Sibylline Ltd (“Sibylline”), the leading independent global risk advisory firm currently helping hundreds of businesses fight the impacts of Covid-19, has added to an impressive list of achievements by winning the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2020. Running since 1965, the Awards are recognised as the highest UK official accolade for a business – and are fiercely competitive.
Sibylline, founded in 2010 by military veteran and serving British Army Reserve officer Justin Crump, has sealed its tenth anniversary with the award despite the tumultuous operating environment. It has an enviable record of success, growing without external investment at over 100% year on year, and employing 75 Analysts in locations spread from Singapore to San Jose. The firm continues to recruit in the face of Covid-19, including opening a new Latin Americas arm in Brazil, and is expected to exceed 100 staff by the third quarter.
Justin in part attributes the firm’s success to lessons from his military experience, including front-line operational tours in Iraq and the Balkans: “Operating in the world’s toughest environments means that we have built a fantastic team, with a great ethos, always going the extra mile for each other and our clients. Our work is very trust-based and we advise some of the biggest organisations in the world, at a very senior level. In addition to teamwork, this means integrity, professionalism, flexibility and innovation are key – and these are all things I learned in the military.”
Risk advisory services are much in demand as organisations scramble to cope with Covid-19, although budgets are clearly under pressure, and clients are being highly selective. Justin comments: “Our annualised revenue increased by a third in the last month, with a series of notable multi-year contract wins, despite Covid-19. We have always prided ourselves on close relationships with our clients, being true partners, and I think that this has set us apart from others as organisations look to rationalise their suppliers and focus on the most impactful risk advisory support at this critical time.”
Justin goes on to explain why Sibylline therefore made the decision to offer the company’s highly respected predictive analysis and reporting around Covid-19 entirely for free: “The virus has brought forward about ten years of global change in just a few weeks, posing unparalleled challenges. The team unanimously felt that it was more important and ethical to help those trying to mitigate risks and seize opportunities in this difficult market than it was to capitalise on the apparent opportunity. This underpins our core values and our view that it is long term relationships that count, not just seeking to make a quick buck. After all, everyone wants your business when you have money, but how many firms are there for you when you have nothing – yet need the help most?”
Instead of the planned celebration at its London HQ, the team will instead be drinking a toast from home, but Justin doesn’t mind this at all: “As a small but global firm from day one, we have always had to work flexibly – and this time of challenge underscores our entire purpose. Making complexity simple for decision-makers is why we exist and so I feel everything over the last decade has just been leading to this. Now we have to work out what the next ten years will bring – and any corporate intelligence specialist who doesn’t appreciate that predictive challenge is in the wrong business!”
Justin concludes: “I would just like to thank those who have made this possible – not only our fantastic team worldwide, but also friends and advisors who have given us so much support. In particular I’d like to highlight Heropreneurs, the leading charity for military entrepreneurs, and its founder Peter Mountford. He has always championed just how much veterans bring to the table, and I think this Award really honours that trust and vision.”
Please visit www.sibylline.co.uk to learn more.
