AI Magazine Issue 7 2018

14 Acquisition International - Issue 7 2018 WKC Group is a multinational environmental consultancy established in 2009 by Dr. Ian James and a co-director. Ian provides us with an overview of the company and the professional services that he and his team provide to worldwide clients. KC Group provides expert environmental advice to major oil, gas, petrochemical and mining sector clients world-wide. The company has had a fortunate consecutive nine years of growth and profit and have advised on new developments in over 45 countries. Ian outlines the approach that the Company takes when working on new projects with long-term and newly established clients, detailing the process which ensures, at inception, that both sides are working towards reaching the desired outcome. “Large or small, each new engagement with a client is an opportunity for repeat business, hence we ensure a company Partner attends most if not all face to face meetings. We have an enviable 75% repeat business rate and consider client satisfaction as one of our greatest priorities.” Currently, Ian and his team are overseeing a current programme of expansion, and he explains how this fits in to the company’s overall business strategy, as well as what methods and techniques the team adopts in order to ensure that it achieves success. “Here at WKC Group, we have an ongoing programme of expansion to support projects in the developing economies of Africa and the Middle East. Additionally, we have diversified our service offering to include ecology assessment and even environmental software sales. We have now reached that stage where buying small businesses has become part of our strategy for growth, having completed one acquisition and currently exploring a second at the moment.” Offering specialised services has allowed WKC Group to gain an enhanced reputation within a number of key sectors. Ian goes into detail about what the benefits are of operating with the MEA region, and he praises the stability that the Group has been able to achieve. Company: WKC Group Contact: Dr. Ian James Address: P.O. Box 971, Ballito, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa Phone: 0027 32 946 0461 Website: www.wkcgroup.com Specialised Services, Impressive Results W 1806AI52 “Honestly, we are very fortunate that our services are highly specialised, and in the regions within which we operate competition is limited. Also, we benefit from working within a number of sectors which not only promotes growth, but also offers stability if one market area slows. In particular, we have a very strong track record within the Middle East where we have supported projects of significant scale – some new developments have exceeded $20bn CAPEX making such projects particularly interesting to assess.” Further contributing to WKC Group’s achievements have been the particular strengths that each team member possesses, as they strive to produce the required quality of environmental assessments within typically aggressive timeframes, whilst at all times maintain unrivalled customer service. Ian tells us what qualities and attributes he believes are essential to achieving success within the industry. “Internally, I believe an education in a hard science or engineering discipline (BSc and PhD Chemistry in my case), which allows specialisation into the most complex areas of environmental consulting, will naturally create a demand for the services you offer. Of comparable importance, given our team and client base are multinational, is a diplomatic nature.” Discussing the challenges that the consultancy has faced since its establishment, Ian talks about the financial aspects of establishing a company, but he tells us how he and his team were able to be proactive in their approach and overcome these issues. “As one of two directors, and having self-financed WKC Group as a start-up, cash flow is the single greatest challenge we faced. This was particularly true in our first few years. We have addressed this in a number of ways, most notably by employing finance staff that have experience in collections – which takes a great deal of pressure off our technical employees. Now that our global annual turnover exceeds $4M, we’re finding new avenues to finance our ongoing growth.” Regarding the future aspirations of the business, Ian is positive about the times ahead, and he is looking to branch out and diversify some of his commitments, whilst expanding WKC Group into different areas. “Honestly, we are very fortunate that our services are highly specialised, and in the regions within which we operate competition is limited.”