Taking Private Security to another level…
When people think of security firms in Guyana, the first name that comes to mind is R.K’s Guyana Security Services. However, despite its household name, not many know the story of the man behind the multimillion dollar security firm and his climb to success.
The story of Mr. Roshan Khan, one of Guyana’s well known and respected businessmen, is filled with perseverance, coupled with hard work and dedication. The business mogul who has always been an outstanding, motivated and disciplined individual, stood out from his peers since childhood. Hence, it hardly comes as surprise that he was able to take a $7.50 capital investment and an old motorcycle and turn it into a national security network serving all ten regions in the country and creating over 1,000 jobs today.
The businessman was born Kamal Krishna Lall on April 1, 1955 to the parents Awad Chandra Lall and Mother Laifan Haniff in Nigg Settlement, Corentyne, Berbice. At the age of two, his parents separated, so he didn’t know his father as a child, until later in his life.
His mother, a housewife, later remarried to Mr. Issahar Khan, a businessman/trucker with whom he grew up.
Roshan’s stepfather was his greatest motivator. “The eyes and words of my stepfather propelled me to be great and to reach for the stars.” When he turned 18 and was about to migrate to study in Canada, he decided to change his name to Roshan Khan. His mother named him Roshan which means light of wisdom, while Khan means prince or ruler.
Growing up he spent his childhood in Corriverton/ Skeldon, Berbice where he described having a very adventurous boyhood as any typical country boy would. Mr. Khan grew up with eight siblings, something he described as an amazing experience. He witnessed the birth of all his siblings, except one. Like many, he was never subjected to sibling rivalry, but was sometimes irritated since he was the eldest and the little ones always looked up to him and followed him wherever he went.
Together they would go to steal Booker’s (Sugar Company) cane which they would sit in front of their house to eat. They would even shoot doves and roast them in the bush.
In the mornings after prayer, they would go to collect “cow dung” so their mother could shine the bottom house, using a mixture of the dung and mud. They would catch fish with hooks, light a little fire and roast the catch and ride their bicycles in the evenings.
During the Easter season, they would go in the backdam to get paste to make their kites.
The businessman was extremely different from other boys his age. Unlike his peers, he never swam in the Corentyne River or in the Bookers canal where cane punts were pulled. He never smoked cigarettes or consumed alcohol, even though he was encouraged by his peers and even some adults. To this day, Mr. Khan has not tasted alcohol except to dip his finger into it and placing it against his tongue.
“Alcohol is not made for drinking but for lighting lamps.”
Since he did not give into peer pressure, he was called many names and taunted frequently. For example, the two that he recalls vividly are, “You’re such a girl”, and, “You’re not a real man.” However, he never allowed these pressures of “bullyism” to affect him in any way. He remained steadfast in what he thought was right and best.
Instead, he found his interest was elsewhere, for instance in assisting the elders or the mentally challenged. At the age of eight, he started a stamp collection. No one in the community he knew ever spoke of collecting stamps but yet, it fascinated him and to this day, he has a fantastic collection of stamps from the British Commonwealth, which he hopes to pass on to one of his deserving children.
At the age of nine, he started a coin collection which he still has and hopes to donate to the National Museum of Guyana or an International Museum. In this collection, there is a very rare coin of Guyana, when Guyana had only two colonies, Essequibo and Demerara dated 1816.
As a child, the businessman was also always attracted to the police and military, particularly as it relates to crime detection and prevention. He said, “I was always caught with security guards – chit-chatting, discoursing, and learning.
“In retrospect, I can see that I was being groomed – by my imagination and fascination, even destiny – for what was to be.”
Mr. Khan attended the Skeldon Anglican School (now Corriverton Primary) and later moved on to the Tagore Memorial High School. He was always a dedicated and outstanding student. In early high school he won the Skeldon Estate Essay Competition. He still has the photographs and newspaper articles, of which he is highly proud.
He was also the only boy in his area who attended typing school where he was successful in passing Pitman’s Examinations in Typing and English. This, he said, aided him in his studies in Canada years later and even to this day. After high school he migrated to attend the MacDonald Campus of McGill University in Canada where he qualified in Police Technology.
Upon leaving to go abroad, he faced his mother, who was his guide, teacher and friend. She made him promise her that he would never indulge in drinking alcohol or puffing cigarettes. Being the good son, Mr. Khan kept his promise.
For the first two years of college, he was supported by his step-father and his mother. However, he also had to work part time in a library, at restaurants, as a bus boy and waiter. He did other odd jobs too, to raise funds. He cut lawns, weeded grass and painted fences. All of this, he said, “added to my wealth of knowledge, and helped to define my personality and humanity.”
It was several years after he returned to Guyana that he met the love of life and wife of 29 years, Ms. Latchmin Khan. Through their union they borne four children: Roshan Khan II, Katherina Roshana Khan, Latifan Rosheena Khan-Jagarnauth and Roshaad Awad Chandra Lall, named after his father.
Mr. Khan also has an older daughter from his first marriage: Rosh-Anne Natasha Khan.His children, who he and his wife raised to be humble and kind individuals, have always been imparted with several pieces of advice from their father:
“Live by the law – die by the law, keep away from negative energy and those who are envious or jealous, do not fall prey to temptation, do not steal; listen to the instrument of God within you – your conscience and you can achieve anything you want.”
His favourite quote which he often chants to others is, “For the Sins we commit two by two, we have to pay for them one by one.” It was also after his return to Guyana that Mr. Khan started his business in 1979. Upon his return to Guyana in 1977 at the age of 22, when his studies were completed, he opted to join the Guyana National Service where he served as a Trainee Instructor and Careers Guidance Counsellor.
After he left the National Service, he worked with a local security agency, GEB, of which Mr. Maurice Amres was the Managing Director. It was at GEB that he found his calling for the security business.
While working with that company, in the Inspectorate Division, he was identified as a “thinking person” with leadership ability. In the process of developing his security talents and abilities while enjoying favorable opportunities for growth from management, he made some enemies. Envy caused that.
Hence, when the Managing Director was out of the country, a false allegation was levelled against him and so the company disposed of his services.
This was a low point and “truly depressing” time in his life. However, little did he know that this misfortune would change the course of his life forever in the best possible way. On the day he was dismissed wrongfully in 1979 from GEB, he decided to take a ride across the Demerara Harbour Bridge to calm his mind, but as fate would have it, while riding across the bridge, he had a vision.
“That moment, that vision, that idea ended up being the one defining moment of my life. I felt as if I was lost in the clouds and I heard a voice in my head. The voice gave me the formula on how to go into my own security business and I had a vision of the logo,” Mr. Khan said.
He explained that the voice in his head told him, “Go now. Start your own business.” With that state of mind, he turned his motorcycle around and went on a journey to see what clients he could obtain. To his surprise the first few places he approached and explained the services he could offer gave him contracts and from there he never looked back. Shockingly, prior to this, he never had a desire to be a businessman or own a security service.
RK’s Security Services now has 14 locations in Georgetown, Linden, Fort Wellington, New Amsterdam, Corriverton, Bartica, Lethem, Anna Regina, Land of Plenty, Mahdia, Moruca, Mabaruma, Matthew’s Ridge and Port Kaituma. The entrepreneur has put out several new initiatives and created numerous job opportunities of which he is proud.
While at present his business employs over 1,000 people, it sometimes hires up to 2,500, but this depends on contracts.
Mr. Khan has also diversified into a number of other areas over the years. He launched the RK’s Institute of Motoring, the only organized driving school in Guyana with a syllabus. He also opened RK’s Battery Works – which repaired and made new batteries using old casings. He even went into partnership with a businessman from Trinidad & Tobago to operate “Best Shipping” which would bring in used tires from the USA.
He later ventured into the auto windshield repair business and property management. Most recently, he introduced three-wheeler (trikes) in Guyana under company name, RKs EcoStar Motos.
His business is about to embark on being the first company in Guyana to officially launch electric vehicles. Despite the fact that the businessman started off with little money or partners, he managed to maintain his business through initiative and creativity and by putting his customers first.
Mr. Khan said, “I make myself available 24/7 for my customers – even to this day. Regardless of where I am in the world, I am available 24/7. I can be disturbed at any time – sleep never comes first.”
In spite of his busy work load, he has always found time to be an active member of organisations and causes which he has keen interests in. For instance he is an Ambassador of Peace for the Universal Peace Federation and was even awarded the Gold Peace Medal by the organisation.
As such he has traveled to many countries on behalf of the Universal Peace Federation to deliver peace talks, help in conflict transformation, and read peace messages. In the year 2000, he was invited by the Indian Council for International Cooperation to prepare and deliver a paper to an audience of over 5000 people, attended by then Prime Minister Atal BehariVajpayee, on the topic: Contributions of Indians in the Politics and Economy of Guyana.
He received a special tea appointment with the Hon. Prime Minister as a result.
He is the Commissioner of the National Commission Law & Order and a member of the Boards of Directors of the Prison Sentence Management Board. He even founded the International Islamic Peace Ambassador Network and serves as chairman for the organisation.
Mr. Khan is a current Board member of the Anna Catherina Islamic Complex, and co-founder and President of the Guyana Islamic Forum for Education, Peace and Religious solidarity.
He is also a stage actor; his most recent role was a principal/headmaster of Dosti which was shown at the National Cultural Centre. He acted as Chief of Police in the movie Rainbow Raani, which was made in Guyana. He also co/produced the Convert with Charmaine Blackman, featuring Katherina Roshana, his daughter Miss universe Guyana 2013.
While he said that he has achieved it all in the realm of business, he wishes to someday author books since he enjoys writing, especially poetry that focuses on womanhood and motherhood. In the future, he hopes to publish a book that will unite all religions of the world, showing the similarities of religion, others that focus on the laws of attraction and the power of positive thinking and his auto biography.
Mr. Khan jokingly said, “If I die before I write my autobiography, my wife will definitely kill me!” At one point in time, he wrote a weekly column for Kaieteur News called “The Religion of Islam.”
However, despite the fast pace his business is still moving in, Mr. Khan looks forward to “semi retirement” in the next 10 years, since he is cognizant that as the founder and sole owner, it will be difficult for him to retire entirely from the business. Hence, he will more than likely hand the business over to his children, and dedicated staff to run. He will be a consultant.
After moving into semi retirement, he hopes to serve mankind in various forms, such as mentoring youths or traveling both locally and internationally to preach the Unity of God and the Brotherhood of Man since he believes that there must be no disrespect for religions, ethnicity, and cultures. The businessman attends Churches, Mosques and Mandirs.
His advice to young aspiring entrepreneurs is to “never lose heart at the moment of a depressing experience. Stay steadfast! Believe you can do what you want to do. You can achieve the best, especially if you can see it in your “mind’s eye”. Keep away from negative persons and their vibrations.
He also encourages young aspiring entrepreneurs to stay away from bad company since he said bad company creates bad energy and bad energy can cause a distraction from the mission at hand. “Never be envious of another man’s talent, blessing, or success – Be INSPIRED, do not hate him or her or feel hurt over his achievement. Instead, honour that individual, bless that individual, and tell the universe that you would like to become someone like that one day,” he said.