Fast forward four years and he has his own security business, servicing a range of events in a number of centres across the state, all while working with a bunch of mates from high school.
Mr Alnajar said he was one of the lucky ones, as it did not take long for him to find his professional calling.
“Most of us boys in the team were friends beforehand, and we now all work together at the business,” he said.
After entering the security business as a teenager, Mr Alnajar assumed greater responsibilities apace to the point that when his boss moved on from security work he began to hire, train, roster and manage a team of security guards while communicating with clientele.
Reflecting on his journey, Mr Alnajar expressed his gratitude to his former employer for trusting him with so much at such a young age.
It inspired him to start his own security company, leading to the creation of State 1 Security.
At 22, Mr Alnajar is the founder and managing director of State 1 Security and has a bachelor degree in business, marketing and accounting from La Trobe University’s Shepparton campus.
“With hard work, advertising, networking and building relationships with customers and staff, we were able to significantly grow with a lot of work, and increasing business size,” Mr Alnajar said.
Mr Alnajar said the company provided services across Victoria, but operated mostly in Shepparton, Bendigo, Wangaratta and Echuca, with 15 to 25 employees, varying week-to-week.
Mr Alnajar said his company had collaborated with other security companies to offer services at events of up to 50,000 attendees, including Groovin the Moo, White Night Bendigo, Easter Festival Bendigo, Bendigo Cup and SpringNats.
Community driven: Abbas Alnajar with team leader Ali Al Sakir at Culture and Co’s Greater Shepparton City Council-supported Iftar event.
Photo by
Prue Peters Commercial Photography
Mr Alnajar was born and raised in Shepparton and said he was proud to be a local business owner in his home town, with personnel that reflected the multicultural nature of his neighbourhood, something he believed was its strength.
“I finished school at McGuire (College) in 2018, with most of our employees being McGuire graduates, although some are from Notre Dame (College),” he said.
“We all look out for each other in the workplace, having similar characteristics and interests, it makes us very strong.
“We have Arabic, English, Afghan, Samoan, Tongan, Urdu, Punjabi, Swedish, Turkish, Pakistani, Albanian, Greek and Congolese-speaking guards that are able to assist patrons, customers and clients with safety inquiries and offer brilliant customer service so people are comfortable with our staff.”
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