The COO at Muve Colombo has a unique approach to managing people and talent and helped the firm grow during the Covid-19 crisis
Established in 2016, UK-based Muve Conveyancing wants to transform a very traditional branch of the legal discipline, which focuses on property, that can trace its origins to the mid-1800s. The firm is deploying technology to significantly reduce inherent complexities, costs and time in property transactions. A year after launching, the firm set up Muve Colombo as the hub to drive this transformation. Despite every challenge that Covid-19 has thrown at it, decisive leadership has ensured that Muve Colombo has exceeded growth expectations. Adam Gamage-Brooker, COO, Muve Colombo, tells us more about this journey.
UK-based Muve Conveyancers set up Muve Colombo to transform a £2.5 billion legacy industry. Can you tell us how that journey has been so far?
It has been a real adventure. Muve started in 2016, and within a year and before processes were in place to open a second office, we took the brave step to set up Muve Colombo. We always envisioned doing much more than just outsourcing typical BPM activities such as case creation, document uploading, ordering property searches, and checking documents. From the outset, I wanted to create a performance-focused company that rewards success with short term incentives and opportunities for career progression. We promote people based on performance and skill set, not on tenure or age. This contrarian approach is at the heart of why we are successful in attracting the best talent, improving processes for the entire Muve busi ness, and growing in terms of functions served from Muve Colombo, headcount and revenue.
We have progressed from providing Legal Support out of Colombo to now provide Client Services, Relationship Management, Property Registrations, Conveyancing, Quality, ICT, and Sales – this is solely due to our team’s constant outperformance of expectations. The pandemic presented us with several challenges, starting with the UK property market collapse that created cash flow problems. We had concluded a £1.3 million investment road in the middle of the first Covid-19 wave in 2020 with several changes to the terms due to the unfolding pandemic and economic crisis. We had to realign the firm business to survive working from home, an enormous challenge for a very young, knowledge-based business. While the market was slow-moving, there was an explosion of demand for our services, that enabled us to more than triple the Muve Colombo team from 45 to 160 during this period whilst complying with health regulations, and open two new offices in Nawala and Mirihana.
What were the early challenges in setting up operations in Sri Lanka, and how did you overcome them?
Many of the challenges had to do with people and talent. We had to find ways to attract the best talent into an unknown company and retain them. We did this by investing in a positive culture and training and establishing clear long-term career growth prospects. The team grew at such a rate since the onset of the pandemic that we have to be even more diligent about ensuring our service levels exceed customer expectations at all times.
What is your vision for the growth of Muve Colombo?
I want Muve Colombo to be the top choice for career opportunities for young professionals who aspire to fruitful careers in law, relationship management, sales, business processing, quality, and every other area we serve. By the end of 2022, we plan to double our headcount again to 300 people in Colombo. I am confident this is possible because of the terrific people, processes, and technology we have put in place at Muve Colombo to service UK property owners. Success means continuing to grow and develop our people and creating opportunities for them to progress in their careers and live life to the fullest.
What is the one business lesson you had to learn the hard way?
Very honestly, it was about ensuring the business does the right thing by our people, our customers and our investors simultaneously. Last year, we confronted challenges due to working significantly above capacity, and I could not prevent this situation from arising in the first place. Sometimes you need real-world evidence rather than theories and models to persuade other stakeholders to a new way of thinking or doing things. I am very open to admitting that we have got some things wrong since our inception, but most importantly, the business learns from these and makes changes to ensure we don’t make the same mistakes twice. I am so proud of the progress Muve Colombo has achieved. I can honestly say that we are at the forefront of our industry in best practices and internal processes.
What is the boldest decision you have had to make?
The decision to grow our team amidst an unfolding economic crisis of global proportions was a bold move! The easiest option for any business would have been to hire externally for all managerial positions. However, in my experience, working with top talent to take them from working in the department to managing the department is the best approach. It takes a lot of time, resources and missteps, but helps to continue the rewarding culture of Muve. On the flip side, you need to know exactly when to hire externally to augment the existing talent pool. Through this unique approach, I have been able to keep on bringing new functions to Sri Lanka, prove that we can outperform expectations, and create more and more opportunities for our people.