Erick Okeyo is the CEO of Bedrock Security Services A man who started off as an ordinary security man has turned his life around aft...
Erick Okeyo is the CEO of Bedrock Security Services
A man who started off as an ordinary security man has turned his life around after taking a huge decision that led him into starting his own company.
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The Kenyan man Erick Okeyo, the CEO of Bedrock Security Services has revealed the secret behind his shocking success story. He attributes his success story to the great works of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote who helped him raise the funds.
“Interest rates are just too high. When Aliko Dangote was in Kenya , he told me that he was going to set up a chain of banks in Kenya. Banks that would charge minimal interest rates on loans,” says Okeyo.
Explaining more Okeyo who started off his career as a security guard at Nile Perch Victoria in Kisumu and became a bouncer at Octopus Nightclub before joining G4S said he gained enough experience in the field before quitting to form his own company.
“I was in charge of the control room, handling all deployments and emergencies. I was then poached by Modern Security to be an assistant manager in Nakuru. Within one and a half years, I joined Patriotic Guards as a manager in charge of Nakuru Branch,” says OKeyo, who had then enrolled for a diploma in marketing.
“That’s when I quit to form my own security company,” says Okeyo who discloses that he is a member of the Institute of Directors in Kenya.
According to The Nairobian, at 39, Erick Okeyo is now CEO of Bedrock Security Services, a firm that specialises in electronic security solutions, security guards, cash in transit and investigations. The company, established in 2009, is now a major player in the security industry having bagged clients like Orange Telkom, Mumias Sugar, Nzoia Sugar, Jaramogi University and Lake Victoria Water Services Board.
“We also offer our security services to a lot of upmarket residential clients,” says Okeyo, a father of three.
Before setting up Bedrock, Okeyo had been employed in several security companies.
Interestingly, when he tendered his resignation letter, his secretary also quit and followed him.
“She joined me and is now the human resources manager at Bedrock. I encouraged her to get bachelor’s and masters degrees and she is a very competent HR manager,” Okeyo says.
“The tea girl at my former company also quit when I did, went to school and is now an assistant manager at bedrock. Three guards who quit with me are now branch managers. I believe in someone’s’ potential. All these guys had no degrees but they joined me, I encouraged them to go to school and they are all part of the Bedrock family,” says Okeyo.
Revealing that Bedrock in now the fourth largest private security firm in Kenya, Akeyo says, “Among the locally owned security firms, I can confidently say we are the largest, or second largest. Three of the largest security companies right now have chief executive officers who worked under me at one time or another.”
The former security guard now drives an E270 Avant-garde CDI Mercedes.
