North East security risk management company, Athena Risk, previously agreed to a sponsor partnership with Emirates’ in delivering workshops that help UK businesses understand the potential personal & corporate risks when conducting business overseas. The first workshop took place on 19th July in Newcastle and was a huge success.
Formed in February 2016, Athena Risk was founded by David Tait and Jason Hicks. Both David and Jason have a British Military background and left the service 10 years ago. Since then they have been involved in providing security risk management solutions and services for UK and USA government agencies and other large international (NATO) organisations across the globe and more recently working with commercial organisations to help them understand current security risks, how it can impact their operational footprint and what can be implemented to mitigate exposure to critical resources.
Athena Risk was setup by David and Jason in response to some serious gaps in security risk management for UK companies when operating in overseas markets. They took their vast understanding of global risk and business to develop services that assist UK companies in identifying threats to business realization, understanding operational vulnerabilities in business and help turn these vulnerabilities into business opportunities.
David explained: “we don’t see ourselves as security providers, we consider ourselves as business facilitators who understand security risk management. That’s not so say risk management comes second but more that business success for our clients comes first”
As part of their service offerings, Athena Risk provides detailed analysis of a broad range of business security risks. Whether this is assisting organisations in understanding the security concerns of particular countries and how their business goals can be disrupted, or the preparation and management of deploying resources into overseas markets.
David explained: “our customers understand their products, services and markets in which they operate and it’s our job to ensure that we develop safe and successful environments for them to reach their full business potential”
It is this keen eye for service and detail which has caught the eye of Emirates Airline and prompted a sponsor partnership to deliver free Travel Risk Awareness workshops to the business community.
The Emirates Travel Risk Awareness workshop is tailored towards business executives who are required to travel and conduct business overseas. The first workshop in Newcastle last month (July) helped to provide an insight into how we are vulnerable when we travel and how they we can protect ourselves and our critical information.
James Clancy of Access Wealth Management who participated in the workshop said:
“The Athena Risk Workshop is informative and gives common sense solutions how to avoid unknown risks when you travel. Travelling either in the UK or abroad I for one will be reviewing the whole process after attending the Travel Risk Awareness course presented by Athena Risk Ltd.”
Emirates is one of the leading aviation companies providing both personal and business travel across the globe.
Tracy Chandler, Emirates’ Senior Corporate Sales Executive for the North East, commented: “At Emirates we have long been committed to supporting small businesses in the communities in which we operate, whether that’s by offering tailored travel solutions, transporting cargo across our global network or through a range of other initiatives. David and Jason have created a service which will be of huge benefit to the region’s SME community, and we are delighted to help them in their endeavours.”
David Tait “Both myself and Jason are excited about the partnership that we have developed with Emirates. We feel that this opportunity will be a great platform to tackle the misconception of what are the real risks of doing business overseas and actually breakdown the barriers to exporting and give UK companies the confidence to move into these markets. Although a credible threat that needs considered dependent on which country you visit, terrorism is not our biggest concern, you have more chance of becoming the next US President then being killed in a terrorist related incident”
Athena Risk’s next Travel Risk Awareness workshop will be taking place on 11th August in Durham. Find out more here:
For more information about Athena Risk please contact the David and Jason at info@athenarisk.com. Alternatively check their website here: http://www.athenarisk.com/ or phone: 0191 249 5110