Accent Aluminium Windows and Doors
Basir Abbass, finalist in the Medium-Large Business Award 2019
INSPIRE – verb
To make someone feel that they want to do something and can do it.
That’s exactly what our Ethnic Business Award winners and finalists do for us. They totally inspire us. Every year for more than three decades the Ethnic Business Awards have featured the stories of people who have overcome many hurdles and go on to become extremely successful. They arrive, strive and succeed. Here we feature the story of one such person. Basir Abbass of Accent Aluminium Windows and Doors.
Born in Afghanistan in 1961, Basir Abbass and his family were forced to flee their homeland following extreme pressure from the Soviet Union invasion in 1979. Arriving in Australia, Basir was immediately confronted with the hardships that come from being thrust into the unknown. From a foreign land, to a foreign language, a foreign culture and foreign ways of doing business, it took a fresh perspective and a grand vision for Basir Abbass to set out and make a better life for his family. Starting out as a truck driver for Accent Aluminium Windows and Doors, Basir’s incredible work ethic and astute business acumen saw him transform and grow the company to new heights. In 2007, he bought a 50% equity stake, before becoming sole owner of the company in 2012, employing 70 people across Victoria and realizing 20% – 30% year-on-year growth to date.
In the last eight years, Accent Aluminium Windows and Doors has grown enormously, from increasing their number of employees and managers and also increasing total revenue. Even with all the success, Basir has never forgotten his roots. He continues to help the Afghan community in Australia by giving them job opportunities, helping them make connections in industry and giving them training and life skills so they can be successful in this country.
Mr. Abbass with PM Scott Morrison at the 2019 EBA Gala Presentation
“I want to be as a migrant, an inspiration for others. If I can come with $100 into this country and make it, then I’m sure everyone can make it. Why not?”
Basir boasts an unwavering focus on customer service as the reason behind Accent’s success. He has always believed that maintaining good family values when running their business has helped them create a loyal and satisfied customer base. They treat their customers like one would treat their own familyThey have very high standards set in place and an emphasis on delivering only the best service and products to their customers.
As for their future, Basir says they are heavily invested in applying business disruptive technologies to their manufacturing process. They are an organisation that knows that the world is shifting drastically, and are ready to adapt to the fast-changing business environment. The business is ready to develop in order to be flexible and agile, having envisioned a future that is probably not going to be anything like the world we live in now.
They are heavily investing in HR programs as well. They offer English language classes, technology classes and monthly seminars for their employees. Basir described the philosophy for human resources at his company by saying, “We don’t necessarily hire the best talent in the market, rather we hire for attitude and then train for skill. This means that when we recruit staff, we explore unconventional approaches to dig deep and extract the true passions of people, we try to understand the intrinsic and extrinsic value and drivers of people to ascertain if they will be a good fit for our business.”
Being selected as one of only four finalists in the Ethnic Business Awards Medium – Large Business award was an enormous honour and fitting recognition for Basir. When advised of his selection he wrote the following:-
“I am truly humbled to be nominated for the Ethnic Business Awards. We have always measured our success by the impact that we make on our staff, our customers and the wider community and this nomination is a recognition of our collective efforts. The culture of Accent is centered on our values, and our commitment to beam a light of hope to all those that have none, to the migrants and refugees that land on this beautiful soil, to this, we give hope that Accent will be that shining beacon of hope and that you can all be anything that you choose to be. I am reminded by the words of friend of mine that says that if you can conceive it in your head, believe it in your heart, then you can achieve it in your hands. Everything is possible.”
Basir Abbass
What an inspiration the amazing Basir is and it was an honour that Accent Aluminium Windows and Doors nominated for the awards. Every year we seek out similarly inspirational stories. Sometimes the business is in it’s infancy, so we recommend they track along for a few years before they begin the nomination process. There is zero cost involved in nominating and we are always happy when nominees try to be selected for consequetive years. We understand that the EBA is only able to bring twelve fantastic stories each year to the stage, so my advice to you is to never give up. We have many examples of finalists who were only successful after trying for a couple of years to be selected. The most important thing is that we hear these stories. And through our media partners we can beam them into the loungerooms of Australians everywhere. In fact, they go all over the world as last year we pioneered a Facebook live broadcast and it was seen by 70,000 + viewers. This just shows there is a huge appetite for true stories of excellence.