Ahmed Anoof is the director and a shareholder of Ember Group. Passionate about his work, Anoof believes that one can achieve their goals through hard work and consistency. In an exclusive interview with Talent Magazine, Anoof shares his journey with Ember Group.
1. Tell us a bit about how you got into Fire and Safety. What was the vision behind Ember Fire and Safety?
I am someone who deeply believes in hard work rather than having a certificate. As soon as I completed my O’levels, I started looking for jobs and landed my first job at a leading fire safety company. During my time working there, I met my current partner who is the technical person behindFire Safety. I learned quite a lot about fire safety at that company. However, management later decided to dissolve the company.
My partner had more than 18 years of experience in the field. With his knowledge and experience matched with everything we learned at our time with the previous company, we decided to start Ember Group. We aimed to overcome the challenges and provide a more reliable service with better quality and speed.
3. What are some of the challenges you faced during the early stages of establishing Ember Fire and Safety? How did you navigate through the hurdles and come where the company is currently at?
We started Ember Group with nothing but motivation and a determination to succeed. We both come from humble backgrounds, so we did not have much of a financial backup and acquiring a loan or investments were challenging too. So, we had to be very disciplined about managing our finances and tried to keep the company running with the revenue we generated.
4. What are some of the skills, in your opinion, required to manage the employees at a company like Ember?
It is very important to value and appreciate the hard work of the employees. They are the backbone of any company. I believe we have to treat them with respect and create a friendly working environment where each and every employee comes to work willingly and happily. Establishing such an environment helps increase employee efficiency and productivity as well.
My team has always given the best commitment to the work they do and maintains a good image of the company. In short, take care of the employees and they will take care of the business.
5. What were some key skills or lessons you had to pick up quickly, and how did they contribute to your business’ growth?
Having a strong belief and faith that nothing is impossible to achieve is very important. I believe hard work, consistency and discipline are three significant factors to move forward.
6. How did you go about finding clients or customers at the early stages, and what strategies did you use to build credibility and trust?
Initially, we targeted offering our services to renowned resorts and delivering the services up to their expectations. This helped boost our company image as a reliable and trustworthy supplier among the high-end resorts. As for the strategy, we mainly focused on few but good resorts to provide quality services at an unbeatably fast speed.
7. Building a strong team is crucial for scaling a business. How did you approach hiring and managing talent to ensure you have the right people on board?
In Ember we only believe in hard work and commitment. A dropout or a degree holder gets the same opportunity to move forward by proving themselves with their hard work, dedication and experience.
8. What are some significant moments or decisions that you believe were instrumental in your success, and what advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs starting out?
Being disciplined in managing the finances and prioritizing the development of the business by minimizing personal spendings. We started from zero back then as Ember Fire and Safety, and now we have been able to expand our business successfully in different sectors as Ember Group. The greatest entrepreneurs aren’t those who avoid failure, but those who transform it into the fuel for their next leap.
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