IR Helped Make This Employee’s Dream a Reality: Rizwan’s Story

Many Ingersoll Rand employees around the globe recognize Rizwan (“Rizzy”) Rabbani as a successful inside sales professional based in Germany, who is always smiling, working hard and cheerfully connecting colleagues, customers and suppliers. But Rizzy’s path to success has been far from easy; as much as his colleagues appreciate him as a valued colleague, he is equally appreciative of Ingersoll Rand’s role in helping him achieve a very specific life-long dream.

 

Humble Beginnings

Rizzy grew up in an SOS Children’s Village home in Pakistan, separated from his mother who was working hard as a house cleaner in a privileged area of Islamabad to support her five children. For 13 years, Rizzy lived in the difficult conditions of a restricted orphanage, without hope for professional opportunities or the ability to help his family achieve their biggest dream: to have an apartment where they could all live together.

Enter Ingersoll Rand

Years later found Rizzy in Germany struggling with new challenges, including language barriers, culture shock, financial instability and, most importantly, difficulties in landing a permanent job. Disheartened, he was ready to give up when he got an interview at legacy Gardner Denver in 2014.

 

“The way Regina Bertram-Pfister and Roland Huppmann spoke to me during the interview, I got the feeling I would have a real opportunity for the first time,” said Rizzy. “As I started my job, I immediately felt like part of the family.”

 

He began his career with our Thomas brand and now, seven years later, is responsible for inside sales for Tricontinent and ILS brands globally.

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Leaning on IR to Realize a Dream

 

Enjoying his growing career and building a stable life in Germany, Rizzy was realizing a life he dreamed about in his childhood in the Pakistani orphanage. But he was still working hard with one, big goal still a distant dream: uniting his family together into a home.

 

Then, in 2017, legacy Gardner Denver granted employees equity in the company as part of its IPO (Initial Public Offering) and, again in 2020, new Ingersoll Rand awarded employees an equity grant totalling $150M USD. For Rizzy, the financial security these grants are providing was life-changing—for him and his family—when he made his family’s dream come true by offering his mother her own home.

 

“I bought a house for my mother in Islamabad, in the area where she used to work,” said Rizzy proudly. “We could never have imagined this was possible when I was growing up!”

 

His mother is very happy in her new house and is grateful for Rizzy’s journey with Ingersoll Rand. She and Rizzy enjoy daily video calls from her new home.

 

“This is what really matters,” said Regina, who first hired Rizwan. “I am so grateful, looking back from the day we interviewed Rizwan to today, to be able to see that leaning on us really does make life better!”

 

Smiling broadly, Rizzy concludes, “I want to encourage all colleagues to appreciate the culture and benefits of Ingersoll Rand. Don’t get blindsided by day-to-day barriers; working hard and with good intentions, everyone can find ways to overcome challenges and find success. Thanks to this company, a kid from a Pakistani orphanage bought a house and developed a rewarding career! Everything is possible and this is just the start!”