LONDON E-Business Support Programme Success Story:
Finance Director London, Catalina Cotoara
Business Overview
With over two decades of experience as a Finance Director, Financial Controller, and Accountant, Catalina Cotoara founded Finance Director London Ltd (FDL) in 2017 to help bridge the financial knowledge gap preventing small businesses from scaling up and achieving their full potential. The Haringey-based financial and accounting advisory firm offers strategic financial advice and business partnering services, focusing on helping businesses gain the insight and support they need to grow and succeed.
Support for Growth
Catalina was keen to strengthen her digital marketing, improve her online client acquisition and integrate technology into her operations. She joined the LONDON E-Business Support Programme with Enterprise Enfield in March 2024 and worked with E-Business Adviser, Boomy Tokan, to maximise her digital impact. The regular 121 online advice sessions focused on the website, SEO, LinkedIn marketing, and Google My Business strategies. Catalina says:
“When we started to work together, my main aim was to update my website. The old one was hard-coded, and it needed specialist coding knowledge in HTML for me to update anything on it. Boomy offered support and guidance to work with a web developer. By July 2024 I had a new Wix website which is easy for me to make changes and manage myself.”
Catalina was advised on various ways to improve her website’s visibility to ensure it ranked higher in search results - by refining keywords, metadata, and improving content structure to attract and convert more clients. “Having implemented this advice, my website’s ranking increased and moved from page three of the Google search to page two. I am continuing the SEO work to bring the ranking to page one. “
Digital Progress
In addition to strengthening the web presence, Catalina also worked on optimising her Google Business profile and boosting her LinkedIn engagement - by sharing insightful financial content, engaging with business owners and leveraging LinkedIn’s networking capabilities.
Catalina’s marketing activity was significantly accelerated following advice on developing a marketing plan, identifying a persona for an ideal customer and creating impactful social media content. She was shown how to create an automated lead funnel through a lead magnet strategy, capturing potential client information and nurturing clients using email marketing and personalised outreach.
Since English is not Catalina’s first language, she was supported in creating a personalised AI tool to help improve her everyday operations, she explains, “My Adviser helped me to create my own GPT that uses my tone of voice and my style. My team and I are using the Personalised GPT on a daily basis to improve emails and to streamline presentations. This has improved our efficiency by 12%.”
Impact
Having implemented a number of recommendations from her Adviser over the course of a year, Finance Director’s online visibility has improved significantly, resulting in new leads and clients. Since enrolling on the programme, the business turnover has risen by 153% and its LinkedIn followers have increased by over 2000%. Catalina is now at a point where she is ready to scale her business and has recruited an extra member of staff who will be joining her team in May 2025. She says:
“It was great having an E-Business Adviser dedicating time to me and my business to guide me through the digital challenges my business faced. I worked with Boomy over the period March 2024 to February 2025 and it was like having a digital business partner. The support has really contributed to the success of Finance Director London.”
Recognition
In February 2025 Catalina’s business success and achievements were recognised as she was shortlisted as a Business Woman of the Year finalist in the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry SME London Business Awards.
Find out more about Finance Director Ltd:
About the LONDON E-Business Support Programme
The LONDON E-Business Support Programme is a fully-funded package of support including: 121 expert advice, guidance and webinars aimed at helping business owners in London make better use of digital technology to enhance their online presence; attract more customers; increase sales and improve the efficiency of their business operations. The programme is funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and is delivered by Business for London. For more details.
