MASTER ENTREPRENEUR CATEGORY

SIVANESSAN S/O KITNASAMY

Director

GRIFFIN PROTECTION INTEGRATED SECURITY PTE LTD

Professional & Business Services

www.gpis.com.sg

Information about the Entrepreneur

“Anyone can be an entrepreneur, even if you don’t want to be one.” This is what Mr. Sivanessan S/O Kitnasamy often says during career talks to students when talking about his journey as an entrepreneur. Aptly known as the ‘Reluctant Entrepreneur’, he is proud of the fact that he never wanted to be an entrepreneur during his youth and yet managed to find success.

The Director of Griffin Protection Integrated Security Pte Ltd (GPIS) was born to an entrepreneur and a housewife in 1988. As such, Mr. Sivanessan grew up experiencing both the highlights and downsides of entrepreneurship, having lived in luxury during the good days and having to live even without electricity during the bad ones. Despite such a topsy-turvy childhood, Mr. Sivanessan was an above-average student, who found an affinity for the Arts at a young age. He eventually went on to Nanyang Technological University in Singapore to pursue Communication Studies and become a journalist. However, his family situation inevitably drew him into his father’s business.

Other Interesting Facts about the Entrepreneur

Through his innovative branding and strategic planning, Mr. Sivanessan elevated his father's business from being a small subcontractor to transforming into a prominent railway engineering firm that soon became a main contractor to the Land Transport Authority in 2014. His branding efforts and positive social contribution not only secured lucrative contracts but also earned his father’s company widespread recognition and put it on the front page of national newspapers.

As his efforts were positively impacting company growth, Mr. Sivanessan rose through the ranks quickly and was soon named Director of the company in 2015. Having proven his worth in his father’s company, Mr. Sivanessan was then given an opportunity to grow a fledgling business in the Professional & Business Services industry, which his family had invested in. He took on this opportunity as it was a chance to build his own firm from scratch.

Anyone can be an entrepreneur, even if you don’t want to be one.

Company Achievements and
Role of the Entrepreneur

In 2017, Mr. Sivanessan became the director of GPIS, primarily taking charge of the Finance, HR, and Branding aspects of the company. Within the next 2 years, he was able to increase the revenue of the company by 30% and increase the number of security officers within the company to nearly 300 officers. He also strategized his firm’s growth by focusing more on technological implementation on the ground rather than just utilizing manpower.

GPIS soon became an early adopter of the Singapore Government’s Industry Transformation Map for the Security Industry and played a pioneering role in modernizing the industry. Under the leadership of Mr. Sivanessan and Mr. Dexter, the company established a professional corporate culture, setting new standards for the sector that was once considered to be a retirement industry by many.

Such efforts paid dividends during the Covid-19 pandemic when GPIS proved its nimbleness in tackling the crisis and still provided essential security services to its clients. This adaptable and resolute nature of GPIS allowed it to grow its reputation in the competitive security field and eventually win multiple awards for corporate excellence as well as excellence in security services.

Today, GPIS serves multiple ministries in Singapore and government-linked/aided clients as well as educational institutions, commercial properties, and clubs.

Vision, Mission & Future Plans

While continuing to grow the GPIS brand, Mr. Sivanessan is active in several aspects of community development and wears multiple hats in various organizations. He was subsequently invited to sit on the Spirit of Enterprise’s (a Singapore-based charity organization focused on the development of entrepreneurship education) Board of Governors and is now the organization’s Vice President. Mr. Sivanessan also volunteers his time to deliver career talks in schools and tertiary institutions, inspiring young minds to pursue entrepreneurship as a career option. It is the satisfaction he got from working with young minds that prompted him to create a new start-up, Vislas Academy Pte Ltd, which delivers enrichment and training programs to students and adults alike.

Mr. Sivanessan is a prolific and humorous speaker and toastmaster, who was the runner-up at a National Speech Competition in 2020. He is also an advocate for the sport of Kabaddi in Singapore and is the President of the Kabaddi Association (Central SG), as well as the Vice-President of the South-East Asian Kabaddi Federation.

In his talks to aspiring entrepreneurs, Mr. Sivanessan always says: “An Entrepreneur doesn’t have to be the smartest person in the room. He has to be the one who can see the biggest picture”. The life of an entrepreneur is about decision-making and Mr. Sivanessan feels that an entrepreneur must assess his/her options from all angles and perspectives so that the decisions can benefit the most people because benefiting others by providing greater value is the true spirit of entrepreneurship.