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Reinvention and relationships: the secrets to building a 30-year business
Imparta founder Richard Barkey explains how his business has evolved through decades of change, supported by his relationship with Lloyds.
Read time: 4 mins Added: 04/11/26
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Reinvention is critical for long-term business growth and success. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that only around 20-30 per cent of businesses make it to their tenth year. Those that stand the test of time are well worth learning from.
Imparta, a global leader in performance improvement in sales, leadership and customer experience, is one of these businesses. The firm was founded by its chief executive Richard Barkey back in 1997 before high-speed broadband, smartphones or the birth of online training and education. Back then, the term AI was a novel concept that was more likely to be found in sci-fi films and books.
Almost 30 years later, Imparta has grown from a single strategy-training simulation into a global business employing 100 people and working with another 100 trainers around the world. That reinvention has been driven by its ability to respond to changing markets and find new opportunities for growth. Its long-standing relationship with Lloyds has provided continuity through that change. More recently, it’s one that enabled Imparta to bring forward the launch of Maia, their new AI-powered sales product, by six months.
A 30-year journey of reinvention
Imparta’s first chapter was born from Barkey’s passion for video games. He was originally a consultant at McKinsey, where he had an idea that merged his passion with skill building. “I thought it’d be cool to create a computer game that simulated the process of being a strategy consultant,” he says. “It could allow you to make all of the mistakes that you make in the first few years in a few hours.”
The product called Strategy Copilot was so successful internally that Barkey – with the blessing of McKinsey – decided to leave and build Imparta. The business was dedicated to creating skill-based training programmes, with a specific focus on strategy. But as society and the world of work has changed over the course of three decades, the business has also needed to pivot. Barkey says Imparta has been through five different chapters.
Together, these shifts allowed Imparta to broaden its offer, respond to disruption and continue finding new opportunities for growth.
Richard Barkey Founder and CEO, ImpartaWe’ve had to reinvent ourselves on a regular basis. In the beginning we focused on strategy training using simulations and classrooms. Then the dotcom bubble burst and we moved more into sales. The next big one was Brexit. At the time, 60 per cent of our sales came from Europe, but that fell dramatically. During Covid we shifted to online versus traditional training and added leadership and management training. Now we’re navigating AI, which is transforming how we can teach people new skills.
Lloyds: there for the long term
Amid that sea of change, Lloyds has supported Imparta at key points in its growth. Barkey, who has been a Lloyds customer since he was 15, has leaned on them for support and access to finance to drive the business forward during periods of change.
“It is very helpful to have an organisation and a relationship manager by your side helping you through that process,” he says. “They've helped us through Covid with a CBILS [Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan], and more recently with a Growth Guarantee Scheme loan that allowed us to invest very heavily in Maia, our next generation of AI product. It’s allowed us to launch six months earlier than expected. In a world moving as quickly as this one, that’s a significant difference.”
Using AI to train human skills
Maia represents the next step in Imparta’s evolution. It has been built to enhance the skills of people that sell and manage selling by training and challenging their critical thinking skills. Over the next five years Barkey aims to grow the business by a factor of five. “That’s going to require investment in product, investment in sales and marketing, and in working capital,” he says. “It’s important to us to have an established relationship with Lloyds, who can help us with continued access to finance.”
Maia is vital so Imparta can adapt to the ever-changing needs of their clients. The firm works with businesses across the technology, chemical, engineering, utilities and professional services industries. Many have been impacted by supply chain issues, tariffs and inflation in recent years. Each shock has required adaptability and new skills. “We’re always having to change what we teach people to do so they can react very quickly to those new issues that are industry by industry. Maia will really help us to do that.”
It’s an approach to AI that mirrors Lloyds’ own vision to pair AI with human thinking to enhance customer relationships and services.
Amanda Murphy CEO, Lloyds Business and Commercial BankingThe businesses that can combine human ingenuity with the power of AI will create a meaningful advantage in productivity, innovation and growth.
Barkey believes that symbiosis between technology and human knowledge is key to developing highly skilled people and businesses. “Thirty years of experience allows us to combine AI understanding with a deep, research-based knowledge of understanding of how people buy and sell and how you get people to change their behaviour, which normal AI doesn’t.”
It’s also helped Imparta’s clients to generate massive impact. “We did a two-year study of 350 sellers and found an average increase in revenue per person of $172,000 per year, per person. That revenue adds up to around £200 million. It’s a remarkably effective tool.”
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All lending is subject to status. Eligibility criteria apply. Lloyds Bank data correct as of April 2026. Figure includes clubs, charities and societies.