A family business in East Yorkshire is celebrating a quarter of a century of paving the way for British interests overseas - transforming health and justice to build confidence and attract investment.
Agencia, based at Hessle, works with international governments and other organisations on challenges from tackling corruption and financial crime in Bosnia Herzegovina to delivering investigations training in the British Overseas Territories.
The business also delivers health projects abroad and in the UK, where it has helped improve front-line services. Working with healthcare providers and commissioners, it played a key role in supporting primary care organisations through the Covid-19 pandemic, while leading the way in combating addiction.
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Helen Gibson MBE, managing director of Agencia, said: “Overseas investment is crucial to the UK economy and to our standing in the world, and we support that by working quietly in the background to create and develop environments which are seen as safe and secure.
“That means providing our justice expertise to help governments identify and get to grips with such threats as terrorism, corruption, war crimes and modern slavery. It also means applying our experience of global healthcare issues to protect the population.
“Our work helps nations and communities develop resilience and sustainability, and that in turn can provide a bulwark against disruptive and even hostile interventions. It’s remarkable to think we’ve now been doing this for 25 years.”
Agencia was founded by Helen’s father Andrew Gibson in 1997, with a desire to advance the quality of life for people by delivering improvements in health and justice. Helen took the reins in 2012, before Andrew sadly passed away in 2018. Today, Helen works closely with sister Joy Allen, who joined the company in 2017 as head of HR and corporate services.
Recognition for Agencia’s achievements came in 2017 when the company was named Best Small Family Business in the UK in the prestigious National Family Business Awards. In 2019 the business was appointed as a Northern Powerhouse Export Champion on the strength of its achievements during more than 20 years of exporting, a period which saw overseas work account for more than half the firm’s turnover.
Helen was awarded the MBE for services to international trade in the 2022 New Year Honours. She said: “From humble beginnings we have progressed to become recognised as an international success story – an important local employer in East Yorkshire with teams of experts working across the globe. We have grown from a small operation into an internationally-recognised business which has worked in more than 20 countries and delivered a huge array of more than 500 diverse contracts, earning high praise from satisfied clients.
“Most importantly we are making a real difference to people the world over and we have remained true to my father’s vision a quarter of a century ago. We are dealing in two of life’s most precious commodities – health and justice – and our plan for the next 25 years is to continue transforming lives and communities and making a genuine difference, both locally and internationally.”
To mark the milestone anniversary, Agencia held a celebration event for key stakeholders.
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