[This is a sponsored article with Great Pyramid.]
Tejvinder Singh, co-founder and CEO of Great Pyramid, has always been a bit of a rebel. A bright student early on, scoring well in UPSR and PMR, his academic success didn’t quite carry through to SPM, where he only secured one A.
But that was never the end goal for him anyway. “Right after secondary school, I just wanted to work and earn my own income. Money was my main driver. I wanted to be the next Bill Gates, hence why I studied IT,” Tejvinder shared with Vulcan Post.
His early ventures were a mix of freelance gigs as a promoter and usherer, along with attempts to sell products like perfumes and clothes online. While these efforts were not successful, he views them as valuable learning experiences.
A key learning he picked up from those failed ventures was that market research is everything. “I assumed demand existed and expected success without real data. I quickly realised intuition alone wasn’t enough. Taking calculated risks based on market insights is far more effective,” he said.
One way he turned his lesson into action was by starting Great Pyramid.
Building from the ground up
Great Pyramid began as an immigration and mobility services provider, catering to companies that hired expatriates in Malaysia.
While still in university, Tejvinder gained hands-on experience in this field by handling data entry and manually submitting expatriate pass applications to authorities. That’s when he noticed a gap in the industry’s understanding of regulatory requirements and saw an opportunity to bridge it.
In the early days, he handled everything himself—from meeting clients to liaising with authorities—all from a small room at home equipped with just a PC, phone, and fax machine.
His knowledge grew through extensive research and a relentless drive to ask the right questions.
A turning point came when HR departments of client companies began inquiring about additional HR services like recruitment and payroll.
“That was the ‘lightbulb moment.’ We already had a good reputation and access to clients, so we expanded into recruitment, payroll outsourcing, and Employer of Record (EoR) services,” he said. “Learning new trades was tough, but I kept an inquisitive mind and asked industry experts.”
Dictionary time: EoR is an organisation that takes care of the legal and administrative duties of employing people on behalf of another business. While employees still work for their employer, the EoR manages things like contracts, taxes, and other employment-related tasks.
Source: Personio
Winning trust and scaling up
Starting a business when he was just 23 wasn’t easy. “Companies didn’t want to trust a young guy with their expatriate mobility and HR matters,” Tejvinder admitted.
To gain credibility, he launched a website. Without a marketing budget, he relied on cold calls and email blasts, even scanning newspaper job advertisements to reach out to HR departments.
“Our pitch was simple: we only charge on a success basis, no deposits or upfront payments. We were confident we could deliver, and as we built trust, our client base grew.”
One of their biggest breakthroughs came in 2011 when a Fortune 500 company engaged their services. According to Tejvinder, this client remains with them to this day and has significantly contributed to their growth.
Fast forward to today, Great Pyramid serves over 450 clients across Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, India, the USA, the UK, Australia, China, Cyprus, Spain, Austria, UAE, Hong Kong, and Germany.
Growing from a solo operation to serving global clients came with its fair share of challenges, and one of the biggest hurdles he had to face was managing a workforce.
“Being a relatively unknown brand, attracting top talents was tough. In the early days, we made hiring mistakes such as recruiting too quickly without a rigorous selection process. That led to high turnover, and I often had to step in personally to manage clients and operations,” he shared.
To fix this, they introduced structured hiring processes and invested in employer branding, along with, of course, prioritising their clients above all else.
“I also take a hands-on approach, assisting teams with challenges and engaging directly with clients,” he added.
Becoming a one-stop HR partner
According to Tejvinder, what sets Great Pyramid apart is their hybrid approach, leveraging AI-driven solutions with a personal touch, backed by a strong regional presence and deep knowledge of local labour laws.
“Many HR platforms focus purely on automation, but businesses expanding in Southeast Asia need more than just software. They need compliance expertise and real-world workforce solutions,” said Tejvinder.
He added that global HR tech platforms offer broad solutions, but the company focuses on providing customised, country-specific services, helping businesses navigate complex regulations without the risks of a one-size-fits-all approach.
Their core services include recruitment and talent acquisition, immigration and mobility, expatriate pass applications, workforce management, and HR advisory and consultancy.
“We handle everything end-to-end, from sourcing talent and employment contracts to work pass applications,” he summed up.
One of their recent focuses has been sourcing talents for the data centre industry. “A major client was having trouble finding local talent, so we suggested bringing in foreign talents. The client was concerned about the legal aspects, but we reassured them that we’d handle all the paperwork,” he shared as an example of the challenges clients typically face.
“So far, we’ve helped mobilise over 100 expatriates for the client.”
Great Pyramid also played a pivotal role in helping a global mobility tech company scale in Southeast Asia. “They needed to hire fast but didn’t want to manage the admin side. We started with just two staff for them, and within three years, that number grew to nearly 100.”
Entrepreneurship is a journey, not a destination
Great Pyramid is now expanding its regional presence into Indonesia and Thailand, while also broadening its service offerings. The company is further enhancing its immigration and mobility services by assisting with the Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) programme.
For context, the MM2H programme was introduced by the Malaysian government as a way for non-Malaysians to retire and live in Malaysia for an extended period of time.
Looking ahead, Great Pyramid has ambitious plans, with a roadmap in place to go public within the next five years. “The target is to list by 2029,” Tejvinder told us.
For him, entrepreneurship is a continuous journey of learning and growth. This is because he believes success isn’t about proving anything to others, but about proving to himself that he could do it.
Two defining moments stand out in his journey: winning The Best in Customer Service Award at the 2023 Star Outstanding Business Awards (SOBA) and being selected for the 2024 Elevate programme by the Securities Commission and Capital Markets Malaysia.
Despite these achievements, he remains humble. “I don’t think I’ve made it yet. There’s always more to learn. That’s what keeps me going.”
- Learn more about Great Pyramid here.
- Read other articles we’ve written about Malaysian startups here.
Featured Image Credit: Great Pyramid
