4. Maritime Assurance & Consulting Ltd

Founded: January 2012
Founder: Graeme Reid
Website: www.mac-l.com

As an operations director working for a maritime consultancy Graeme Reid had first-hand experience of how the oil and gas industry had become traditionalist, out of ideas and stuck in its ways, and he realised that the market was ripe for a disruptive company to shakes things up. Maritime Assurance & Consulting (MAC) offers a range of support services to the marine, construction, drilling and floating production industries around the world with a strong commitment to quick response times, quality customer service and depth of expertise. Despite some initial difficulties challenging norms in what was a tired, tough and largely closed market the consultancy soon gained traction and can now count itself as an increasingly important player in the lucrative oil and gas sector, with BP Exploration, Centrica, Total and Chevron amongst its international clients and a turnover of £2.3m last year. The company relocated to larger premises in 2012 and anticipates major growth over the next year, having just won some major contracts.