Prospa NZ built its reputation on speed, but the team says the less visible work, building trust, earning adviser confidence and understanding what small businesses actually need, is what sustains its position as a specialist lender. The four people behind its adviser relationships arrived from backgrounds as varied as software sales and residential property, arguing that experience outside the finance industry sharpens rather than limits how they support the advisers who rely on them. The lender has operated in New Zealand for more than eight years.
Huia Manuel, national sales leader at Prospa NZ, joined seven years ago after a decade in banking across branch networks, lending, risk and broker distribution in South Australia and the Northern Territory. She had already built and sold a business of her own before arriving. Adrienne Begbie leads the business as managing director. Ryan Dennehy-Beals and Fletcher Thorburn are both business development managers. Dennehy-Beals came from SaaS sales, spending his career helping SMEs improve their workflows. Thorburn spent seven years in residential property sales before making the same jump to lending.
Manuel recalls the original opportunity as irresistible. 'The amazing opportunity to be part of launching a new company and product category to NZ was impossible to say no to,' she says. Dennehy-Beals arrived from software sales. 'I've always worked in sales roles across a range of industries, most recently in SaaS, helping SMEs improve their workflows,' he says. The move to lending came when he recognised that access to funding, not workflow software, was often the thing standing between a small business and its next stage of growth. Thorburn made the same calculation after seven years in residential property sales.
Thorburn is direct. 'I think coming from outside the industry has helped me look at things a bit differently,' he says. He is also realistic about how much time advisers can give a non-bank lender. 'I also understand that for many advisers, this is only a small part of what they do day to day, so I try to make things as easy and straightforward as possible,' he says. Dennehy-Beals draws the same lesson from SaaS. 'Coming from outside the finance industry has been a real advantage,' he says. Years reading business owners in unrelated sectors, he argues, translate directly to building rapport and understanding what matters most to advisers and their clients.
Begbie's approach leans on consistency over charisma. 'My focus is giving people clarity and building a culture based on trust, accountability and shared purpose,' she says. Thorburn points to the founders as evidence of something harder to manufacture. 'You can tell the founders genuinely care about what they've built and the people within it, and that shows in the culture,' he says. He adds that the whole team carries big goals and real passion into daily work, and that energy spreads. Dennehy-Beals values the balance Prospa strikes. 'I really like that Prospa combines the startup culture and agility with the experience and capabilities of a well-established company,' he says.
Prospa NZ established operations in New Zealand in 2019, securing its first local warehouse funding facility, a three-year committed NZ$45 million arrangement that enabled local lending capacity. Across more than eight years, the company has funded more than 8,800 unique customers, settled 16,502 contracts and extended $850 million in total lending. The average deal size sits at $50,400. Applications are designed to be simple, with funds accessible within 24 hours. Prospa was established in Australia in 2012 and describes itself as New Zealand's small business online lending specialist.
Manuel has watched this difficulty build across seven years. 'A key challenge is cutting through and ensuring our proposition remains heard within a busy adviser network,' she says. Awareness is not the problem; timing and resonance are. 'While awareness of our proposition is strong, the opportunity lies in how we engage and communicate so our message resonates, stays top of mind and naturally forms part of their client conversations,' she says. Begbie adds that navigating changing economic conditions while supporting small businesses responsibly has been a central focus. The team has responded by strengthening adviser engagement through roadshows and digital tools.
Begbie believes the industry's next frontier is trust. 'The opportunity is to build greater trust and transparency in specialist lending while helping more small businesses access funding responsibly,' she says. She wants to see a more transparent and customer-centred industry that uses technology to reduce friction without compromising due diligence. Dennehy-Beals is confident about Prospa's position as change accelerates. 'Things move at a rapid pace, but everyone is working towards the same goal: helping businesses access funding quickly while making responsible lending decisions,' he says. Manuel returns to what drew her in: people, relationships and solutions. Advisers seeking further insight into how non-bank lenders are positioning themselves in New Zealand can explore NZ Adviser's premium sponsored reports. If this is useful to your network, share it on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.