Entrepreneurship

April 1st, 2019

Broker Profile, Renee Tocco, Loanezi

 

“The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it and exploits it as an opportunity.” Peter Drucker

Renee Tocco is a CAFBA Board Director and an award-winning equipment finance expert. Renee started her commercial finance brokerage, Loanezi in 2016 with a primary focus on communication and technology equipment finance (ICT).

After working with Telstra pioneering new technology adoption with high-end corporate businesses, Renee wanted to create a tech-savvy finance business that understands the key role of ICT in future business development. One that supports businesses to use technology to become a disruptor in their own space.

We talked with Renee to find out more about Loanezi and why she chose Connective Asset Finance as her aggregator. Here’s what she had to say.

 

Why did you join Connective Asset Finance?

They’re a bunch of great people with real entrepreneurial flair and I’ve always been very entrepreneurial myself. I couldn’t speak more highly of Connective, they’ve been just great from the word go.

They make me feel included, keep me updated, invite me to events, introduce me to the right people constantly – and they’re at the end of the phone whenever I need them. Their support has been critical in helping me grow my business – that personal connection is very important to staying motivated and focused.

 

How did we help you develop your business?

When I first started Loanezi I joined [another aggregator], but I didn’t feel welcomed by them. They just didn’t seem to take my business plan seriously. I soon realised my business would never take off if I stayed there.

So, I met with Barry Jannese at Connective in Brisbane and it’s been smooth sailing ever since. Barry took the time to understand what I was trying to do, and he put me on to Brent Starrenburg, Head of Connective Asset Finance. Together they gave me the support and encouragement I needed to get my business idea off the ground properly.

I wrote my first loan one week after joining Connective and wrote 200 more loans within the first six months. I believe Loanezi was a quick success because I had access to the right lending products and amazing support from the entire Connective Team.

 

How does the Connective Asset Finance lender panel help you?

My previous aggregator had some of the same lenders on their panel, but the experience was just not good enough. It was as if they didn’t really believe in my business plan and as a result, didn’t invest the time.

Connective Asset Finance had a comprehensive range of lenders and the loan products I needed to tap into my chosen niche and really work it. Brent helped me partner up with some of the lenders and work with them to make their products a good fit and competitive enough for my specialised business niche. He put me in touch with the right lenders and supported me to develop those all-important Lender BDM relationships that are making my business a success.

It’s a thrill every time a new lender comes on board – I love looking at the latest and greatest lenders to see what opportunities they could create for me. I recently started Medezi – an offshoot business specialising in medical purpose finance – all on the back of a new lender that Connective Asset Finance brought on.

 

What do you think of our tech?

Tech is something that Connective does well – it’s a real differentiator. I really love Mercury [Connective’s award-winning IT Platform built-for-purpose in-house]. It’s very comprehensive and the CRM is exactly what we need. My whole team has found Mercury really, really, easy to use. The automated tasking templates save heaps of time – they flag everything that needs to be done and nothing is ever missed.

I absolutely love the marketing tools in Mercury – the Connective Digital Marketing Hub is the best thing ever – so much more cost-effective than what I had before. It has great reporting. I’m focused on my online presence and social media marketing, so it’s key. I do a lot of things with it, I even use it when sending out invites to parties.

BOLT is also a brilliant piece of tech!  I don’t do a lot of that type of finance (private car finance and small business finance outside of ICT), but when I do it’s super simple with BOLT. It explains what the next step is – it’s so user friendly that it’s just fun as far as I’m concerned. I’ve put all my broker friends onto it!

For more information about Renee Tocco and Loanezi, visit their website. If you’d like to get the Connective Asset Finance Team behind your finance business idea, get in touch with us today.