Akanasu started with a simple belief that expert advice shouldn't make people feel small.

Too often, complexity becomes a barrier. Regulation feels impenetrable. Important decisions become overwhelming. A document gets longer and longer without becoming any clearer. Businesses know they need to act, but aren't always sure where to start.

I like getting stuck into something that initially looks impossible, figuring out what is actually going on and finding the important bit buried underneath all the noise. making it make sense.

Akanasu is the result.

Why Akanasu?

The name comes from 赤茄子 (akanasu), an old Japanese name for tomato.

What started as a fun story about my obsession growing tomatoes in my back garden, became the name I couldn’t stop thinking about, and I wanted the company to have some of that personality too.

I loved that something so ordinary had this completely unexpected history hiding underneath it. A tomato is familiar. Akanasu isn't. It is a little unusual and a little playful.

That is exactly how I want Akanasu to feel.

Intelligent, but not intimidating.
Professional, but not corporate.
Creative, but never without purpose.

The name doesn't tell you what we do. That's deliberate.

The business gets to give the name its meaning.

Built from expertise, designed to be accessible

My background is in tax policy, regulation, legal analysis and strategic advisory. I've worked on complex policy issues, interpreted legislation, advised on high-stakes matters, prepared work for senior decision-makers and represented government bodies externally.

I've also discovered something along the way:

I really enjoy solving difficult problems.

The complicated legislation. The awkward argument. The document that isn't quite working. The situation where nobody is quite sure what the answer is. The high-pressure moment when the details matter.

And, perhaps slightly unusually, I enjoy the challenge of standing behind an argument when it really matters.

But expertise is only useful if people can understand it.

That's where Akanasu comes in.

What we believe

We believe the best advice doesn't make people feel small.

It makes them feel capable.

That’s the philosophy Akanasu is built on.

We believe clarity is a skill.

We believe complicated doesn't have to mean confusing.

We believe good work should be rigorous enough to withstand scrutiny and clear enough to make sense to the person reading it.

We believe relationships matter.

And we believe businesses shouldn't have to hire a huge, intimidating consultancy to get genuinely excellent advice.

Where Akanasu is going

Akanasu begins with advisory.

Tax policy. Regulation. Strategic advice. Business cases. Complex issues. High-stakes writing.

But it isn't intended to stay in one box.

Alongside advisory, Akanasu is building a creative practice. We call it Tomato Studios. Here we help businesses communicate, build their online social presence and turn their expertise into something people can actually see, understand and engage with.

Because ultimately, these things are connected.

Whether we're helping a business understand a piece of regulation or helping it explain what makes it different, the principle is the same:

Find the complexity. Understand it. Make it clear. Move forward.

Welcome to Akanasu.

A business built on expertise, curiosity and a slightly obsessive belief that things can usually be made clearer.

We make complicated things understandable.