Military to civvy street – A Soldier’s story
EMB Ltd, the organisation that delivers the Business Link
service on behalf of East Midlands Development Agency
(emda) looks at how moving from military life to "Civvy
Street" can be a massive culture shock for many service personnel,
but for one ex-warrant officer turned entrepreneur, Paul Burrows
who served with the Royal Signals and the Intelligence Corps for 24
years, the transition has seen him rapidly grow a business that's
on track to turn over several million pounds by 2010.
Electronic Warfare (EW), specialist training and consultancy
firm Abacus EW Consultancy has secured orders until 2016 with
purchase orders in place worth more than £8m. Abacus EW also aims
to add a further five EW specialists to its current workforce of 12
within the next financial year.
The contracts include work for various Far and Middle Eastern
customers and the MoD. Europe's second largest defence company,
Thales PLC uses Abacus EW as its preferred EW training provider and
has many contracts currently in place with Paul's firm to provide
operational support for its EW programmes worldwide.
In addition, BAE Systems also relies on Abacus, especially
within the Communications EW sphere of operations with the company
delivering a wide range of EW courses currently advertised within
the BAE EW portfolio.
Working with Business Link, Abacus EW were introduced to the
complementary services of UK Trade & Industry (UKTI) and is now
in the final stages of setting up lucrative EW training deals with
other Far Eastern armed forces as well as several major projects in
the Middle East.
EW exploits the electromagnetic spectrum and Abacus EW provides
expertise in the exploitation of radar and a multitude of
communications systems where the primary objective is gathering
signals intelligence.
Plan of attack
Now with the help of Business Link, the company has won grant
funding of nearly £8,000 to gain key certifications which will give
it the added credibility it needs to open up new markets and
opportunities.
Paul explained: "It was actually our accounts administrator,
Carol Baggley who recommended speaking to Business Link having been
so impressed with their services when she set up her own business
earlier this year. So I arranged a face to face meeting with one of
their advisers to find out how they might be able to help us."
"We're looking for a good portfolio of clients and now feel that
the company has the confidence to go directly out to countries in
the international EW arena. Until recently, much of our work was
subcontracted from French defence company Thales."
"As a preferred supplier, we service the majority of its radar
training and consultancy requirements across the globe and continue
to offer a bespoke, specialist service that encompasses our areas
of EW expertise."
Paul's company also brings in considerable income to the local
economy - over £150,000 in hotel room bookings last year alone
during their residential courses held at their unique EW training
centre at The Stables, Wellingore Hall.
Business Link in action
"With Business Link, it's all about helping you access
solutions, so once they were aware that gaining ISO9001 and BS27001
accreditations and List X standing were priorities for our business
going forward, they were quick to identify available funding
initiatives and support we could tap into," said Paul.
The ISO standards sought by Abacus EW are internationally
recognised quality assurance systems relating to business process
and information security systems. List X status is awarded to
commercial, non-government sites in the UK, approved by the
government to hold protectively marked information ranked as
'confidential' or above.
The company, which is wholly owned by Paul and his wife Allison,
is also about to complete the development of its own unique radar,
electronic warfare and communication EW training databases. Other
EW databases are currently being developed including an EW fusion
management database.
Abacus EW has already received a lot of interest from companies
all over the world keen to buy these databases and has identified
that the training databases could be a product that is sold to EW
forces worldwide to greatly enhance EW training in an operational
environment.
"Business Link has also put us in touch with a network of
experts who can advise us on our potential intellectual property
rights if we decide to take this suite of products to market - this
could be another valuable stream of revenue for us."
Working away from home
After leaving the army - his career involved tours of duty in
Iraq and Kosovo - Paul worked on information security contracts for
the Ministry of Defence as a CLAS consultant and on various EW
contracts for Thales in the Middle East.
Abacus EW was born when a two-week electronic warfare contract
turned into a two-year ongoing commitment.
"After leaving the forces I wanted to be near my family, but
because of the uncertain commitment overseas, I couldn't take them
with me. I wanted to spend more time with my family, not less, so I
decided to do something about it."
"I finally left the Middle East after two years and was
determined to set up my own business where I would have a lot more
control over my working life and to bring any potential customers
to me."
"Initially, I was offered easy in/easy out terms for one of the
largest units in the Stables complex at Wellingore Hall and Allison
and I took a gamble on the success of the venture. Since its
initial launch Abacus EW went on to win a sizeable contract for
Thales in the UAE, at which point they took on four full-time
staff, based out in the Gulf for six years, and four permanent
staff for the UK side. Since then we haven't looked back."
The company's EW technical staff are all ex army and ex navy.
All Abacus EW specialists have clocked up impressive careers and
were the leading lights in their chosen EW fields and the best
within their trade groups.
Payback
And with Business Link's support in identifying significant
investment in its training and simulation infrastructure and some
great business development, Abacus EW has recently begun a
partnership with the University of Portsmouth to deliver an MSc in
Combined Studies (Electronic Warfare).
It is hoped to transfer this programme to the University of
Lincoln during 2009 as MSc in Intelligence Systems (EW) and Abacus
EW will become a delivery partner with the University. This liaison
with the University of Lincoln, which will establish a more bespoke
offering for the MSc, will see this programme run wholly under an
Abacus EW banner.
This is aimed initially at the senior warrant officers and
officers in the three services to accredit their military careers.
Paul has done this to give something back to the military and is
also receiving great interest in it from around the world.
This would bring extensive commerce to the city, benefiting
serving military personnel in Lincolnshire and further afield.
"Although this arrangement gives us prestige, for us it's a lot
more about giving something back to the people we've spent most of
our working lives with both at home and abroad," added Paul.
Paul and three colleagues are already enrolled on the first
pilot Abacus EW MSc course with 26 further students from all over
the world signed up to join the programme from February 2009. All
course fees can be claimed back via the ELCAS scheme as Abacus EW
is a registered ELCAS training provider.
Abacus EW now has a full order book for EW training at the
Stables until late into 2010 and with other major contracts on the
near horizon, Paul will be actively seeking EW specialists within
the communications ESM & radar ESM areas and always welcomes
contact from high calibre service personnel due to leave the
service on retirement.
Paul Burrows top tips for developing
your business:
- You can't put a value on having good people around you - invest
in your staff and you'll reap the rewards
- Treat people how you want to be treated yourself - everyone's
an individual
- Talk to Business Link as early as possible - they really do
provide access to solutions. If you want to know what grants are
available, they have their finger on the pulse
- Shop around to get value for money and don't commit to anything
in a hurry. Cheapest is not always best, but most expensive is no
guarantee of quality and or professionalism either - personal
recommendations are invaluable
- Don't neglect thorough research and learn to trust your
instincts
- Speak to other businesses - no matter what their speciality -
business is business and it's amazing how other companies can
benefit each other
- Don't view similar companies as competition - but as allies to
forge alliances with which to take your business forward