As we start a new year, we’d like to take a moment to reflect on our achievements throughout the last year. This week’s blog focuses on the highlights of our fantastic team and memorable moments from 2023.
In 2023 we saw growth across our UK and SA Offices achieved through the forming new partnerships and development of existing ones, allowing us to work with other industry leaders, increasing our reach and enhancing the services we offer to our clients. Overall, in 2023 we increased our profit margin, exceeding our monthly targets in both our energy and mining teams. We also saw an increase in total number of requests for quotes compared to the previous year, resulting in a record number of quotes won.
As a result of a fantastic year at Storm Procurement we are delighted to announce that we had several promotions within our teams in both our UK and SA offices. We’d like to congratulate everyone for their hard work and commitment. Please join us in celebrating the success of the following team members:
UK Office:
SA Office:
As the business grew, we expanded our teams and welcomed Ali Shah, Sam Hall, Kanesh Dattani, Davis Gurang and Alanya Shaw to our sales team. In the SA office we welcomed Benjamin Mugisho, Albert Sithole and William Stander to our sales team, Dabeta Lebabo to the SA operations team. Our operations team expanded with two new team members to support the energy and mining teams, with the addition of Adam Wiggins and Niamh Snell. Natasha Osborne joined as our new Marketing Assistant at the beginning of the year.
We also celebrated work anniversaries. In the South Africa Office, the following team members celebrated ten years of service:
Congratulations and thank you for your continued dedication to Storm! If you’d like to join our team and be a part of this dynamic, exciting team why not check out our current job vacancies.
In 2023 some members of the team celebrated their own personal milestones too. A few became parents for the first time, with others becoming first time grandparents. We even had three engagements! Congratulations again to everyone on their wonderful news.
Last year we travelled across the globe to meet with clients, attend exhibitions, and visited our global offices. At the beginning of the year our Operations Director, Stuart travelled to Ghana to meet with our local content partners, GlobalNet. The following month our sales Director Shaun visited our SA team and saw the newly designed office. Our Head of New Business, Slim, jetted off to The Ivory Coast to meet with clients. In February our Head of Energy, Jack, and International Business Development Manager, Dani, headed to Aberdeen to attend the SPE Offshore Europe 2023 conference, covering the future of the energy industry.
In March our Operations Director and Operations Manager visited our SA office, where they also had the chance to see the newly renovated office and warehouse. Our Material & Logistics Manager, Hilda and SA General Manager, Warren went to Sierra Leone for a strategic client visit. In May, Head of Energy, Jack and Business Development Manager, Dani went to visit clients in Guyana to understand our clients business needs and learn more about the local infrastructure. Our Head of New Business, Slim headed to Senegal to visit one of our partners, Challenge 2000 further cementing our new partnership with Challenge 2000, as well as meeting several customers in the oil and gas sector.
In June our Sales Director, Shaun, and Business Development Manager- Mining, Bradley visited some of our clients in Ghana, seeing first-hand how processes run on site and learning about the necessary machinery required to keep operations running smoothly. Slim attended the EIC Energy Exports Conference in Aberdeen, to learn about new export opportunities. Jack and Dani travelled to Madeira to visit clients at their logistics centre to understand their business practices, so we can tailor services that provide the most benefits. We also had the Storm Kazakhstan team visit the UK office in June. They were a great addition to our social and provided the opportunity to meet many of the UK team for the first time.
In August, Warren, and our SA Deputy Manager, Garth headed to Ghana to meet with our local content partners. During their trip they had onsite training to learn how specific equipment is used, allowing us to better understand how we can support our clients business needs. Zinabu, our Liaison Manager attended the Gold Fields Conference that covered ESG culture change- An imperative to building a resilient supply chain through partnership.
In September, Paul, our Managing Director, and Warren attended the ADU event in Australia, meeting with our Australian partner Treja and clients, learning about the latest industry trends. Slim, headed over to Kazakhstan to attend the Mining and Metals Central Asia exhibition, working with the Storm Kazakhstan team, allowing us to expand our customer base and explore future opportunities. Our Marketing Manager, Hannah, attended an eCommerce expedition in London with Paul and Stuart, to ensure we stay ahead of the digital climate.
In October, Warren, Yolandi and Cheryl went for a strategic client visit in Zambia. The final trip of the year took place in November, with Warren visiting the UK office where he met many of the team for the first time. It was also a lovely surprise for Paul Alexander as the trip coincided with his birthday. In November, Slim attended the final conference of the year, Mines and Money in London, discussing ‘The Future of Innovation in Mining’, where he met with potential new prospects.
Other notable events from the year include the Storm Operations team building day in May, that took place at Almadria Highlands Resort, in Talisay City, Philippines. It was a great day for the team and allowed the opportunity for them to spend quality time together with each other and their families.
Socials are an important event in the Storm calendar. It’s a chance for us to come together as a team and enjoy spending time outside of work doing fun activities. In 2023 the UK team had our March social at Barrio, The Artichoke in June, with the Storm Kazakhstan team. We partied at Storm Fest in July with our sister company Storm Technologies, got our golf on at TopGolf in September, then showed off our artistic skills with Sip and Paint at Storm Tech in November. A fun variety of different activities, making for a memorable year. We are starting off this month with our Christmas social and the whole team is looking forward to celebrating.
Our calendar is starting to fill up with events and trips that we’re excited to attend this year. At the end of 2023 we were very pleased to be selected as finalists for the SME Business Awards, and we are really looking forward to attending the event in London next month.
We’d like to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated team for all their hard work and commitment over the last year. Bring on 2024!