One of International Investment's 2021 award winners Riyad Adamou, Chief Commercial Officer at Holborn Assets explains to II's Gary Robinson what contributed to its success in the category and why the awards are important.
Holborn Assets won Excellence in Client Services (Advisers) Overall at II's virtual awards ceremony held on 7 October 2021 at Incisive Media's studios in London's Covent Garden.
To see all the award winners click here and to watch the event video of the awards, click here.
How does it feel to be recognized by the industry and your peers in this way?
Obviously its great Gary, Holborn has grown significantly over the last 5 years. We're at almost 20 offices with more to come next year and obviously it's taken a lot of work to get here. However growth for the sake of growth it is not what we're interested in. We want to be the best, and awards such as these and those we've been afforded over the last few years by the industry, affirm that we are on the right track.
What makes Holborn stand out from others in customer services?
It would be easy to answer that question saying our new systems, our processes, improved client service proposition and so on and so forth.
But I don't think that's it. Quite simply it's the people, that's the first step and its absolutely key.
We place a strong emphasis on our recruitment and we take our time before making appointments to ensure we only have to make it once, and then we empower people and we trust those people to deliver. I think that's something that many would be scared of, giving up that control, and on the surface that's understandable but that's something we embrace and maybe that's the difference.
Why are such awards important?
There's a number of reasons Gary, but I think two probably stand out. The first is it pushes the industry to do better, it drives competition and therefore innovation which creates a better client and employee proposition. And secondly as I mentioned earlier it's a public acknowledgement of the effort put in by people largely working behind the scenes.
There are countless people at Holborn that work long days, give up weekends, put in the extra miles to ensure we as a company deliver on our goals and keep us moving forward. There's too many to possibly mention here today but they know who they are, and I am delighted their work and their departments work has been acknowledged by the industry, and I said previously it means we are on track.
What will 2022 bring for Holborn?
We've just finished our strategic plan so I am clear on what's coming but I am afraid I will have to keep this broad and just tell you more of the same for 2022. 2021 did give us the opportunity to reinforce our foundations, we made a number of key appointments in senior roles, heavy investment into IT, into our finance dept, and into our operations and broader infrastructure, so now we are well placed to begin the next phase of growth and do that from a firm footing.
I'm afraid that's all I can disclose Gary but rest assured we have a few big announcements coming soon and you will be my first call.
