Elan will focus on securing short-term specialist finance for property investors, including bridging, BTL and development loans.

In an exclusive interview with Bridging & Commercial, Shaz explained that the choice to start his own brokerage was a natural one. 

“You hit a ceiling when you’re working under someone else. I was self-employed anyway, but [I was] still under someone else’s umbrella and brand, and I had a long-term vision of growing a business and a team that I couldn’t do under someone else’s set-up.”

The other significant motivation for Elan’s founding was the desire to address many of the problems Shaz had seen throughout his time working in the finance space.

“I’ve been working with investors long enough and I can see where people can make things more efficient, and, on our side as a broker, where we can make things better, so hopefully I can implement those as well,” he added.

The new brokerage will utilise fintech to make the lending process more streamlined and transparent, particularly for repeat customers and portfolio landlords, where Shaz noted significant difficulties.

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“I found that repeat business isn’t as easy as it should be," he explained, in terms of having up-to-date details for future applications. "There needs to be a slicker way of updating that.”

To help solve this, Shaz has partnered with processing platform Smartr365, and remarked that while new clients were on board with the new tech, some of his previous customers were more hesitant.

“Some of them said [they were] not used to this, so it’s [a case of] explaining that, long-term, this will make things a lot easier.”

Moving forward, Shaz plans to hire a new broker for the team within the next nine months, and hopes to open a Birmingham office in the future.

The full interview, in which Shaz discusses his feelings about starting the new brokerage, the challenges he’s faced, and his goals for Elan’s future, can be watched below.