Nathan Hogan, the 434th person I’ve met on my quest to have lunch with 500 strangers, has a surprising piece of advice: if your employer ever offers you a redundancy – take it.

Once you’re forced to reassess your life and career, you might decide to keep doing the same thing; or you might realise you’d be better off pursuing a different kind of role.

That happened to Nathan in 2014. He’d built an impressive track record as an asset and equipment finance lender, but had been thinking he might have a more fulfilling career if he switched to broking. Nathan was then made redundant, which turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it gave him the push he needed to take his career in a different direction.

Nathan initially worked for another company, before co-founding his own brokerage, iFin Capital Group in 2018. Nathan’s business specialises in providing large equipment loans to mining, construction and transport companies, for things like excavators, cranes and trucks. Very few equipment brokers work on such large deals, because you require specialised knowledge to be able to understand the finances of eight- and nine-figure companies and structure loans in the right way.

In 2022, Nathan co-founded a related company, iFin Advisory, which acts as an outsourced chief financial officer – generally on a temporary basis – for the same kinds of clients. Many of these companies are able to save significant amounts of money by refinancing, which is why there’s such a natural synergy between iFin Capital Group and iFin Advisory.

Nathan, who is tall and broad, has been involved in rugby league since he was younger, has a genuine love for the game and, in his spare time, works as a coach for the Rabbitohs in their elite pathways program.