North East companies are set to benefit from a new strategic service that is intended to help them successfully scale-up operations and boost international market penetration.
James Thwaites, former head of group marketing at high growth instrumentation and electrical engineering specialist CMR Group, has launched Newcastle-based Omni Strategic Ltd.
During his six years with CMR, James was a key member of the company’s OEM Engine Business Line scale-up team, helping them to build global revenue while supporting group operations.
Building on this experience, his new Omni Strategic venture will provide executive-level corporate support to local industrial, technology and engineering businesses, including specialist advice and planning on business growth, investor readiness, market research, innovation and software automation.
Before joining CMR James also held consulting roles with EEF and RTC North and has worked in marketing and account management with national and industrial firms. His track record includes building and implementing business and marketing strategies that have benefited Private Equity backed business sales in UK/US and double or even triple digit revenue growth gains.
Reflecting the international nature of the support that is available, Omni Strategic has already appointed John Gatto as an associate partner in the United States. John is located in America’s new oil and gas centre in the region of Pittsburgh, PA. Omni also is looking to expand into Belgium with a potential new business partner coming onstream during July.
James Thwaites said: “I’m passionate about wanting to help regional businesses drive profits, achieve efficiencies, and win new sales. This is a global economy, where our expertise in technical business and market analytics will enable us to bring a fresh approach to similar businesses that are seeking to achieve growth, exploit new opportunities or move to the next level.
“While there are other business services out there, we believe that there’s no-one who can match our strategic focus around business growth, market research and innovation. We can provide a strategic approach to problem solving and assisting companies to access niche markets, while scaling growth in a way that can make a company infinitely more sellable.
“My personal target is to work with 10 businesses over the next two years to help them achieve more than £30 million in new revenues.”
A certified member of the Market Research Society (MRS), James Thwaites has reached Fellowship status with the Institute of Consulting (IOC) and Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). He is also a former member of the EEF Regional Advisory Board and former regional chairman of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
