Univis Group handles M&A and management consulting across a wide range of fields. Within this group, a new strategy team — “Univis Strategy” — has been launched. Specializing in strategy consulting aimed at resolving management challenges, the team’s defining strength is a hands-on support style in which consultants embed themselves within the client’s organization to help address those challenges.
We interviewed Yuya Takebe, who leads the Univis Strategy team, and Haruka Maruyama, who works there as a Senior Associate. We asked about the organization’s vision and its strategy for growth.
Yuya Takebe
After graduating from university, he joined Resona Bank as a new graduate. He focused primarily on corporate sales and, at head office, was responsible for sales oversight and planning for all branches. He subsequently joined IGPI (Industrial Growth Platform, Inc.), where he worked on medium-term business plan formulation and strategic planning and execution support for business expansion at a major food manufacturer, as well as new business planning for a mid-tier condominium developer. At UNIVIS, he is primarily responsible for strategy-related engagements including management and business strategy formulation, new business planning, business restructuring, large-scale project PMO, and BDD.
Haruka Maruyama
After graduating from university, he joined Recruit Co., Ltd. as a new graduate. He worked in proposal-based sales for job advertising, supporting mid-career recruitment for companies ranging from large corporations to SMEs. He subsequently joined Keystone, where he handled a total of eight engagements primarily for PE fund portfolio companies — including business due diligence on furniture e-commerce and stationery manufacturers at the investment consideration stage, and PMI support such as strategy formulation and medium-term business plan development for a payment service provider and a specialist trading company. At UNIVIS, he primarily handles strategy-related and FAS work, including management and business strategy formulation and BDD.
Building a Support Style That Embeds Consultants Within the Client’s Organization
— Mr. Takebe, could you tell us about the Univis Strategy team’s business?
Our business falls broadly into two areas. The first is a resident-style consulting service centered on strategy formulation and medium-term business plan development for operating companies. The second is Business Due Diligence (BDD), which supports decision-making on whether to proceed with an acquisition and on the validity of the acquisition price when a fund or company is conducting an M&A transaction.
— What would you say are the distinguishing features of your support?
Our consulting goes beyond offering advice from the outside — we embed ourselves deeply within the client’s organization and commit not just to planning and strategy formulation but through to the execution stage. Recently, the number of consulting firms claiming to offer a hands-on approach has grown, but the reality is that firms capable of truly providing hands-on support through on-site residence are not necessarily that common. Clients are genuinely — and in a positive way — astonished when we actually show up at their office every day and work alongside them as if we were their own employees.
In terms of engagement content, our work centers on pure strategy assignments. Because we formulate strategies and plans with execution in mind from the outset, the vast majority of our engagements last at least six months.
— Could you tell us about how projects are structured?
In principle we aim to work in teams of two to three people. Our current headcount, beyond the two of us, is one person in Osaka and two in Tokyo — a total of five — and including those slated to transfer from our internal accounting team and new joiners after April, the team is expected to reach eight in the near term. Even so, our current workload means we are not exactly flush with resources, so going forward we intend to keep increasing headcount while maintaining our commitment to quality, enabling us to deliver consistently high-quality output to clients.
At the Senior Associate level and below, our policy is in principle for people to focus on a single project rather than handling multiple concurrently. There will naturally be variation depending on the potential and experience of each hire, but we believe that dedicating yourself to a single project is the more reliable path to building genuine capability. We aim to advance projects in the way that best suits each person’s skills and experience.
— Is on-site residence at client locations a common way of working?
Yes. Our basic support model involves either full on-site residence or visiting the client approximately two to three days per week. Depending on the location, this may mean staying in a hotel near the client’s site on a weekday travel basis during the week.
On days when there is no client visit, we combine office work with remote working, and we have adopted a flex-time arrangement to give members the flexibility to work in whatever way best supports their individual productivity.
Because the Organization Is Still Growing — We Need People Who Can Take the Initiative
— I’d like to ask about the kind of people who are a good fit. Mr. Maruyama, from your perspective as a Senior Associate, what kind of person do you feel suits the organization?
People with a habit of taking in new knowledge every day, and who have a strong desire to grow, are a great fit. Because Univis Strategy does not limit the industries its clients come from, a working style focused on deepening specialist knowledge in a single sector is not what we are looking for. What we value above all is the mindset of “how quickly can we turn the PDCA cycle.” We are looking for people who can act with a sense of urgency even in unfamiliar territory.
Despite being a small organization, Univis Strategy offers close daily working contact with members who have built track records at top domestic firms and other major companies — including Takebe, who came from IGPI. It is, therefore, an environment that is well suited to accelerating personal growth. It is also a good option for people looking to shift their career trajectory.
— Mr. Takebe, what kind of person do you think is the right fit?
In addition to what Maruyama said, I would add that people who can actively take the initiative are a strong match. Our organization is still young, and the way we work is very different from a large corporation. Large companies have well-established internal rules, regulations, and training programs, and there is always routine work to be done. At our company, by contrast, we have to create the work ourselves. Our training systems are also not as established as those at large corporations. For that reason, people who can act on their own initiative — rather than waiting to be told what to do — are the ones who are suited to us. And that is precisely why I believe they can accelerate their own growth.
— That’s certainly a skill that’s especially important in a young organization.
Yes. But at the same time, I think it takes courage to step into an environment like this precisely because it is a young organization. Mindset-wise, someone who comes in with the attitude of “I’m going to grow this organization with my own hands” is probably a better match for where the team is right now.
Strategy consulting experience is certainly a plus, but even someone with limited experience who can think independently, take action, and bring genuine passion to the work is every bit as important to this team.
Making the Transition from Sales to Consultant — Driven by a Desire to Solve Management Challenges
— Mr. Takebe, could you tell us about your career background?
After graduating from university I joined Resona Bank as a new graduate, where I was involved in corporate sales at city branches and at the Osaka head office, and in sales planning and sales oversight at the Tokyo head office. I then moved to IGPI (Industrial Growth Platform, Inc.), where I handled strategy-domain engagements — primarily medium-term business plan formulation and strategy development for food manufacturers. In April 2024 I joined Univis Total Service, and in November 2024 I launched Univis Strategy.
— What prompted the move from the financial industry to consulting?
In my banking sales role, I was managing around seventy to eighty companies on my own. Naturally, with that many companies to handle, it was difficult to make a deep commitment to any one of them, and I started to feel a frustration that the support I was providing — including financial assistance — was inevitably superficial. While I understood that it came with the nature of the role, I wanted to embed myself deeply in a single client and do work that would truly benefit them. That led me to choose the path of strategy consulting. Within the strategy consulting world, I chose IGPI — a firm with a strong track record of genuinely engaging with mid-tier and small companies and driving full-scale organizational transformation — and joined.
After my time at IGPI, I felt I had reached a certain level of skill and wanted to test myself. I moved to what was then Univis Total Service — the team that would become Univis Strategy — at a time when no strategy talent yet existed there. Unlike at a major firm, there are no limits on what my role can be, and while building everything from scratch with full autonomy has its challenges, I find it deeply rewarding.
— Mr. Maruyama, could you tell us about your career background as well?
I joined Recruit as a new graduate and spent about three years in sales, supporting mid-career recruitment. In conversations with SME owners as a salesperson, I started to feel frustrated that the only solution I could offer when I sensed a company’s challenges was advertising — and that led me to move to a consulting firm called Keystone and choose the consulting path.
— A transition from sales to consulting — were you anxious about it?
Initially I was anxious, thinking that actually rolling up your sleeves to solve client challenges would be tough going. But I was drawn to the kind of work that sales simply couldn’t offer. I also wanted to acquire consulting skills because they are universally applicable across any kind of business.
When I made the move to Keystone as a consultant, I felt I was in a demanding environment with a strong emphasis on output. Recruit had a culture of the whole company enjoying growth together, and had an energetic feel to it. Keystone, by contrast, felt like an environment where individuals grew on their own. Output was reviewed in detail, and while it was a high-pressure environment, it was also a period that pushed my own growth enormously.
Raising the Market Value of the People Who Join
— Mr. Takebe, could you tell us about the vision for the strategy consulting business?
As the person leading the Univis Strategy team, I want to raise the market value of everyone who joins it. To that end, I intend to grow the team into a consulting firm in the Kansai region that no competitor can match in the strategy domain — within the next three years. We frequently compete against major consulting firms in the engagement-winning phase, and we have already won a good number of those contests. Honestly, when it comes to consulting capability combined with business development strength, I don’t feel there are many firms we’d lose to. Anyone who meets me and works with me will feel that, I’m confident. By steadily building trust and a track record with our current clients, I firmly believe that becoming number one in Kansai is well within reach — not merely a dream. To that end, rather than simply increasing headcount indiscriminately, I want to carefully develop a small number of high-quality people and solidify the organization’s foundation.
— Mr. Maruyama, could you share your own personal vision?
Like Takebe, I want to spend a certain period simply dedicating myself to steadily building the team’s track record. My goal is to provide support that creates real value for clients — so that when a client faces any kind of challenge, our name is the first one that comes to mind. I see my own career growth as something that comes on the other side of that organizational growth. I want to accumulate experience alongside the organization and raise my own market value as a capable consultant.
【Post-Interview Note】
What struck me most in the interview was the unwavering resolve of team leader Takebe — his determination to build the number-one strategy firm in the Kansai region. Univis Strategy’s defining characteristic is its thorough hands-on stance: not stopping at advice from the outside, but embedding deeply within the client and taking accountability all the way through to execution.
What I want prospective applicants to pay attention to is the experience of “creating the work itself” — something only available in a young organization like this. The sincerity of an educational policy that has team members below Senior Associate focus on a single project speaks clearly to a genuine commitment to raising each person’s market value. The sight of an elite group of people from diverse backgrounds — banking, Recruit, and beyond — moving with initiative and unconstrained by existing rules is pure vitality. This is a company I would strongly recommend to anyone with the ambition to join at the founding stage of an organization and see their own growth directly reflected in that organization’s expansion.
ConsulNext Senior Consultant
Masahito Tsukada
Univis Total Service Inc. — Company Information
| Company Name | Univis Total Service Inc. |
| Founded | November 21, 2014 |
| Team Name | Univis Strategy |
| URL | https://univis.co.jp/strategy/ |
| Business Activities | Management support for client companies |
| Address | NTT Toranomon Building 6F, 3-8-8 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 |
| Representative | Yuya Takebe |
