Interview with Ms. Karin Wan, CEO.
For this special joint month newsletter, we have prepared an exclusive interview with our CEO, Ms Karin Wan.
1. When did you join The Gurkhas Group?
I was invited to join The Gurkhas Group in 2016, April by our Chairman, Mr. Prakash Pun as Sales & Marketing Manager. At that time, he was looking to develop his business. I remember when I first joined the company, I was unfamiliar with the Security, Construction and Cleaning industry. We spent around 2 months developing the company website and brochures. He took me to different networking events and I used my previous contacts to secure our very first security job references. Within the first year, I was promoted to Associate Director as we managed to build from 10 construction workers to 400 construction workers and security guards and continue to develop our client database.
2. When did you become CEO and how has it been different from your previous position?
I became the CEO of the company in April 2019. It has been different to my previous position as Associate Director as previously I was still very hands-on in every aspect in terms of recruiting guards, liaising with the operations team, and the point of contact for all the clients, as well as invoicing and chasing payments. As the CEO of the company now, most of the time is spent on liaising with clients as well as office staff management and reviewing all reports submitted and working on a strategic plan for the company.
3. Can you describe your leadership style for me?
I would say my leadership style is very democratic, I would always seek other colleagues’ opinion as I believe this will give diverse ideas and build a stronger team.
4. What do you think is the difference now that you are mainly working with ethnic minority group?
Joining The Gurkhas Group has made me realise ethnic minorities are extremely hard working, they will never reject over time and are always willing to help. Our company has a very family-friendly work culture, sometimes we may hire the father as a security guard, the son as a construction worker and the mother/daughter as the cleaner and they would all be working for The Gurkhas Group.
5. What has been the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest challenges I had to overcome was during our peak time, our payroll amount was phenomenal and there were quite a few client’s payments delayed. I constantly called and chased them to ensure that we were able to pay our guards on time. Navigating, communicating constant change and drive progress amidst chaos as it is so easy to get distracted and be pulled in many directions. The key is to take time to communicate on a weekly basis with all departments to engage all staff and to work towards the strategic goals set. To always provide the reassurance and sense of stability an organization needs
6. What goals do you have for the company in the next 5 years?
In the next 5 years, I hope that we are able to continue to maintain our company brand image, be well known in the market and increase our staff to 550 guards/construction workers/cleaners daily.
Company Announcement:
The Gurkhas Group would like to announce our January and February employees of the month. For January we would like to present it to Rai Sobaraj. For February we would like to present it to Nouman Muhammad. Congratulations on showcasing your excellence. We are thankful for your hard work.
January & February Employee of the Month:
Rai Sobaraj & Nouman Muhammad
We are also delighted to reveal that in January and February, The Gurkhas Group has commenced 4 Security Jobs in New Territories, 3 in HK Island and 1 in Kowloon. In addition, 1 Cleaning Job in New Territories, 1 in Kowloon and 1 in HK Island. Lastly, 1 Logistic Job in New Territories.
We are very thankful for our clients for believing in our services and our security guards.
We also would like to remind anyone who is interested in working with us to fill out the forms:
SECURITY APPLICATION LINK: https://forms.gle/KSRimpZw2pWxAE1e6
CLEANING APPLICATION LINK: https://forms.gle/q1dnbazdsNMXojj77
CONSTRUCTION APPLICATION LINK: https://forms.gle/VV4HSGCZJxnHZDnn8
DRIVER (INCL. BODYGUARD) APPLICATION LINK:
