The CEO of expanding security firm Black Swan International, Brian Kelly, believes a successful long-term approach to security involves decreasing risk, decreasing costs and increasing productivity. He speaks to Business Advantage PNG.

Black Swan International’s Brian Kelly

Brian Kelly left the Australian Army in 2000 after serving for 15 years, mainly in the elite Special Forces.

After a stint working in the United States, that included learning about casino security in Las Vegas, Kelly worked in private security roles in Australia before setting up Black Swan International in PNG in 2011.

Growth

Black Swan has quickly grown into a full-service security firm that employs up to 1000 staff, runs a fleet of 100 vehicles and even has its own dedicated radio frequency spectrum.

Kelly’s aim for Black Swan has always been to expand the idea of ‘security’ beyond what he calls ‘the basic three Gs: Guards, Gates and Guns’,

‘If someone rings up and asks “how much an hour do you charge for security guards?”, I’m not interested,” Kelly tells Business Advantage.

‘However, if someone says “these are the problems we’re experiencing, how can you help us solve them?”, that’s when we get involved, providing tailored solutions instead.’

Three outcomes

Black Swan looks to achieve three things for all its clients, Kelly says.

‘To decrease risk, decrease costs, and increase productivity. If we don’t think we can achieve these three outcomes, we won’t go for the job.’

‘If someone rings up and asks “how much an hour do you charge for security guards?”, I’m not interested. However, if someone says “these are the problems we’re experiencing, how can you help us solve them?”, that’s when we get involved’

Black Swan has the range of staff, equipment and expertise to handle anything from one-on-one supervision of a visiting VIP to overseeing procedures to enhance the security and productivity of a multi-site company.

Cultural change

For Kelly, the main task of Black Swan is not about shows of force but assisting clients to change cultures and procedures.

For example, he says that if there is internal fraud or theft ‘you can sack as many staff as you like but nothing will change until you change the culture of a workplace’.

Kelly believes that a lot of the workplace crime in PNG is due to poor standards.

‘Businesses often have no anti-fraud procedures, no anti-theft devices. We work with them to change the culture of the company to improve security.’

He says ‘shrinkage’ has long been seen as inevitable or taken for granted, but as the PNG economy grows and the businesses that serve it become bigger, it becomes more serious.

Black Swan’s main goal is to help clients change their culture to ‘get risk as low as practical’ and to discourage them spending big money on aspects of security that aren’t benefiting their bottom line.

First responders

Kelly is adamant that ‘security are not police, security are first responders.’

The role of a firm such as Black Swan is not that of law enforcement, ‘but we can perform internal investigations and then hand over our results to police for further action’.

‘Law and order and security are still seen as the number-one risk for businesses operating in PNG,’ Kelly says.

‘The main risks in PNG include car-jackings, armed robberies, domestic violence and, within businesses, internal crime.’

PNG challenges

However, he believes that these factors are not unique to PNG, and in some ways the security environment in PNG is not as challenging as in other parts of the world.

‘There is currently no terrorism threat in PNG, no serious criminal gangs with links to the international underworld, no outlaw motorcycle gangs.

While Black Swan works with clients all over PNG, Kelly tells Business Advantage that currently the business is predominantly operating in Port Moresby. The next step is to expand across PNG.

‘The main risks in PNG are antisocial elements, domestic violence and, within businesses, internal crime… and in some ways the security environment in PNG is not as challenging as in other parts of the world.’

Black Swan is in the process of building permanent barracks for up to 500 staff and is establishing a security training academy to increase its capacity.

‘We don’t outsource anything. We’re a one-stop shop. We run a 24/7 vehicle maintenance workshop, all staff wear our uniforms, and we provide all our own technology.

‘At the end of the day,’ says Kelly, ‘the PNG security situation continues to be complex and ever-changing. We want our clients to concentrate on running their businesses and to entrust us with planning their security needs.’