I help women-led, UK SMEs optimise operations, improve efficiency, scale and grow, through the strategic deployment of modern digital tools, blended with decades of hands-on management consultancy experience. The world is changing fast, with AI and data automation transforming global working practices, a business landscape shifting rapidly towards sustainability and green industries, and increased
political uncertainty. Over the next few years, AI/ML and other contemporary technologies will infiltrate virtually every aspect of business, from customer service to widget production, to internal policy and governance. Forward-thinking businesses, who take the process of defining their goals and values seriously, are already better placed to identify and implement such tools *appropriately and strategically*, giving them a significant edge over their competitors. Those businesses who don’t view this operational shift as an integral part of their wider strategy and simply tack on unresearched, shiny new tools in an attempt to feel like they are keeping up, are so much more likely to fail. About
As a contractor for most of my early career, I’ve worked in almost every sector and industry across the UK, supporting both SMEs and large corporations.
• I left school aged 16 in 1988 and started my career through a YTS, working for several local small businesses - a print shop, estate agents, solicitors, a timber yard, and others.
• I first learned about tendering in the mid-’90s through a marketing role at an office furniture company. From that point on, bid writing and management became a core part of every marcomms position I held.
• In 2004, I moved to the buyer side of procurement, working on tenders and contracts for WRAP, an NGO focused on global environmental action.
• In 2006, I started my own micro business, initially offering marketing, communications and tendering services, later refining it to help UK SMEs build their businesses around their work-winning goals by providing expert strategic consultancy through my brand UK Bid Writer.
• In 2018, I was named one of the UK SmallBiz100. I also looked more closely at the potential impacts of AI, taking on additional tech projects and CPD to learn more.
• In 2025, in response to the huge opportunities - and very real risks - presented by the rapid changes in our working world, I'm broadening my strategic services through Lyndsey Wray Consultancy, with the clear aim of supporting specifically women-led, born-analogue SMEs to modernise and futureproof their businesses.
