Two creative entrepreneurs have been awarded £22,500 in start-up loan funding from alternative regional funder SWIG Finance to launch a new branding agency in Bristol.
Siena Dexter and Kieran Katwala described themselves as being obsessed with brilliant design, science-led strategy and the human condition. 
As a result, their new agency Naked Ape Brands takes a human-centred approach to brand positioning by combining the disciplines of social science with design and qualitative testing, so helping to build emotionally intelligent consumer brands.
Among its six staff is Michael Bloomfield, an anthropologist PHD and expert in semiotics and cultural insight, who helps the agency build more meaningful brands by decoding contemporary culture.
Kieran, who is Naked Ape Brands’ lead brand adviser and director of business development, was previously managing partner and brand adviser at Idea Dolls, a London-based branding and packaging design agency.
Naked Ape Brands director of strategy Siena was founder and creative strategist at Idea Dolls and has worked with high-profile organisations, including Imperial Brands and Moon Pig.
Despite having just launched, the agency has high ambitions, with plans in place to grow the headcount and acquire office space over the next one to two years.
Siena said SWIG had been “unbelievably supportive” from the start of the funding process.
“At first, I found the application documents daunting,” she admitted. “I have very little experience of accounting, but I quickly saw how much control I had over my budgeting and planning when it was all laid out so clearly.”
SWIG Finance assigned her a dedicated business advisor who helped turn her vision into a tangible, measurable business plan and realistically plan for the first year of the business.
“I firmly believe that to succeed at anything takes full, unwavering focus – it would have been impossible to dedicate myself to launching and running a successful agency if I had one foot in someone else’s business,” she added.
“This start-up loan means we can fast-track the launch of our new business and get it off the ground much quicker.”
SWIG start-up loans team leader Mark Thayre said Siena was an astute entrepreneur who clearly had an excellent understanding of what makes a brand successful.
“The team at Naked Ape Brands is brimming with talent and SWIG are looking forward to watching the brand flourish,” he added.
Last year SWIG revealed lent a record £14m to ambitious small and medium-sized businesses across the South West.
The non-profit group, which supports viable businesses that cannot secure sufficient funding from their bank, provided 559 loans to 478 start-ups and growing firms in 2022/23.
This helped create or safeguard 1,045 jobs in established small businesses and a further 437 new ones in the start-ups it supported.
Pictured: Naked Ape head of growth Sean Dexter, left, with co-founders Siena Dexter and Kieran Katwala
