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Iris Santiago: Helping Clients by Providing Customized Healthcare

Meet Iris Santiago, the Chief Operations Officer of In Home Personal Services, which was born to provide customized health care tailored to meet every client’s individual needs.

In Home Personal Services is a non-medical senior care provider. It ensures comfort, compassion, and quality care in the home to those who need that assistance for an independent lifestyle.

Iris is a licensed Occupational Therapist and Certified Professional in Human Resources. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Occupational Therapy from one of the Universities in the Philippines.

Iris often says, “It always brings a smile to my heart whenever I hear that a client we cared for is grateful for the impact we made in his or her life.” She believes it is not about the compliment itself but the thought that she and her team at In Home Personal Services have made a significant difference in someone’s life is very rewarding.

For Iris, her role is a lot more than just a job; it is her calling. She aspires to further extend this program to other care providers enabling them to provide better quality care to a client or a loved one.

The Steadfast Leader

Iris’s clinical expertise has been well paired with her business acumen and sense of care for others. Before coming to the U.S., Iris worked in a community rehab and a hospital-based rehab for more than seven years as an Occupational Therapist.

Once she arrived in the U.S., she was quickly recruited as the Human Resources Director at IHPS. Over the next decade, she worked very hard and was ultimately promoted to the Agency Manager, eventually the Administrator, and now the Chief Operations Officer.

She says, “It may sound cheesy, but we provide our services with heart. All programs and services are really central to our clients, and all of our sister companies have the same goal of becoming to be a one-stop shop for our clients. Our services are affordable but with quality at its best.”

The best part about Iris is her humble nature. She immigrated to the country and took an executive position without formal training and experience. As the HR Director, she further developed her knowledge and experience by getting her professional HR certification through the HR Certification Institute in 2010.

The Founder’s Word

When we asked Michael A. Collura, the founder and President of IHPS, why did he choose Iris all these years ago? He says, “When you meet Iris right away, you can tell she is intelligent, driven, and genuinely cares about people. These are not common qualities to find in people today. So, we had to act fast when she first applied. It was clear that her career path forward was going to be so much more in the years to come.  He also added, “When the time came and my own Mother, In Home Personal Services’ other Founder, was to move on from the company, there were some pretty big shoes to fill. Iris quite simply was the only one in our brand’s history that could fulfill the role, and as such, with the support of the entire company, Iris was promoted to the Administrator. Over these past years, it is clear she is capable and ready, and one day she will take over for me as I look to retire, and Iris Santiago will be our CEO.”

Preparing for Challenges

For In Home Personal Services, caregivers are the most critical asset. However, employing a caregiver is not an easy task to do with a lesser number of caregivers and very high demand. So, over the past few years, the organization has come up with an innovative solution and has built and improved its own school for caregivers.

Currently, In Home Personal Services is the only organization that offers caregiver certification for all fifty states in America. This solution eventually became one of the major differentiators for the brand.

As an organization, IHPS believes the pandemic has opened the eyes of those who used to take healthcare professionals for granted. In IHPS, no one ever wavered in the face of uncertainty, fear, and confusion during the initial stages of the pandemic. The whole IHPS team now hopes to bring a fundamental change in inequality and access to care and gratitude towards the people who work on the frontline.

Leaders today and tomorrow

Professor, Honorary Doctor of Art, Olga Mroz, Dame of Honour is Professor and Director at Open World and Art Business Program in Al-Khalifa Business School (UK), the Editor and Chief of AKBS Journal. Professor Olga Mroz is Board Member delegate of Art and Culture of the Private Council of H.H. Prince Mahmoud Salah Al Din Assaf. She is a VIP member of the Ritossa Global Family Office Investment Summits. She is a Gold Ambassador of Books for Peace and Global Ambassador CEC – Commonwealth Entrepreneurs Club, UK. She lives in Germany, is a speaker, author, collector, and artist. Her paintings are in private collections around the world.

Based on the recommendation of the board of trustees and the governing council of the Asian African Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AACCI) she is an honorary member in the Board Advisors of the Asian African Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AACCI).

Professor Olga Mroz is co-author in the international project – Book “Tough Roads Create Tough People” under the leadership of Anita Duckworth-Bradshaw, UK. She is officially the #1 international Best-Selling Co-Author “of Cracking the Rich Code”. Main authors of this unique project – World`s Top 20 success strategist Jim Britt, Star of the HIT TV Show Shark Tank Kevin Harrington, endorsed by Tony Robbins, USA.

She used to be a representative of many artists in Europe for many years, and she is dedicated to developing and managing various art projects now.

She has been part of many charitable activities and has greatly contributed to helping those in need. She wrote many articles about the expression of art as freedom, experiment and surprise. She pays a lot of attention to topics that are exciting to her this includes “Education” and “Women empowerment.” She has been awarded by the IME in the Women’s Empowerment category – for her helping women entrepreneurs have a social impact around the world.

Professor Olga Mroz has been awarded for outstanding vision, dedication, and success along with extraordinary leadership and advisory skills, excellent cooperation, and support to Global Family and the Royal office. She is certified for activities and participation in Covid-19-Program by Harvard Medical School. Professor Olga Mroz is recognized among 50 outstanding women from around the world in “Powerhouse Global Stars 2021” and the CIO TIMES Magazine recognized her as “THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS WOMEN TO WATCH 2021.

Professor Olga Mroz received the Award “GLOBAL IMPACT LEADER of the Year 2022” and recognised by Powerhouse Global as a difference maker in the world.

Al-Khalifa Business School, where Professor Olga Mroz works, is focused on digital learning with a new approach, with Innovation in business learning in different areas of Business.

Professor Olga Mroz was glad to share her experience with Tycoon Success Magazine.

It has always been important for me to do what I like, to reveal my talent, to feel my potential. My moto in life is „If you love what you do, you will be successful”. I clearly know that I want to contribute to improve people’s lives, make the world more open, bring art, knowledge and culture to the younger generation.

As a director of Open World Program in Al-Khalifa Business School, I work under the supervision of AKBS Chairman and Founder H.E. Professor Sir Manuel Freire-Garabal y Nunez. H.E. Professor Sir Manuel is a lawyer and journalist with an MBA and more than 300 courses and specialisations in different areas from IVY league and Elite Business Schools.

During the acute situation of the Pandemic, we have developed together a new project “Art and positive emotions – key success” aimed at improving the work of the team and the working atmosphere in companies.

A new method that we have proposed for companies is Art Therapy in the Workplace. It made it possible to solve important topics creatively – to bring employees together, improve the climatic atmosphere, remove internal conflicts, awaken concentration and imagination. All these factors have helped to raise the productivity level and efficiency of firms. However, a radical change was required in the management of firms and, above all, the leaders themselves.

Now the economy is growing again and organizations are looking for new market leaders that meet modern requirements. The Leader of the future must rely on teamwork and the positive consequences that flow from it, be highly motivated and possess emotional intelligence.

We need to know that the new generation of leaders will be different. Who are they, leaders of the future? These are young people – talented, successful, with a high potential for professionalism. In close conversations with students and young employees of various companies, I made the following conclusions. A successful leader of the future quickly adapts to changes and learns new things, has the resources to overcome uncertainty and forms a vision for the future. He has the skills to remotely manage teams and knows how to choose a competitive strategy in uncomfortable discussions. The leader of the future is tolerance, flexibility, and trust.

I would like to note that if we want to make changes in the world, we must change ourselves. It is crucially important for the people to make changes in their vision and style of life continuously. We must adapt to the progressive evolution of global informational technologies. This will contribute to a strong and successful economy around the globe. Thus, first, the middle and old generations should be in line with the modern world. Changes in us will positively affect our youth which is our future.

As for me, I am open to all innovations of the world. I am inquisitive, I want to learn a lot of new things. I strive to learn and do not hesitate to ask students for help. I’m working on myself all the time.

As for me, I am open to all innovations of the world. I am inquisitive, I want to learn a lot of new things. I strive to learn and do not hesitate to ask students for help. I’m working on myself all the time.

I am calling all young people:

Please define your goals, values, and desires, and stay in harmony with yourself. Don’t be afraid of mistakes, failures, and defeats on the road to success. Each of you has the ability to influence the future of our planet. You are the pillars of the globe. You are the Leaders of the future

Protect your pet with the flip of a switch

Our founders, Ken Weilbacher, Co-founder & CEO, and Daryl Lawrence, Co-Founder & CMO are dog-loving energy industry veterans who grew disillusioned with traditional energy companies that take and take. But what do they give?

This was the beginning of a dream of a company that offered more than just electricity. It offered a change, a movement. Which led to the birth of GoodCharlie.

GoodCharlie gives dog lovers the best of both worlds. Through our fixed-rate energy plans and free Pack Benefits, we help you care for your dog while also supporting our rescue partners that are fighting to find less fortunate dogs loving forever homes.

Our Pack Benefits include:

• 24/7 Video Vet – A licensed veterinarian will be there for your pet when they need it most, providing you with hassle-free, ultimate peace of mind, and incredible savings at no cost.

• Up to $750 – Will be paid on your behalf for emergency care, taking the worry and stress away from a life-or-death situation, free of charge.

• Bill Roundup – We round up your bills and donate the proceeds to rescue organizations; together we provide lifesaving treatments for animals that need it most. We will pay for it on your behalf.

Our Pack Benefits give you a true, meaningful value. They have been designed to give you the ultimate peace of mind. They take away the worry and the stress of owning a pet. We cover up to 5 pets and save you thousands of dollars in unexpected vet visits.

Not only that, but when you join our Pack, we round up every bill-at no cost to you and donate the proceeds to non-profit charity organizations such as Houston Pets Alive!, and Dallas Pets Alive! who supports and advocates animal welfare across the state of Texas. “By joining GoodCharlie you are using your energy to do good. To both care for your pets, but also those pets in the community that are homeless, that are in shelters to care for them too,” said Ken Weilbacher, Co-Founder & CEO of GoodCharlie.

“Over a hundred thousand animals are euthanized in shelters across the state of Texas every year and most people are shocked when they hear that. I know we were, and that really was the beginning of GoodCharlie,” said Ken Weilbacher, Co-Founder & CEO of GoodCharlie.

Already this year, GoodCharlie has put its money where its mouth is. As of their official launch date, GoodCharlie has already presented a generous amount to Houston Pets Alive! during Dog Fest, earlier this month.

Making Texas the best place for a dog to live means that we must focus not only on rescue efforts, but also on our community at large. That’s why we partner with local entrepreneurs in the pet world who are just as committed to doing good as we are. One of our partners is Jessie’s Bites- their mission is to help people help their pups live their best lives by handcrafting human-grade dog food and treats. Inspired by Jessie, their dedicated team includes those with intellectual and developmental disabilities, as they foster an environment where all abilities are welcome to serve man’s best friend!

“We are completely tied to our mission to make Texas the best place for a dog to live,” said Daryl Lawrence, Co-Founder & CMO of GoodCharlie. “We want to ensure that your pet at home is protected, and that pets without homes can find one too. We use our energy to do just that… to power forever homes.”

GoodCharlie gives dogs, cats, and animal lovers across Texas an easy choice to flip the switch, Join the Pack, and enjoy all the free Benefits that come with any GoodCharlie electricity plan!

The only question left is, will you be making the switch? Join the movement. Join the Pack at www.goodcharlie.com

Tips on starting a technology business in 2022

There’s no doubt about it, starting a technology business will be one of the most difficult challenges that you will ever undertake. The investment emotionally, financially and the amount of time it requires means your life is about to change in a big way. Therefore, before you launch into this challenge, be sure that you have answered the following points:

Solve a problem:

You don’t need to write a single line of code to develop screens and discuss your product and its prospects (with people you don’t know). Who cares if it’s non-functional, you are validating your idea and the solution.

Sure, until your solution is in the hands of customers, you’ll never truly know how they will interact with your product. But if your idea isn’t a problem worth solving prototyping is cheap, fast and will help you through the process of envisaging your solution. You can find thousands of designers on Fiverr.com or if you know someone to help you out even better.

Make sure you validate the whole business, including how you will make money. I recommend checking out “the lean canvas” to help you with your checklist of what you need to validate but here are some headlines: –

  •       What is the problem?
  •       Who has this problem?
  •       Is the problem worth solving?
  •       How will you make money?

Keep in Lean

Don’t sweat the small stuff, until you have a problem worth solving and the shape of a product customers will use, the finer details don’t matter. If it solves a problem people will accept bugs and a lack of nice features. There is no point in polishing something that no one wants to use. Find something that people like then start refining it.

Data doesn’t lie:

Measuring success is a key part of learning whether your product is well received. You need to gain insight into how people are using your product. Do they come back a day, week, or month from now? If they do, well done! Using analytics is fundamental to understanding user behaviour. You should integrate the basics ready for your launch. We love Mixpanel here at ASKWHO. Vanity metrics like downloads are useless, it’s the actions users are taking (or not taking) that are the difference between success and failure.

Books to cherish:

The books below are worth their weight in gold and will save you time and resources.

  1. The Four Step to the Epiphany
  2. Crossing the Chasm
  3. The Art of War
  4. The Art of the Pitch
  5. The Lean Start up
  6. How to Build a Billion-Dollar App
  7. Getting Things Done
  8. The 5am Club
  9. Start with Why
  10. Venture Deals
  11. Startup CEO

Dr. Abdulrahman Al Shikhy: Revolutionizing The Ride-Sharing Experience/ Creating Memorable Travel Experiences

Born and raised in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Abdulrahman Al Shikhy started working in Dammam; shortly after completing his graduation. During his brief time in the city, Dr. Al Shikhy noticed that he and his colleagues were facing issues finding a flight or ride to go back to their respective hometowns to visit their families during Hajj, Ramadan vacations. As Saudi Arabia is a big country, the distance between cities like Dammam and Jeddah is 846 miles.

Keeping these issues in his mind year after year, he thought to find the best possible ways to return home on his holidays. Every time he sought a ride or a flight; it was a struggle. Besides this, most of the trip’s drivers were solo. He recognized the issues like exorbitant fuel prices, constant car maintenance, and staying up all night to cover distances between cities, making it strenuous for passengers who opt to travel often.

During this period of his life, he got a chance to complete his study to get a Ph.D. that is when he met many tourists and discovered their excitement about traveling everywhere by sharing the ride and cost.

“This is when I had an epiphany about how our country lacks a plethora of resources when you are trying to find ways to move from city to city in Saudi Arabia.”– says Dr. Al Shikhy.

These experiences acted as a catalyst for Dr. Al Shikhy and during his journey, he seized the opportunity to explore and discover a myriad of activities, distinct concepts, different cultures, and more. Soon he decided to travel to Europe.

Keeping all these shortcomings in mind, Dr. Al Shikhy was intrigued by the concept of ridesharing in Europe’s “BlaBlaCar app.” This is where he found the solution to the problems faced by the common people in his country. Soon, this notion inspired him to finally introduce his idea in Saudi Arabia, which eventually marked the launch of Rehla in the country.

Rehla is a ridesharing mobile app that links drivers and passengers heading to the same destination between cities, which results in a great travel experience at the best price possible.

Diversifying Offerings

The initial purpose of introducing Rehla was to allow its potential travelers to travel intercity by opting for ridesharing services at a very reasonable rate. Dr. Al Shikhy’s main aim was to reach those customers who cannot afford expensive rides, don’t own a car, are students or pilgrims. Initially, it was a challenge to break past the cultural barrier of sharing a ride with a stranger, mostly because ridesharing was a completely new concept in Saudi Arabia. However, the Rehla team continued to introduce a flurry of additional services that supports the main ridesharing concept, making it easier and more comfortable for everyone.

The Rehla team then decided to further develop its business model by successfully implementing the advanced booking feature, where the rider gets the opportunity to book their ride before the journey anytime and anywhere, also allowing the passenger to choose the best offer as this feature supports the lack of finding rides to specific places. This indeed creates make more options for passengers.

Dr. Al Shikhy and his team also introduced  sending parcel on the same day with those captains who want to increase their income and travel with empty seats daily between cities.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia is a country full of history, heritage, and beautiful cultures that are yet to be explored.”

“Each year, millions of tourists visit Saudi Arabia to discover, revel, and experience what Saudi has to offer them. There is a lack in the tourism sector which gave me the impetus for introducing a service where we provide an expert licensed tour guide who is also a captain to guide them to learn more about our country.” – says Dr. Al Shikhy.

The Greatest Accomplishment

Dr. Al Shikhy believes introducing Rehla to the Saudi market was his most significant accomplishment. Like many other start-ups, Rehla struggled initially. However, with time everything slowly fell into the right places. Additionally, Rehla has succeeded in closing the first round of funding. Moreover, with this unique concept, Rehla got to take part in various accelerators like Taqaddam, Misk powered by Plug & Play, Monshaat, Zain Great Idea, Tourism Accelerator, and Plexus.

Dr. Al Shikhy has established a team that has remained diligent over the years and has helped the company achieve its goal. As a result of the team effort, the start-up now has its set up at Saudi Arabia’s two busiest airports, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and Tibeh Airport in Madinah, which serve as the primary entry points for pilgrims visiting Makkah and Medina.

Dr. Al Shikhy also says, “Our main strategy is to expand our business by entering the cities through International Airports & train stations. And soon, we will start operating in Riyadh and Dammam Airport besides Jeddah and Medina Airport.”

The proudest moment for the organization was when it was allowed to compete with industry behemoths like Uber and Careem at the Madina airport. Out of all 36 firms operating in transportation services in Saudi Arabia, Rehla was the only application provided with the opportunity of opening a booth at the Medina and Jeddah airports, in order to acquire more travelers without internet, Saudi number, or a smartphone.

Defining Success

As the founder and CEO of Rehla, Dr. Al Shikhy, says, “We all define success differently. To me, success is when you believe in an idea and make consistent efforts towards it,  which means we never give up trying..” This should serve as a reminder for the team to constantly strive to achieve the goals that are set to feel rewarded and accomplish their efforts.

Apart from that, he has always encouraged his team members to communicate freely and give them space, which helps everyone to appreciate different viewpoints, backgrounds, and ideas, which eventually contributes to the growth and success of the firm; Dr. Al Shikhy feels that as a leader, it is his responsibility to continue to mentor and help his team with his vast knowledge.

Tackling Challenges

The application was launched in 2019 when most of the Saudi Arabian population wasn’t familiar to the concept of ridesharing. It takes time to inculcate any new concept in the minds of the citizens. It also requires a lot of marketing and brand recognition.

Moreover, the application was launched just 2 months before the deadly pandemic, which resulted in a prompt lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. This situation also brought skepticism amongst the users even when the lockdown was over. Road travel and social distancing protocols soon became a major threat for start-ups like Rehla.

Dr. Al Shikhy realized from this situation focusing or investing time and money on one service won’t take the company anywhere. Instead, he believed that his team can do more as  Rehla has a flexible business model which could be utilized by using the same elements that are the captain, and his car but by providing different services. So, the firm at once launched other supporting services in one application.

Future Roadmap
Transportation is an important part of our daily life. Many passengers prefer to travel by road to immerse themselves in nature. While others often face a tough time finding a cheap fare. This is where Dr. Al Shikhy would like Rehla to bridge the gap.

Dr. Al Shikhy started Rehla to become a the best choice for ridesharing apps to provide  a good experience for travelers. The team members intend to make Rehla a ‘super application’ in the region that can provide the most important services of transportation & tourism, all in one applicationat very reasonable rates. Additionally, the founder looks forward to expanding the application to various neighbouring countries. Recently, Rehla has completed trips to and from Bahrain, UAE, and Kuwait.

Gabriel Meza Madrid: Revolutionizing the Aviation Sector

A passionate aviation professional, luxury travel entrepreneur, and global citizen with more than 15 years of international experience, in strategic groundbreaking innovation, Gabriel Meza Madrid serves as the CEO of Dubai-based aircraft management and charter company Jet Luxe.

Hailing from a family of pilots, Gabriel and his brother Sam Madrid spent most of their careers in the aviation industry. Over the years, both became obsessed with efficiency and improving the customer experience. They soon realized that although aviation is incredibly innovative, many elements of the industry need improvements. For example, a charter’s booking and payment process is much more cumbersome and problematic than it should be. Issues like banking procedures, time differences, public holidays, and currency issues slow down the process of booking a flight, which is very frustrating when an individual wants to fly immediately. So, Gabriel and Sam decided to develop a fintech product to streamline the payment processes of private jets.

Making Processes Better

Soon, Gabriel and Sam left their full-time roles and went all out for their start-up journey, growing the team to twelve. Gabriel states, “Our obsession with efficiency had us working day and night on a solution. In parallel, we were offering aircraft management and charter services, which is our area of expertise.” Through this process, aircraft owners approached Jet Luxe, and frustrated with jet management’s status quo, they requested the firm to take over their aircraft. Eventually, their approach was very well received, and they started multiplying. Jet Luxe’s customers would say, “We are tired of the lack of transparency in business aviation,” and “you’re doing a great job, let’s do more together.”

Since its inception, Jet Luxe’s primary differentiator is its transparency, efficiency, honesty, and the ability to offer exceptional experiences. The market wanted Jet Luxe to continue developing its charter and management business, to which the company obliged. So, the organization was developed to streamline processes, making aircraft ownership and charter flights much more effective without compromising on experience and quality.

Fixing Broken Processes

With its core business in private jets, Jet Luxe manages and operates private jets. However, the organization’s primary business is its customer service; it helps solve various travel issues, create investment opportunities, and fix broken pieces of private jet travel.

Gabriel states, “We differentiate because we know our clients’ concerns, frustrations, and aspirations. From here, we can diversify our service profile and offer more agile solutions than bigger operators in this space. As a start-up, if we see an issue in the market, we can respond to it extremely quickly. We have the investment and manpower to make change happen quickly.”

Jet Luxe provides focused attention and 24/7 global personalized services for its clients. The organization also offers an investment option named INVICTUS Patron for its mature business aviation users, where they can sponsor an aircraft and enjoy a proven return on investment and reduced fleet rate.

Handling Failures and Success

Over the years, Gabriel has seen and faced a lot of failures. However, these failures have taught him to give maximum effort and try everything in his capacity to make things happen.

He says, “When the outcome isn’t as we had hoped – that’s okay. When we fail, we learn. Yes, the stakes are extremely high, and we will always try our very best to deliver exceptional outcomes, but if failures occur, we learn and move forward. 90% of factors are within our control, and the remaining % we need to learn from. There is always an opportunity to grow.”

Gabriel believes that success can’t be defined through a single channel- one needs a well-rounded life. He states, “We need professional fulfillment and business success but also a peaceful, well-rounded life. Success is being clear about and achieving your objectives. For me, these are wealth, health, and peace.”

The Driving Force

Gabriel is a problem solver and finds change very exciting. His vision is to keep seeing problems, finding solutions, and driving disruption.

He always wants to keep bringing new perspectives and fresh outlooks to the table. He states, “What drives me for a successful journey is finding ways to disrupt and adapt processes. This might not sound exciting, but when you discover a process that creates massive savings and value – it motivates you to continue.”

Preparing for the Future

As the CEO of Jet Luxe, Gabriel plans to expand the fleet to meet the massive demand. The organization is also increasing its concierge services, account management, and travel management options. Its future perspective will always be agile, as it can’t predict market conditions or client preferences perfectly. Jet Luxe can lead with a commitment to taking a disruptive approach to the business model.

At the topmost level, Gabriel also wants to support and encourage the respective authorities to enable better access and movement for the sector. He says, “Business aviation provides jobs and massive economic contributions, and it enables the world to keep moving. So, we’re here to help governments appreciate and understand the value of business aviation. From becoming more sustainable and greener to creating more financial contributions – business aviation should be better understood and supported.”

Jet Luxe is also committed to thoughtful and powerful strategic alliances with new organizations. It partners with new disruptive companies starting from fintech to fuel and interior designers to catering service providers.

Jet Luxe expects to balance growth and scale with continued consistent services with its continued growth. Gabriel states, “We will grow, expand, and diversify, but we will never weaken our services. For example, we won’t dilute the concierge or account managers ratio per aircraft or partner. This will remain extremely important for our long-term quality control and experience management.”

Rabih Fakhreddine: Fuelling the Global F&B Revolution

Led by the visionary CEO and founder, Rabih Fakhreddine, Dubai-based 7 Management’s regional recognition has been established due to its uniqueness and creativity in connecting with a diverse range of audiences through providing memorable entertainment and dining experiences.

Born in Lebanon, Rabih pursued his graduation from the American University of Beirut in 2006, where he learned the intricacies of Business Marketing. After completing his studies, he joined the FMCG sector, starting with a sales position at Transmed, where he handled the account of P&G. Later, Rabih joined British American Tobacco and served in various managerial positions for the Levant region.

With entrepreneurship in mind, Rabih soon stepped out of the corporate world to pursue his dream of the food and entertainment industry. A few years after graduation, he established his first bar named Faces in 2012 and a couple of others by 2015. Later, he founded Seven Sisters, a luxurious combination of music and cuisine in the heart of Beirut, and shortly afterward, he formed 7 Management to handle the operations.

Rabih says, “I have been cooking with passion since I was a young child. During my university days, I was active in several social clubs. I started saving money that I later used to invest in several bars and restaurants.”

Currently, 7 Management owns and operates various entertainment concepts like Feb30 and Antika Bar, Seven Sisters, culinary offerings, Kahwet Beirut, and Super Snack El Kbeer in Lebanon and Dubai.

Since the first day of his organization, Rabih has aspired to broaden the target audience of 7 Management, which has led to a diversified portfolio that includes bars, restaurants, beach clubs, nightclubs, and cafes. The organization also exposes its audience to brands with tremendous potential in Beirut by bringing them to Dubai, where it operates 7 different brands.

The Greatest Accomplishments

Rabih believes 7 Management achieved its most outstanding achievement in 2021 when the organization emerged from the pandemic in a solid position. With all the challenges the food and beverages industry faced, 7 Management successfully came out the other side carrying a big success story.

Soon, within eight months, Rabih and his colleagues launched six homegrown brands, putting 7 Management on both international and regional maps. Its star brands that stand out in the crowded F&B market are Lucia’s, The Theater, February 30, and Café Beirut, with each brand now leading its segment.

Also, thanks to Rabih’s lifelong quest to provide memorable entertainment and dining experiences, he has recently won the Caterer After Dark Awards for Nightlife Entrepreneur of the year.

Tackling Challenges

Being a regional leader also presents more challenges in creating moments and developing lifestyle brands that can put smiles on people’s faces and create memories for many people. Rabih believes this puts extra pressure on the leadership team to keep leading, creating, and upgrading experiences that can successfully cater to the needs and tastes of consumers in a competitive market like Dubai. This also makes him go the extra mile to consistently stay ahead of the competition and retain 7 Management’s lead over its rivals.

Rabih explains that as the CEO and founder of 7 Management, creating and innovating are two never-ending processes, and the entire team feels proud to be regional and international trendsetters.

He says, “People may tell me, this concept is a copy-paste venue,’ but I feel rewarded when I hear this as I don’t see it as a negative thing. 7M is a trendsetter and a lifestyle brand that many people and organizations aspire to, and as CEO, one of the most important things is to have a healthy culture within the organization for other people to keep on creating and innovating.”

Key Learnings

All the obstacles that Rabih and his team faced are vital learnings and pivotal to 7 Management’s journey. Now, after spending a decent amount of time in the industry and going through a lot of wild experiences, Rabih looks at things from various perspectives, which has helped him learn many key strategic lessons for 7 Management’s success. He also believes this accumulation of experiences has made the organization what it is today and made 2021 a great year with numerous launches across the region.

“We are certainly going to continue facing obstacles, and we will keep learning and evolving. This is all part of our journey, and hopefully, all of this is for the better and contribute to the continued growth of this organization.”– he asserts.

Putting Smiles on People’s Faces

For Rabih, success is going to 7 Management’s venues and seeing people happy, enjoying their time, and creating memories. He feels all the hard work is worth for these moments. After such a tough year, putting smiles back on people’s faces is something that he deeply cherishes.

Rabih feels proud of his team and their actions, especially when he comes across random people talking about 7 Management and its brands across the region. Such pride encourages him to keep moving, creating, building, and expanding.

Picture of the Future

Founded in 2015, 7 Management is present in markets like Beirut, Doha, Dubai, and Riyadh. To make the company a major international player, Rabih and his team have plans for several new markets where they would like to expand their portfolio, including Athens, London, and entire Europe.

As a company, 7 Management is always one step ahead of everyone else. Rabih and his team are pretty excited by the growing tech industry. They have firmly tapped into the explosive power of this sector, resulting in a new payment option, where clients can pay with cryptocurrencies at all of the 7 Management’s Food and Beverages outlets.

Suggestions for Young Leaders

Rabih believes each leader needs to be humble and keep their feet on the ground because no matter what position they reach, they are still human beings. Everything that happened over the last two years is a grim reminder that nothing is more valuable than loving and respecting each other.

Patricia Nagle: Helping to Create Functional Ecosystem of AI and AR Driven Tools

Launched in 2005, TeamViewer is a leading global company providing a reliable and secured connectivity platform to remotely access, control, manage, repair, or monitor a wide range of devices starting from personal computers, laptops, and mobile phones to various industrial machines and robots.

The company started its journey in the remote management and support market, and since then, it has rapidly grown to address a multi-billion-dollar market need. Through scrappy creative innovation, TeamViewer has grown to enterprise-scale and supports 60 countries, 627k SaaS subscribers, and 2.5B connected devices while helping enterprises avoid 37M tonnes of CO2 each year through the use of TeamViewer Solutions.

An experienced senior executive with an extensive background in building and leading high–performance teams, Patricia Nagle serves as the President of TeamViewer Americas. She is responsible for the organization’s sales, channel partnerships, development of new routes to market, and customer success. Patricia’s career has spanned a wide range of functions including sales, business development, and go-to-market demand generation in the enterprise software subscription and professional services sectors. Before joining TeamViewer, Patricia spent more than 13 years at the Canadian-listed software giant OpenText, where she led corporate marketing and global business development. She also managed global strategic alliances with key partners like Google, SAP, AWS, Salesforce, and Microsoft that delivered substantial revenue. Before OpenText, Patricia worked in different sales, marketing, and operations role at leading global software and consulting companies.

Introducing a Fresh Perspective

Patricia brings a global point of view and a keen focus on developing a robust partner ecosystem embracing strategic alliances. Her previous professional experience has been beneficial for working through the widespread global disruption of labor and supply chains over the last few years.

She says, “I am intimately familiar with what it takes to build a sustainable business in the face of regionalized challenges and the criticality of getting market validation from other leading technology companies through meaningful partnerships. This has served TeamViewer not only in its sales efforts, but also in building a robust business across the board with a global reach.”

What Success Looks Like

Patricia believes that professional success often depends on three primary factors; happy customers, a successful product, and a vibrant and diverse company culture. These three factors help build the foundation to create a healthy, growth-oriented company that can quickly adapt to meet the market’s evolving needs.

TeamViewer’s solid foundation in this regard led Patricia to join the company, as it enables her to help the company focus on the next stage of its growth phase by building effective channel programs and technological innovation progress.

At her core, Patricia gets motivated by winning. However, she realizes that this can only be accomplished by fostering the growth of others on her team. She feels proud to help her team grow through the successes and failures they experience and watch as they use those lessons to excel in new projects and advance their careers.

Patricia believes various leadership challenges are much more pronounced today than ever before. Addressing the diverse needs of employees and the organization’s culture requires a leader who can engage and motivate each person in the best way for their individual growth while also aligning them with the company strategy and objectives. On the other hand, current leaders must balance these bottom-up needs with an effective and efficient approach to the business from the top.

Leadership Principals

Patricia recognizes her commitment to leading from the front and several other aspects that feed her leadership principles.

  • Open Communication: As the organization’s leader, Patricia feels team communication should always flow both ways. It is essential that team members feel comfortable speaking up when they feel things have gone off track. It is also essential for the leader to be close to the problem so everyone can solve it collaboratively.
  • Personnel Empowerment: Teams often feel empowered to do the best possible job and make decisions that will feed the team’s ultimate success. Leaders can further aid this process by setting clear objectives and providing the team the flexibility needed to achieve those goals.
  • Accountability: Patricia feels taking responsibility for decisions is the most critical aspect of leadership. Leaders should do what they say and say what they do. This consistency breeds confidence within the organization that everyone is playing their specific roles so each feels comfortable focusing on what they need to do to contribute.

Her leadership style is entirely defined by her insistence on leading from the front. She says, “There is no ivory tower at TeamViewer, and I will never ask my employees to do something I am unwilling to do myself. This requires sharing successes with the teams that enabled them and maintaining personal accountability when things don’t go according to plan.”

Patricia always seeks to gather input from her team on various important decisions, but she also recognizes that the ultimate decision rests with her. It is her responsibility to be on the frontline to compile all the relevant data for a decision and take the action that leads to the best chance of success for TeamViewer.

Accomplishments and Challenges

As a woman in a male-dominated world, Patricia feels extremely proud of her ascension to the C-suite. Getting to this point required grit, expertise, and leadership that she has been developing throughout her career. Leveraging and sharing that expertise with other females as a mentor has been one of her greatest successes. It means a lot for her to be a role model for other women, and she strives to help them achieve what she has by setting an example in her work.

On her challenges, Patricia says, “I have always been one to push myself to my limit. Because this is so ingrained in my work ethic, I have sometimes pushed others too hard towards a goal. I have since worked on being more empathetic to my team’s motivations and limitations in order to set more realistic expectations.” She added, “The ceiling on what a team can achieve is determined as much by the team’s health as it is by the leader pushing them forward, so understanding what someone is willing and able to contribute is vital to building that healthy team.”

Future Roadmap

TeamViewer’s primary focus is empowering frontline workers, which requires connecting people through devices, people to people, and people to data through a unified platform of technologies and initiatives. TeamViewer’s use cases focus on employee onboarding and training, visual troubleshooting in the field, and remote knowledge sharing. Every use case provides efficiency bonuses for enterprises as they can direct knowledge and expertise where it is needed the most. At present, TeamViewer is focusing on creating a functional ecosystem of AR and AI-driven tools that can securely connect frontline workers to the knowledge they need at any point of time. The key word here is ‘functional,’ as AR tools have existed for years. However, with the greater emergence of more practical and intelligent devices and software that provides connectivity, AR can support a variety of business use cases to deliver the best value-add to the worker and material return on investment for the enterprise.

Giovanni Blandina: Secures Driving on Wet Roads

Meet Giovanni Blandina, the founder and CEO of EasyRain, an innovative SME founded in 2013 to save lives and develop advanced safety solutions for the automotive world.

Born in 1979, Giovanni started his career in 2001 as a Testing Methodology and Process Designer for a Turin-based company, Urmet, which designs and manufactures integrated building communication and security systems. Later in 2008, he became the Team Coordinator for MotoGP team FB Corse. Soon in 2009, Giovanni moved to Marelli as SkyTechnology Senior Consultant and started designing new testing strategies for automotive products in the world of telematics.

Later in 2013, he became the Testing Methodology Designer for Marelli. Giovanni also founded his organization EasyRain in March 2013, which initially started as a part-time job for him, but later became a full-time job.

Path Breaking Products

While rains and slippery roads make driving on the road dangerous, there’s something hidden from the plain sight. It’s called aquaplaning. It happens when your car’s tires can’t dissipate water from its surface. The water covers the tire and the contact patch between tires and the road, causing a vehicle to slide uncontrollably. EasyRain intends to solve the issue of aquaplaning with two of its products, DAI and AIS.

DAI or Digital Aquaplaning Information is a virtual sensor. Thanks to the information detected by the CAN network of a vehicle, the system recognizes and discriminates the presence of various water levels on the road surface, working regardless of vehicle and tire types. When aquaplaning conditions are detected, DAI instantly activates AIS, restoring the adherence and control of the vehicle.

On the other hand, AIS is the first active safety system to counter aquaplaning and make driving safer on wet roads. Years of research and hard work have allowed the company to develop the first active system to counter aquaplaning, increasing safety and performance on wet roads.

Reaching the Target Audience

“When we approach a customer for the first time, we never try to sell our products: we tell clients the reason for investing in our mission of saving lives and making driving safer. This is EasyRain’s strategy.”– says Giovanni.

He believes making people aware that their lives can be saved is the best way to introduce EasyRain. He also adds, “I’ll stick to this vision because it has proven to be the right one, at least for a company in the field of safety. I am fully convinced that, as a start-up, EasyRain would have already shut down if it had wrongly approached the market.”

From the internal point of view, EasyRain studies the reasons why a potential client hasn’t signed a deal yet, spending hours and hours on various sessions intending to improve as a company.

The Supportive Leader

As the organization’s founder, Giovanni Blandina intends to help his team express their potential and pursue professional growth. He helps his team understand that they are not working on a project but on a mission to save millions of lives worldwide.

Since the start of his career, Giovanni Blandina has treasured the ability to listen to those who could share their skills. He has also made the most of meeting up with people who have something to teach him. He feels every phase of his personal growth is intertwined with a specific person who pushed him to be more mature. Giovanni says, “This is done with the highest ethical regard for every individual, regardless of race, gender, or color.”

In addition to that, his role is to ensure the firm’s growth by designing long-term strategies that ensures the potential of using EasyRain’s technology. He also works hard to maximize his company’s potential to assure success in acquiring the required cash until the company is self-sustaining.

Although Giovanni Blandina can’t distinguish his greatest accomplishments, he certainly remembers one of the most important recognitions from his most favored mentor, Eugenio Razelli, the Ex-CEO of Marelli, who once told him, “Giovanni, what you are doing is not beautiful: it is moving.”

The Most Important Characteristics

As the leader of EasyRain, Giovanni Blandina encourages his employees to express their views and ideas to think faster and efficiently to overcome problems. Furthermore, he understands every team member knows that they are essential for the success of the entire project and the product development. He feels while skills can be bought and enhanced by joining various courses, the willingness to face challenges, the desire to participate in something great, and the attitude to sacrifice can’t be bought.

Future Roadmap

As the automotive industry is going through a digital transformation, Easyrain wants to catch up with the new market trends and is developing new 5G and cloud-based technologies to improve road safety in various low grip conditions. Giovanni Blandina also explains that V2V, V2X, and Smart Cities will eventually drive EasyRain from a hardware company to a full range of hardware, software, and cloud-based company.

He believes EasyRain can become a leader in researching and developing innovative safety systems, and it is quite close to introducing the first ones, making the organization self-sustainable.

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