As we go into a new year ready for new adventures, we look back over 2021. After a very uncertain and strange time, we look back over the successes and accomplishments Storm Procurement have achieved and highlight some of our favourite moments.
Looking Back at 2021
15 years of Storm Procurement
In 2021 we reached 15 years of Storm Procurement. Seeing the business grow to what it is now is something we are very proud of. Our successes have only been made possible due to all who have worked at Storm over the years. Everyone's hard work and determination to make what Storm is today has not gone unnoticed. We would also like to thank all our partners and customers who have allowed us to work together and grow as a business. We are excited for the next 15!
Our Team
Our Energy department has had a very successful year in 2021. Demand has increased dramatically with a big increase in sales volume. This has also meant they have needed to expand their team with three new team members joining in 2021. It has been non-stop for our energy department, and all their hard work has been evident from an increase in turnover.
Our Mining team has also been immensely successful with a substantial increase in orders in comparison to 2020. The new business team also worked incredibly hard to achieve a substantial profit, an incredible achievement for their first year. All account executives overachieved their targets for 2021 which is very impressive- all hitting their targets with ease.
Our South African office has completed a recovery in sales and profitability after various changes early in 2020.
We would like to pay particular attention to Bradley Mitchell, who achieved well over his end of year target. Bradley is a valued team member who has worked incredibly hard over the four years he has been with us. This has not gone unnoticed and due to Brad’s hard work, evident from his figures, we are pleased to announce he has deservedly been promoted to Account Manager.
We would like to say a huge congratulations to both our Mining and Energy teams for all their hard work this past year.
We would also like to congratulate some of our team members. Congratulations to Saskia Bosman, from our South African office, who got engaged last year and a very belated congratulations to Shaun Kimpton who got married in 2020 and Jack Devitt who also got engaged at the end of 2020. We wish them and their partners all a very happy future.
Business Developments
Storm Procurement has developed our new operating system in 2021, moving our business management software to SAP. This system will help to run all our key functions such as finance, sales, warehousing, and sales opportunities.
We will be rolling this across all teams in the new year but so far has been very successful with our finance team.
Travel
Unlike previous years, the unfortunate hit of COVID has meant that we have been unable to travel to see all our clients and partners. We are hoping to look forward to seeing everyone in 2022 again when it is safe to do so.
However, although travel has been restricted, we are still thankful that we are all safely working back in the office, still delivering the best quality services and products from afar.
Mozambique office
Since our last article, our Mozambique office has opened and gone from strength to strength. We have agreed on a long-term contract with a major energy player and now have an OEM agency agreement in place. The Mozambique office also has an upcoming LNG project in which all players have now registered and agreed upon.
Another exciting development within the Mozambique office is the recent recruitment of a new country manager who will be starting in the new year. We are excited to see the developments he will be making to help grow our office.
Storm Kazakhstan
Another exciting development made in 2021 is the appointment of Storm Kazakhstan LLP, as our exclusive distributor.
This partnership has meant we can distribute within both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan territories. This also means that current and future clients in both regions have local access to our distributor, providing them with ease of access and a direct point of contact.
This means that we can still build and nurture relationships we have within Asia as COVID has bought challenges in enabling us to visit clients regularly.
This is an exciting step for Storm Procurement, we are excited to watch the growth and development of Storm Kazakhstan and to see what this means for future global ventures.
Staff Milestones
Not only is it Storm Procurement as a company that has had many successes this year, but the people within Storm have also had major milestones.
We have celebrated an important anniversary with three of our colleagues this year. Paul Gaynor, Gemini Chaudhari and Doug Pacey celebrated their 10th anniversary working at Storm. They are all crucial members of the team and have played key roles in developing Storm and making it the company it is today. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all three of them for their dedication and hard work over the past ten years. What an incredible milestone they have all achieved!
New Starters
Seeing our staff celebrate such a milestone has set a promising future example for our new recruits, as this year we have welcomed seven new faces and welcomed back a familiar one!
We have had three join our Mining team; Janine Steyn, Alexandra Cooke, and Dylan Roberts have joined the team, helping to identify sales leads and maintain working relationships with new contacts.
Gustavo Belucci De Araujo, Igor Bacich and Atena Tahir have joined our Energy team helping to recruit new leads and suppliers, providing us with their sales expertise and offering the highest levels of service to our customers.
Amelia Inskipp has also joined our marketing team to help grow and develop Storm Procurement’s online presence.
We also welcomed back Garth Willamse to our SA office as deputy manager.
2021 has been a busy recruitment year for Storm, and this will continue to grow in 2022. Three new staff members will be joining the UK office: warehouse operative, business development manager and a new mining buyer. We also have recently recruited a new in-country manager in the Mozambique office in January.
We are, as always, looking for fresh talent- so if you think you would be a good fit here at storm then please head over to our careers page and send us a copy of your CV!
New Office
We have had a very exciting end to 2021. Due to Storm Procurement recruiting so many new faces, as well as such a successful past couple of years, it has meant we needed more space! This month we moved our UK office just next door to our sister company Storm Technologies, to accommodate for our business growth.
Our new office space in the UK means we can expand the business, with our team taking on more orders and larger warehouse facilities allowing us to store more than ever before. This move has also led to an exciting new expansion in the warehouse as we have just recruited a new warehouse operator, Sam Ford, to start the new year with our warehouse team to keep up with the demand of business.
Our warehouse team also received an early Christmas present, a new forklift, just in time for our exciting move to our new premises. This means alongside our expansion in warehouse facilities we are also able to fulfil even larger orders than before!
2021 was a very busy and exciting year with huge business developments; none of this would of been possible without our amazing staff across all offices. We would also like to thank both clients and suppliers for all their continued support and are excited to see what 2022 will bring us.
