Why bankers and a fearful world will trade down Arnab

Jan 19 2010 by Jez Davison, Evening Gazette

An academic-turned-entrepreneur with three degrees under his belt is making a ‘triple A’ impact on Tees Valley’s high-tech industrial sector. Jez Davison meets Arnab Basu.

ARNAB Basu could be sitting now on a pile of gold... had he followed his original career choice and entered the City.

But the CEO of Sedgefield-based Kromek has no regrets about ditching the lure of the filthy lucre for a career in cutting-edge technology.

And even though gruelling 70-hour working weeks haven’t yet brought the same level of financial reward, at least he’s kept his integrity.

“I was going to get a job in the City but ultimately I didn’t want to be an investment banker,” he says. “I wanted to be out there creating products and adding value.”

He’s doing that at Kromek, which recently secured a $4m contract to supply the US Department of Defense (DoD) with high-tech equipment that can detect emissions from nuclear materials.

Kromek’s turnover in the year to April was a modest £500,000 - but that figure is expected to run into millions over the next 12 months on the back of other major contract wins.

For Arnab, the DoD contract symbolised the sea-change moment when Kromek morphed from promising research outfit to a commercially viable business, capable of delivering high-tech solutions to serious global challenges.

The firm’s anti-terrorist equipment can help airports scan for explosive devices - technology that’s shot right up the must-have list for aviation chiefs in the wake of the ‘pants bomber’ on Christmas day.

But the company’s X-ray imaging products have a more benign purpose. They could also help save lives by detecting anomalies in human tissue.

With 58 patents protecting its four core products, deals in Asia to come on stream “very soon” and plans to open up bases in the US, Kromek looks to have finally manoeuvred itself into a position where it can start delivering a healthy return on the £11m of private equity investment raised since its formation in 2003.

And not before time, according to the Calcutta-born entrepreneur now spearheading the business from Sedgefield’s North East Technology Park (NETPark), which itself secured £10m last year to build three new facilities designed to attract the world’s best technology companies to the region.