G4S security services zambia
feature
Inside Zambia’s
security industry
Stewart Scott managing director at G4S Secure Solutions Zambia says better regulation is needed to create a level playing field and a healthier security industry.
By Ian Armitage
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G4S Secure Solutions Zambia focus SECURITY
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4S is the leading provider of security solutions in Zambia and is the only international security solutions provider in the country. It operates 13 branches (Lusaka, Kitwe, Ndola, Chingola, Chambishi, Mufulira, Chililabombwe, Mpongwe, Mazabuka, Livingstone, Chipata, Solwezi and Kabwe) in all 10 provinces and offers a wide range of security products and services. I asked Stewart Scott to tell me more… You’ve described the current environment in Zambia as “challenging”. What do you mean by that? The security industry here has evolved over the years. In the past there were no more than a handful of players. At present there are well over 100 registered security companies in the country. This situation poses a significant challenge. It requires that we continually reinvent ourselves in a bid to differentiate ourselves from our competitors both as a unique brand in country and in the products and services we offer to the market.
The lack of regulation in the industry sector has resulted in our exposure as a business to less ethical competitive pressures and the reputation of the industry sector is under pressure due to low levels of staff remuneration and poor working conditions. It is not uncommon for the more ethical operators in country, including G4S, to be tarred with the same brush. G4S Secure Solutions (Zambia) Limited is a highly regulated operation through adherence to internal minimum standards both locally and internationally through our group structure. We pride ourselves in being a fair, equitable and morally upstanding employer, our employees are treated with the utmost respect and our executive team is always looking to improve our service offering through enhanced employee conditions and relations. The challenge in this regard is that there is a significant additional cost associated with the management and running of an ethically and morally upstanding business, a cost that a significant number of players in the security industry in Zambia are not exposed to.
Why is it challenging? And what challenges do you face exactly? The challenges are several in an economy such as ours, ranging from an uneven competitive environment in terms of price to market, to limited product differentiation at face value and exposure to an ever increasing cost base in terms of the human resource. However, amongst our top ranking concerns as a company is the fact that the security industry is not regulated in Zambia. Whilst we as G4S embrace healthy competition we are of the considered view that the industry sector must be regulated in a bid to level the playing field and to drive enhanced levels of equitable competition in the market place. This will pave the way for the establishment of sector-based minimum standards and ensure the sustainability of the industry sector moving forward. www.southafricamag.com
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G4S Secure Solutions Zambia focus security
How are you responding to that? The team and myself are constantly evaluating our market position in light of the challenges, meeting routinely to re-strategise our approach and to measure progress against our internal objectives. The underlying objective of the business executive is to remain relevant in terms of our service offering and to ensure that service quality and value for money remain our key considerations in terms of the offering to our client base and the market in general. We recognise the critical nature of the challenges we face and the need to address and resolve these challenges in the short-term, more so as a result of the imminent potential for the situation to further degenerate to inoperable levels if left unaddressed. In keeping with this, G4S in Zambia, alongside various competitors, is pioneering the reestablishment of the Zambia Security Industry Association. Whilst this undertaking is challenging, significant progress has been made and all stakeholders are aligned to both the immediate need for regulation and to assist in achieving this objective. The interim challenge for G4S in Zambia remains the competitive environment and the markets sensitivity to price. G4S Zambia believes that the key differentiator in the market place remains service quality. The management team and business executive are therefore constantly focused on the need to provide all of our clients with services that meet and or exceed quality expectations. 4
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Please don’t get me wrong, we are not without our faults and failings, but we pride ourselves on our ability to respond to any adverse incident in a timely and professional manner and in our ability to correct the service shortcoming on a sustainable basis. We therefore pride ourselves on our employees, their drive and ability to effectively service our client needs. We are currently evaluating our ability to provide bundled security solutions in a bid to heighten efficiency levels whilst driving the proverbial ‘’more bang for our clients buck’’. The need to drive our value for money proposition remains key to our addressing these challenges head on. At management level you’ve been working on leadership development. How is that helping? That is correct. I am a great believer in leadership and teamwork being the underlying success factors of any business. The need to align the executive team, develop our leadership quotient and revisit the fundamentals of the team was a fairly obvious need in terms of the Zambian business and its future success. The leadership programme has been immensely successful - one team aligned in vision and objective, more effectively leading and managing the business as a team. Buy-in at all levels of the business has been evident and this newly adopted “leadership” culture is infectious.
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Have performance levels spiked as a result? Yes, employee performance levels are certainly on the up and we continue to see improvements in this regard. The business performance in general is on a sustained path of improvement year-on-year. Although a challenging market is private security a growing industry in Zambia? Yes the private security industry has grown extensively year-on-year for as long as we can remember. The security industry will become more and more critical as a service requirement in country. Demand is most evident from the mining and telecoms sectors, mostly attributable to new in country investment. However, as the government streamlines its spend, the opportunities in terms of security services being provided to the public sector will, in our opinion, become a significant opportunity in the short- to medium-term. In South Africa we’ve seen a move away from manned security to technology. Is something similar afoot in Zambia? This is the trend in Zambia. Every business is looking at improved ways of doing things in an efficient and cost effective manner. Technology presents huge potential to reduce our cost base and drive down cost to customer. Technology in our opinion will form the basis of the future of security in Zambia but we do run a risk of forming an over-reliance on it. 6
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Tell me about the legislative environment. Is government policy changing? How so? Government legislation is a topic much discussed in Zambia at the moment. The new government in Zambia has introduced various changes to the legislation that have challenged convention and have posed various difficulties for the private sector in Zambia, G4S being no exception. The general consensus in country is that the challenges created through these changes in legislation will be short lived and there is nothing that can’t be resolved through dialogue and effective planning. G4S in Zambia remains confident that the current legislative environment will foster future sustainable investment in the country and G4S is in Zambia to stay.
G4S Secure Solutions Zambia focus SECURITY
What are your plans for the future? Our future plans and goals are basically a lot more of what we are already doing, only better. We believe that our strategy remains viable moving forward and our intention is to continue to strive towards our objectives. The management team needs to remain aware of our shortcomings as a business and continue to drive higher levels of compliance and reduce our failings on a sustainable basis. The G4S market strategy can be surmised in one sentence, ‘’promote market awareness of G4S and our capability and deliver on our promises’’.
Technology presents huge potential to reduce our cost base and drive down cost to customer. Technology in our opinion will form the basis of the future of security in Zambia but we do run a risk of forming an overreliance on it
That’s very impressive. What do you believe is the key to the company’s success? As a business we believe that we are well positioned in the Zambian market. We attribute our success to being part of the global G4S brand. In country we are confident in our people and the levels of expertise. The secret of our ongoing success we believe lies in our dedication to our clients, our thirst for constant improvement in our business and in the services and products we provide and in the fact that we are aligned as a team. I couldn’t leave without asking you about the much-publicised Olympics fiasco. Has the whole debacle dealt a blow to the company’s global reputation and has it affected you in Zambia? In terms of the affect on our operation, I can’t honestly say it has had any effect. Our clients expect that we will continue to provide them with the services they have enjoyed historically and the management team remains focused on this. For all intents and purposes it is business as usual. To learn more visit www.g4s.co.zm. END www.southafricamag.com
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