We sat down recently with Richard Bradshaw and Nick Pelling; Rich has been with the Ethos BeathChapman (EBC) business for close to 3 years and has just been promoted to Managing Director, whilst Nick has been newly appointed as Director and General Manager of the EBC Hong Kong business. We put some questions to them…
1. We know that a big focus for you now is expanding the Hong Kong office. What insights can you share with us about opening the office, and what are the key objectives?
RB: EBC Hong Kong is a key step towards our longer-term North Asia strategy. With EBC’s focus on client experience and service delivery, an expanded Hong Kong office will give us the ability to service clients within Greater China with a more defined local touchpoint, heightened efficiency and value. Additionally, with the Greater Bay Area in China set to grow in the technology sector, it represents an important dovetail for our areas of expertise and clients’ key markets.
NP: EBC has built strong reputations and long-standing client relationships across Singapore, Southeast Asia and Australia through our Singapore and Sydney hubs. Based on these strong foundations, as Richard points out, we are now in a position to expand our presence to Hong Kong, which will allow us to support our existing clients’ needs in the Greater China markets.
Some of our busiest practices (Technology, Financial Services, Fintech and Governance) are all growing in Hong Kong, which makes it an obvious choice for EBC’s expansion. We will be looking to build practices within our Hong Kong business that complement what we already have across other parts of APAC.
2. Will EBC Hong Kong look to leverage the firm’s offices in Singapore, Japan and Australia with respect to clients? Is this or anything else proving to be a particularly important competitive advantage?
NP: Definitely. Our clients are central to what we do and as a partnership we already work internationally anyhow – with many being in Hong Kong. So this will feel like a natural progression to strengthen relationships with existing client networks, as well as develop new ones across both Hong Kong and Greater China.
RB: EBC has launched several successful overseas offices over the last few years. It has been a combination of being sensitive to prevailing local market conditions, as well as leveraging the blueprint of our other offices’ successes, which we feel gives us that extra edge in the market.
We’ve also been able to utilise the extensive network and shared resources of the Will Group, our parent company. They are providing us with the extra sponsorship and support to take EBC HK to the next level, and deliver our service to some areas of North Asia that in the past we didn’t have access to.
3. Which market sectors are you focused on mostly?
NP: Our Hong Kong team already works from a strong foothold within the Financial Services, Banking and Fintech sectors. A natural extension would be to broaden the business in areas where EBC globally has existing expertise: Technology, Insurance and Governance (Legal, Risk and Compliance) sectors.
4. Can you expand a bit on the management structure of the Hong Kong office, as well as regional reporting lines?
RB: For EBC Hong Kong, it was important to appoint not only someone who knows the Hong Kong market very well, but also someone who could ‘transplant’ the successful EBC culture there, too. That was critical for us. Hence, Nick – who has been with the EBC business since 2016 as an Associate Director, very successfully running our Fintech business in Singapore – will lead our EBC Hong Kong entity and be based at the new Causeway Bay office. He officially commenced his new role as ‘General Manager, Hong Kong’ on April 1st 2019 and will continue to report to me as Managing Director, Asia.
With Nick established as GM, office support hired and four consultants there already (including two current employees of EBC), we are looking to continue our search for top-performing Consultants as well as Managers who are able to work alongside Nick to build out the next level of leadership for EBC Hong Kong.
5. What type of recruiter excels in the EBC culture?
NP: Consultants who are proven performers. Those who can operate with maturity and are able to be hands-on and entrepreneurial in mindset. Many of our consultants who have spent significant time within large network / MNC-styled agencies consistently tell us that the draw of EBC is our culture of agility and autonomy, as well as the more consultative approach we have with clients.
I have also always felt that it is due to our family feel and culture of trust. We do not agree with the ‘one size fits all’ philosophy. EBC applies this mindset of agility to our consultants too, allowing them to operate in a manner befitting their strengths and the markets they service.
6. Why would a successful recruiter join EBC?
NP: Firstly, for the autonomy and the opportunity to build an agile, high-performing business while taking full advantage of EBC’s existing platform and reputation in APAC. Secondly, to be working alongside like minded, successful individuals who are equally committed to a high-performance culture. We are fully committed to providing a supportive platform and varied opportunities to develop and grow our consultants.
7. Given the current EBC branch network of 6 countries, what’s next for EBC?
RB: To ensure our clients – both old and new – receive the service which we’ve been synonymous with for many years. Our clients are central to not only determining our country of entry, but also to ensuring EBC’s early success in those locations. Being a boutique firm, we want to genuinely partner with our clients to the best of our ability; this means working with them in multiple countries, as mentioned. Growth is only a bi-product of our ability to continue the high levels of commitment and delivery that we’re dedicated to.
We sat down recently with Richard Bradshaw and Nick Pelling; Rich has been with the Ethos BeathChapman (EBC) business for close to 3 years and has just been promoted to Managing Director, whilst Nick has been newly appointed as Director and General Manager of the EBC Hong Kong business. We put some questions to them…
1. We know that a big focus for you now is expanding the Hong Kong office. What insights can you share with us about opening the office, and what are the key objectives?
RB: EBC Hong Kong is a key step towards our longer-term North Asia strategy. With EBC’s focus on client experience and service delivery, an expanded Hong Kong office will give us the ability to service clients within Greater China with a more defined local touchpoint, heightened efficiency and value. Additionally, with the Greater Bay Area in China set to grow in the technology sector, it represents an important dovetail for our areas of expertise and clients’ key markets.
NP: EBC has built strong reputations and long-standing client relationships across Singapore, Southeast Asia and Australia through our Singapore and Sydney hubs. Based on these strong foundations, as Richard points out, we are now in a position to expand our presence to Hong Kong, which will allow us to support our existing clients’ needs in the Greater China markets.
Some of our busiest practices (Technology, Financial Services, Fintech and Governance) are all growing in Hong Kong, which makes it an obvious choice for EBC’s expansion. We will be looking to build practices within our Hong Kong business that complement what we already have across other parts of APAC.
2. Will EBC Hong Kong look to leverage the firm’s offices in Singapore, Japan and Australia with respect to clients? Is this or anything else proving to be a particularly important competitive advantage?
NP: Definitely. Our clients are central to what we do and as a partnership we already work internationally anyhow – with many being in Hong Kong. So this will feel like a natural progression to strengthen relationships with existing client networks, as well as develop new ones across both Hong Kong and Greater China.
RB: EBC has launched several successful overseas offices over the last few years. It has been a combination of being sensitive to prevailing local market conditions, as well as leveraging the blueprint of our other offices’ successes, which we feel gives us that extra edge in the market.
We’ve also been able to utilise the extensive network and shared resources of the Will Group, our parent company. They are providing us with the extra sponsorship and support to take EBC HK to the next level, and deliver our service to some areas of North Asia that in the past we didn’t have access to.
3. Which market sectors are you focused on mostly?
NP: Our Hong Kong team already works from a strong foothold within the Financial Services, Banking and Fintech sectors. A natural extension would be to broaden the business in areas where EBC globally has existing expertise: Technology, Insurance and Governance (Legal, Risk and Compliance) sectors.
4. Can you expand a bit on the management structure of the Hong Kong office, as well as regional reporting lines?
RB: For EBC Hong Kong, it was important to appoint not only someone who knows the Hong Kong market very well, but also someone who could ‘transplant’ the successful EBC culture there, too. That was critical for us. Hence, Nick – who has been with the EBC business since 2016 as an Associate Director, very successfully running our Fintech business in Singapore – will lead our EBC Hong Kong entity and be based at the new Causeway Bay office. He officially commenced his new role as ‘General Manager, Hong Kong’ on April 1st 2019 and will continue to report to me as Managing Director, Asia.
With Nick established as GM, office support hired and four consultants there already (including two current employees of EBC), we are looking to continue our search for top-performing Consultants as well as Managers who are able to work alongside Nick to build out the next level of leadership for EBC Hong Kong.
5. What type of recruiter excels in the EBC culture?
NP: Consultants who are proven performers. Those who can operate with maturity and are able to be hands-on and entrepreneurial in mindset. Many of our consultants who have spent significant time within large network / MNC-styled agencies consistently tell us that the draw of EBC is our culture of agility and autonomy, as well as the more consultative approach we have with clients.
I have also always felt that it is due to our family feel and culture of trust. We do not agree with the ‘one size fits all’ philosophy. EBC applies this mindset of agility to our consultants too, allowing them to operate in a manner befitting their strengths and the markets they service.
6. Why would a successful recruiter join EBC?
NP: Firstly, for the autonomy and the opportunity to build an agile, high-performing business while taking full advantage of EBC’s existing platform and reputation in APAC. Secondly, to be working alongside like minded, successful individuals who are equally committed to a high-performance culture. We are fully committed to providing a supportive platform and varied opportunities to develop and grow our consultants.
7. Given the current EBC branch network of 6 countries, what’s next for EBC?
RB: To ensure our clients – both old and new – receive the service which we’ve been synonymous with for many years. Our clients are central to not only determining our country of entry, but also to ensuring EBC’s early success in those locations. Being a boutique firm, we want to genuinely partner with our clients to the best of our ability; this means working with them in multiple countries, as mentioned. Growth is only a bi-product of our ability to continue the high levels of commitment and delivery that we’re dedicated to.
Are you interested to explore a role at EBC? Please reach out to Roger in complete confidence:
Roger Smart
Managing Director
Email me at: roger@tiger-partners.com
Connect with me at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rogersmart/
About Ethos BeathChapman (EBC)
Ethos BeathChapman (EBC) is a global boutique executive search firm growing across Asia, Australia and EMEA.
Tiger Partners media contact:
Tiger Partners
Cameron Smart