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10 Ways to Improve Customer Onboarding Process

The two key elements in corporate are customer involvement and satisfaction. You may have heard that attracting new clients is more challenging than keeping your current ones satisfied. The business world is evolving significantly. Thus it’s imperative to stand out in terms of attracting consumers in a special way. As customers start using your product, it is important to greet and welcome them to improve future relations and long-term retention. 

Adopting the onboarding process for your peers gives you beneficial outcomes. Providing consumers with the best onboarding experience implies that your brand and customer service will keep them interested in your company for a long time.

Here we look forward to learning more about customer onboarding and ways to improve it for businesses. 

Concept of Customer Onboarding 

Customer onboarding is a process of nurturing new customers while taking the first experience of your product. The first impression of your product in front of the user clearly defines your customer onboarding process. This process runs from the customer’s initial interaction up to the activation and acquisition of your product. In this journey, the priority of a business must be to deliver the best possible experience to new customers by engaging them for a long time. 

Relevance of Customer Onboarding Process 

The world of business is constantly evolving with great advancements. Easy adaptability in any sector is key to success. So, this customer onboarding is one of the tech improvements businesses can easily adapt to achieve their target objectives. Accessible onboarding experience of customers leads to the promotion of your brand value. As a result, it reduces the churning of customers and turns your new prospects into long-lasting customers. That is why onboarding is a two-way process that offers mutual benefits to both customer and owner. 

  • Know your customers

Your customers always engage with your product because you offer them a solution to their problems. Thus, to find out customers’ problems, you must understand them very deeply. Search for customers’ pain points, queries, and problems and try to find an ideal solution. This data helps you to develop an onboarding experience for customers. Knowing a buyer’s persona is the key to offering good service to them. So, by accepting feedback, chatting, and emails, you can easily summarize the needs and approaches of customers. Using that approach, you must design customer onboarding features and services. 

  • Keep constant communication

Effective communication with customers is one of the best practices in the customer onboarding process. After signing in customers for your product, the first best way to start communication is to greet them with a welcome email. Email is the most acceptable medium for reaching up to customers before they sign in to your application. After the complete sign-in process, you can go for the notification on the app to inform updates on your product. Always be in touch with your existing as well as new customers to build a lifetime relationship in a business. 

  • Develop client-focused goals

Fixing client-focused actions and goals reveal the priorities of your business. If your business growth revolves around the fulfillment of customer needs, then it is sure that success is in your hands. The customer-centric focus of business always pulls profitable leads and increases sales and revenue. This type of approach business gains loyalty and trust from customers and also goes ahead of all competitors in the market. Thus, all the satisfaction of customers increases the customer lifetime value for the business, which ensures long-term business relationships. 

  • Define expectations

As a business owner or product designer, you should determine the objectives and goals of your products for target customers. You can clearly understand your consumers’ expectations by setting goals for your product. When a customer knows your defined goals and objectives are positive, then turn toward your product surely. 

  • Use Customer onboarding software

A great onboarding experience can be designed with the help of software and applications. A well-developed software provides you with templates for welcome emails, product presentation tools, and video tools to represent your product service in front of customers. Once you complete your strategic plan and actions of onboarding, then you can go for the software use according to your business needs. 

  • Focus on the needs of customers

If your employees and your business are attentive to customers’ needs and suggestions, then your firm’s growth will be unstoppable. Monitor the needs of customers using different tools and software to make some modifications to the product service. Always keep an eye on feedback to develop your service. It improves the onboarding experience of customers. Representing your first page of a website or software must be well designed with a feedback option that pulls your customer’s attention towards your product service. 

  • Personalize the experience

The onboarding experience of a customer wholly depends upon how you treat and attend to your customers from the first interaction up to your long-term relationship. Giving clients a personalized experience helps them feel valued and satisfied. Training your staff to engage with customer leads is another crucial step. Offer support to every customer individually by mail or by social media. This reflects your customer-centric business model to them. 

  •  Build the relationship

Whether business involves professionalism, building a healthy relationship with your customers is essential. Customers trust relations and loyalty, so if you give them, they will be with you at every moment. Offer help to customers when they need it and wish them on different occasions and on their success. Once customers tap for your service, they feel comfortable using your product. Design a realistic welcome screen to start successful relations with your customers. If you drive your business honestly, you will see a reduced rate of customers churning. 

  • Take follow-ups after onboarding

Taking follow-ups or feedback from users after completing the onboarding process is a must in an online business. They might have questions or queries regarding the use of the product. So be attentive while taking follow-ups from customers. Follow-up action shows your business ethics and value to the client, which also builds customer trust. It gives you results of the onboarding experience of customers, which reflect the engagement period of those customers with your firm. 

  • Design your onboarding process updated and flexible 

The onboarding experience relies upon the accessibility of your product or software. Businesses always have to go from various modifications according to the market needs. So it is important to design your product by adapting to the latest trends in the market. Flexibility while using your product and at the time of review gives a good experience to customers and clients. It assures your customers that your product service fulfills the proper and updated service to them.

How Ed-Tech is Revolutionizing the Education Sector

In a world where technology is advancing daily and topics like big data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing are gaining paramount importance, it only makes sense that technology is integrated into all areas of society. One of the most critical areas of society is education, which makes educational technology arguably one of the most crucial technology areas today.

That means that Educational Technology startups like UniApp, which aim to support technology-aided education, are of utmost importance. In this article, we discuss educational technology, the hot topics in the field, and how UniApp contributes to the field, among other exciting ideas.

What’s Educational Technology?

Before we talk about the importance of Educational Technology, let’s first define what it is. Educational Technology, often referred to as EdTech, is a field study that focuses on education supported by technology. The field explores the process of analyzing, designing, and developing technologies that can improve the teaching environment and teaching methods at schools and universities, and other educational institutions. These technologies also focus on learning materials, students, and the learning process in general.

A Brief History of EdTech

EdTech was introduced as technologies have been advancing to keep up with innovations in other areas of society. The field has been around for a while, actually, since computers and laptops first started being used to educate students. As the internet was developed and advanced, more and more EdTech topics came to be. Hot topics today include remote learning, which can be known as distance or online learning.

Covid-19 and EdTech

With the Covid-19 Pandemic, there has been a boom in the field of EdTech, and usage has surged beyond previous levels. Education had to adapt to the distances the pandemic created. EdTech technologies quickly rose to the challenge to fill the gap and become sources of learning and communication between students and teachers worldwide.

These technologies truly helped education become more accessible and efficient at a time when there was no other alternative. Even today, as the pandemic fades out of the scene, EdTech is still booming and becoming increasingly popular.

What’s the importance of EdTech?

So we’ve already briefly mentioned why educational technologies are essential today. But let’s talk more about this topic, as there’s so much more to it. Educational technology is critical because it can help professors enhance their learning environments and engage with their students in unique ways. Professors and universities can also quickly expand their professional networks in a way that they couldn’t before. This means they can contact other educators worldwide and learn new things.

Here are some of the main reasons why EdTech is important today:

1. Wide and easily accessed materials

EdTech offers students an extensive array of educational options to choose from. From virtual learning programs to mobile and computer applications, the choices are endless. Students can pick suitable ones based on their own personal needs. They can also develop new skills and enhance their existing ones based on the materials at hand.

2. Fun and engaging learning environment

Another reason why educational technology is important is that it provides a fun and engaging learning environment for students. Professors can connect with students through advanced technologies and retain their attention for extended periods of time. Students can also have fun while learning, improving their entire learning experience. This allows them to stay more motivated when it comes to their studies.

3. Access learning anytime and anywhere

The fact that EdTech allows access to learning anytime and anywhere is a significant plus. Today, no one can live without the internet. That means in today’s world, students should be able to access their learning material through the internet whenever possible. This means they can do their assignments at their own pace and get their work done. Online degree programs allow students to learn online from the comfort of their own homes and at their own pace.

Hybrid programs, programs where students can attend both on-campus and online during the course of their degrees, are also rising in popularity. These programs make learning more flexible and accessible so more students can learn. This means that students can connect with their professors and peers at any time and access the information they need to learn properly.

What’s the next big thing in Educational technology?

So, what’s the next big thing in Educational Technology? With all the advancements happening in the field, what are the trends that we should keep our eyes peeled for in the coming years? Actually, there are a few hot topics in the field that are currently emerging or will emerge shortly. In this section, we discuss some of these topics so you can stay ahead of the game.

1. Virtual Tutoring

One of the hot new topics is Virtual tutoring. These might be augmented experiences for students who have fallen behind in class and need some extra help. Or it may be for students who want to take an entire course virtually with a tutor. Virtual tutoring is expected to expand in the coming years. This will be through combining virtual tutoring and human tutoring in one place to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning experience.

2. Immersive Learning

Another topic to watch out for is immersive learning. This immersive learning will be introduced through the areas of Augmented Reality, AR, and Virtual Reality, VR. AR is a technology area that adds digital information to the real-world environment, while VR creates a whole new virtual or artificial environment. Introducing these two concepts into the educational system has made a pretty big boom.

Immense changes are taking place, creating an immersive learning experience. Instead of simply doing experiments in the lab, students can view augmented versions of objects on their mobile devices. As time goes on, the trends of AR and VR in EdTech will make learning a completely different experience than it ever was.

3. Gamification

Third, Gamification is a majorly hot topic in the field that will become one of the next big things. Gamification is, in the simplest terms, turning education into a game by adding game elements. It has already increased in popularity as it allows students to become more engaged. Gamification is used in many ways, like leaderboards, rewards systems, and more. These techniques have started to be applied in the field of education technology. These techniques will continue to increase in popularity as they increase the motivation and participation of students.

Why is EdTech a game-changer?

So you might now be asking yourself, why is EdTech a game-changer? One thing’s for sure is that it is currently changing, and will change, education in many ways for students and professors alike.

First, education Technology is an excellent way to bridge communication gaps, whether they are between professors and students or students and their peers. The rapid evolution of EdTech technologies has helped increase the knowledge flow among all members of the scholarly society.

EdTech also removes barriers that differentiate a physical learning environment from virtual ones. It creates a virtual community where students can easily communicate with teachers and students in real-time, no matter where in the world they are. Students can also make up virtual groups to work on projects and hand in project and assignment submissions. They can also get feedback on them as if they are in a physical classroom.

How does UniApp contribute to Educational Technology?

Finally, you might be asking yourself about the up-and-coming EdTech startups today. One of the major ones is UniApp. UniApp is a Frankfurt-based EdTech that was founded in 2021 with a mission to encourage international education. This online platform aims to simplify the application process for students, whether they are first-time students or those who aim to acquire more educational degrees. With the application, universities, students and agents can communicate together, and the whole college application process can be streamlined.

International students, in particular, can benefit from using the application. It can help them apply for more than 50,000 study programs across the European continent and worldwide. Users can upload their documents and academic reports and then easily apply for several university degrees simultaneously. UniApp also has an Artificial-Intelligence-based search engine that offers students suggestions for courses based on their interests. The application also aims to help from the universities and agents. They can enter the information they want about their programs, including costs and visa requirements so that everything is clear for students. It’s truly a win-win situation for all who are involved!

Technology, change in business strategies

Ten23 health® was founded in 2021 and acquired swissfillon in October 2021 and had rapid growth since then. The global contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) in Switzerland announced in September 2022 the completion of the superstructure of the new sterile manufacturing facility.

The existing FDA- and Swissmedic-inspected facility of ten23 health’s swissfillon in Visp already offers sterile manufacturing of pre-filled syringes, vials, and cartridges for clinical trial and commercial supplies, in close collaboration with ten23 health’s development center in Basel.

The new building, purpose-built for ten23 health, includes two further sterile manufacturing lines. Line 2 will produce large commercial quantities for market supply after regulatory approval of the drug. As a true scaled-up version of our existing filling line 1, the transfer between the lines will be associated with less risk for our biopharma customers. The fill line will be based on the latest Isolator technology to increase the safety of the drugs for patients. It will focus on complex products, filled into RTU containers including syringes, cartridges and special primary packaging such as used in specific administration devices for subcutaneous delivery. Fill line 3 will broaden ten23 health’s offering to also process bulk containers (vials), both in liquid and lyophilized form, with two large-scale freeze-driers, each at 12.5 square meters of shelf-space for clinical and commercial use.

ten23 health continues to hire additional colleagues to support the new production lines.  A unique feature of the new facility is photovoltaic façade, covering the complete building exteriors, and being able to provide 45’000 kW per year. ten23 health facilities in Basel and Visp already operate with 100% renewable energy, consistent with our commitment to the planet.

Prof. Dr. Hanns-Christian Mahler, CEO of ten23 health, commented: “The completion of the initial phase of construction is a major milestone for ten23 health, our customers and their patients, and towards providing a significant amount of capacity for commercial and clinical sterile medicines for patients. In addition to securing renewable energy for the facility, we are investing in photovoltaics across the whole façade. We are excited to continue building ten23 health into a leading sustainable contract development and manufacturing worldwide.”

More about ten23 health

ten23 health®, located in Basel, Switzerland, is the human-centric and sustainable strategic partner of choice for the pharmaceutical industry and biotech start-ups: we develop, manufacture, and test modern medicines. We support our clients in developing differentiated, stable, usable, and safe injectable treatment options for patients. Swissfillon, located in Visp, Switzerland, is a world leader in the sterile production of complex pharmaceutical dosage forms and a wholly-owned subsidiary of ten23 health.

ten23 health combines the latest scientific findings with proven and tested world-class industry and regulatory expertise to forge new paths for supporting clients. We provide our innovative services in a fair and sustainable manner, respecting people’s health and the future of our planet. ten23 health is solidly financed through the long-term commitment of 3i Group, an internationally reputable equity partner.

About the company’s name

The numeric value for the number of molecules in a sample of one mol is called the Avogadro constant and equals 6.022 * 10 23. The world is built from small units, and not a homogeneous mass.

Cory Willness: An Adept Leader Integrating Advanced AgTech Solutions with Exceptional Experience

An enthusiastic leader, Cory Willness, the CEO and Co-founder of Croptimistic Technology, best known for their product SWAT MAPS, pursued his agronomy degree in 1996 at the University of Saskatchewan. Cory spent eight of his early years as an agronomist in agriculture retail. He then started a consulting company called CropPro Consulting in 2003, which he is proud to say, is still operating today. This gave him the experience and courage he needed to open Croptimistic often referred to as SWAT MAPS, an AgTech (agriculture technology) company in 2018 with his wife Shannon (Founder) and Derek Massey (Founder and CTO).

About SWAT MAPS

“Unlock Your Soil Potential with SWAT MAPS”

SWAT MAPS (Soil, Water, And Topography) is now the world’s most well-known and respected brand of high-resolution soil maps. They are the pillar of a successful variable-rate fertilizer and seed program used by farmers to maximize their profitability and environmental sustainability. Croptimistic has now evolved so much that there is a SWAT ECOSYSTEM which is a collection of hardware, software, training, and support that enables service providers and farmers to simply and easily execute the service at the ground level.

Cory’s experience and knowledge of farming has allowed the creation of this SWAT ECOSYSTEM. He is adamant many improvements can be made to traditional ways of farming and most of these are enabled by developing technology today. Croptimistic’s Global Partner Network is proud to have partnered with service providers around the world to bring the SWAT MAPS to farmers all across the globe.

Croptimistic is supported by a growing team of professionals who have dedicated their careers to developing the best soil mapping software and hardware in the world.

Unleashing the steps of the SWAT ECOSYSTEM

  • The Foundation

The foundation is a crucial part of the SWAT ECOSYSTEM. It offers education, support, and software needed to become a SWAT CERTIFIED service provider. The foundation ensures every step of the SWAT ECOSYSTEM works seamlessly and provides the farmers with the same experience.

  • Soil Potential

Everything starts in the soil. By becoming a SWAT MAPS service provider, the company will help execute the process to help the farmers unlock their soil potential today.

  • Yield Potential

Crop variability is influenced by the stable soil properties captured by a SWAT MAP, the Soil Potential portion of the process must be completed before the yield potential process can begin.

  • Opportunity

Becoming a SWAT MAPS service provider means offering the farmers the best variable rate field mapping system on the market. The company’s team of experts will provide the tools needed to succeed, every step of the way.

AgTech Startups marking their Presence

The AgTech space has received considerable attention in recent years from investors and entrepreneurs. However, in Cory’s opinion, less than 10% of startups have a chance of surviving. It is a very complex space, most single-point products or features will have incredibly complicated integration issues. There are also dozens of people working in the same space and it is very competitive. Startups are relatively new to farmers and agronomists so it is not top of mind. “Building something of value is of the upmost importance to me.”

Experiencing Transformation in the AgTech Industry

Automation, robotics, machine control, artificial intelligence, and satellites are all transformational technologies. However, the less exciting part – low cost, low risk, better process, solid structure, ease of workflow, consistency, and execution are all required to implement any of these innovations.

A Cut-Throat Viewpoint on AgTech Trends

Cory states that emerging trends don’t feel like trends when one lives in them every day. Every year there is some new buzzword. Five years ago it was “big data” and that has died a quick death. Now it is “carbon” and “regenerative agriculture”. Cory feels trends are mostly buzzwords until someone executes them commercially and it is operational.

A Take on the COVID-19 Scenario

Cory states, “I can’t speak for others but it hurt international growth opportunities. There are only so many virtual meetings we can do when our products are used in fields and we need to do a demo with a client. Thankfully, we were working fully remote before covid so our business was not affected on a large scale”

Overcoming Hurdles

The biggest challenge is building an ecosystem of products that work and that farmers and agronomists love. When tackling complex issues with many different touch points it is hard to stay focused on what can be built that everyone can use.

Communication and documentation has improved greatly. The communication systems we have put in place over the years allows is to know exactly what is happening at all times and knowing that high-tech plans and applications are being executed is excellent for the peace of mind.

Times of Triumph

SWAT MAPS has won many recognizable awards such as the best new product at Manitoba Ag Days, the Agrology Excellence Award by the Saskatchewan Institute of Agrologists, and the Innovations Award at Ag In Motion.

Standing Tall amongst All

The team at SWAP MAPS just keeps working ahead with the strategy the staff, partners, and farmers believe are needed to execute the best precision AgTech-based program possible. execute the process to help the farmers unlock their soil potential today. feels trends are mostly buzzwords until someone executes them commercially and it is operational.

Climbing the Ladder of Success

SWAT MAPS will be the number 1 service provider of variable-rate technology in Canada and will have a strong, growing presence as a respected leader in USA and Australia. As an innovative AgTech company, SWAP MAPS aims to be the world’s most recognized and respected brand of soil mapping-based technology.

Leadership and the importance of communicating the “Why”

When it comes to leadership, effective communication is a key component.

Leaders are faced with the daily challenge of ensuring that their team members are all “running in the same direction.” If an organization’s employees are not on the “same page” as the leader, things may begin to dive south, rather quickly. So, to help mitigate “miscommunication” in an organization, leaders must not only regularly communicate with their employees, but also communicate and ensure their employees understanding of the “why” when providing a given task.

To provide an example, let’s look at two leadership approaches below. The first leadership approach is missing the “why” and the second approach, providing and ensuring the employee understands the “why.”

In the following examples, place yourself in the employee role and determine which form of communication you’d most appreciate from leadership.

Because I’m a fitness guy, I’ll provide a couple of basic examples that relate to the industry that I’m in.

Below, the leader is playing the role of the personal training studio manager, and the employee, the role of the personal trainer.

Studio Manager # 1:

“Chris, let’s please clean up all of your weights and mats after each of your training sessions. Thank you.”

Studio Manager # 2:

“Chris, let’s please clean up all of your weights and mats after each of your training sessions. This is super key because we want to ensure that you provide your next client, as well as the other team members and clients working alongside you, a clean space to work within. A clean space will allow you and your client to transition more effectively between each exercise, providing a more productive workout. Does that make sense? Thank you so much, Chris!”

Now, looking at the above two approaches. It’s not that approach # 1 is disrespectful, approach # 2 is just a more effective form of communication.  Sure, there’s a time and place for quick and direct communication (as we see in example # 1), although in most cases, if the employee is explained the reasoning behind a given task, they’ll be much more willing to perform the given task regularly and effectively vs. completing a task out of fear or without an understanding as to why they’re performing a given task.

Providing the “why” when communicating tasks with employees is a much more effective form of communicating, which will lead to long-term, positive results.

For more on Brad and his Atlanta fitness studio, please visit KoloFit.com

Natalie Tenzer-Silva: Paving the way for Mozambique’s growing tourism industry

Meet Natalie Tenzer-Silva, the powerhouse behind Maputo’s esteemed Dana Tours brand. Over the past two-plus decades, Natalie and her team have played a leading role in revolutionising the Mozambican tourism industry by providing sun-seeking leisure and corporate travellers with custom holiday packages and services. These packages and services are expertly tweaked and tailored to suit each traveller’s individual requirements, requests and budget.

Surviving the pandemic

As is the case for all countries around the globe, Mozambique is currently undergoing a tourism overhaul in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Natalie is determined to embrace and accelerate the necessary changes through Dana Tours. She speaks openly about the massive toll that the pandemic took on her business and the greater tourism industry but explains how she believes positive growth will come from the hardships experienced in the long run.

“Our business came close to collapse but every day through the pandemic I went to the office to prove that I didn’t give up hope.  Working with a skeleton staff complement, I wanted to be there each day to support those who came to work,” Natalie says.

“The pandemic showed me how, as a team, we could think outside of the box, and adapt through an almost complete travel blackout period,” she adds.

Going forward, the focus worldwide is very much on re-thinking tourism and Natalie is of the view that travel suppliers should be turning their attention to figuring out how to provide travellers with experiences that locals might take for granted, as well as how to create new adventures within a destination’s unique environment.

Leadership and championing a team

Born in South Africa, Natalie immigrated to Mozambique in the early 1990s. Mingling with the locals, she quickly learned Portuguese and entered the tourism industry in 1994 where she immediately put her natural leadership skills to good use. Natalie managed a large travel agency, called Dana Agency, then founded what was to become Mozambique’s largest inbound tour operator, Dana Tours. She is a member of the Chamber of Commerce Tourism Committee.

Since opening Dana Tours in 2002, Natalie has invested 20 years into its transformation, leading her staff along the way to building experiences around the country’s essence and utilising her team’s unrivalled knowledge regarding its very best bits whether in the city, on safari or at the beach.

For Natalie, leadership is about championing a team as a whole, but also putting energy into developing and supporting each individual member of the team.

“Every single team member has their own personal and professional goals in terms of growth and improvement. I’m very serious about creating an environment where people feel safe to express their ideas, where they feel protected and appreciated.  It’s important to provide my employees with a sense of job security and to define parameters within which they can work together as a unit,” she explains.

As far as leadership is concerned, Natalie believes that a good leader has trust in their team. A good leader doesn’t simply dictate. Instead, they listen to their team members, encourage them to give their own outlook on the future of the business and gently guide them in the right direction when necessary.

“Each of my employees learns through experience when dealing with clients. I encourage my staff to give me their outlook on how we should handle certain situations, and most times I don’t need to correct anything!”

The post-pandemic travel landscape in Mozambique

In a post-pandemic landscape, there is only one constant, and this is the case regardless of the destination: travel is going to, and already does, look very different compared to how it looked in 2019. Natalie shares some insights:

“Post-COVID, we’ve seen a dramatic up-take in enquiries and a lot more “last-minute” bookings. After a long time spent confined to their homes and having their movement restricted, people are so eager to take those once-in-a-lifetime trips. While much of the interest is for 2023, we’ve seen a significantly higher number of bookings with a 3-week lead time in 2022.”

Natalie is hopeful that the increased interest in a beach or safari holiday in Mozambique will continue its upward trend, highlighting just how friendly and welcoming Mozambicans are when it comes to their international visitors.

“The locals are warm and welcoming, and proud to show travellers their beautiful culture, safari parks and beaches,” she says.

“There are many reasons travellers should be setting their sights on a trip to Mozambique in the near future, especially if a quiet and secluded escape is on the cards. After all, there are no mass tourism establishments, there’s an endless supply of wide, open spaces and countless once-in-a-lifetime experiences on offer.”

Inspired to embrace change

Inspired by her team and her industry’s resilience, Natalie tells of how she and her staff at Dana Tours are ready to embrace the inevitable changes over the course of the next few years.

“Resilience inspires me.  The fact that my staff, many with young families, could tighten their belts and ride this through is incredible.  They’re the reason I love my job and my role as a leader. Walking into the office and hearing laughter and music and bumping into colleagues in the corridors puts a smile on my face,” comments Natalie.

When asked what advice she would impart to a new leader, Natalie insists that success in a position of leadership revolves around fully investing in one’s team and its growth.

“Guide your team to work as a unit, invest in them and always strive to be honest and transparent in all dealings. You’re all working towards one goal – mutual trust is key,” she concludes.

The future is bright for tourism in Mozambique and there’s no doubt that Dana Tours will be paving the way for its development, keeping the traveller experience at the forefront of every booking and letting the team’s passion for the country and its marvellous beauty shine through in all of its offerings.

John Hanafin: Providing Bespoke Strategic Management Support Globally

A focused professional with an entrepreneurial drive and a commercial mindset, John Hanafin has nearly three decades of experience in the HNW Trust and Corporate Service Industry, with over 15 years spent in the Middle East, between the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. John is passionate about serving the needs of his clients across the planet and ensuring that they receive all the relevant, quality advice accompanied by a high level of service.

John is a financier, investor, deal maker, and founder of Huriya Private, an award-winning advisory service company working with a select number of families and individuals.

A veteran of the financial services industry, sports management, commercial and promotional media, residency, and citizenship planning, John has served as Executive and Non-Executive Director on several boards. He has also worked with multiple governments providing advice on structuring and implementing programs to boost corporate re-domiciliation and foreign direct investment. John is a Chartered member of the Securities Institute, a member of the International Tax Planning Association, the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners, the International Business Structuring Association, and an FA Registered Intermediary.

An Award Winning Advisory Service Company

Established in 2018, Huriya Private is an independent, award-winning, international private equity, immigration, multi-family office, and corporate structuring firm based in Dubai, UAE.

The word ‘Huriya’ means ‘Freedom’ in Arabic. Freedom of movement is a fundamental right preserved in the laws and constitutions of most countries. However, enough evidence shows this right is limited to the borders and visa restrictions of one’s country of citizenship or lawful residence. Huriya Private can help break down these restrictions by providing its clients the freedom to travel visa-free and expatriate their wealth in the most commercial, tax-efficient, and cost-effective way.

Huriya’s team includes accountants, lawyers, tax advisors, on and offshore structuring and formation specialists. Collectively, the firm’s team has several decades of international experience in its field, which helps them to have a deep understanding of the demands and requirements of Huriya’s clients.

With several offices spread across Qatar, Switzerland, Albania, and Cyprus, Huriya Private is massively experienced in advising the GCC’s wealthiest individuals, helping them to protect, manage and enhance their private wealth.

Providing a Holistic Set of Services

Throughout his 25 years of working with several high-net-worth individuals within trust management and Corporate services, John knows what makes a person successful. His personal experience in succeeding in several locations across the planet has helped him to understand what it needs to make an impactful global imprint, and residency and citizenship by investment is only the first step, among many.

So, John has structured his company to boast a holistic set of services that provide its investors with a full range of services and solutions that can allow them to become global citizens by replicating their success worldwide; increasing their wealth, protecting their assets, breaking down boundaries, hedging against political and economic turbulence, and obtaining true financial and political sovereignty.

John says, “At Huriya Private, we take the business of family offices to the next level, harmonizing it with RCBI to produce optimal solutions for our clients that address every need. Our experienced team of professionals comes with diverse backgrounds, specialties, and experiences, enabling us to provide a holistic approach to business, and our vast array of services reflects that structure.”

Currently, the organization provides several path-breaking services, including;

Corporate Structuring: The organization provides this knowledge to its investors by carefully planning their global corporate structure, using an innovative analytical approach to ensure the well-being of its clients’ interests. Huriya offers corporate structuring solutions that cover all the necessary criteria, including tax structuring, financial distributions, succession planning, risk mitigation, and more.

Corporate Banking Services: Huriya’s long-term relationships with various first-rate banks like Emirates NBD, Barclays, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Credit Suisse, Citi, and HSBC help the firm provide unmatched banking services to its clients, who can take advantage of the firm’s network to conduct businesses and seamlessly move their finances throughout the planet.

Trust Incorporation and Management: Huriya offers a wide range of digital finance management solutions for corporations and individuals, enabling them to enhance their crypto portfolio, mainly by supplementing it with RCBI solutions matching their profiles and objectives.

Tax and Accounting Services: The firm also provides tax and accounting services by handling international tax compliance, auditing, and accounting operations to enable its clients to focus on their primary business activities and more significant matters.

Becoming Truly Global: RCBI is the core functionality of Huriya Private, as it is a getaway for a better life on a global scale. However, by supplementing RCBI with intricate corporate and wealth management services, Huriya allows its clients to fulfill their potential and make their mark in the international arena.

Giving it Back to the Global Community

“In recent years, I have focused more on giving back to the global community we are part of. This is part of the reason that Huriya Private Foundation was founded. The Foundation aims to positively impact the lives of the underprivileged children, women, and families we work with.”– States John.

Although recently launched, the Huriya Private Foundation has already succeeded in leading several philanthropic initiatives by partnering with several other humanitarian organizations. It has joined the growing ranks of the global wealth management industry, acknowledging the importance of promoting the highest standards of ethical and sustainable behaviors. Huriya Private Foundation was also awarded the “Best Philanthropy InitiativeMENA’ at the Inaugural WealthBriefing Wealth for Good Awards, 2022.

Picture of the Future

Huriya strives to offer its clients an extremely high level of service by ensuring and recruiting the top specialists in its field. With its team of highly reputable advisors qualified in tax, law, and accountancy, the firm aims to provide security and support to our clients while providing transparency and a high level of service.

Marwa Kaabour: Redefining Leadership

Meet Marwa Kaabour, the Group Head of Marketing and Corporate Communication of Al Masaood LLC, one of the most prominent family-owned business conglomerates in Abu Dhabi, which formed concurrently with the UAE’s union back in 1971. The group provides comprehensive solutions to its customers across 18 different industry sectors through its diverse activities and divisions. As an organization, Al Masaood has always aimed to serve and support the growth and development of the UAE, specifically in Abu Dhabi.

Being Abu Dhabi’s largest family business, the Al Masaood Group has pioneered the fields of automotive, transport, power, and industrial, constantly growing and developing the country for more than five decades. The group’s flagship company Al Masaood Automobiles is a leader in Abu Dhabi’s automotive market. Its Power Division has long been supporting the power, marine and renewables industry in Abu Dhabi. From the very early days of importing the first gas turbine and constructing the first water desalination plant, the group has always supported Abu Dhabi’s economic development.

The Steadfast Leader

Marwa has been a part of the marketing and communication industry for nearly three decades in the Middle East. She started her career with organizations like Leo Burnett and Impact BBDO. However, she soon decided to switch to the client side and started helping organizations build their marketing and corporate communication functions. During her long and illustrious career, Marwa has helped create and manage strategic marketing communications for several international and regional firms, including government entities of the region. Marwa’s experience includes her work in energy, manufacturing, aviation, automotive, FMCG, food & beverage, construction, and retail industries.

A graduate of the American University of Sharjah’s undergraduate and post-graduate programs, Marwa holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Management and an Executive MBA. She also holds certifications from the Center for Sustainability Excellence CSE in Brussuels as a Certified Sustainability Marketer and the Institute of Digital Marketing in Ireland as a Certified Digital Marketer.

Greatest Achievement

In her current role, Marwa started with communication development from scratch. Later she moved into the overhaul and upscaling of the marketing delivery. Marwa feels her most significant achievement was forming a team of marketing and communications titans who eventually worked to improve brand equity and have tremendously grown the company’s marketing and PR value. Even during the pandemic, Al Masaood LLC’s brands experienced the greatest growth, with its PR value rising by over 700 percent and its sales increasing by six folds.

An Ever-Evolving Industry

As a veteran of the industry, Marwa would like much more cohesion and harmony among marketing and communication practitioners. Thanks to the abundance of data, the lines between marketing and communication practices have been blurred completely, and now the primary challenge is to know how to best leverage the data to help a brand thrive. Marwa believes introducing efficiencies across both disciplines is of utmost importance. Presently marketers are being challenged, and their roles are becoming extremely complex as they shoulder the additional responsibilities of business transformations. So, present-day marketing and communication practitioners need to start a brand’s transformation from the inside by developing performance-driven cultures and then transitioning it to reflect on the outside.

A Different Organization

Growth is an ongoing objective for everyone at Al Masaood. It needs continuous work and transformation to keep up with the changing market trends and customer preferences. As a part of the group’s customer-centric ethos, Al Masaood always looks to provide value-driven experiences and services to its clients and customers. As a company, Al Masaood places a strong emphasis on building long-standing and fruitful relationships with all of its stakeholders. Its vision of growing together, delivering value, and embracing heritage set the group apart from its competitors.

Picture of the Future

Since its inception Al Masaood has faithfully served the UAE across the fields it operates in. For over the last five decades, the group has moved in synergy with the UAE, and now as it embarks on the next 50 years journey, it is aligned with the country’s vision by continuously diversifying and investing in the economy’s key strategic sectors.

Marwa says, “Al Masaood’s future plans also consider the pressing environmental factors around us. As such, we have developed a strategy that places sustainability and innovation at the core. From electrification to renewables, clean energy, diversification, and customer centricity, we’ve got a busy agenda at hand.”

Kiran Haslam: Redefining Leadership

Meet Kiran Jay Haslam, the Chief Marketing Officer for the Diriyah Gate Development Authority, establishing Diriyah within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and re-establishing its position internationally, not just as the birthplace of the Kingdom but also as a center for heritage and culture in Arabia.

Kiran started his journey as a young man intrigued by nature and the underwater world of oceans and the Amazon. So, he joined the university to study Marine Biology due to his fascination for Ichthyology, but it quickly morphed into engineering and technology, where he completed his graduation. In his early days, Kiran toured the entire world as a jazz musician and composer, performing at concerts and festivals and writing and performing compositions for film and television programs. Kiran describes himself as a true nomad, fully dedicated to chasing discomfort and forever on a mission to experience new things and shift into new roles. He has worked in public relations, advertising, and media. Kiran has also worked as an editor and writer focusing on art, travel, and automotive. Recently he has also authored a couple of story books for children to raise funds for conservation.

“From a young age, I was exposed to the world uniquely and powerfully due to my expatriate family life. In my youth, we lived in Penang, Singapore, and California for several years, exposing me to different sounds, sights, smells, and tastes. At a young age, I took an anthropological leap into the work of Joseph Campbell, and that is probably where the first burst of marketing kicked into play to complement the understanding of human behavior I garnered from being a professional musician and entertainer. Campbell also joined the dots for me on Carl Jung’s “archetypes of the collective unconscious,” which is where my marketing approach tapped into the essence of branding.”- Says Kiran.

Greatest Accomplishment

Kiran feels his most significant achievement at DGDA is bringing together one of the most talented marketing teams. This team has a unique Saudi voice with a global understanding and is motivated to take everything to the next level – even when levels don’t exist!

On the personal front, he feels his greatest achievement would be bringing a unique creative voice and touch to a corporate table and bringing significant change, which is hard to do in most corporations due to the ‘play it far too safe’ stance and lack of understanding on how creative arts can drive innovation in an organization.

A different Organization

Kiran knows everyone at DGDA truly believes in Diriyah, making it far less daunting to realize that nothing like this has ever been created or delivered. Especially nothing in terms of the scale or complexity, with the added layers of traditional architecture and mud-brick construction techniques, a truly smart city, and pedestrianized urban living, all of which are community-centric.

Kiran and his team are also enthusiastic about the fact that they have a significant role to play in Vision 2030, and thanks to the leadership of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, His Royal Highness Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and of course the amazing Jerry Inzerillo help them make enormous strides towards building a vibrant society with a thriving economy are taking place across the Kingdom. “Diriyah is unique in the rate at which it is coming to life and its significance being a human-scale development in the capital city of Riyadh.”– He says.

What Success Looks Like

Success for Kiran would be changing people’s misconceptions about the Kingdom. “Stereotypes in films and popular culture have fed into a very shallow understanding of Saudi Arabia for many people worldwide over several decades. They don’t know Saudi yet, but more and more people are visiting Saudi for themselves, engaging with real people – Saudis from all walks of life – and traveling across the Kingdom to see breathtaking environments.”- He states.

Being the 15th largest country on the planet, with so much to offer visitors, Diriyah will soon be a focal point for this visitation, and Kiran feels the project has a unique ability to remove all prejudices, misconceptions, and narrow-minded views, leaving all those who interact with us with a real understanding of the culture, customs, traditions, and warmth that are entirely unique to the Kingdom.

For DGDA, success can be measured over time by its contribution of over $7.2 billion to the Kingdom’s GDP, creation of over 55,000 jobs, and the attraction of visitors across the world to increase the tourist footfall in the Kingdom to over 27 million each year by 2030.

Future Roadmap

Kingdom’s At-Turaif UNESCO World Heritage Site stands at the project’s centerpiece and serves as the inspiration for what Kiran and his team do. DGDA’s aim for Diriyah to return to being one of the great gathering places in the world, with the same status that the Acropolis has to the Greeks or the Colosseum has to the Romans.

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