Making Business Simpler. Smarter. Scalable.
Practical, real‑world support for SME leaders to cut complexity, grow profit, and scale with confidence.
Backed by 30 years helping SMEs simplify, grow and scale.
Common SME Pain points we can help with:
If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. These are the exact problems SME founders bring to Pragmatic People every week.
Unwanted complexity
"There’s too much admin and too many manual processes—wish I could automate jobs to save time."
Growing pains
"I want to grow, but scaling up without losing control or breaking what works now is a big challenge."
Rising costs
"It’s getting harder to keep up with rising costs, from wages and rent to technology and materials—and every decision feels a lot riskier these days."
Governance groans
"Keeping up with compliance, paperwork and regulations chews up hours, and it feels like the rules keep changing."
Teams are hard
"My team’s important, but hiring and keeping good people is harder than ever. I can’t match the wages or perks of big companies. How do I find time to train them? "
Value chain strain
"Supply chain problems mean I can’t always deliver on time, and that risks my reputation."
You shouldn’t have to choose between keeping the doors open today and building the business you want tomorrow. To help Pragmatic People offers two practical programs for SME leaders:
- The Business Apprenticeship – grow your next generation of leaders.
- The Pragmatic Accelerator programs – remove complexity and unlock profit so you can scale with control.
👇 Check them out below 👇
Our pragmatic programs:
Business Apprenticeship:
Are you stuck working in your business, not on it?
Stop plugging gaps with one more specialist hire—or doing it all yourself.
The Pragmatic People Business Apprenticeship helps you grow future leaders who think like founders, not just staff.
- 12 core modules over 2 years
- Action orientated based on best practice
- Success managers to help you and your apprentices align to your enterprise & target pain points
- Apprentice Portals to track progress
- Sponsors get to attend most of the courses and participate
For founders who want to free up their time and develop future leaders who think like owners.
Good for SME founders and leaders who want to:
- Free up time to work on strategy, not just operations
- Build confident, capable leaders inside the business
- Grow without losing control or breaking what already works
Pragmatic Accelerator Programs:
For SMEs feeling the strain of rising costs, admin and complicated systems.
We help you remove pain points and complexity through systematic support that enables you to build great teams, culture, streamline your operations, automate manual tasks and scale up confidently—without breaking what works. We offer two programs to help you achieve your audacious goals and vision:
Program 1 - 6 month Pragmatic SME Focussed Accelerator
- focussed on fixing 1-2 key pain points and complexity
Program 2 - 12 month Pragmatic SME Scale Blueprint
- Rewire your business from strategy to operations.
Not sure where to start?
Start with the free 5‑minute Complexity & Profit Scorecard. You’ll get your score, a simple read on your biggest complexity risks and a recommendation on whether the 6‑ or 12‑month Accelerator is right for you.
Good for all SME businesses wanting to become better, more profitable with the ability to scale.
New SME Community:
It takes a community to raise a business. Join us—because we’re stronger, smarter, and more resilient together.
- Curated peer networking
- Weekly Q&A threads
- Resource sharing
- Member wins & accountability
- Expert spotlights / Live sessions
- Challenge weeks
- Exclusive early access
- Recommendation threads
- Peer-to-peer insider tips
- Exclusive learning and events
Good for SME founders and leaders who recognise community is the source of deep knowledge and support.
What SME leaders say about working with Pragmatic People
“We gained the focus and motivation we desperately needed.”
Working with Ash through the Accelerator program has been useful beyond words. The meetings and conversations are full of new ideas, thought‑provoking questions and genuine support, which helped us refocus and gave us the motivation we desperately needed. Ash’s approach is methodical, down‑to‑earth and backed by deep research and experience. The program helped us see our businesses through a different lens and build a clear strategy to improve and grow. Thank you Ash!
Anastasia Mamaeva-Catanho
Owner & Manager Catanho Group
What SME leaders say about working with Pragmatic People
“The planning has been truly eye‑opening.”
Business Apprenticeship – Pilot
The planning has changed how I view my business and the direction we need to move in. The conversations with our apprentices are completely different now, and the way they interact with the business is lifting the rest of the team. New perspectives and ideas are coming through every week, and they’ve been incredibly helpful.
Ricardo Catanho
Owner & Manager Catanho Group
Rising costs, wage pressure and higher input prices are squeezing margins and making every decision feel riskier.
Technology and AI are moving so fast that it is hard to know what to adopt, what to ignore, and how not to waste money.
Clunky systems, red tape and cash flow headaches slow everything down and keep leaders stuck in day‑to‑day operations instead of leading.
Most SME owners feel pulled in too many directions: chasing cash flow, trying to find and keep good people, wrestling with AI, and buried in admin and complex systems. Keeping up, let alone scaling up, should not feel this hard.
At Pragmatic People, you get simple, proven ways to remove complexity, streamline operations and develop people who can share the load, so you can get back to growing the business, not just fighting fires
At Pragmatic People, we get it. You need simple, proven strategies that actually work—so you can get back to running your business, not just fighting fires
Contact Us
Ready to make business simpler, smarter and scalable?
Email Ash directly at ash@pragmaticpeople.co