face meetings just went to Teams and our travelling costs fell away, and it made the business more profitable. It transformed the business into a tech leader in its space overnight.”
Mr Tavener believes trusting staff to find the way they are most comfortable operating is the best for productivity. When he left the business earlier this year, employees across the firm’s eight Ƶ offices had a “high degree of latitude” over whether to work at home or on site.
Bristol, he adds, is a city with a “very high quality and motivated” workforce.
“There is no higher calibre of person in London than in Bristol. I have spent a great deal of time to-ing and fro-ing from the capital, and Bristol is the SIPP capital of the Ƶ.”
His advice to other would-be entrepreneurs is to never, ever give up. He added: “I am one of the stubborn people who will not be defeated and that really has been the Clifton approach.
“We started with nothing and had to bootstrap our way through the journey against some pretty serious headwinds. Never ever ever give up. Maybe I was too stupid to know better.”
His proudest moment? Going to Downing Street to address non-bank business funders and working with the Treasury.
“My innovation led to the bank referral scheme that exists today. It was a pretty big deal for a guy whole left school at 16, and I am quietly proud of that.”
