Sambhana Care Ltd

As director and founder of the company, my responsibilities lay in managing the overall business and setting the strategy of the company.

I was a trustee of a local charity that cared for adults with learning disabilities and it gave me an insight into the home care industry. My son is an adult with learning disabilities and we, as a family, had been on the receiving end of pretty poor standards of care I saw first-hand what I felt were shocking standards of care while running a charity. My background is in sales and operational management and I felt there was a gap in the market in the home care industry and that I could use my professional expertise in a sector that needed good management skills.

I started Sambhana Home Care in August 2018 but the opportunity to really push the company forward came in Jan 2020 when I stopped working with the charity. I am a British-born Sikh and my heritage is something I am really passionate about. One of the core beliefs of the Sikh community is looking after and taking care of family and the community. We firmly believe in upholding the values of honesty, compassion, generosity, humility, integrity, service, and spirituality on a daily basis. The name Sambhana means ‘care’ in the Punjabi language and I felt it was important to embed that in my company name as a core belief and a mission.

I have worked in the Telecoms industry for many years in sales and customer operations management roles, which has given me the skills I felt were needed to run a business of my own. I felt that my experience could really make a difference in running a business and with my family situation it seemed clear to me that I could add real value to the home care market, where great provision is woefully lacking much of the time.

I was a Trustee with a local charity for 3 years who cared for adults with learning disabilities and this experience really honed my decision to start a home care company of my own. Whilst I was a trustee for the charity I set up a consultancy service, free of charge, to advise parents of adults with learning disabilities adults about the resources available from Social Services. Providing care for my son, I have been through the system of social care and this provided insight into the process. It is far from simple to navigate and provision is often limited and the quality is often lacking.

My vision is to ensure that we provide a really client-focused, bespoke service, tailored to the needs of both the elderly, who want to remain as independent as possible at home but need help to do that, and adults with learning difficulties, who need support to remain at home with their family and to offer respite to family members involved.

Recent experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has made it even more clear that families want their elderly relatives to remain at home for as long as possible, where they feel safe and secure, before committing to residency in a care home. We believe we can facilitate that with our highly specialised quality home care provision.

During the Covid lockdown, I was involved in a local Sikh Gurdwara running a group that provided 61,400 hot meals to vulnerable people and NHS Staff at four hospitals and care homes. We received a local heroes medal from Gravesham Borough Council for our efforts.

I get a huge amount of personal satisfaction from helping charities and from being a local councillor. As a councillor, I donated my allowance so that the local church that provided sandwiches to vulnerable people in and around Gravesham could purchase supplies during lockdown.

I’m also a trustee for the Dartford, Gravesham & Tonbridge Citizen Advice Bureau

My recent achievement was gaining my level 3 in Care. I am particularly proud of my achievement as I had to work hard to achieve it due to a lack of confidence. The qualification has helped me gain confidence in both my work life and at home. I know I can add real value in my role at Sambhana Care and this qualification provides the evidence of this capability.

• Manage the learning disabilities branch of Sambhana Care.

• L2 conflict management

10 years as a support worker for learning disabilities. 3 of them years as a training coordinator and trainer/assessor with a charity that supports adults with learning disabilities

Outside of work – What are your interests (Interests that will tell a more rounded picture of you as an individual / contribute to build trust / show a team member a positive light / recent achievement:

Downtime is enjoyed socialising with friends, Dinner or shopping.