International industries and investors are facing important, emerging trends that are redefining their needs for consulting services in support of overseas development programs.  Through years of careful listening, Acorn understands that that some of industry’s key challenges are:

• Expanding into new and increasingly sensitive regions worldwide
• Partnering more with host-country national companies
• Responding to increasing pressure to maximize local content in support services
• Assuring quality of work performed while maximizing local content
• Minimizing the time and difficulty of managing local teams
• Keeping costs of complementary international consulting teams low
• Simplifying the effort and time required for contracting services
• Understanding costs up front, with fixed price contracts where possible

Acorn International was formed by a leading veteran of global EHSS consulting to provide international industry and investors with a more responsive means of assuring that environmental, health, safety and sustainability (EHSS) requirements are met for overseas projects.

Acorn’s mission is to deliver superior value to international industries by providing affordable, world-class EHSS assurance consulting services overseas.  The company does so not through a traditional consulting services model but by providing qualified and structured direction to host-country teams, yielding maximum value from local consultants with minimum risk and cost. This service works by integrating three critical elements:

1. A well-qualified principal (supported by a network of respected US experts),
2. An established network of qualified host-country teams worldwide, and
3. Established protocols and tools (EHSS Assurance^TM) to ensure work is performed to a consistent level of quality, on schedule, and at a reasonable price. 

Here’s some background on each of these elements:

1. Well-qualified principal, backed by a seasoned staff

1. Work experience in 20 countries, led teams in >50 Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs)
2. Led EIAs and related studies for large World Bank, OPIC, and other multilateral bank financed development programs
3. Led $19million consulting program for one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies
4. Opened offices, developed staff and partnerships, and led capacity building throughout Latin America, Africa, and FSU
5. Former Director and VP of two of the largest international consulting firms
6. Proficiency in Spanish, with competence in Portuguese, French and Greek

2. Established partnership of qualified teams in countries worldwide

1. Acorn has a network of qualified consultants in Latin America, Africa, FSU, and Asia – and can work with local teams preferred by client. 
2. Acorn will focus on ensuring the local team provides a quality product on schedule, while ensuring measurable capacity building for local partners.

3. Established protocols and tools

1. Acorn developed a suite of protocols, checklists, and standard methods - EHSS Assurance^TM - including modules for EIA, Environmental Baseline Study (EBS), Environmental Management System Assessment (EMS), and Environmental Due Diligence Study (EDD) modules.
2. EIA Assurance, for example, is an 8-step process to direct and oversee environmental impact assessment  – includes pro-forma protocols for EIA terms of reference, information requirements, execution plan, and impact rating system.

Working with Acorn will allow international industries to better manage the increasingly delicate balance between meeting corporate requirements for reliable, simplified service while satisfying host-country demands for maximum local content.