It is not easy for a right decision

Everyday after breakfast with his wife and his little daughter and son, he starts working at 9am. He works at home most mornings, then goes to the gym to exercise before lunch, and has lunch with business partners or customers. Then, he goes to the company and finishes his working day by 6pm, much earlier than before.

These changes are not only purely a working schedule aspect but also a decision which was important to him: from the beginning of November 2010, Navigos Group has a new CEO, Chris Harvey.  The company’s entrepreneurial founder, Jonah, remains the position of chairman, but gave up his CEO title when he decided to transfer the running of the company to Harvey.

Actually, Jonah spent a lot of time to make the decision to reorganize and restructure Navigos Group, which he established in 2002 when he moved from New York City to Ho Chi Minh City. 

By 2008 the company had succeeded in becoming the largest Human Resources Services firm in Vietnam, with eight lines of business related to HR from Online Recruitment (VietnamWorks.com) and Executive Search to Payroll Management.  In 2008 the company had grown to over VND200 billion in revenue and 300 employees, but still had not made a profit.

Jonah said that in 2009 the global economic crisis inspired him and his partners to think very carefully about developing the company. “We had grown our revenue quickly and believed profit would come later.  We were investing in the future, however in 2009 the growth stopped.  We recognized that we needed to change, finding the right strategy to survive and develop.”  

Navigos Group’s core business was always recruitment. Based on customer demand it also provided other human resources services as well. “In the beginning we believed this was the right strategy, but there is an expression in English: ‘Jack of all trades, master of none.’ We lacked focus and it was getting in the way of our development.  In 2009 we knew it was the suitable time to define our future as the market leader in Recruitment only. We already had the largest and most professional Executive Search firm and the largest job website VietnamWorks.com which posts over 1,000 new jobs each week.  Our Recruitment businesses were already profitable and Recruitment is our core strength,” Jonah shared.

Selling its Payroll Outsourcing business to KCS, Ltd. (Hong Kong) was completed at the beginning of June, 2010.  Navigos also exited other non-core services such as HR Consulting, Salary Survey and Labor Outsourcing and reduced the size of its workforce by 100 people.  Jonah and his team were making a long term bet that although this decision would reduce revenue by VND38 billion in 2009 that profit would increase. 

Jonah also shared that it was not an easy choice.  He felt pity to sell a service branch of his business and close others. “It is not easy an easy decision to cut people’s jobs or close businesses we worked so hard to build, but it was the right decision.”

Jonah’s bet has paid off.  Since 2010 the company is profitable, focusing on Recruitment only, and growing quickly.  “Our mission is to help people and companies achieve their dreams and we fulfill our mission by helping jobseekers find their dream jobs and helping companies recruit the best talent.  Our employees, which we call ‘Dream Makers have a singular and clear focus.”

After successfully reorganizing Navigos Group Jonah felt the company was in a solid position and ready to be handed off to a new CEO, Chris Harvey, who has been with the company for over four years and was ready for the bigger job. 

“Navigos Group is in a strong position now.  The economy has improved and recruitment demand is on the rise.  We have achieved success measured in brand strength, market share and profitability.  We now need to further our progress by continuing to grow revenue while carefully managing costs, focusing on productivity, and developing our Dream Makers into better trained and stronger leaders.  These challenges align perfectly with our new CEO’s strengths,” Jonah said.

After eight years since its establishment, Jonah has made his dream to build the most successful professional services startup in Vietnam into a reality and his business flourishes asthe leading recruitment company in the country.  As for what is next for Jonah he says he is not sure yet.  “My wife and recently had our second child, and for now I am happy to be spending more time with my family.  I am also still supporting Navigos Group as Chairman by leading the Board of Directors and coaching and guiding our new CEO.” 

From speaking with Jonah it is clear he is a passionate entrepreneur and it is easy to predict it won’t be long before he starts a new business.