Laying the right company foundations

The foundations of WLE Logistics were laid long before it was founded in England and Wales in on 13th June 2008.  That date brought together a raft of expertise into the company. It was recognized by Companies House as company number 6619088.   For example:

• Adrian Nance has over 30 years working with helicopters. Most of it is using them in isolated places far from external support.
• Bob Gillan had been a helicopter pilot for many years.  He has wide experience not least in disaster response.  He had also founded a helicopter work in western Tanzania.
• Mark Beaumont has years of experience as a commercial pilot and wide experience of Southern Africa.
• Julian Pringle has company start-up and exercised distant oversight over many different subsidiaries.

This team is a key component of the foundations of the work.

Having the right vision

In 2000, Adrian Nance was in the British Government’s lessons learned process after the extensive Mozambican floods.  One problem was the time it took to muster all the resources to help the needy.  There was a genuine need.  And one of the most needed resources was helicopters.  So as well as the right people, another key part of our foundations is: a genuine need.

Sofia Pedro rescued by helicopter after giving birth up a tree in the 2000 floods

But there is a problem.  It is very easy to criticize how things have been done after the event.

In 2006, Adrian Nance started his research into why this was a problem and what might be done.  He was encouraged by the words of the UK Secretary of State for Development – we need a better system to make available helicopters, ships and aircraft rapidly after disasters.   Then he traveled to Africa to assess the needs.  The visits allowed him to make contacts and see the scope of the needs.  This allowed him to be confident in having the right vision.  That research and the visits on the ground are another key part of our  foundation.

Targeting resources

Once the need and the right approach were identified, it was important to target our effort.  There are many ways of assessing  disaster needs.  The way we used was to focus on numbers affected as a proportion of the population.  Of course, the tragedy of individuals is the same wherever they are affected.   But, if the number affected is a higher percentage of the population, then the country recovers more slowly.

The team formed around the vision

As a result of getting the vision right, Mark Beaumont, Bob Gillan and Julian Pringle joined to give the company their skills.  We look forward to working with you.  Why not Contact Us?