MOHAMMED TAZIM - r Inspiration – Any person who is successful and more importantly he or she is successful by his or her own past work always inspired me a lot. It makes me feel to do something my own. It galvanizes my energy. International icon is barrack Obama as first black African president, locally current PM and AG – shaping Fiji’s future despite all odds. r Hobbies - watching rugby/soccer , exploring , fishing, serving in organisations that serve the poor/disadvantaged r Ambition in life -to be a cabinet minister one day. r Most passionate about – my work , I believe in perfection r Biggest achievement most proud of – Conducting Fiji’s First ever “In transit Fumigation” for Tropik Woods in their first ever woodchips shipment to China. r Best advice ever received – from my late elder brother – “never look back at failures but look ahead how you can do it again” r Skills or qualities wish you had – wish I could be so fluent and breakdown words /sentences/explanations for everyone to understand like our Attorney General Mr Khaiyum does. r How to achieve work-life balance – well the reality is that it’s never balanced. I am only able to compensate if I am told that I am only paying attention to only one. The main thing is both should be valued as very important and they just compliment each other. r Most valued possession – my family especially my kids. r If there was one person you could meet, who would it be? My late Mom/Dad
Compiled by RACHNA LAL and RANOBA BAOA
Welcome to Hard Talk, where we pose questions to both top executives and budding entrepreneurs on some of the major issues involving business.
Like any other country the pest control industry is a serious business in Fiji. With biosecurity concerns all around the world, Fiji is no exception.
Everyday thousands of pests breed, eat and multiply in overwhelmingly alarming rates and as a result, governments, private and supporting agencies are trying their best to counter the problems.
And while border control is a nationwide problem in controlling harmful diseases, animals and insects coming into the country, a more immediate and perhaps closer-to-home problem is the control of domestic pests.
No doubt on an annual basis corporate organisations, the hotel industry and households spend significant sums of money to control this ever-growing issue.
And the man who has taken it upon himself to control them is Mohammed Tazim. But prior to this Mr Tazim was a police officer. And although it may be a different scene altogether whether it was his former job as police officer or taking charge of his pest control business, one thing is for sure: Mr Tazim likes ‘control’.
Since incorporating in 1961, Amalgamated Pest Control Pty Ltd has grown from a small family operation to becoming one of Australia’s leading pest control companies.
With head office located in Archerfield, Brisbane, Amalgamated Pest Control Pty Ltd has a network of over 70 branch offices throughout Australia and International areas including New Caledonia and Fiji.
All of these businesses offer the same high level of service and client support. Fiji has branches in Lautoka, Sigatoka, Labasa and Suva.
Ten questions with Mohammed Tazim:
1.Why did you decide to leave your career in the Police to join the private sector?
To join the private sector was not by choice but by destiny. In 2005 I was leaving for Australia to do law course LLB. I was supposed to move in with my elder brother for the course duration who lived in Brisbane. My elder brother lived in Brisbane with his family but continued to run his business in Fiji.
However prior to me joining him , he passed away 3 months earlier. I was left with no choice as my sister in law did not want to stay in Fiji and run the business. I had to forgo my LLB course and look after the business for her. Business became interesting and later I purchased the company.
Today my dream to become a lawyer is being fulfilled by my son who has undertaken law studies at USP in to his first year.
2. When and how did you take control of the company?
It was in 2005 that I started off in the company as a normal manager and a year later I purchased the company. It was quite difficult to adjust into the private sector from the Police culture of work. Because of my middle management responsibility in the Police as I was the station sergeant / Nasinu Police Station and had almost over 100 staff , I was able to apply them into the company. The public relations experience with Police was of great help because I was able to do things very professionally and was liked by our customers.
To fully understand the operations and service delivery , I had to undergo study in the field of pest control in Australia and do some practical work. I obtained my Australian pest control licence, later Australian Fumigation licence, New Zealand pest control licence and became an expert in my own right. Two years ago I opened up my own lab and doinsectidentification for my clients.
3. How has the company stayed in business for so many years amidst competition? Tell us your secret?
The secret is hard work and to have an excellent team of staff including management. All our management team are highly qualified professionals. We believe competition, is at a resource level, not on service. Amalgamated and HSS prides itself as a leader in the service industry. The company’s philosophy is to provide a high level service at reasonable cost and thereby protects, maintains and expands its customer base. Most important without a good team there is no success. We call, ourselves as Team APC & Team HSS. Our emphasis during all our meetings and training are on few principles:
r Prevent problems and deal with them quickly if they occur
r Respond rapidly to resolve queries, problems or emergencies
r Deliver service you can rely on from technicians who understand your needs
r Give professional advice making honest recommendations
r Remain accurate and transparent in all our records & communications
r Minimise our environmental impact
r committed to continued learning and upgrading of knowledge in timely manner
r We will be the first ever company in Fiji in our industry to have its own training division with a trainer that is going to be launched soon.
4. Tell us a bit about the company’s financial performance? The turnover is growing year by year.
Since 2006 the company has been in the growth mode. Furthermore, the growth targets set are considered reasonable and economies of scale achievable. This means that the company can achieve a better gross profit margin by the end of this year and onwards. This will be a significant change that was being achieved earlier. Obviously the scale advantages are now being enjoyed by the company, which correspondingly reflects in the bottom line and the quality structure of the company. The company has reinvested any profits back into the company so far.
5. How is the company’s outlook in the immediate future?
The company is ready to embark on an aggressive growth path in order to realise returns on the investment made to date. The growth will entail the hiring of new staff, purchase of new vehicles and expansion of operational facilities. Being the first company to be HACCP certified, we look forward to maintain the status. Opening of our own training division is very important and a challenge. Diversifying into pesticides and agricultural production and supplier.
6. Which areas are you looking at investing in and how much?
We looking at investing into our own people for training worth approximately $25,000 per annum. Investing into latest pest control/fumigation/sanitary washroom and cleaning products and equipments worth approximately $300,000 plus. Myself with our Operations Manager are due to leave for China to explore into getting in production machines and equipment. Setting up a new warehouse for pesticide and agricultural production. We would want to have productions relative to Fiji market and later exporting into Pacific with emphasis on Fijian Made. Such investment would cost approximately $2 million. Total investments we are looking at would be around $3 – $3.5 million in the next 2-3 years.
7. What can you tell us about your client base? Which clients do you look after?
Through the sheer grit and determination of the management and staff, the company excelled and have large public and private sector contracts and created new jobs. The company went from strength to strength securing contracts with hotel chains, resorts, banking, restaurant groups, government, garment industry, aviation, food industries, pharmaceuticals, commercial farms , poultry ,bus industry , manufactures , mills , tourism industry and many others. The company has a wide customer base. No account is too large or too small.
8. How would you describe the industry currently?
The industry is very challenging. The market for pest control/fumigation/cleaning and sanitary hygiene and related services has been growing at a steady pace and is directly related to the growing awareness on health and safety.
9. What sort of challenges are you facing in your operations?
One of the challenge is the cut throat pricing. Secondly ,the pest control industry is not regulated, no licence requirements thus increase in overnight companies. They never comply to any regulations or law, have less knowledge of chemicals usage /disposal, pests biology, equipment correct usage etc , yet they make out most of the industry.
We have spent so much in training and most of our senior management have licences and training either from New Zealand or Australia. We comply with international and local laws.
There are no training programs set up by FNU in relation to our industry. As I have said earlier we are about to launch our own training division. We have one of our staff undergoing training and getting to trainer status. Currently I am the only trainer within the company with formal training from USP and FNU.
10. How can Government assist?
Government should set up a regulatory body similar to what NZ and Australia has. FNU to consider training programs (short courses) for our industry. I am willing to assist Government or FNU to share my expertise and set up regulatory body and training. It would also be a revenue earner for Government and it would be wonderful to have companies follow standards.