Scaling a business successfully often means making decisions that challenge established paths. For Kat Wellum-Kent, Founder and CEO of Fracteura, that moment came after a 16-year career culminating in a Director role at a Big Four firm, where she chose to step away from a traditional leadership trajectory to build something more aligned with the realities of modern, high-growth businesses.

Working closely with founders, Kat recognised a consistent gap. Growing companies were receiving strategic advice but lacked the internal capacity to deliver it effectively. Rather than adapting existing consultancy models, she set out to create a structure that addressed this disconnect directly, forming the foundation of what would become Fracteura.

That decision has underpinned the company’s rapid development and earned her the Business Growth Award at the 2026 Women in Business Awards.

Delivering Growth Where It Matters

Since launching in 2023, Fracteura has expanded beyond its initial finance offering into a broader support model for scaling businesses. The company works with founders as they navigate periods of rapid change and increasing complexity.

Its work spans both long-term growth journeys and more time-sensitive challenges. It supports leadership teams through key moments where structure, clarity and execution are critical to maintaining momentum.

In Conversation with Kat Wellum-Kent

Following her award win, we spoke with Kat about the journey behind Fracteura, the challenges of building a new model, and what comes next.

Please provide a brief overview of your business or what do you do within the company.

I’m the founder and CEO of Fracteura, a full-stack fractional support business that helps scaling companies access the leadership and operational expertise they need to grow.

We work with ambitious founders and leadership teams who are scaling quickly but don’t yet need, or can’t justify, a full in-house executive team. Instead, we provide a connected team of fractional specialists across functions like finance, people, marketing, tech and operations.

What makes our model different is that we don’t just provide senior strategic leaders. We combine experienced leadership with hands-on operators who can actually implement and deliver. That means founders aren’t just getting advice, they’re getting real momentum inside the business.

As CEO, my role is to lead the overall strategy and growth of Fracteura, work closely with founders and investors, and ensure the companies we support have the clarity, capability and support they need to scale successfully.

What would you attribute as the main reason for your success?

The biggest reason for our success has been staying very close to the real problems founders are facing as they scale.

Many scaling businesses reach a point where they need stronger leadership and better systems, but hiring a full executive team too early is expensive and risky. At the same time, traditional consulting often provides advice without the operational delivery.

Fracteura sits in the middle of that gap. We bring experienced leaders who can shape strategy, but we also bring operators who can implement and execute. That combination has resonated strongly with founders who need progress, not just plans.

The other factor has been pace. We’ve grown very quickly because the demand for this kind of support is real. When businesses start scaling, the need for experienced support across multiple functions appears almost overnight.

What has been the biggest challenge you have overcome?

One of the biggest challenges has been building a model that didn’t really exist in this form before.

Fractional roles are becoming more common, but creating a connected, full-stack team of fractional leaders and operators across multiple business functions required us to design the structure, processes and delivery model from scratch.

We’ve had to build the network, define how teams integrate into client businesses and educate the market at the same time. That’s been challenging, but it’s also been a huge opportunity because it means we’ve been able to shape something that genuinely works for scaling companies.

What do you think made you stand out as a winner in the awards? Tell us about the specific project or facet of your business you believe earned you this award win.

I believe the award reflects both the pace of growth we’ve achieved and the impact the model is having for scaling businesses.

The business originally started with Fractional Finance, helping founders gain stronger financial leadership without hiring a full-time CFO. Through that work we quickly saw that finance challenges were often connected to wider operational gaps across HR, systems, marketing and leadership structure.

That insight led to the development of Fracteura as a broader solution, bringing together a full stack of fractional expertise across multiple functions.

In a relatively short period of time we’ve built a network of experienced leaders and operators and supported a growing number of scaling businesses. The feedback we hear consistently is that founders value having a connected team around them rather than trying to piece together multiple individual providers.

What is the next big step for you?

The next stage is expanding the range of fractional support we offer and continuing to build out the full-stack model.

A major focus for 2026 is the launch and growth of Fractional Operations. As businesses scale, operational complexity increases very quickly, and many founders reach a point where they need experienced operational leadership to bring structure, systems and clarity to the business.

Alongside that, we’ll continue growing the network of fractional leaders and operators across the UK and supporting more scaling companies as they move through critical growth stages.

Our ambition is to become the go-to model for scaling businesses that need experienced leadership and execution without the overhead of building a full executive team too early.

Would you recommend Business Awards UK to other businesses? If so, why?

Yes, absolutely.

Running and scaling a business is often very focused on what comes next, so awards like this create a valuable moment to reflect on how far you’ve come and recognise the work of the team behind the growth.

They also help shine a spotlight on innovative businesses and the different ways companies are building and scaling across the UK.

For growing companies in particular, that visibility and recognition can be incredibly valuable.

Looking Ahead

Kat Wellum-Kent’s work with Fracteura reflects a practical response to the challenges faced by scaling businesses, particularly the need to combine strategic direction with reliable execution. By focusing on how businesses grow in reality, not just in theory, she has developed a model that aligns closely with the demands of high-growth environments.

As Fracteura continues to expand its capabilities and support more businesses across the UK, its trajectory will remain closely linked to the evolving needs of founders navigating complex and fast-moving growth stages.