MANY tertiary students work part-time to help pay for their education, but relatively few end up making a career of their ‘part-time’ pursuits.
Demetrios Pynes is one of the rare ones; he “worked doors” as a bouncer while studying commerce at university and now, years later, he’s co-founder and managing director of a security firm competing against the biggest names in the industry.
Mr Pynes’ business, Threat Protect, has just bought a central Perth alarm and video-monitoring centre to add to its portfolio of security services, in the process taking staff directly from industry heavyweight ADT Security.
“We’ve poached four of ADT’s top operators,” My Pynes said, no mean feat considering ADT’s size and reputation compared to Threat Protect, which only emerged on the scene four years ago.
Mr Pynes founded Threat Protect with partner Paul Ferrara after a decade working in financial services.
It was just before the GFC and Mr Pynes said the pair was considering which industries were most immune to economic turmoil – food and cleaning came out on top.
“(But) neither of us knew how to cook and dealing with cleaners every day would send us insane – but security’s the same, it’s very defensive against downturn,” Mr Pynes told WA Business News.
Launched from scratch with backing from five private investors, the company is now turning over $6 million a year, with much of that growth attributed to acquisitions.
The initial focus of the business was to provide manpower services – security personnel, bodyguards and investigators.
However, Mr Pynes told WA Business News increasing labour costs prompted him to look into buying an electrical surveillance installation business, which he did in March last year with the acquisition of VIP Electrical, a local company operating for 18 years.
Mr Pynes said many customers were transferring to electrical surveillance for security.
“Instead of manpower, now we have motion-activated devices that take infra-red photos…that’s a lot cheaper for the client than paying for a man to stand there for 12 hours a night,” he said.
The acquisition of the alarm and video-monitoring centre effectively closes the loop for Threat Protect, in that it can offer the full range of services, from installation to monitoring.
The company also aims to set itself apart by having operational staff, 90 in total, with specific security experience.
“We’ve got people here from ex-Queen’s cavalry, ex-special forces, ex-Israeli defence forces,” Mr Pynes said.
“Do you want to be speaking to someone who’s gone and done a two-week course or someone who’s spent 20 years in the military or ex-police?”
Mr Pynes said the offering of manpower services, electrical installation, and now the alarm and video-monitoring centre was helping the company win work over competitors.
“The whole idea of what we do is the client comes to us and they have a one-stop shop,” he said.
About 40 per cent of business comes from mining-related companies, while requests for sweeps to uncover unauthorised listening devices were becoming more common, according to Mr Pynes.
The company is on the verge of rebranding to place the three separate entities all under the Threat Protect banner.
Mr Pynes said the focus would then be on bringing more customers through the door to achieve turnover of $10 million within 12 months.
“We don’t buy for buying’s sake and we don’t buy because we’re incapable of growing our business ourselves, it’s all strategic,” he said.