In my leadership journey, I’ve learned a simple but powerful truth: even the most brilliant business strategy is powerless without passionate people to bring it to life.
At EFS Facilities Services Group, my global facilities management company, we work with the most prominent companies across 27 countries and our motto is: prioritise people’s welfare alongside service excellence for sustainable growth.
Leaders often talk about disruption and competitive edge, helping businesses stand out. But I have seen that success hinges less on the strategy itself and more on the people executing it. Even research shows that when organisations adopt a human-centric leadership model, they increase their chances of meeting their objectives from 28per cent to 73per cent, a 2.6 times increase. What makes leadership human-centered? Strategies that acknowledge employee concerns, encourage input, and offer space for co-creation. When we built EFS, we adopted the people-first philosophy. This value was tested when I walked away from $100 million in revenue with a global top-ten company after they tried to malign my team members. Was it difficult? Absolutely.
But standing up for my colleagues wasn’t negotiable. Three years later, the same client returned with an even larger contract. At the heart of EFS are our frontline workers—the true backbone of our operations. As our most valuable asset, we made it our mission to genuinely address their needs: better living conditions, family support, financial security, and opportunities to grow.
As part of our broader social responsibility, initiatives like the Abhaar Worker Welfare Foundation, dedicated to uplifting migrant worker communities, and our CSR program, Ehsaas, provides welfare support, emergency aid, and long-term care for our workers and their families.
One of our most impactful initiatives was the Centurion Club rewards program and Finding GEMS, designed to create real career progression opportunities. Through these programs, significant numbers of employees transitioned from frontline to executive roles. We supplemented this with our Skills Enhancement and Employee Development (SEED) and Rising Stars Programs, identifying high-potential talent for future leadership roles.
As part of our Academic Outreach and in response to the skilling gap and workplace readiness challenges between academia and industry, we launched the Young Leaders Program, an incubation platform designed to empower young interns and help them transition into industry-ready professionals.
The We Can club empowers employees and fosters belonging through an ecosystem driven by employee ambassadors embodying “If We Can, Then You Can” through their stories of rising through EFS ranks.
We found that our people-first approach has led to over 90per cent staff retention across our operations and 97per cent client retention, even during the most challenging market cycles. Employees felt seen, valued, and motivated to build a future with us.
Each industry I’ve worked in has taught me that strength lies not just in business acumen and strategic thinking, but in managing people and helping them grow. This is EFS’s premise: Transforming People, Driving Excellence and Touching Lives.
True competitive advantage lies in building stronger structures and systems that center people. When your people believe in your mission and their future within it, they help build more successful businesses. True resilience isn’t about bouncing back from challenges-it’s about building ecosystems where every individual is empowered to rise above.
(The author is Co-Founder and Vice Chairman — EFS Facilities Services Group)