How AI and Smart Deal Strategy Help SME Owners Double Their Valuation – An Interview with Jane Jawad
- Brainz Magazine
- Dec 3, 2025
- 7 min read
Most SME owners know they "should" be using AI or planning an exit – but few have the roadmap to turn intention into profit. Strategic adviser Jane Jawad reveals how AI, automation, and deal-readiness can lift EBITDA, multiply valuation, and create genuine options for scale or sale within three to five years.
Jane Jawad is a strategic adviser, dealmaker, and founder of Centaura Group, a boutique consultancy specialising in AI, automation, and M&A advisory for established SMEs. With two decades leading large-scale corporate transformation, she now channels that expertise toward a vastly underserved market: owner-led and family-run businesses in the £5m-£75m revenue range.
Her clients span manufacturers, logistics operators, technology firms, and professional services businesses across the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia – companies that have outgrown informal systems but lack enterprise-grade support. Through targeted operational and digital interventions, Jane helps these businesses achieve meaningful EBITDA uplift and exit multiples that can improve two to threefold.
Small and medium enterprises represent the majority of firms globally and more than half of all employment, yet they struggle disproportionately to access capital, technology, and strategic guidance. Through Centaura Group and the SME Innovation Network, Jane is democratising the tools and deal strategies once reserved for large corporates, making them practical and implementable for the business owners who quietly power most economies.
Jane Jawad, Co-Founder
Who is Jane Jawad, in your own words?
At heart, I'm a builder and a problem-solver. I spent years in large corporates leading complex transformation programmes across technology, operations, and customer experience. I loved the challenge, but I became frustrated that the expertise we deployed for multinationals was rarely available – or affordable – for the business owners who actually create most jobs and innovation.
So I founded Centaura Group and, later, the SME Innovation Network. Today I work with founders, family-business leaders, and CEOs who are serious about scaling, modernising, or preparing for exit. My focus is practical: how do we use AI, automation, and smart deal strategy to make your business easier to run, more profitable, and more attractive to investors or buyers – without breaking what already works?
I'm also a mum, an investor, and someone who cares deeply about how wealth and opportunity are created. Working with SMEs isn't just commercial for me; it's how I contribute to more resilient communities and economies.
Why are SMEs so important – and what challenges are they facing right now?
SMEs are the backbone of most economies – the vast majority of businesses and a huge share of employment. When they thrive, communities stabilise, and opportunity spreads. When they struggle, the effects ripple through local jobs, mental health, and economic vitality.
Right now, I see three overlapping pressures:
Margin squeeze and operational complexity – Costs are climbing, customer expectations are rising, and many businesses still run on manual processes and heroic effort. Critical knowledge lives in people's heads, not systems.
Digital and AI disruption – AI has moved from buzzword to everyday reality, but most SMEs have a patchwork of tools rather than a coherent strategy. They're not seeing the full benefit.
Ownership transition and consolidation – Many founders are approaching retirement while investors and larger players actively seek strong mid-market acquisitions. Early planning and operational readiness now directly impact valuation.
The opportunity is enormous, but the gap is widening between companies making deliberate moves in the next three to five years and those hoping things will "go back to normal."
What exactly does Centaura do for a typical client?
A typical client is a 40–60-year-old owner of a £20m–£50m business – often in logistics, manufacturing or B2B services – who's hit a growth plateau or is starting to think about exit within three to seven years.
We start with an AI, automation, and deal-readiness assessment:
Mapping how value actually flows through the business – from winning work to getting paid
Identifying where time, money, and opportunities are leaking
Assessing how "saleable" the current operating model looks to buyers or investors
From there we:
Design a focused automation roadmap – consolidating systems, automating back-office workflows, deploying AI for sales, service or operations.
Link every action to value creation – modelling the expected uplift in profit, cash flow and resilience, and how that influences valuation multiples in a sale scenario.
Prepare for deals – grooming the business for sale, or using newly created capacity to pursue acquisitions as a buyer.
It's never tech for tech's sake. The question is always: how do we make this business more valuable, resilient and attractive – whether the owner keeps it, sells it or starts acquiring others?
What are the biggest misconceptions SME leaders have about AI and automation?
Three come up repeatedly:
"We're already using AI, so we're ahead."Many teams feel advanced because they've tried ChatGPT or added a few automations. In reality, the foundations are often missing: clean data, integrated systems, and documented processes. You can't scale AI on top of chaos.
"AI will replace my people."In most SMEs, the problem isn't too many people – it's that good people are drowning in low-value work: re-keying data, chasing information, firefighting. The best early AI wins free your team to focus on customer relationships, innovation, and growth.
"We can't afford it."The cost of not modernising is increasingly higher than taking the first steps. Competitors who streamline operations and decision-making with AI will respond faster, price smarter, and deliver better experiences. Over five years, that compounds into a genuine competitive gap.
My approach: start small, choose measurable use cases, prove the value, then scale what works.
What do founders get wrong about buying or selling a business?
The biggest mistake is viewing a deal as a one-off event instead of a multi-year journey. Many owners only call an adviser when they've received an approach or when fatigue has truly set in. By then, negotiating power is limited.
On the sell side, owners underestimate how much valuation is driven by perceived risk and future potential. Strong financials help, but buyers also want:
A management team that can run the business without the founder
Clean, transparent numbers and reliable reporting
Robust systems and processes, not organised chaos
Clear evidence that the business can scale – where AI and automation matter
On the buy side, SMEs underestimate what integration demands: aligning cultures, systems, processes, and data. Combining post-merger work with automation and AI is powerful. You're not stitching two messy organisations together; you're using the transaction as a catalyst to build a cleaner, more scalable operating model.
You work with founders at pivotal, emotional moments. What patterns do you see behind the spreadsheets?
Behind every P&L is a human story. Common patterns include:
Exhaustion and key-person dependency – Owners who can't step away because everything depends on them. It's not just operational risk; it's a quality-of-life issue.
Fear of making the "wrong" big move – A sale, major acquisition or step-change in technology can feel existential. That fear keeps people stuck longer than is healthy.
Under-valuing their own achievements – Founders see flaws rather than the asset they've built. Part of my work is helping them recognise the real strengths of their business and themselves as leaders.
I'm data-driven, but I'm honest about the emotional side. You can't guide someone through a major transition if you only talk about EBITDA and never address what they're afraid of losing or hoping to gain.
For a time-poor SME owner, what are the first three moves to make in the next 12–18 months?
Keep it simple and high-leverage:
Audit how your business really runs today. Map how you win work, deliver it, get paid, and manage risk. Identify your five most painful bottlenecks – where time, money, or opportunities leak. That's your automation shortlist.
Run one focused AI and automation pilot with clear ROI. Pick one or two use cases – automating a finance process, triaging customer queries, generating first-draft proposals. Start small, measure time saved and error reduction, and build internal confidence.
Begin deal-readiness, even if you're not planning to sell. Tidy your financials, document key processes, strengthen your management bench, and reduce reliance on any individual. Whether you ultimately sell, raise capital, or acquire others, these moves increase your options and enterprise value.
If those three are in motion, almost every strategic option – scale, succession, sale, or acquisition – becomes easier and more lucrative.
What is the SME Innovation Network, and how does it complement your advisory work?
Centaura is hands-on and bespoke. The SME Innovation Network exists for leaders who want access to ideas, tools, and peers before they're ready for full consulting engagement.
In practice:
A curated community of SME owners serious about modernising
Playbooks, prompt packs, and workshops on AI, automation, and strategic decision-making
Regular clinics and partner sessions where members test ideas, share wins, and get practical feedback
Some members later become advisory clients; others use the network to sharpen their own thinking and execution. Both are positive outcomes because the mission is raising the overall standard of support available to SMEs, not pushing everyone into one model.
Looking ten years ahead, what impact do you hope your work will have?
I'd love to see a meaningful number of businesses that:
Grew or exited on their own terms – not through luck, but through intelligent, well-timed decisions with the right support.
Used AI and automation to enhance, not erode, their humanity – freeing teams from repetitive work to focus on creativity, relationships, and innovation.
Created generational stability – for founders, their families, and employees, through stronger, more resilient enterprises.
I'm not chasing headlines. I'm interested in being the quiet partner who helped business owners see options they didn't realise they had – and then execute with confidence.
What should you do next?
If you recognised your business in this interview, don't file it away for "someday." Here's what to do:
Take one focused hour to map your top operational pain points and where your time really goes.
Have an honest conversation – with Jane, with a trusted adviser, or within your leadership team – about where AI, automation, and deal strategy could change your trajectory over the next three years.
Decide on one concrete next step: a light-touch assessment, joining the SME Innovation Network, or moving into a structured transformation or exit-readiness programme.
You don't need every answer today. You just need to make a deliberate first move.
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