STRATEGIC MEMBERS NEWS
A year of success: Zodeq looks back at 2023
The team at invoice finance providers and back-office support specialists, Zodeq are celebrating the end of its seventh successful year in business. An acquisition by financial services provider, Praetura Group in October 2022 means that Zodeq can finance more businesses than ever before and as a result, they welcomed 100 new clients in the last 12 months. This new business has, of course, also led to a growth in team members, with an additional eight new employees joining in the past year, including Sales Director, David Vizard. Specialist recruitment campaigns 2023 saw Zodeq market to specific recruitment sectors for the first time with the launch of two brand new campaigns. The first, ‘Taking care of your cash flow’, launched in April and spoke directly to healthcare recruitment agencies – often viewed as a ‘high risk’ sector - but one Zodeq
is uniquely placed to support due to their ability to provide bespoke finance tailored to the individual company. While ‘Finance that doesn’t byte’, a campaign aimed at recruiters who specialise in the tech industry, went live in September, and continues to be enthusiastically received by the sector. CSR The Zodeq team proudly came together again this year to support numerous charities. In March, Managing Director, Paul alongside Relationship Manager, James and Business Relationship Manager, Michelle, took on both the Chester 10K and Chester Half Marathon in aid of the Countess of Chester’s Blue Skies Appeal. Between them, they raised over £1000 and were presented with a medal in recognition of their outstanding support.
n Paul Cooney, Managing Director of Zodeq Memberships and sponsorships Other notable events in 2023 included Zodeq joining UK Finance as an Invoice Finance and Asset Based Lending Member. While September saw Zodeq’s annual sponsorship of the Recruiter Awards’ Best New Agency category. After a fantastic 2023, packed with both business and personal highlights, the Zodeq team are looking forward to Christmas, and with lots of exciting events in the pipeline, to 2024.
MEMBERS NEWS
Cokebusters named Company of the Year 2023 at the EIC Awards! Last month the Energy Industries Council bestowed on Cokebusters the ultimate award of ‘Company of the Year 2023’. This is an immense privilege and recognition of the imagination of our technologists, the tenacity of our operations delivery teams and our support infrastructure. We’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our team members for the part they have played in driving Cokebusters to become the success it is today. There is still much to do, but naturally, this prestigious award has prompted us to reflect on our journey and the effort and contribution made by each and every person in the Cokebusters family which has brought us this far. Perhaps one of the most fundamental aspects of the business of which we are most proud, is that Cokebusters has not stood still.
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Like so many businesses, we were prevented by law from carrying out our work when the pandemic struck and faced an uncertain future with zero income. We could have stagnated or even thrown in the towel, but instead, we confidently invested in our premises and in our technology. We would not have been able to be so courageous without the support and dedication of key players in our team who continued to have faith in the company during those difficult times. In the post-COVID world, we have seen a culmination of innovative and technological success in developing unusual groundbreaking methods and tools to help solve the major challenges of cleaning and inspecting ‘unpiggable’ tubing and pipeline assets. Today, Cokebusters’ range of intelligent pigs not only enables customers to quantify how clean the process is, but they also provide full diametric and wall thickness profiling, thus enabling an essential insight into asset integrity.
n Cokebusters took home Company of the Year at the EIC Awards
Having gratefully accepted the award, our company Managing Director, James Phipps, said: “Cokebusters is an SME, yet we often find ourselves competing alongside giants in the energy industry, and from our small corner of North Wales some may argue we are punching above our weight. We may be small, but in that, we have the ability to make bold decisions very quickly. Time and bureaucracy can kill off a good idea. We take our lead from our customers and we have the courage to take necessary risks to feed innovation. It seems this drive and determination is paying off tonight!” James Phipps continued: “This is an exciting time of growth for Cokebusters! The ability to successfully develop and deliver this service has unlocked a stream of new business opportunities in the increasingly narrow diameter networks associated with alternative energy markets.”
