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Our purpose
Standing up for first-time home buyers.
We have one goal
To help you reach life’s most important milestones, starting with buying a home. Let’s be honest, raising a home deposit is the Everest of financial goals. The steps to get there are difficult and fragmented. Tembo guides you all the way, from setting the first £5 aside, through to paying off your mortgage.
We believe in the right to own
In the UK, renting is shown to cost significantly more on average than owning a home. We're talking thousands of pounds each year, and not being able to make your place your own. We're not saying it's always the right decision to buy, but studies have found that renting can be more stressful. And nobody wants to age prematurely.
Our beginnings
Before there was Tembo, there was Nude. Nude was started by Crawford, a Senior Owning Partner at Hymans Robertson LLP, the largest independent pension consultants in the UK. The maths and risk calculations when running a £15bn pension fund are kind of similar to helping people save a deposit. After spending the best part of his career helping older people save for retirement, he decided to help people at the start of their lives to buy their first home.
Truth is, Nude was a slow burner. This wasn’t some entrepreneurial scheme written on the back of a napkin. As a father of three, Crawford could see the challenges that his own children face and the future of those unlucky enough not to have access to the bank of mum and dad. He had the ambition and his fair share of finance and tech experience, but he needed a full team to bring it to life.
Crawford on LinkedIn
Enter Marty. A serial founder of community-focussed businesses, Marty is known for creating exciting brands which thrive online. Before Nude, Marty founded Tens, a sunglasses company which became an overnight international hit, before being funded by one of their biggest fans, Sir Richard Branson. He also founded Poolside FM, a viral music website/app with 1m+ listeners per year.
Marty on LinkedIn
Around the same time, Stephen came on-board as COO, bringing a solid financial and tech background to the table. He also previously worked in a senior role at Hymans Robertson LLP, where he managed a team of 30 as CTO. He later led RBS and the Student Loans Company to develop the technology to make the transition towards digital. Motivated by endless frustrations around innovation within the finance, he wanted to make a difference and bring financial literacy to the younger generation.
Stephen on LinkedIn
Last but not least, Kate came to head up Legal, dealing with the FCA and helping to raise capital for Nude. Kate has experience at the likes of Osborne Clarke before studying post-grad at Babson College in Boston, USA, then dipping a toe in Silicon Valley. A start-up is only as good as its legal team. Kate’s entrepreneurial outlook helps Nude to innovate safely, keeping us on the right side of banking regulations while being 100% behind our vision.
Kate on LinkedIn
