As one year has come to a close, and we’re excited to start a new chapter, I felt it’d be nice to take a look back at the most amazing year and all we have achieved over the past 12 months. 2022 was a year filled with milestones; we expanded globally, opened new offices in various countries, won more awards than ever before, featured in articles all around the world, and launched several new products and projects.
At the beginning of 2022, I was promoted to CEO of the company, which saw me step away from operations to focus on the core business strategy and driving growth, which makes me extremely proud to see how many milestones we have hit over the past 12 months.
New acquisitions, expanded development plans, and new product launches
The Seventy Ninth Group has had a busy but incredibly rewarding and positive year steeped in exponential expansion. We have made substantial progress across all our Real Estate projects, including new acquisitions and expanded development plans, and we look forward to furthering announcements throughout 2023.
We launched our first Private Equity Fund in Gibraltar, offering clients the unique opportunity to become part of a successful and growing business. While in a similar vein, Seventy Ninth Resources launched a direct equity offering on a partnership basis as we lead into the most pivotal stages of our exploration development. Quarter one of 2023 will unveil the offering in detail, which will be available to all our existing and new clients.
Diversification and globalisation are the keys to the future. Here at Seventy Ninth Group, we believe in supporting our client’s journey, and a large part of that is helping them with their challenges. In quarter four of 2022, Seventy Ninth Risk Management was created. An FCA Regulated Insurance Brokerage that will strive to provide exceptional services to all our clients, with direct access to international markets, including Lloyds of London, we can support our clients with innovative solutions to mitigate known, unknown, or unexpected risks. I’ll be pleased to share more news on this development over the next few months.
Team growth and office expansion
Investing in our infrastructure is something we hold in the highest regard and always prioritise. With the announcement of our new offices, Seventy Ninth Global DMCC and Seventy Ninth Resources, we also invested in our team.
We’ve expanded massively over the past year, adding a whole host of new people to the team. Globally, we now have over 50 employees who were all hand-picked and selected based on their skills and attitude in an ever-changing economic landscape. I firmly believe that to establish your success, you must contribute to the success of others, which is what we have done and will continue to do.
In order to expand our products into new markets, we’ve opened offices around the world. We now operate in Dubai, Gibraltar, and the USA, alongside our UK office and operations in Guinea. This year, we have grown our investor base from 600 to over 1000, so opening these offices in new jurisdictions will allow us to better serve our clients internationally.
This was coupled with our international roadshow of events where the Directors, some of the team and I hosted events in a variety of countries, including Dubai, Malaysia, and Singapore, so we could meet our growing client base and partners around the world.
I thoroughly enjoyed attending these events in these beautiful locations, meeting new and existing clients to further develop our relationships and enjoying a few rounds of golf on some of the world’s best golf courses.
But this is just the beginning. We have big plans for the future and want to continue to expand far and wide, making the Seventy Ninth Group a well-known brand around the world. So expect more events coming soon!
Investing in the brand and increasing brand awareness
As the business expanded rapidly, we decided to invest more into marketing to build the brand further and to better communicate our message to partners, clients, and investors. As a result, we recruited an in-house marketing team and partnered with an external marketing agency, Castle, and a PR agency, Ambitious, to deliver great content and establish the Seventy Ninth Group as a leading asset management company worldwide.
With this came the launch of our podcast, 79th Live, on which we have hosted many inciteful guests. From resilience in business with Adrienne Kelbie CBE and unlocking value with Andor Lips to discussions with our Chairman, Dave Webster, about his experience in the natural resources and real estate sectors, we’ve covered a range of interesting topics. Sharing our expertise and knowledge of the sectors we work in is something we take great pride in and is of huge importance to us, and this podcast is the perfect way for us to do so in an engaging and informal way.
We’ve also launched our journal page, the Seventy Ninth Journal, which has been a big success. It has been a great way for members of the Seventy Ninth team to share their expertise and opinion and showcase our personalities. I am also honoured to say that I was asked to join the prestigious Forbes Business Council, where I can connect with other business leaders and share my insights.[i] I’m proud to have been able to share my expertise about topics that are important to me, such as the work I have done to improve the Seventy Ninth Group’s ESG output.[ii]
On top of our own article creation, the team and our work have been featured in hundreds of articles in publications around the world, including Business Leader, Business Live, Property Aspects Magazine and the Khaleej Times. It’s great to see us getting so much coverage in the press and being recognised for the great work we do.
Our awards
This year, we have won more awards than ever before. The company won Family Business of the Year at the Best Business Awards, something we’re incredibly proud of as here at the Seventy Ninth Group, our family values are of huge importance to us.
Our Chairman, Dave Webster, won Asset Management Chairman of the Year 2022, at the Chairperson Awards, whilst Jake Webster, our Managing Director, won International Young Entrepreneur and Curtis Webster, Investment Director, won Outstanding Young Executive at the Global Business Excellence Awards.
Earlier this year, I was proud to announce I won the Outstanding Personal Achievement Award at the Global Business Excellence Awards, which was an honour to receive. Just recently, I was humbled to find out that I have been nominated for the One to Watch Award at the Northern Power Women awards.
As CEO of the Seventy Ninth Group, it is important that I enable all team members to reach their full potential and have equal opportunities for success – this aligns with the great work Northern Power Women do to mentor the talent of tomorrow. I’m incredibly proud to have received this nomination, and it was a great way to end the year on a personal high.
Expansion of our ESG ambitions
I’ve written multiple times about the importance of ESG and my passion for this.[iii] After being appointed CEO, I saw prioritising the group’s environmental and social responsibilities to ensure they sat at the heart of our decision-making as a key part of my role.
To start with, we gained multiple accreditations. This included becoming a participant of the United Nations Global Compact[iv], and gaining accreditations from Green Mark and the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), ensuring we are guided by the most stringent standards and regulations in Environmental, Social and Governance.
We operate on a clear and simple ethical code backed by trust, honesty and integrity. A hugely important part of our company ethos is our vow to invest in the communities in which we operate. A key focus of this ambition is the Seventy Ninth Group’s natural resource division, Seventy Ninth Resources.
Seventy Ninth Resources has cultivated one of the largest portfolios of natural resource projects in West Africa, holding concessions throughout the Republic of Guinea. Therefore, we asked our staff on the ground in Guinea to conduct an extensive fact-finding mission to engage with the communities around our concessions to develop an understanding of the challenges they face and how we can help their community.[v]
As a result of this mission, we have started to implement governance frameworks and develop a plan for several projects and initiatives that will tackle some of the issues these communities face and help us to give back. We have only just begun, however, and I look forward to working further on these important ESG activities so we can implement real change in the region.
Looking forward to an exciting year ahead
I’m so incredibly proud of everything we have achieved over such a short space of time – a huge well done to all of our team who have made it possible. The company has changed dramatically over the past 12 months, but this is just the start, we have even more to come in 2023!
Needless to say, we are very excited for the next chapter in our growth, and I am sincerely looking forward to keeping you updated on more fantastic news and projects in 2023.
[i] https://councils.forbes.com/profile/Natalie-Bellis-CEO-The-Seventy-Ninth-Group/05bf834d-8d97-4d32-a999-d29ca498b65a
[ii] How Businesses Can Remain Focused On Long-Term ESG Commitments https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2022/11/28/how-businesses-can-remain-focused-on-long-term-esg-commitments/?sh=7ca4964c3202
[iii]What can Cop27 teach us about ESG? https://the79thgroup.co.uk/what-can-cop27-teach-us-about-esg/
[iv] The Seventy Ninth Group attends UN Global Compact Network UK’s Annual General Meeting https://the79thgroup.co.uk/the-seventy-ninth-group-attends-un-global-compact-network-uks-annual-general-meeting/
[v] The importance of adding value: How ESG defines our activities in the Republic of Guinea https://the79thgroup.co.uk/the-importance-of-adding-value-how-esg-defines-our-activities-in-the-republic-of-guinea/
