Exclusive Q&A: Desiree Elliott, Sales and Marketing Manager, iNCUBEE | LCCS
Retaining your first hire is almost impossible. However, iNCUBEE | LCCS proved many wrong as they retained their first ever employee thanks to the right culture and career development fit.
From forming your workforce to handling all the corporate hurdles, starting your own company isn’t easy. Founded by an entrepreneur himself, iNCUBEE | LCCS understands that. A platform for entrepreneurs seeking quality corporate services, iNCUBEE | LCCS aims to help entrepreneurs focus on their business and growth with the support of a reliable and affordable partner.
Happyer gets the opportunity to speak to its first ever employee who has not only helped to grow the business but also her career at iNCUBEE | LCCS. In this exclusive interview, Desiree Elliott, Sales and Marketing Manager at iNCUBEE | LCCS shares her experience of being the company’s first hire and how she has grown over the years.
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Q: Wow Desiree, you’re iNCUBEE | LCCS’s first ever hire when they started out around 5 years ago. Let’s put you in the hot seat — could you share a little more about yourself?
A: Sure! Before iNCUBEE | LCCS, I was a paralegal at a solicitor’s firm in Hong Kong for six years. Prior to that, I was a clerk at a barrister’s chambers in the UK. I never intended to get into the legal field but somehow fell into it.
During that time, I handled corporate documents, so somehow it was quite a natural transition when I joined iNCUBEE | LCCS — a corporate services provider. At iNCUBEE | LCCS, I’m officially a Sales and Marketing Manager. However, being the first hire in a startup also meant that I was involved in various areas including Customer Service (you can come to chat with me on our website!), IT, and HR.
I enjoy the challenge of jumping between the different areas of work. I particularly liked the creative side of things such as copywriting, creating content — which is good seeing as I am told that is where my strengths lie!
Q: Take it back to the start — how did you first hear about iNCUBEE | LCCS?
A: I was at a seminar held by a legal startup during which they mentioned there was another startup event the week after. I was getting interested in startups at that time, checked it out and saw that there was going to be a job fair. I was planning to apply to the legal startup but having taken a look at other companies at the job fair, I came across iNCUBEE | LCCS (formerly known as LCCS at the time).
Q: With so many options in mind, what made you decide to join iNCUBEE | LCCS?
A: To be honest, I remembered thinking on my way to the interview that I would definitely not take the job as it was a good 1.5 hours commute away! But then I met our founder Vincent, and the way he explained his vision for the company had really caught my attention. Not to mention, he is a very interesting person and I thought I might be able to learn a lot from working with him directly as the founder. He did explain that I might have to take on a few different roles but would mainly be doing marketing. I liked the idea of that and he emphasised that honesty and work-life balance was key for him, and that made me further attracted to the job.
Q: Talk about iNCUBEE | LCCS, what would you say are its unique selling points?
A: Other than offering quality, fast and affordable corporate services online, we also provide a lot of free information about company set up and maintenance and promise a reply to all enquiries within 24 hours of receiving the same (except weekends and public holidays). Our goal is to help entrepreneurs focus on their business and growth with the support of a reliable and affordable partner — us!
We are committed to keeping our services affordable and of an excellent quality, and we are able to do so by adopting an “operational” mode of providing our service. We gather information, prepare forms and submit them to the necessary government departments, in a quick, efficient manner, with little room for error through the use of modern methods and technologies. Meanwhile we back up customer by providing a lot of free information so they can take a well-informed decision on whether setting up a company is a good idea or not.
Q: Discovering iNCUBEE | LCCS on a deeper level, how would you describe its culture?
A: At iNCUBEE | LCCS, we are all about openness, honesty, teamwork and nurture. We handle things as a team which encourages open and honest communication, collaboration, stronger bonds, as well as growth as individuals.
Each person is nurtured, given a chance to grow — we look for each person’s talents with the aim of helping them to develop further. In fact, our founder loves the idea that a company is not only for paying salaries but also for helping people to grow in responsibilities, to be emancipated from their initial position and achieve a career which offers different options to fit people skills and talent. I can attest to the fact that this idea is indeed put into practice!
As for boosting employee engagement, we usually have a team lunch every Wednesday. The team also hangs out on special occasions and most recently, we received a special gift from a delighted customer and made a trip to the Cheesecake Factory. One thing’s for sure — we love our food at iNCUBEE | LCCS!
Q: Sounds like an exciting team to be part of — what would you say are the attributes needed to be part of iNCUBEE | LCCS?
A: Each iNCUBEE | LCCS employee is different, and we value that, but I’d say some attributes we share are a can-do attitude, independence, self-discipline, curiosity, and a willingness to learn.
Q: Looking ahead, are there any roles that iNCUBEE | LCCS is focusing on hiring to help drive these strategies?
A: New talent of all kinds are always welcome at iNCUBEE | LCCS, but ideally we would like to build up a small team of developers who could contribute to accelerate our developments and improvements.
We will also need partners in new jurisdictions we intend to offer. Subcontracting may be an option initially, but hiring is definitely a goal we would like to achieve in 2021.
Q: To wrap it up, how would you describe iNCUBEE | LCCS in five words?
A: Honest, open-minded, flexible, friendly, professional.
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About iNCUBEE | LCCS
iNCUBEE | LCCS is an online platform that connects entrepreneurs with cloud-based corporate solutions. Services offered include company set up, company secretary, registered office, accounting, audit and tax filing, recruitment, visa application, payroll, trademark registration, issuing legal documents, and more. Based in Hong Kong, iNCUBEE | LCCS offers quality, fast, and affordable corporate services and solutions online. For more information, visit http://lccs.com.hk/
