Battle of the bugs: Joseph Ong
Joseph Ong has spent a quarter of a century ensuring Singapore’s homes and offices are free of pests, and he has no doubt Rentokil is one company that will never be out of business.
The thing about bugs is that they’re everywhere. In every nook and cranny around the world, from 6-star resorts to your squeaky-clean kitchen at home, bugs abound. They are flying, buzzing, crawling or scampering across the globe in numbers far too large to count, although there has been an attempt. It’s estimated there are 10 quintillion insects currently alive (that’s an awful lot of zeros, 18 to be precise) representing about 925,000 species. And that’s only the species that have been identified; apparently the number of total insect species could be as high as 30 million.
While there are countless species in the world, some foreign and some unique to local areas, there is 1 man who has made it his mission to control the insect pests that call Singapore home. If there’s an unwelcome insect or rodent invading an apartment, office or hotel, Joseph Ong and his team at Rentokil are often the first on the scene to investigate.
Pest control is a growing market
As managing director, Joseph is in charge of 390 Rentokil technicians responsible for exterminating the termites, bed bugs, mosquitoes, ants and cockroaches that infest the 719-square-kilometre island. Rats and mice are also on the hit list, with Singapore’s increasing urbanisation contributing to a growing rodent problem.
"The pest control industry here in Singapore is a S$120-million market and growing," Joseph says. "Over the years, the industry has grown to help cater to the government’s stricter regulations governing the control of insects in shopping malls, food establishments and construction sites. All our service technicians are certified by the National Environment Agency (NEA), which is committed to keeping the incidence of vector-borne diseases down. Fines and penalties are enforced if premises are not inspected regularly, or are found to be infested."
Rentokil was founded in the UK in 1927, evolving to global prominence in more than 60 countries. It launched in Singapore in 1964, where it now holds a 28% cent share of the local pest-control market and boasts an impressive staff retention rate of 88%.
They won’t let the bedbugs bite
A rookie in the sector, Joseph has neither a technical background nor is he trained as an entomologist. However, the down-to earth individual has spent most of his time on the field with customers and technicians, and has always been highly motivated in protecting the safety of both employees and the public through quality pest-control measures. Besides the value and contributions the company has made to pest control, Joseph, perhaps more importantly, truly appreciates and respects the job of the specialists. This also explains why he embraces strict health and safety policies within his team. And with the rising demand and concern for safety when it comes to bug control, environmentally friendly attributes are highly favourable.
Rentokil employs a team of field biologists and medical entomologists to explore solutions while addressing pressing concerns such as the global spread of the mosquito-borne Zika virus and Dengue fever. Then there are the bed bugs, which have become an urbanisation problem, with increasing global business and leisure travel occurring in Singapore. This has a major impact on lodging areas such as hotels and motels. "All hotels are recommended to engage with licensed pest-control experts to conduct regular checks, and Rentokil is behind a program that encourages hotels to follow strict procedures, starting with training the housekeepers to recognise bed bug infestations," Joseph says.
Joseph credits his 3 years as managing director of Rentokil Thailand for developing his strong managerial skills. Steady and durable leadership was required to direct Rentokil’s 11 branches throughout Thailand, a dramatic change from Singapore’s single branch. "I built a strong team through a lot of coaching, personal development, team engagement and by using 3 very basic principles: service, building relationships with internal and external customers, and team work. Those 3 elements are the key foundation and core values of Rentokil Initial."
Gadgets worthy of James Bond
While building customer relationships is crucial to competing against the 200 other pest-control companies in Singapore, without technical innovation Rentokil would lose its battle against the bugs. Gone are the days when pest controllers would walk around armed only with a fumigator and a general idea of where pests might lurk. Today, it’s all about online reporting, drones and burrow scopes, as spying on insects and determining their behaviour gets more and more sophisticated.
"We use a lot of gadgets that could feature in any James Bond movie," Joseph laughs. "We send drones into hornets’ nests and any other nests that are high up and too risky to reach using a ladder. We have burrow scopes fitted with imaging cameras to detect other pests in basements; and our online reporting technology alerts us straightaway if a rodent has been captured, thus enhancing the quality and speed of the ‘detect and correct’ process."
"We use a lot of gadgets that could feature in any James Bond movie."
But no matter how sophisticated the technology, and no matter how smart humans become at catching bugs and rodents, just like the villains in the James Bond films there will always be more and they will never be completely eradicated because of the availability of food, water and hiding spots.
"I believe pest-control solutions are an ongoing and long-term need in today’s environment where we face various pest concerns as a result of urbanisation, lifestyle, environment, infrastructure and housekeeping standards. Our job is to constantly educate the public and do our part in raising this awareness, and protecting the people by using safe, low- or non-toxic solutions to keep these infestations at bay."