About Ziyon

Files are approved, sent back, or killed on how they are written.

Not only on how the business trades. Ziyon exists to translate that view back to the founders it is being applied to.

The founder Samuel Lotechukwu, ACA — founder of Ziyon Capital Advisory
Samuel Lotechukwu, ACA
Founder
QualificationACA
Professional indemnity£1m cover
IndependenceNo lender commissions, introductions or success fees

Where the method comes from.

Ten years in finance, three of them assessing corporate credit, and a portfolio of more than three hundred and fifty million dollars carried without a non-performing loan. I read the financials, drafted the memos, and presented to committee — the largest files reaching the Board on memos I had written. What I took from those rooms was narrower than experience: files are approved, sent back, or killed on how they are written, not only on how the business trades.

Ziyon is what I built to translate that view back to founders. Not a broker. Not a coach. A credit analyst on your side of the desk.

That view is now a defined method, not a personal opinion — a five-lens credit read and a four-level verdict against a stated basis, built on the disciplines of commercial credit assessment. The standards do not change with who is in the room.

The approach

Translation, not coaching.

Three things worth knowing before you walk into a meeting with a UK lender. Each one changes how you prepare.

I

The decision is made before the meeting.

By the time a file reaches committee, the analyst's memo has already framed the decision. The work of being funded is the work of being read.

II

Every document is read against every other.

Accounts, forecasts, VAT returns and bank statements tell one story. An unexplained inconsistency between them can undermine an otherwise strong case.

III

Anticipated questions do not get asked.

Explain the margin dip, the related-party flow or the working-capital pressure before the lender has to ask. A well-prepared file is easier to recommend.

60%

Challenger and specialist banks now write 60 per cent of gross UK SME bank lending, on British Business Bank figures, and many non-bank lenders underwrite from open banking data rather than a written memo. A model does not ask follow-up questions — which is why every Ziyon verdict states its basis of assessment.

Straight answers

The questions founders actually ask.

No hedging. Where the honest answer is no, you will find it here.

No. Ziyon does not arrange finance, introduce lenders or take success fees. We prepare and challenge the credit file; you or your broker decide where it goes.
Your accountant keeps your numbers accurate and compliant. We read those same numbers the way a credit analyst will — for serviceability, leverage, customer concentration, and the gaps a committee circles before it lends. Same file, a different and more adversarial lens. The two roles complement each other; they are not the same job.
No — and anyone who promises it is misleading you. The lender makes the decision. What we change is whether your file gives them a reason to say yes, and where it currently hands them reasons to say no. We remove the second; the first is the business's to make.
No. A decline gives you information about how the lender read the file. The important step is diagnosing what drove the decision before applying again. The Snapshot identifies the issues; the Audit helps address them.
You can. Ziyon is useful where you want the lender's likely questions identified before your file reaches them.
Not a question we will answer from a website, and you should be wary of anyone who does — a borrowing figure offered without analysis is a guess. Within the Credit Readiness Audit, Essentials tier and above, you receive a preliminary view on the borrowing level your file can support, with the workings shown. It is a view on what the file supports, not a promise of what any lender will advance. The lender decides.
No. The £150 Snapshot is credited in full against any Audit tier commissioned within 90 days. If you go further with us, you have paid nothing extra for it — the Snapshot simply becomes the first step of the larger piece.
Yes. UK–Africa files are a specific area of focus. We examine the additional credit questions created by group structure, KYC/KYB and ownership evidence, cross-border cash flows, FX exposure and repatriation risk. The pressure is structural: the African Development Bank's 2025 Trade Finance Report puts unmet demand for trade finance in Africa at $74–92 billion in 2024.
Yes — 15 per cent of the fee the client pays, rising to 20 per cent after three engagements, agreed in writing and disclosed to the client before work begins. The client's fee does not change; the share comes out of ours. It is not lender-side income: Ziyon takes no commissions, retainers or success fees from a lender in any circumstance. The arrangement in full →
Next step

Thirty minutes, and a plain answer on whether this helps.

No charge, no obligation. Some founders come away deciding to do more of the work themselves first — that is a legitimate outcome.

Book a 30-minute call Commission a Snapshot · £150

Or write to hello@ziyoncapital.co.uk, or call 07909 483125.