Propel your business to the next level and stay ahead of the curve with Lions Financial’s exquisite services

An effective risk management consultant will help individuals and organizations to evaluate their risks and develop a plan to counter their losses. Risk management is a complex process, and there is no one-size-fits-all process that all consultants can use. However, there are certain conventional methods that a consultant will use to help you to protect your organization from risk. A risk management consultant should be capable of identifying the unique risk that your business is exposed to and carefully evaluate the scenarios. One of the most critical steps in the risk management step is to discover and list all the expected and unexpected risks.

There are various advisory firms that can help you mitigate risk and take care of your business' financial aspect, but one firm that stands out from the rest is Lions Financial. The company is an independent financial services & business advisory firm based in New York.

In conversation with Ariel Tavor, Managing Director of Lions Financial

Q. Hello Mr. Tavor. Okay to start by asking you tell our readers a bit about your background?

Please call me Ariel. And thank you for this opportunity. I’m the CEO and Founder of Lions Financial. Well, I have 10 years of experience in the financial sector. I started out working for major insurance and investment companies, formulating financial solutions by leveraging the limited range of offerings from these companies. By working diligently, and with good luck, I became a consistent top-performer, and earned a reputation for understanding clients’ financial situations and needs, for crafting risk management and investment solutions to fit, and for building trusted long-term service relationships with my clients. Then, I was tasked by a few business clients, CEO’s of companies in the $3 - $65 million annual revenue range, to provide financial solutions beyond the prior limited offerings set I brought to the table. So, I launched Lions Financial in 2015, as an independent diversified financial services company. I carefully assembled what it takes to efficiently deliver a fuller range of risk management, business consulting, and capital solutions. And we now seek to, carefully, add companies to our base of long-standing business clients in various industries across all sectors: Communication Services, Automotive Technology, Consumer Staples, Energy, Health Care, Industrials, Information Technology, Materials, Real Estate, and Utilities. Fortunately, I’m supported by a tight-knit team. This enables me to continue to work, closely and collaboratively, with CEO’s of companies, their executive teams, boards of directors, internal and external stakeholders, to help our clients achieve better business outcomes. I also come from a family of entrepreneurs, elders who taught me many pragmatic lessons about how to operate successful businesses over 30, 40, 50 years, here in USA and around the world, through all kinds of business cycles. I now oversee our family office investment group, for our varied portfolio of companies. I also sit on the board of directors of several internal and external companies, and real estate developments.

Q. Thank you, Ariel. Can you outline Lions Financial services in brief?

Sure. Fundamentally, Lions Financial offers three categories of solutions: Risk Management solutions, Business Consulting solutions, and Capital solutions. We provide these solutions on either an integrated or stand-alone basis, depending on each client’s defined business goal. Our solutions are customized to enable better business outcomes for our clients, unlike most point-solution providers, we do not limit Lions Financial solutions to just Financial Strategy, or just Organization Strategy, or just Communications Strategy, or just Technology Strategy.

Q. That’s interesting! So, Ariel, how do you help your clients identify the right overall strategy to enable better business outcomes?

So, to do this, we think like primary care physicians for a business client and have developed what we call our SIRE process. It’s a closed-loop, collaborative, value-focused, four-step process:

Step 1: S is for Survey. We start by gathering a lot of primary and secondary fact-finding data to help assess and evaluate each client’s specific business situation and going-in objective.

 Step 2: I for Insight. We then sort and use all relevant data from our fact-finding to identify the unique mix of competency, skills, and business value, as well as internal weaknesses and external threats, that each client has at a point in time to help properly diagnose the full extent of the challenge or opportunity confronting the company.

Step 3: R for Recommend. Next, we further narrow-down solution options to a small set of 2 - 3 prescribed programs, with the pros and cons of each, requiring financial, organization, communication, and technology solutions for a client to achieve healthy business objectives.

Step 4: E for Execute. Finally, we work closely with each client, the CEO and their executive team, boards of directors and advisers, internal and external stakeholders such as staff, investors, and regulators, to help our clients achieve a finally agreed-to business outcome.

I prefaced this by emphasizing the collaborative aspect of our process. By that I mean to emphasize not only do we approach business solutions from a skilled holistic practitioner perspective but one where we always commit whole-heartedly to achieving better business outcomes for clients via better functioning teamwork because we know from experience that’s best.

Q. Alrighty! Ready for another curve-ball? How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the capital markets? And what anticipated trends do you see here?

You see me pointing to not just the stands behind you but the parking lot beyond? That’s where this curve-ball is going. Top-line: the COVID-19 pandemic only accelerated the underlying trends that were happening in capital markets before this crisis. Beyond the current rounds of government-directed crisis relief and stimulus funds, and loans and credit available from traditional banks for businesses, a lot of capital will flow over the next five years from non-traditional sources. However, as the credit squeeze inevitably tightens during this high-risk recovery period, capital from non-traditional sources will be far more selective about bets placed in terms on more highly curated and selected businesses – this in light of much more realistic valuations, heightened scrutiny of each business’ leadership teams, and fiercer competitive landscape than before the COVID-19 pandemic triggered epic health, economic, and social crises. We see a more Darwinistic adapt or die mindset shift in capital markets. The 15% of businesses that were below the industry EBITDA line? No capital for you. The 70% just above the industry EBITDA line? Bare survival amount of capital for you. However, the 15% at 2x – 10x above the industry EBITDA line? Lots of capital for you. So the question businesses need to be asking themselves now, as strategies of how to cope with the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic become priority #1, is: Where are you vis-à-vis the industry EBITDA line?

Q. Wow! Straight talk, Ariel. You smoked that one out of the park. Have to ask you: Do you have skilled-enough individuals who can help you manage your high-bar of service standards?

You want straight talk? Here goes. One word: Yes. Yes. Yes. (Sorry that was one word for each of my three leadership team colleagues and friends.) Proof is in the pudding, right? Try us.

Q. Offer heard, loud and clear. So Ariel, what are you doing to market your services?

#1: Digital marketing. We’re truly all-in with what we prescribe to our clients. And it’s a sweet-spot for us. Followed by, in equal parts: Professional Introductions especially from professional alliances and Referrals from existing customers.

Q. Smart! So Ariel, one last question: Do you have any new services being readied to launch?

You heard it here first: the formation of a complementary closed-end fund to supplement investment capital for funding deals.” “Thank you for this opportunity to talk with you. Be safe, and well.

“Lions Financial collaborates, closely, with our clients and their various other trusted professionals to better orchestrate business management solutions on a holistic basis.”