“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”

Aristotle

About The Sussex Collaborative

The Sussex Collaborative bringing a select group of specialist Sussex business consultants together, to deliver a quality assured portfolio of specialist services, to support the growth of businesses across the South East.

As founders, we are business professionals with individual experience spanning over 25 years, previously working in senior leadership positions within well known corporate and charity brands including TUI Travel PLC, and The Youth Hostel Association.  We have joined together to establish The Sussex Collaborative and each provide consultancy expertise focused on Business growth planning, Marketing Strategy, Leadership development, Sales transformation and Product Innovation. 

Our members

All of our members have proven experience in their specialist fields, enabling us to offer the full range of services you will need to grow and develop your business performance. Whether it is defining your strategy, improving the effectiveness of your sales and marketing activity, developing your leadership capability, advising on culture and teams, transforming your digital footprint, providing a health check of your finances, we are able to help.

We all work collaboratively, so whether you require advice for a specific business challenge or a broader review of your business we will work with you to meet your needs.

Our value

We believe that delivering value for money is key to a successful relationship with all of our clients. Having access to experienced business leaders as and when you need them, without the burden of committed overheads is an advantage that more and more business leaders are realising.

We pride ourselves on offering value for money in everything we do and thereby create enormous value for our client organisations.

We all know that feeling when you walk into a traditional agency, with its city centre offices, hordes of receptionists and the grand flower arrangements and artwork on the walls. Someone is paying for all of this – You!

At the Sussex Collaborative we have no water features, no artwork, no receptionists and not even offices. Instead we focus our time and attention on keeping overheads low and creating value for you. Our flexible network of experts allows you to tap into a wide range of resources to match your requirements perfectly. We don’t then add in a layer of account managers employed to make you feel important by making your coffee.

We sell expertise and advice – not products or packages. Every engagement with The Sussex Collaborative will be tailored uniquely to match your requirements. Therefore, you secure only the support you need and don’t pay for anything else.

We believe in the principal of “pay it forward” and over the course of each year, will be running a series of free to attend training workshops for local business leaders, covering topics such as Creating an effective Business growth plan, Transforming sales teams and Strategic Marketing activity.

Providing value, building trust and delivering quality, are how we ensure that we create a mutually beneficial relationship with our clients and members – and thereby ensure the future success of The Sussex Collaborative.

Founding Members

Nicky macfarlane
Nicky Macfarlane

Strategically focused with a proven record of delivering business objectives and financial returns. I have extensive experience of technology implementation, strategic marketing, leading organisational change, developing high performance teams, customer focused business development, as well as operational and crisis management.

Joe Lynch
Joe Lynch

With an thorough understanding of the leisure travel industry, built on a strong operational background, I’ve worked in Commercial, Product, Marketing and Sales management roles for a wide range of specialist businesses, both as part of large corporations, privately owned businesses and the not for profit sectors.

Geoff Keeling

Experienced Director of Learning and Development with a demonstrated history of working in the leisure, travel & tourism industry. Skilled in HR Consulting, Coaching, Graduate Recruitment, Executive Coaching, and HR Policies. Strong human resources professional graduated from Henley Business School.

We are always looking for new members to join The Sussex Collaborative and help support our clients with new services and expertise.