The one to watch

In 1997, a £5,000 loan intended for a new kitchen became seed capital for a start-up broking firm in Horsforth, West Yorkshire. Eleven years later, Romero Insurance Brokers - the brokerage that almost never was - is embarking on the next stage of its development with aggressive growth targets seemingly of another era. So what gives it the right to be so confident?

"We carry no debt, and from the point of view of current economic conditions, this is a fantastic place to be," declares Simon Mabb,