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Author: Sebastian Storm Pallesen

We make history: War-torn Lebanon gets solar farms

Making history with Xplora: Bchaaleh in war-torn Lebanon gets solar farms

Sustainability and social responsibility are deeply rooted in Collectia’s DNA. Being headquartered in one of the world’s greenest countries, we feel obligated to take the lead in reducing emissions beyond our borders. That’s why we partnered with Xplora and United Cities, launching a worldwide project in early 2022 to turn physical activity into humanitarian work.

The first step on the way has been to help the war-affected Lebanese in Bchaaleh with the life-saving project “Net Zero in 12 months”. The Net Zero project is about creating a carbon-neutral Bchaaleh in 12 months, using donations in the form of steps. All steps donated are converted into real funds, which go directly to solar farms in the city.

Why Lebanon?

Lebanon has a weakened national economy and suffers from a massive energy shortage, meaning they only have access to 2 hours of electricity daily.

In addition to having insufficient access to electricity, Lebanese use polluting diesel generators, which are an unsustainable solution for their lives and the climate challenges the entire world faces. Science clearly shows that to avert the worst climate changes and preserve a habitable planet, limiting the emissions that cause global warming is necessary.

Change is necessary. First and foremost, for the local population and the world. We are all in this together.

We want to contribute to the knowledge of local people and to a process that will enable them to change the current situation. We want to give them the opportunity to build on our efforts afterward.

 

A bright future for the Lebanese

We are proud to announce that we have reached our goal in Bchaaleh, thanks to 11,894 participants who generously donated a total of 1.5 billion steps via the Xplora app. All these steps have led us to start the establishment of solar farms on 1 September, and since then, the project has been moving forward. The installation is expected to be completed by mid-December 2022, and with the increased amount of electricity, will enable more productive working hours, better healthcare, better learning environments, sustainable food production, and new business opportunities.

 

Solar Park in Lebanon - Xplora and Collectia - Net Zero

Development of the solar plant in Bchaaleh, Lebanon

Redefining our corporate purpose

Collectia has been on an extensive growth journey both in terms of acquisitions but also organically. We have evolved and improved the business, so we find it essential to revisit our purpose. Therefore, we can finally announce our new mission, vision, and values for Collectia, which will ensure a link between our long-term plans for the future of Collectia and our short-term tasks.

The Collectia Way

Our vision is to be known as the leading digital, efficient, and fair partner in the European credit management industry.

Our mission is to support a healthy economy by handling debt collection professionally, respectfully, and fairly. We offer full transparency to our customers and debtors, aspire to be the frontrunners in digital development, and offer communication platforms and easy payment solutions.

Our values

Our vision and mission don’t stand alone without securing our culture within the organization is able to achieve it. Therefore, we encourage everyone to be passionate, respectful, innovative, and transparent.

Passionate

01 Passionate

The employees of Collectia are dedicated and passionate. They devote themselves to their work and are enthusiastic. We want our customers to feel our commitment and therefore it is of great importance to train employees to develop the right attitude and approach.

Respectful

02 Respectful

We respect the individuals we help in their current situation. This applies to debtors who we advise on how to handle their bad debt, customers who rely on Collectia to help them collect their debt, and our employees to whom Collectia provides a positive work environment built on trust, equality, and diversity.

Innovative

03 Innovative

We evaluate our processes and systems continuously. We are curious to find new and better approaches, to think differently, and be at the forefront of new trends. It shows in the way we work with data and process digitalization, as well as our ongoing optimization efforts.

Transparent

04 Transparent

Being transparent makes it easier for employees, customers, and debtors to collaborate on shared objectives. At Collectia, we also believe that transparency builds relationships, increases productivity, and creates trust among people.

New CEO announcement

I want to inform you that I will be stepping down as CEO of the company, effective August 1st. Anders Rosenbeck, an experienced business leader who has worked in senior roles in the financial and technology sector, has been appointed as the company’s new CEO.

Exactly 21 years ago, I joined the Collectia family and started my exciting and challenging journey with the company. I have seen how a small Danish company could grow into a pan-Nordic IT company with a focus on credit scoring and credit management services. We have grown from 50 employees in Denmark to almost 300 employees across our offices in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Germany.

I am very proud of our way of doing business. At Collectia we have a core set of values based on integrity and respect. Acting responsibly towards our clients and their customers, our employees, the environment, and society, in general, is deeply embedded in the Collectia organization and culture. Further, we have a leading proprietary IT platform, CollectIT / C-Work, which allows us to deliver more for our clients including faster payments and higher collection rates.

I will continue being a part of the Collectia Group as a board member, and I look forward to still being part of our company’s continuous growth and success.

A big thanks to all our clients across the group. I am delighted that you have chosen us as your supplier for such an important part of your business.

Welcome to Anders Rosenbeck

Anders has a Master of Civil Engineering from DTU and a Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from CBS. For the past 20 years, Anders has worked in the financial sector focusing on business development and technology. Most recently, Anders has been CEO of Tia Technology, servicing insurance companies in 25 countries. The company, owned by the private equity fund EQT, was sold at the end of 2020.

Anders is 52 years old and lives with his wife and the two youngest of their three children.

“I look forward to joining the Collectia family and building on everything that Collectia has accomplished under the leadership of Christian. I am very excited by the opportunities and the journey ahead. By continuing to improve our execution, we will deliver great value for our customers, clients, and stakeholders as we reshape the future of credit management services in Europe,” Anders said.

Anders is looking forward to meeting many of the clients as soon as possible.

Best regards,
Christian la Cour Valentin

Collectia Day 2022

Yesterday we held Collectia Day 2022, where we met with our clients and suppliers for an exciting and eventful day filled with good speakers, which we enjoyed in good surroundings.

A big thank you to Jeppe Juul Borre (Arbejdernes Landsbank), Mads Nørgaard Madsen (PWC), Daniel Bremann and Victor Byrholt from Collectia, as well as Sunny Cagara (magician), who delivered good and inspiring speaks that we will remember for a long time.

A recurring event

Once a year we invite clients and suppliers to Collectia Day. The days consists of networking and interesting speaks from people from the Danish business community.

Qatchr is live! Our own credit rating platform

We are incredibly pleased to announce the launch of our new credit rating platform, Qatchr!

The user-friendly platform gives our users complete and accurate insight into the financial situation of their customers and suppliers. Qatchr is the safety net that forms the framework for safe and profitable credit relationships.

We help prevent financial loss in several different ways. In addition to offering a user-friendly credit rating tool, we also help companies monitor their customer database.

Features and services

Below you can see some of the many features and services we offer our users:

  • Credit check companies
  • Credit check private customers
  • Company monitoring
  • Blacklist
  • Data wash
  • KYC

Who is Qatchr?

At Qatchr, we understand the seriousness of receiving payment when you have delivered a service or product – so you can continue to focus on the development and operation of your business. However, as a company, you will inevitably encounter customers, suppliers, or partners who have trouble regarding their economy. Not only is it annoying or frustrating, but it can also be harmful and destructive to the individual business in the long run. That is why we have developed a credit tool and debt register, which allows you to credit assess companies and private customers via a user-friendly online platform. We see ourselves as the safety net that can help companies avoid bad payers in advance and thus secure their business against financial losses.

Acquires Norwegian debt collection company

Back in March, we were pleased to announce that we had acquired Kredinor in Denmark as a part of our expansion strategy. We are experiencing this joy again

We are please once again because we are welcoming yet another strong player to the Collectia Family. This time we are strengthening our position in the Norwegian market, where we have acquired the well-established debt collection company, Equity Gruppen AS. In recent years, the company has proven to be a fast-growing company with a focus on digitization and good IT integrations for various accounting programs – an approach that Collectia generally possesses, as we also see the clear link between invoicing services and the subsequent follow-up.

As previously communicated, Collectia Group already owns the Norwegian debt collection company Crone AS. The companies will merge and become Collect AS. The merger will enable Collectia to establish itself as an even more solid and stronger player in the Norwegian market, where we already serve many clients.

“We see the acquisition of Equity Group as a huge opportunity for all parties. The synergy effect of this makes it possible to take larger shares of the Norwegian and Nordic markets – while at the same time safeguarding the values ​​that underlie the two companies,” says Otto Havneraas, CEO of Crone AS.

A perfect match

The two Norwegian companies complement each other in several ways. With their different client segments, they will complement each other and cover a larger share of the market in different industries. They will also benefit from each other’s strengths, which include different technological solutions, solid sales teams, and established co-operation across the Nordic borders. Benth Walmestad, CEO of Equity Gruppen AS, explains that the new ownership will be positive for both existing clients, partners, and employees.

“We want to provide the same services with the same people, but with an expanded product range, now also throughout the Nordic region. Through the Collectia system, we will continue to be very competitive – and not least be even better equipped for the changes and technological challenges that come in the future”, says Walmestad.

How does it affect the clients?

For clients who do not use our Norwegian department to recover Norwegian claims, the acquisition has no effect. But for those, who use the Norwegian department, will experience a better service in the form of optimized and streamlined collection solutions.

Christian la Cour Valentin, CEO of Collectia Group, adds: “The Equity Group is a very attractive partner for Collectia to acquire and diversify our Norwegian presence. We are pleased to welcome the Equity Group to the Collectia Group and believe that we can deliver even better products and services across our markets together.”

Kredinor becomes a part of the Collectia Family

It is with great pleasure that we can inform you, that we on the 31st of March acquired the Danish part of Kredinor (formerly known as KIS) as part of our ambitious expansion strategy.

At Collectia, we are incredibly proud to welcome another strong player to the Collectia Family. We are convinced that the acquisition will complement our existing business, positively support our further development, and create even more value for our clients.

We are getting about 40 new but experienced colleagues who will add new knowledge and additional manpower to our growing organization, as well as further strengthen our position in the Danish market. We believe that there is a great similarity between our values, corporate culture, and business conduct, which is just one of the reasons why Kredinor is a strategically good match.

We will focus on exploiting the underlying synergies, but at the same time continue with the things that Kredinor and Collectia are each good at.

How does the acquisition impact the clients?

We continue the business as before. This means that the case processing continues unhindered, and we will make sure that the clients are kept up to date on an ongoing basis. The acquisition will only have a positive impact on our clients. We will optimize our current solutions and be able to provide an even better service in the future.

At Collectia and Kredinor, we look positively ahead, as we see integration as a fantastic opportunity to offer the Danish market an even better product.

We are also opening an office in Finland

The Kredinor acquisition is part of our growth strategy in Denmark, but we are also expanding our business in our other markets – most recently with the acquisition in Germany. At the beginning of the year, we added the German company Dr. Duve Inkasso into our group. Now we are also able to announce that we will have our own office in Finland per. April 12th, 2021. Thus, we will also be able to service our clients who have customers in Finland with our own office.