Key responsibilities

As director and founder of the company, my responsibilities lie in managing the overall business and setting the strategy of the company.

Qualifications

I was a trustee of a local charity who cared for adults with learning disabilities and it gave me an insight into the home care industry. My son is an adult with learning disabilities and we, as a family, had been on the receiving end of pretty poor standards of care. Whilst running the charity I saw first hand what I felt were shocking standards of care. My background is in Sales and Operational Management but I felt there was a gap in the market in the home care industry and I felt I could use my professional expertise in a sector that needed good management skills.

When was Sambhana Care launched?

I started Sambhana Home Care in August 2018 but the opportunity to really push the company forward came in Jan 2020 when I stopped working with the charity. I am a British born Sikh and my heritage is something I am very passionate about. One of the core beliefs of the Sikh community is looking after and taking care of family and the community. We firmly believe in upholding the values of honesty, compassion, generosity, humility, integrity, service, and spirituality daily. The name Sambhana means ‘to care’ in the Sikh language and I felt it was important to embed that in my company name as a core belief and a mission.

Why did you set up Sambhana Care?

I have worked in the Telecoms industry for many years in sales and customer operations management roles, which has given me the skills I felt were needed to run a business of my own. I believed that my experience could make a difference in running a business and with my family situation it seemed clear to me that I could add real value to the home care market, where great provision is woefully lacking much of the time.

I was a Trustee with a local charity for 3 years who care for adults with learning disabilities and this experience honed my decision to start a home care company of my own. Whilst I was a trustee for the charity I set up a consultancy service, free of charge, to advise parents of adults with learning disabilities about the resources available from Social Services. I have been through the system of social care and what provision was given to my son and this gave me an insight into the process. It is far from simple to navigate, provision is often limited, and quality is often lacking.

My vision is to ensure that we provide a client-focused, bespoke service, tailored to the needs of both the elderly, who want to remain as independent as possible at home but need help to do that, and for adults with learning difficulties who need support to remain at home with their family offering respite to family members involved.

Recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more clear to me that families want their elderly relatives to remain at home for as long as possible, where they feel safe and secure, before committing to residency in a care home. We believe we can facilitate that with our highly specialised quality home care provision.

Outside of work, what are your interests?

I’m a father of three and one of my children was born with a learning disability, so caring for him is a priority. I am passionate about football and have been a Liverpool fan for all my life. In fairness I love all sports, watching, and wherever possible, playing!

I was awarded the British Empire Medal for my work on inclusivity in football in 2017 by the Queen and received a medal from the Football Association in 2014 again, for my work on inclusivity. I also chaired the Inclusivity group in Kent County Football Association, overseeing major changes in reporting discrimination and I remain involved in football as acting chairperson for a local multicultural football club.

During Covid lockdown, I was involved in a local Sikh Gurdwara, running a group that provided 61,400 hot meals to vulnerable people and NHS Staff at four hospitals and care homes. We received a ‘local heroes’ medal from Gravesham Borough Council for our efforts.

I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction from helping charities and from being a local councillor. As a councillor, I donated my allowance so that the local church who provided sandwiches to vulnerable people in and around Gravesham could purchase supplies during the lockdown.