The Problem

A renewable energy company with success in Europe wanted to expand into Africa. They were eyeing growth in 4 markets; Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Morocco. While they were confident of the business case for expansion here, they needed support understanding and then managing the threat profile to their operations in locations very different to their existing ones. The chief security officer (“CSO”) was new in role, and given the company’s rapid growth, was under pressure to update old risk management processes to secure the company’s evolving footprint.

The Approach

Victoria Intelligence (“VI”) worked closely with the CSO to understand the existing risk management processes, what they new ones looked like, and what gaps existed. VI also conducted interviews with the project managers in charge of the growth projects, to ensure the exact scope of these was understood. VI looked to identify the timelines of the projects, the available budget and other resources to support an intelligence programme, the company culture in which this would operate, and other pain points key stakeholders were experiencing.

Success for the business looked like:

• The CSO wanted to feel confident they understood the threat environment they were operating in, and that they could stay informed and updated on this in the future.

• The CSO needed a threat process that would support the old risk management system, but also be fit for purpose with the new one.

• The project managers wanted to understand whether there were any threats that could delay or complicate their projects.

• That any risk management process did not overly delay progress, but supported the company to make progress safely.

The Solution

• VI built an understanding of the current risk management process the CSO oversaw, and produced comprehensive threat assessments for the project locations that informed this process.

• VI then developed a framework for how threat assessments would feed into the new internal risk management process going forward (for Africa and Europe).

• VI proposed the appointment of an intelligence advisor to coordinate the ongoing monitoring and assessment of threat in the 4 growth countries. In addition, VI proposed the appointment of an intelligence advisor to support the same work in Europe, and drive greater consistency across risk management in the business. VI supported the hiring and positioning of these roles.

• VI identified specific local experts who could be called upon to inform the work of the intelligence advisor going forward, and arranged introductions.

The Impact

• As a result of one of the threat assessments, significant risk was identified for one of the proposed sites. The associated costs of adequately securing this site were so high that it was no longer financially viable to proceed and development was halted early, allowing the business to avoid more significant costs further down the line.

• As the intelligence advisors had a clear framework to operate in, and useful connections from day one, they were able to hit the ground running and focus on doing their job, rather than designing process.

• The CSO felt better supported in their role, and was able to concentrate on managing risk, confident in the knowledge they had an objective and thorough understanding of the threat environment.

• The company had an intelligence programme that didn’t just support their growth countries, but better supported the safety of staff and assets in their existing Europe business also.