Our Story
Customer service is at the core of our business and we rely strongly on our human capital. Each employee’s performance is critical to our success. Consequently, we invest a lot of resources in training our employees. We cannot do business without our team.
The security industry has long been male-dominated. Women in the industry must work extremely hard to get ahead and are still not fully accepted despite their efforts. Our founder, James Dutkowski, has been working in the industry for over 20 years; he has personally witnessed the barriers that women in security face, as well as the untapped benefits, possibilities, and opportunity they can bring to the industry. This compelled James to found Lady Askari — a security company that gives women opportunities to advance their security careers.
James started his career as a U.S. Marine assigned to an exclusively male unit, Reconnaissance Battalion, that prohibited women. Traditionally, women in the U.S. Military are not allowed in combat roles. As an 18-year-old, James slowly began to adopt this way of thinking, too. Although he believed women who passed the entrance exams should be allowed into combat units, he also believed that their inclusion might create unnecessary tension with their male counterparts, directing focus away from missions. After 20 years in the industry, however, James’ perception has changed for the better! He now recognizes the very vital role that women can and must play in the security industry.
Thankfully, such perceptions are slowly changing and women can try out for select combat positions in the U.S. Military. On November 7, 2019, Lance Cpl. Alexa Barth became the first female to pass the Basic Reconnaissance Course and earn the reconnaissance Marine military occupational specialty (MOS 0321). Nevertheless, women in security still face significant challenges all over the world. In Kenya, where Lady Askari is based, many people still believe women are less capable than men in security positions and are therefore skeptical about a woman’s performance capabilities in security professions such as close protection.
Lady Askari is changing this perception and strives to create more opportunities for women in the industry. Our vision is to redefine security — one lady at a time — through superior services provided by our staff of highly-skilled, capable women.