Agencia increases reach and relevance by setting up community interest company

Helen Gibson - enabling the company to work in other fields.

A BUSINESS which has been transforming lives and communities internationally for nearly 25 years is planning to expand its work in the UK after setting up a Community Interest Company (CIC).

Agencia, which is based in East Yorkshire and has delivered over 450 contracts in 20 countries, sees the move as a key step towards accessing more funding to increase its support for charities, community groups and other organisations.

Helen Gibson, Managing Director of Agencia, said the decision to set up the CIC was influenced by a series of events hosted by the company during the last year to explore post-pandemic recovery.

Helen said: “Working with various partners, we identified that a collaborative approach by business, society and politics is essential as the world works to rebuild after Covid.

“However even though we have a strong track record for the effective delivery of community projects, there were some initiatives and funding mechanisms that we were unable to access as a private company.

“Setting up the CIC as a subsidiary of Agencia Consulting Limited will make us more competitive by allowing us to work in other fields, and we are already exploring a number of opportunities in Yorkshire and Humber and further afield.”

In the Yorkshire and Humber region Agencia’s clients have included Humberside Police, Hull City Council and the Police and Crime Commissioner for Humberside.  The company also participates in the North Lincolnshire Safer Neighbourhoods Partnership and is a provider of substance misuse treatment services on behalf of North Lincolnshire Council.

Nationally, Agencia has brought together a consortium of specialists which includes the Tutu Foundation UK in tackling social and economic problems including knife crime, drug addiction and unemployment and is offering its expertise to the government and other bodies to build a quick and effective pathway to helping communities recover from Covid.

Helen said: “Agencia’s work is all about trying as hard as we possibly can to transform lives in one way or another. That might be with young people in education, or in the health arena or the justice and crime arena.

“Whatever it is we are doing our utmost to bring the right people together to be able to transform the lives of people who need it, whether that’s services, communities, individual teams, everything that we are doing is trying to get that transformation to happen in a positive way.”

“The CIC approach fits our style of work, our ethos and our values and because we operate nationally and internationally as a business. We have the expertise and the contacts and this will give us greater reach and sharper relevance.”