An English rugby hero and former RAF fighter pilot who went on to lead his own strategy consultancy is helping a Dorset firm focus on a new growth trajectory.

Property finance lender MSP Capital has engaged Rory Underwood MBE DL, of Wingman Ltd, to apply insights from his elite sport, military and business careers to help enhance its performance over the next five years.

One of the country’s greatest wing players, he remains England’s record try scorer with 49 tries in 85 internationals between 1984 and 1996. He also won seven caps with the British Lions.

In his military career, Rory spent 18 years flying jets in the RAF, achieving the rank of Flight Lieutenant and introducing a training regime around crew resources management to support effective decision-making in time-limited stressful situations.

He founded his consultancy, Wingman, in 2009 and has since delivered leadership, development and strategy consultancy to a wide range of companies and organisations. MSP Capital’s senior leadership team began working with Rory in December 2024, across six one-day workshops to evolve and strengthen the company’s growth strategy.

These have now been complemented by three all-employee workshops he has led in which 49 colleagues discussed, challenged and strengthened the vision. Meeting off-site in Poole, groups of team members working across the firm’s job disciplines shared thoughts and ideas for action and identified any gaps.

The in-depth planning, with guidance from Rory, has produced an overall goal to grow the firm’s loan book to £750 million by 2030.

Commercial Director Adam Tovey said:

“Growing our business is all about continuing to make the best decisions we can based on what is right for our customers and our team."

“Engaging with Rory enabled us to broaden our knowledge and consider our plans from different perspectives. Ultimately, this has given us renewed focus on a performance driven strategic direction for the company to further improve both employee and customer experience."

“We have discussed values, motivation, how to get the best from people, how to measure success, and, overall, how to elevate our potential and achieve greater things as a business."

“Our entire team is excited about the new strategy. Everyone was engaged in the workshops, led expertly due to Rory’s knowledge, guidance and charisma.

“Drawing many parallels with success in the business world, he highlighted how best to tackle obstacles, push boundaries and aim for continually higher levels of performance.”

Rory said:

“It has been a real privilege working with the team at MSP Capital. Whilst delivering the Wingman LIFT programme, the team showed great enthusiasm and engagement with each member contributing to the development of the strategy for the next five years. The MSP Capital strategy launch event confirmed that there are exciting times ahead and I know they will continue to build on their success.”