Esther Jones

Esther Jones helps business leaders turn scattered AI experiments into joined-up results. Most small to mid-sized businesses she meets already have people using AI tools, but the gains stay with individual staff members instead of showing up on the bottom line. Esther closes that gap, pinpointing the processes where Intelligent Automation saves real time and money across the whole business, not just one desk at a time.

As Head of Partnerships & Growth at Valenta, she works on two fronts. She partners directly with SME owners and leadership teams to find and remove the repetitive, manual work slowing their people down, and she leads the recruitment and development of franchise partners building Valenta's global network of Managing Partners.

Esther began her career with 12 years at Abbey National as a financial adviser and bank manager, gaining valuable insight into how businesses operate and developing a lasting commitment to putting clients first. She then identified a gap in the market and launched her own business, which she grew over the next decade into a national franchise network spanning 15 territories and engaging more than 15,000 participants. She subsequently worked with larger franchise networks, helping them maximize returns by supporting franchisees and identifying the right business owners to drive further expansion.

That path taught her something few advisers learn firsthand: in a business that replicates, small inefficiencies multiply, and so do the fixes. A process improved once in a franchise system pays back in every territory that runs it. The same logic applies to any growing business with repeatable work spread across teams, sites, or departments.

Esther first worked with Valenta in 2024 as an external consultant on franchise development, finding the people who would bring AI and automation to small and medium-sized businesses. What she saw the service deliver for clients, supporting teams while saving time and money, convinced her to expand her role and work with businesses directly.

Her approach is deliberately practical. Start with the business problem, not the latest tool. Find where time and money are leaking, start small, prove value, then scale what works. No jargon. No months-long discovery phase. Valenta brings enterprise-grade Intelligent Automation, Digital Assistants, and Data & Integration to organisations that can't justify traditional consulting fees or an in-house IT team, with bespoke solutions that work across industries and departments, delivered by a global team at the forefront of AI.

Esther works with franchise organisations, multi-site businesses, and growing SMEs. For her, helping a business identify the processes it can streamline is the most rewarding part of the job. For prospective franchise partners, she brings a view from both sides of the table: a founder who built a network from scratch, and an adviser who has recruited and supported the owners who grow one.

Esther studied Population Studies at the University of Southampton, which gave her a thorough grounding in statistics and a comfort with business numbers she still draws on when sizing up where a process is costing time and money. She went on to qualify as a financial adviser during her years in banking.

Outside work, Esther is a keen gym-goer and walker. Since moving to the coast, the novelty of a walk by the sea still hasn't worn off. She's also a pianist and singer, and her favourite days are the ones when the family comes to visit: she and her husband have six adult children between them.