Faisal Khan: A Visionary Leader, Shaping the Future of Fire and Security Landscape Through Innovative Solutions and Transformative Strategies
CEO Of The Year 2024
Business leaders play a significant role in laying the groundwork for an innovative work culture and initiating fresh strategies. A distinguished, respected, and highly accomplished professional, Mr. Faisal Khan, Managing Director, Limra Group, is the epitome of ideal leadership. He is a proven technical leader and an expert with a rich background in the fire and security industry.
Mr. Faisal is an electronics engineer by qualification and he is an alumnus of Uttar Pradesh Technical University. He did his schooling from the prestigious Kendriya Vidyalaya. Besides, he is also a hardcore sportsman; he has played volleyball on the national level. Mr. Khan also believes in contributing towards society by actively participating in social causes and frequently organizes local sports matches to instill the feeling of sportsmanship.
The Company Preface
Limra Group came into existence in 2011 as a low voltage contracting company. After acquiring stable space in Security industry, company expanded with High Side Electrical Solutions division along with recruitment services.
Their initial objective was to provide complete electrical service solutions, including low-voltage systems, HT and LT works, panels and transformers, and low-voltage internal and external electrification covering the distribution. In the next step, Mr Faisal and his team focused on expanding the business across across Delhi, Noida, Bangalore, Mumbai, Gurgaon, and Dubai. And that’s how Limra became a key player in fire and security.
Present-day, Limra Group has three verticals — Limra Fire & Security Pvt. Ltd., for ELV solutions, Limra Electrical’s for High Side Electrical and Limra Prime Business Solutions for Recruitment Business.
The Core Values and Principles of Leadership
According to Mr. Faisal, being humble is the first characteristic of a leader. A leader should be deeply connected with his team. Being positive is essential for team growth, and he always strives to have optimistic approach. This is a fundamental idea that the visionary leader followed, whether he was in engineering, sports, the workforce, or business now.
There are always difficulties to overcome and solutions to be found. The leading man inspires his team to find positivity in everything. It has been the key to Limra’s motivated and productive team. Mr. Faisal is strongly inspired by Shiv Khera’s quote: ‘Winners don’t do different things; they do things differently.
Communication is the key. If we are connected with our internal people, with our clients, and even with our family, there shouldn’t be any obstacles if we are explaining things clearly and communicating effectively,” said Mr. Khan.
Besides, leaders should be open as well. With time, you have to learn a lot of things. You cannot be orthodox. As a new generation emerges, front-line leaders have to be a little flexible, understand technology, and be aware of upcoming market trends.
Humbleness and humanity are the key factors in leading a team successfully. Mr. Khan always says to his team that they want to grow, but they want to grow with good ethics. He aspires to create an example.
“We are more inspired by Tata Model. We have always said that we want to be a more employee-centric company and want to grow with good ethics,” the inspiring leader proudly shared.
The Secret Behind Limra’s Remarkable Growth
Companies are primarily investing in marketing, but they are not ready to hire people for operations that deliver high-quality services. Mr. Faisal took a distinctive path; he spent a significant sum of money recruiting back-end staff to retain old clients and get new ones. The formula worked for Limra very well.
Like Faisal, he started his career with Mark and Spencer. In the initial stage only, he did 12–13 Mark and Spencer stores. In the same way, he and his team went for Big Corporate sectors, Fortune 500 and excelled there. The team closely takes care of the clients. Thus, this is how they expand their business and their clientele.
Plus, in terms of technological growth, they partnered with Honeywell and JCI Tyco, the pioneers of the security and fire industries.
So, these are the few innovative approaches that they always inculcated in the culture. Other Companies are mostly not involved in very long-term business. They work like contractors; first, they should get business, and then they will invest in people. Being a visionary, Faisal invested in the training and learning of the people who pushed Limra to flourish in the market every year.
Emerging Technologies to Stay Ahead of the Curve
Even though Limra Fire is a part of the MNC market, at the end of the day, consumers are sitting there, and the market is becoming more and more price-sensitive. Sharing his unique strategies, Faisal Khan said, they are trying to uplift themselves as a much better player in terms of tying up with some exclusive products, which is like Apple of the industry. Therefore, only a very select few customers purchase those products. So, even though it takes some time to prepare and persuade the client, the competition is not particularly price-sensitive, and at least the niche exists.
Personal and Professional Growth: At a Glance
Mr. Faisal’s journey through various roles has cultivated his strategic thinking, leadership skills, and keen business acumen and enabled him to find the positive out of anything. So, he keeps on doing meetings. He travels a lot to foreign countries. He observes how people behave.
He tries to even learn from seniors, junior colleagues, or whatever best vision can be absorbed from anyone to better himself. He has a very content personality. He first listens, understands, talks to people, and then tries to find a solution. So, these are many improvements he made as an individual in his personal life.
In addition, he has learned a significant lesson: be it a junior colleague, his employee, or a client, we should cherish every moment with them because, for more than 50% of our lives, we invest in our professional career from an early age.
An Edge Over the Peers
Limra Group is an employee centric organization. Compared to its rival companies, it has always invested in quality staff. Explaining more about his company’s differentiating factors.
Mapping New Heights
The company has been consistently thriving despite the global pandemic because of the dedication and hard work of the team and Faisal’s dynamic leadership. Limra is a pan India company with head office in New Delhi, and aggressively growing in the Southern and other parts of India. In the next two to three years, the company aims to be valued at 100+ crores.
Words of Wisdom
While things can be exceptionally challenging at some point, Mr. Faisal says a leader shouldn’t feel insecure when guiding his team. A leader is someone who teaches their team to excel in their career path.
