Rakesh Raju talks about the unenviable job of making sure people have a good time and we get home safe after a night out
Rakesh Raju talks to Tanu about the unenviable job of making sure people have a good time and we get home safe after a night out
Story: “It’s a family tradition,” Rakesh Raju says. “One person in the family has to go into the police force, although my parents are farmers back home in Fiji.” So that is how Raj -- as he is known to all his friends – took the first step towards starting his own successful international security company.
Raj moved to New Zealand from Fiji and soon found a niche for himself in the force there. “They were short of officers and they were looking for someone to fill in the multicultural posts. They wanted people from different backgrounds to join the force and that’s where I came in,” he says.
He was in New Zealand for 9 years and that’s where he met his wife Anita. “She was an engineer and her profession was quite sought after in Australia.” Raj and family landed in Townsville, Queensland. “It was shock! There was nothing there. It’s a beautiful place. I thought I was back in Fiji but I loved it. It’s a tropical climate, warm all the time.”
Raj spent five years in Townsville where he worked with ATSIC or Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Commission (This was later scrapped by John Howard when he was Prime Minister) “I joined the ATSI C. Never knew much about Torres Straight Islanders but in Townsville there were just three Indian families,” Raj says laughing. There was one doctor from India, a Fiji-Indian lawyer from Brisbane and myself.
While Raj was working here, he kept thinking of ideas to do something different. That is when 9/11 happened. It actually worked in his favour as there was great demand for security at that stage. “When you work in the industry (police) you know about the gaps in the security arrangement. A lawyer friend of mine also saw the potential and we started the company together.”
He was doing alright in Townsville but the weather did not agree with his younger son Kaushik, 11, who was just six months at the time. “He got this fever which became very serious and we had to move to Melbourne to be closer to the hospital here,” he said. His older son Krishna is now 15.
“I quit everything and moved here. Anita was able to get a job while I looked after my son.”
It was around this time that he thought of setting up a security business here and he got his licence. “It was easy enough to open the second operation once you had the first one going on,” he said.
But it was not always that easy. “I went and worked for another company first and the manager was so impressed with me that I was quickly promoted from bodyguard to head of security and then security manager.”
His company now handles 28 nightclubs in Victoria all the way from Ballarat to Melbourne. “We are pretty strong in the regional areas.” His company also specializes in personal protection, alarms, response and consultancy services.
“I was getting a lot of enquiries in Queensland as ours was an alternative security agency as my partner was half Aboriginal. And also, we ran a very honest and professional operation.” However, he has now managed to move away from his Queensland operation in such a way that he does not need to be there all the time. He goes there occasionally.
He has recently opened a new operation in New Zealand which is all set to take off by Christmas.
“We are have about 111 full time guards and on the weekends, that goes up to 170 guards,” says Raj.
There is a reason why his guards are so sought after. “Our security guards are fully trained. We are associated with a training school, there is an interview process, we try them for two weeks in different venues. We make sure they can work with us. Ninety percent of the time the managers of the venue we are dealing with like them. A lot of them have been with me since the day I started. It’s like one big family,” says Raj, obviously proud of his retention rate.
Its hard to avoid trouble when you are working with nightclubs. It can be in the form of a nasty fight, run in with the law or the main problem – drugs.
“I see some pretty bad things out there. I hope my elder son Krishna, 15, steers clear of things like that,” Raj says on a somber note. “In all our venues, there is a zero tolerance to drugs. However, we can only do so much. Most of the time, they do it somewhere else and then get to the club. In that case, we are helpless.” Raj has links with some the policemen in the areas that he works in and helps them occasionally. So if Raj finds someone doing drugs, they are taken straight to the police.
So does he like the nightclub and events circuit? “I do a lot of events with Yogesh Sharma who runs Cinestar. He is one of the most honest people I know and I’ve collaborated with him a few times.” But that is a different ball game altogether and Raj prefers sticking to what he knows.
Indian nights are often derided for the lack of crowd control and Raj sheds some lights on this. He finds that most Indian promoters forsake crowd control in favour of money and this translates to fights and brawls later in the night. “In my experience, there are not too many Indian ladies at these nights and the fights may have something to do with it,” he says, stressing that it is only his private opinion.
With his company growing so fast, Raj considers himself a lucky man. “I like being my own boss. And the guards are a key factor in the company doing so well.”
The only drawback is that his business eats into his time with the family. “I am away a lot, even if I’m home, I’m tired. I away at night time too. But that is part of the game isn’t it?”
Story: “It’s a family tradition,” Rakesh Raju says. “One person in the family has to go into the police force, although my parents are farmers back home in Fiji.” So that is how Raj -- as he is known to all his friends – took the first step towards starting his own successful international security company.
Raj moved to New Zealand from Fiji and soon found a niche for himself in the force there. “They were short of officers and they were looking for someone to fill in the multicultural posts. They wanted people from different backgrounds to join the force and that’s where I came in,” he says.
He was in New Zealand for 9 years and that’s where he met his wife Anita. “She was an engineer and her profession was quite sought after in Australia.” Raj and family landed in Townsville, Queensland. “It was shock! There was nothing there. It’s a beautiful place. I thought I was back in Fiji but I loved it. It’s a tropical climate, warm all the time.”
Raj spent five years in Townsville where he worked with ATSIC or Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander Commission (This was later scrapped by John Howard when he was Prime Minister) “I joined the ATSI C. Never knew much about Torres Straight Islanders but in Townsville there were just three Indian families,” Raj says laughing. There was one doctor from India, a Fiji-Indian lawyer from Brisbane and myself.
While Raj was working here, he kept thinking of ideas to do something different. That is when 9/11 happened. It actually worked in his favour as there was great demand for security at that stage. “When you work in the industry (police) you know about the gaps in the security arrangement. A lawyer friend of mine also saw the potential and we started the company together.”
He was doing alright in Townsville but the weather did not agree with his younger son Kaushik, 11, who was just six months at the time. “He got this fever which became very serious and we had to move to Melbourne to be closer to the hospital here,” he said. His older son Krishna is now 15.
“I quit everything and moved here. Anita was able to get a job while I looked after my son.”
It was around this time that he thought of setting up a security business here and he got his licence. “It was easy enough to open the second operation once you had the first one going on,” he said.
But it was not always that easy. “I went and worked for another company first and the manager was so impressed with me that I was quickly promoted from bodyguard to head of security and then security manager.”
His company now handles 28 nightclubs in Victoria all the way from Ballarat to Melbourne. “We are pretty strong in the regional areas.” His company also specializes in personal protection, alarms, response and consultancy services.
“I was getting a lot of enquiries in Queensland as ours was an alternative security agency as my partner was half Aboriginal. And also, we ran a very honest and professional operation.” However, he has now managed to move away from his Queensland operation in such a way that he does not need to be there all the time. He goes there occasionally.
He has recently opened a new operation in New Zealand which is all set to take off by Christmas.
“We are have about 111 full time guards and on the weekends, that goes up to 170 guards,” says Raj.
There is a reason why his guards are so sought after. “Our security guards are fully trained. We are associated with a training school, there is an interview process, we try them for two weeks in different venues. We make sure they can work with us. Ninety percent of the time the managers of the venue we are dealing with like them. A lot of them have been with me since the day I started. It’s like one big family,” says Raj, obviously proud of his retention rate.
Its hard to avoid trouble when you are working with nightclubs. It can be in the form of a nasty fight, run in with the law or the main problem – drugs.
“I see some pretty bad things out there. I hope my elder son Krishna, 15, steers clear of things like that,” Raj says on a somber note. “In all our venues, there is a zero tolerance to drugs. However, we can only do so much. Most of the time, they do it somewhere else and then get to the club. In that case, we are helpless.” Raj has links with some the policemen in the areas that he works in and helps them occasionally. So if Raj finds someone doing drugs, they are taken straight to the police.
So does he like the nightclub and events circuit? “I do a lot of events with Yogesh Sharma who runs Cinestar. He is one of the most honest people I know and I’ve collaborated with him a few times.” But that is a different ball game altogether and Raj prefers sticking to what he knows.
Indian nights are often derided for the lack of crowd control and Raj sheds some lights on this. He finds that most Indian promoters forsake crowd control in favour of money and this translates to fights and brawls later in the night. “In my experience, there are not too many Indian ladies at these nights and the fights may have something to do with it,” he says, stressing that it is only his private opinion.
With his company growing so fast, Raj considers himself a lucky man. “I like being my own boss. And the guards are a key factor in the company doing so well.”
The only drawback is that his business eats into his time with the family. “I am away a lot, even if I’m home, I’m tired. I away at night time too. But that is part of the game isn’t it?”
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