A dynamic business leader recognizes the importance of accelerating growth by aligning with evolution and innovation to create interdependent yet autonomous businesses. Today, corporate clients are increasingly moving toward implementing comprehensive solutions that integrate accounting into a broader category of ‘business solutions.’ Building such businesses that offer a bouquet of services can be difficult, and several research reports indicate less than 1 in 5 scales successfully.
Dr. Dawkins Brown has created, from the ground up, an integrated multidisciplinary professional service firm, Dawgen Global, situated in Jamaica, offering a wide range of services, including Audit, Advisory, Tax, Legal, and Risk. A formidable competitor, Dawgen Global has organized itself into Business Units to serve its clients better. These include Dawgen Auditors, Dawgen Advisors, Dawgen Finance, Dawgen Media, Dawgen Tech, Dawgen HR Solution, and Dawgen Tax & Legal Compliance. “Dawgen Global is unique within the industry because it is multidisciplinary and fully integrated as one firm under common ownership,” opines Dr. Dawkins.
He further elucidates how the current professional services industry, such as law, accounting, management consulting, recruitment, and so on, is highly competitive. Even worse, many of the services offered by these firms are now commoditized. There is little to distinguish one firm from another or one practitioner from another. However, the team at DG strategically focuses on Innovation to ensure complete customer delight. Innovation takes two forms in the organization; internal innovation to enhance the way business is conducted and external innovation that improves client benefits.
Innovation – A Growth Driver
Delving deeper into understanding this approach, Dr. Dawkins explains how Internal Dimensions focuses on:
- Strategic Innovation refers to how DG competes, leverages its resources, and creates a competitive advantage. Increased competition, new market entrants, and the changing workforce are drivers of this dimension.
- Behavioral Innovation is the key to incremental and continuous improvement. Behavioral innovation is achieved at DG by creating an open-minded culture that embraces new ideas and encourages employees to seek out new and improved ways of performing even the most menial of tasks.
- Market Innovation is directed toward penetrating and exploiting new markets.
- Process Innovation aids Dawgen’s organizational efficiency by adopting non-technology-based new and best practice processes, procedures, and techniques. It is driven by quality, compliance, and regulatory demands and is a reaction to declining margins.
Alternatively, the External Dimensions are also critical, and it examines:
- Technological Innovation within Dawgen Global is seen as a means of improving service delivery.
- Service Innovation involves introducing new (or at least new to the firm’s market) services. Client demands, coupled with increased competition, are driving more firms to introduce new services rapidly and invest time and capital in exploratory ventures, both independently and jointly.
- Client-Centric Innovation is created in collaboration with a client. This type of innovation is novel, though it can later be reproduced, repackaged, and re-sold.
Dr. Dawkins adds, “Dawgen Global Executive team understands the seven dimensions of innovation in professional services, and hence we can identify which dimensions represent the best opportunities for our clients and us.”
Armed with Robust Products
Dargen Global has worked with a myriad of clientele and gained quite a strong foothold in the market. Having already established its market presence in the US, Dr. Dawkins reveals that the organization intends to expand its reach across all the Caribbean Islands over the next 24 months. Having conducted extensive market research, there are significant demands for technology-driven products and advisory services. Keeping this in mind, the organization has designed a few technology solutions that are being introduced in the market; Dawgen Cloud Services – VDAT, Dawgen Tele-Medical Solution, MY HR Office, and Cyber Security Practice.
The Virtual Data Access Point (V-DAP) represents DG’s Data Storage Services. This service aims to target SMEs who want to embrace Remote Work with the appropriate security and reliability. The Solution will be configured to allow users to access Virtual Data Access Point (V-DAP) via the web browser. This Cloud service will be packaged using a flexible pricing regime with different storage capacities and processing power. The packages will be available in three variants, Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
Additionally, the Dawgen Tele-Medicine Solution is an All-In-One Practice Management Software equipped with everything required to manage a medical practice. The end-to-end software solution comprises a website, mobile apps, patient portals, online appointment bookings, patient records, practice management, and telemedicine. “With regards to our Cybersecurity practice, we realize that a proactive multidisciplinary approach against cyberattacks is effective via the combination of multidisciplinary and multi-professional knowledge. Increased public awareness with total quality multi-domain knowledge and social computing skills will likely decrease cyberattacks’ victims and improve cyber systems quality in general. This is where Dawgen Cyber Threat Defence (DCTD) comes to the fore. We offer a comprehensive suite of Cybersecurity solutions in conjunction with our Global Partners that will Detect, Respond, and Recover,” adds Dr. Dawkins.
In tandem with this, DG has also introduced solutions such as Remote and Continuous audits, Business Coach Services, Audit Management services, Legal audits, Registered Office Services, Employer on records services, and Sponsorship Management Services.
The Inception Story
A business mogul today, Dr. Dawkins has traveled a long way. “My life is a journey of experiences through which learning occurs. One experience led to another, thus creating a learning curve that guides my growth and development. My experiential learning began in 1989 after I graduated from Kingston College and was offered a summer job at the Jamaica Library Service in Kingston,” says Dr. Dawkins. While at the Jamaica Library Service, Dr. Dawkins developed a liking for accounting and aspired to become an accountant. This aspiration was influenced by residing next to an accounting firm in Kingston Gardens. With accounting vacancies on the rise, he decided to study part-time and register for a 2-year certificate course in Business Studies at the University of the West Indies and to pursue the ACCA Qualifications via the Mature Entry Route (MER). “The ACCA Mature Entry Route allows you to attempt two papers before gaining full acceptance into the program. The ACCA was and is still a very ‘feared’ examination, so to be successful, I knew I would need to adopt a simple work-study routine for a few years,” explains Dr. Dawkins.
After completing ACCA Level 1 and the Certificate in Business Studies from UWI, he longed to gain experience in the accounting field despite a decrease in his salary. In 1993, Dr. Dawkins accepted a position at Lee Clark Chang (EY Associate Firm in Jamaica) as a Trainee Auditor. Dr. Dawkins tells us, “My acceptance resulted in a 30% salary cut. However, Mr. Oswald Lee, MD of the organization, promised to increase my salary each time I was successful in an ACCA paper. I had 14 more papers to attempt to complete the qualification. The burning desire and aspiration of becoming a Chartered Accountant kept me focused on absorbing all the accounting experience and preparing for the ACCA exams.”
Despite losing his father in October 1997 and tending to his grieving mother, he progressed quickly through the ACCA exams. “I could apply my accounting and auditing skills with perfection, and I was transferred to EY Jamaica (now BDO) Consulting Department as a Management Consultant by 1996. In 1998 when the ACCA December 1997 results were published, my name was published on the finalist list. I was a chartered accountant at age 26,” declares Dr. Dawkins.
His strong passion for the accounting profession developed a desire within him to own and operate a firm. However, he wanted to attain a wider industry experience before taking the plunge. So, in September 1998, he accepted a position as a financial controller at a petroleum distribution and marketing company.
Having worked closely with the Managing Director and the owner of the petroleum marketing company, his entrepreneurial desire started to take shape. In 2001, Dr. Dawkins and his brother established an accounting school (Corporate Business Institute), and on September 2, 2002, he established an accounting firm named Dawgen.
Today, Dr. Dawkins Brown is the Executive Chairman and founder of Dawgen Global. He is responsible for the strategic guidance and strategy execution of several entities within the Dawgen Global Group. He earned his Ph.D. in Accounting, Finance, and Management from Rushmore University. Dr. Dawkins is also a member of several professional bodies, including the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Jamaica, Chartered Management Institute (CMI), Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA), Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), Information Systems Audit and Control Association ( ISACA ), American Planning Association (APA), and Association of Certified E-Discovery Specialists (ACEDS).
Shaping the Leaders of Tomorrow
On enquiring what makes him the strong leader he is today, he shares his belief with us, “A leader who produces followers limits his success to what his direct, personal influence touches. His success ends when he no longer leads. However, a leader who produces other leaders multiplies his influence, and he and his people have a future. His organization continues to build and grow even if he is personally unable to carry on his leadership role.” Over the years, he has created leaders at every level within his organizations. He signs off, “I believe that is the only legacy I need. I want to be remembered as a leader who creates leaders.”
For More Info: https://dawgen.global/