I thought for this newsletter I would do something a little different to the standard format that I usually send out. I think it’s important to reflect back on the past year and what has been achieved as it’s very easy to forget the wins you had back in say February or March.
The fact is that as a young company, things move quickly. You have big wins, sometimes bigger challenges and it's a heck of a rollercoaster as Jason and I always like to describe it. What I can say is that 2018 was Capytech’s best year yet for a number of reasons. 2017 was a real breakthrough year for us, but these past 12 months have really proven to me what a great trajectory we are on.
Our Team
The first thing I would like to talk about is without a doubt the most important - the Capytech team. As many of you know, we run a completely remote company, which I think makes hiring the right people even more important!
It took us a while to figure how to go about this, but I’m so pleased to say that we have built an amazingly dedicated and talented team. At the beginning of 2017, we were only five including Jason and I. At the beginning of 2018 we had grown to 18 (!!). I like to mention this as it’s all completely organic growth. I don’t want to see headcount as a sort of vanity metric. We grow as and when we need people to service our projects - simple as that.
Another major highlight for me is the growth in our Team Leaders Feriza and Danica (who most of our clients will be familiar with). They have grown tremendously in their roles and are really helping to push Capytech forward. I’m pleased to also announce that we will be having a new Team Leader in 2019 with Nicole Aplita stepping into the role. She has impressed us with both her design acumen as well as her initiative and leadership. The future looks bright for our teams!
In 2018 we grew by another 50% adding another 9 members to bring us to 27. So I’m pleased to welcome the below to our Capytech team in 2018.
Another component of this I’m hugely proud about is our respect for our team’s family and time. We mention this in passing a lot, but I’m proud to say we respect it. It means reasonable working hours, full weekends off - to spend with your loved ones or pursuing other passions. I think this will mean that our team will want to stay with us for the long term which will help us continue to succeed.
By respecting our teams time, it means that they have the chance to continue to scratch any creative itch that they might have outside of work. What this has resulted in is that quite a few of our team members have won awards in design competitions in the past year! Jason and I couldn’t be prouder of our team members for not just winning these awards, but continuing to improve themselves by seeking out these opportunities - well done!
Our Clients
What is a company without great clients? Again 2017 was an amazing year for us where we started working with DP World and Majid al Futtaim. I’m glad to say that we’ve continued to work with both of these companies in 2018 and our relationships have grown and grown.
In 2018 we had some major wins in winning clients. The first of which was the UAE’s Prime Minister’s Office. This was a major achievement for us as we beat out our competition to win this contract on the quality of our work. The project was challenging and not without difficulty, but I couldn’t have been prouder when it was launched by none other than the UAE’s Minister of State for Happiness Her Excellency Ohoud al Roumi in October. We are already looking at new and exciting projects with the PMO for this year.
We’ve also been awarded projects or completed projects with the UAE Ministry of Human Resources, Kerzner, TECOM, Dubai Airport, and Al Ghurair Real Estate to name just a few. What a year it’s been, and I cannot wait to see who our new clients will be in 2019.
What’s ahead in 2019
To be honest I have no idea! I can say that I want us to continue to get better on each on every e-learning project and make our clients thrilled with the results. I think that we will likely grow by another 30-40% personnel wise which would see us at around 40 people. I hope that we can see new great clients come onboard that we can be thrilled and excited to work with. I want to see us continue to mature as we improve our internal practices and management.
Lastly, keep an eye out for some exciting announcements in the next newsletters. We’ve signed an exciting partnership that I can’t wait to announce and fully bring to market in 2019.
So to sign off, I would like to wish everybody an exciting, prosperous and joyous 2019. I hope that last year was amazing and that the next year ahead will be even better!
