A West Midlands IT and telecoms consultancy has been able to launch into new international markets thanks to expert financial advice from pension-led funding specialists Clifton Asset Management (CAM).

David Brown has been running Tecom from his office at home for the past five years and just before Christmas 2010 he came close to losing a major client and faced months of uncertainty as income for his business dropped drastically.

But now David is planning a strategy for growth as CAM has enabled him to release £30,000 from his personal pension assets to invest in the future of the business, which has included making new business contacts abroad.

The deal means Tecom has gone from facing a financial black hole to looking forward with confidence for the future.

David, aged 48, said: "It was massively important to get this funding. Without that deal we may have kept plodding along with the customers we had, but we would not have been able to grow the business in the way we have done."

Tecom now works with clients across Europe and the United States finding markets for software and IT developers, typically areas such as mobile phone app development and online banking.

David, who runs the business with his wife Janet, explained the situation their company was facing. He says: "At the end of last year our biggest client ran into financial problems and that hit us badly as they probably represented about 90 per cent of our business. In hindsight this was a dangerous position to be in and we have since adopted our original strategy which was to develop a core base of 6 to 8 clients.

"When we had the payment problems with our client just before Christmas we faced three months with no income whatsoever. I was in discussions with the bank at the time but CAM said they could get something in place more quickly.

"We wanted to develop new markets in the USA which meant we needed some working capital quickly to enable us to travel over there, set up meetings and make contacts. We had formed a partnership with a larger consultancy in the US, 151 Ventures, and realised we needed funding to make the strategy work."

David said that before he had spoken to CAM he had not realised it was possible to generate funds from his pension pot to put back into his business.

CAM was able to work with Tecom to release personal assets from within their pension to help refinance their business without any input from the bank. The money released from their personal pensions was used to fund trips abroad enabling David to make key contacts on the ground and develop new business.

David says: "I decided that £30,000 would be a lot more use to my business now than when I come to retire. To me it made perfect sense and I'd rather be borrowing from myself to boost my own business."

Neil Greenaway, Managing Director for CAM says; "Tecom is an excellent example of a small business recognising the value of their personal assets and with our help using them to free themselves of the burden of the high street banks. We try to find bespoke solutions for each of our clients and in this case it has meant being able to use a pot of money to invest in the business and other financial opportunities to grow the personal freedom and wealth of the business owners. With the business paying back the pension pot on a monthly basis David and Janet are finally on their way to financial freedom and able to realise their ambition of growing their business."