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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.

Nadira Hamid: Creating Opportunities by Improving Bilateral Ties Between India and Canada

In 1991, India went through its biggest economic liberalization since its independence in 1947. This economic liberalization instituted major economic reforms, and it attracted the attention of the Canadian government and business community. With the chance to improve Indo-Canadian ties arose the need for a voice to facilitate the knowledge exchange between governments and businesses in both countries. So, in 1994 Indo-Canadian Business Chamber was set up in New Delhi to promote trade and business relations between India & Canada and to provide resources to the companies of both countries concerning trade and business contacts.

Since its inception, ICBC has been instrumental to the ongoing increase of bilateral trade and its diversification by exchanging trade and investment delegations, power launches, interactive sessions, and creating tie-ups with bilateral chambers of India’s neighboring countries like Nepal, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka.

The Dynamic Leader

Currently, ICBC is being led by its dynamic, experienced, and visionary CEO, Nadira Hamid. As the CEO, Nadira has steered ICBC as the voice of change in the India-Canada economic relationship. With nearly three decades of experience in corporate affairs, she has positioned the Chamber as a prime interface for the business interests of both Indian and Canadian companies wanting to tap into bilateral opportunities. She actively takes a lead role in encouraging Indian companies to explore the Canadian market and supporting them in establishing their presence in Canada, and vice versa.

Nadira started her career with the ITC group of hotels, looking after their corporate affairs across India. A few years later, she founded Lafance Overseas Private Ltd to capitalize on her entrepreneurial skills, while managing the corporate affairs for Mitchell Group for India and Bangladesh. Nadira then joined ICBC as the CEO in 2011.

Since then, during her tenure of eleven years at ICBC, Nadira has championed the Chamber’s commitment to serving as the industry’s voice and facilitating knowledge exchange between businesses and governments in both countries. She has successfully led, promoted, and coordinated many delegations to Canada that saw the participation of more than a hundred delegates from various business sectors in India. She has successfully arranged many business missions to build a higher level of business engagements and B2B platforms for SMEs to guide them effectively. Nadira has been instrumental in building the image of Brand Canada in various Indian states like Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India. She has also signed MoUs with multiple government and industry bodies to build better business engagement between the two countries.

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

Nadira Hamid is a firm believer in inclusion, diversity, and women empowerment. She says, “My advice would be to follow these and see how it can change your life and help you contribute to a successful enabled organization. Being a working woman, I am always very conscious of the challenges and issues Indian women face.” She also adds, “It is also essential to be passionate and frame your passion in a structured and effective way. Last but not the least – network, network, and network! Spending time with people is a valuable way to expand your knowledge, learn from the successes and failures of others and form long term relationships, all of which are essential for personal development and professional success.”

Preparing for the Future

The Government of India has decided to reduce its dependency on oil and gas by approving faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicle schemes, to help the country reach its goal of 30% EV penetration by the end of 2030. As the premier Chamber in the India-Canada economic corridor, ICBC hopes to facilitate enhanced stakeholder relations and joint partnerships with major automakers, EV component makers, battery manufacturers, and service providers.

manufacturers, and service providers. Nadira Hamid also explains that ICBC strives to promote sustainability, as ignoring sustainability can lead to the exhaustion of natural resources. Under her leadership, ICBC has conducted multiple sessions with various builders and developers in India to educate them about the quality of environmentally responsible wood products from sustainably managed forests.

ICBC has brought together many policymakers, influencers, and industry leaders in various summits to identify the areas where India and Canada can work alongside. It is also working to create awareness regarding the importance of ESG in business nowadays. As it feels, ESG is one of the most important conversations of our time.

Indo-Canadian Business Chamber is currently working to match the skilled labor demand in Canada. Now, it is holding talks with the relevant authorities in both countries to connect the employers to the employees and conduct workshops for the required certificates.

Quick Commerce – Accelerated by the Pandemic

 

The Emerging Quick commerce, Explained

The pandemic has undoubtedly transformed the operating model of most businesses and industries. Whether it is entertainment or medical services, to avoid face-to-face interaction that is prone to virus transmission, video calls and domestic streaming as service formats are in dominance and have crossed over to other industries as well. Quick commerce is no exception and mostly fed off of the well-established, strong technology and logistics infrastructure, for it to be able to excel in the market. Having said that operating models have evolved to be highly domestic-centric, quick commerce facilitates the unlocking of potential opportunities for such businesses by supporting the subsequent on-demand orders with speed and technological capability.

Customer Behavior redefined by the Pandemic

Statistics and studies have shown that the pandemic catalyzed a series of changes in customer behavior which apparently will not be reverting to that of pre-COVID years. For instance, more than 85% of survey respondents of PwC global consumer survey expressed that they will choose to continue shopping online even if social distancing policies are lifted [1] . As pointed out by another academic study on the change of buying behavior, the fear of witnessing stores being out-of-stock has led to higher frequency of unplanned purchases and justified impulse buying [2] . It is evident that the majority of the population has undergone a thorough adaptation in consuming behavior. This new phenomenon lays a strong foundation for the quick commerce market and industry to stay and continue to thrive in the future.

[1] PwC, “Global Consumer Insights Survey 2020”

[2] Anas, M., Khan, M.N., Rahman, O. and Uddin, S.M.F. (2022), “Why consumers behaved impulsively during COVID-19 pandemic?”

“Speed” as differentiator in highly competitive e-commerce market

The market size is evidently expanding as e-commerce alone contributed 18% of total global retail sales among all other sectors in 2020 [3] , occupying almost one-fifth of total market shares. Nonetheless, demand fulfillment is below satisfactory, especially in Southeast Asia countries where time for delivery takes up to nearly 6 days [4] . This explained why e-commerce market leaders now fight for speed as their newly discovered battle arena. The delivery standard has since then been arguably reset by the e-commerce giant Amazon. When the company first launched the same-day and next-day delivery offers, they were said to be going above and beyond expectations. Customers then began to expect from other retailers. With more large marketplaces and retailers hopping on the trend to offer next-day or even faster delivery, like Shopee24 and Walmart Express delivery, it has become the norm for many industries, even for small retailers, to struggle to figure out ways to meet the delivery options expected by customers.

[3] eMarketer, Insider Intelligence, “Global Ecommerce Forecast 2021”

[4] Google, Temasek and Bain & Company, “e-Conomy SEA 2020 report”

Yet, is Quick Commerce all about superfast delivery?

The booming quick commerce market during the pandemic, plus the “Amazon effect”, has transformed customers’ habits to the extent that they now expect this type of hyper convenience at their fingertips. Companies are competing to get the goods delivered to customers’ doors in record time. However, is quick commerce all about superfast delivery? When speed becomes another essential, how should we enable this quick commerce transformation not as a temporary heatwave but as a sustainably growing ecosystem made to better allocate resources and fulfilling the fast-changing customers’ desires at the same time?

“What Zeek pursues is a Sustainable Quick Commerce Ecosystem that values the needs of PRESENT without compromising the needs of the FUTURE”

Customers’ desires will never reach to an end, therefore quick commerce is not just about the speed of last-mile delivery, but more so offering customers seamless experience and convenience, being highly scalable in bringing values to their changing needs and maintaining the high quality service offering to achieve sustainable growth. As part of the quick commerce ecosystem, Zeek values sustainability and relentlessly focuses on utilizing technology to achieve ultra-fast delivery services, as well as, enhancing merchants’ internal optimization and management system with its SaaS offerings, shaping the next generation of quick commerce strategies:

  1. Strengthening merchants’ customer-centric capabilities to pin-point customer preference: Unlike traditional e-commerce that offers a wide product assortment, the “shelves” of quick commerce is narrowed down to targeted and selective assortment that can facilitate a shorter pick-and-pack time yet cover the most that customers desire. With a variety of options available online, a web page has only 2-3 seconds to impress visitors. Thus, catching customers to stick with one’s web page is a key in winning the first step. Customer database ownership is thus important for a better understanding and analyzing their preferences, shaping better product positioning strategy and avoiding over-stocking. By knowing which product is attracted to the most clicks, or which promotion tools have the highest conversion rate, merchants could make a better decision in choosing which products to “recommend” in order to catch the eyeballs of potential customers.
  2. Smart geofencing for optimal fulfillment: Quick commerce merchants shall no longer deliver from a single mega warehouse. Geofencing allows merchants to get a hold of where most of the demand is from and select the right locations for dark stores or mini-warehouses. Therefore it is important to match the customer catchment and maximize the online to offline(O2O) conversion with intelligent technology support such as heatmap analysis. An ideal location is where the maximum number of physical visitors could be covered and at the same time provides an optimal proximity for quick delivery and pickup. The closer the pickup point is to the O2O demand concentration area, the higher density of short distance orders could be achieved. Together with advanced multi-stores assignment algorithms to map delivery destinations with the best pickup point, a large portion of delivery cost could be saved and at the same time saving at least 66% carbon dioxide emission per trip.
  3. Maximizing resources utilization in town with intelligent cross courier assignment algorithms: With the emerging demand, using in-house delivery fleets solely would limit one’s bottleneck. By maximizing order fulfillment capabilities with a third-party logistics(3PL) aggregator, multiple courier resources could be leveraged. With a wider pool of cyclists and walkers, together with the advanced order assignment logic to prioritize green fleet for shorter distance and higher loading capacity vehicles for larger size of orders, more and better utilization of multiple courier types especially on eco-friendly fleets could be achieved. Quick commerce businesses are intrigued by efficient real-time order management and resources matching systems that could enhance fulfillment and maximize sales. Leading F&B conglomerate in Thailand with over 1,700 outlets and over 7,000 in-house couriers has recently underwent system optimisation with Zeek’s order management and courier management system. With the advance dispatch algorithm, efficient courier mobilization tools and end-to-end logistic solutions for instant orders and unexpected order surge, not only the delivery time has substantially be shorten, order completion rate has also drastically improved from less than 70% to over 90% and over 99% orders can be delivered within 30minutes, compared to less than 60% before the system optimisation and order overflow support.
  4. Maximizing per-trip efficiency and saving cost with multiple order pairing and dynamic routing: With a lower cost burden, more small but frequent and impulsive purchasing habits could be catered with high fleet utilization under best route recommendations, saving at least 50% CO2e per trip. Customers can purchase when necessary to avoid bulk purchase of unnecessary goods, minimizing the chance of home-stock expiry goods and thus reducing food waste.
  5. Streamlining operation process with agile plug-in options: Scalability in integrating with POS/CRM/application/mini-program enables merchants to have full ownership of O2O-connected membership data. Better insights on membership campaigns and insights collection would enable merchants to understand their customers better and enhance customer stickiness. Removing unnecessary and redundant communication or wastage due to departmental silos, one-stop in-store service with easy store-front operation and multi-stakeholders order status synchronization would be achieved, while providing customers with ultra-convenience and seamless experience.
  6. Achieving just-in-time delivery with big data analysis and high visibility journey across stakeholders: With dynamic big-data quote time estimation and real-time order tracking, higher accuracy and higher transparency could ensure the order is readily available once the fleet arrives and reduce the chance of re-delivery.

Why Businesses Should Embrace Sustainability

As is well known, a sustainable approach can help reduce the operating cost by achieving efficiency in the supply chain. To do this, the distribution of goods and transport activities – which are part of the chain’s last stage – face challenges directly related to the speed demanded by today’s customers and to the impact of carbon emissions from vehicles.

People nowadays are more educated about the impact of climate change which is a large part of the conversation today, and they have come to expect alignment between brand values and their own. Companies from all sectors are increasingly developing an environmental awareness that they put into practice in their operations, which they also demand from their customers.

Both aspects require a focus on sustainability that considers a logistics system that promotes the optimal route design and shorter travel distance within and between trips to lower the emissions that pollute the environment. By demonstrating genuine commitment in environmental protection through products and services, companies are able to experience greater customer loyalty.

Bio

Mr. Vincent Fan currently holds the positions of Co-founder & Chief Strategy Officer of Zeek, responsible for the business strategy, market and product positioning, and operations management. Over the years, Vincent has been leading and advising large conglomerates across Southeast Asia on Quick Commerce transformation with the smart logistics and system enablement of Zeek.

Prior to that, Vincent was a management consultant and corporate strategist. He has extensive strategy consulting and corporate transformation experience across Greater China and APAC. He has previously taken up various consultancy positions in EY’s in-house global advisory, IBM GBS’ Strategy & Transformation and GBI Consultancy, with focus on business and operational strategy, organizational design and efficiency improvement.

Vincent was also a programme lead and part-time lecturer in The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He holds Bachelor Degree in Systems Engineering, Master Degree in eBusiness Management and MBA Degree (Dean’s List) in The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

MetaLoka: Solving Inefficiencies of the Cryptocurrency Industry

MetaLoka is the world’s first open Metaverse ecosystem featuring time travel and utility zones. To bring people together, MetaLoka goes beyond the barriers between the past and the future worlds. At the organization’s heart, metaverse can teleport users through an overwhelmingly impressive experience of interacting with other Metazens in ancient Egypt, 2312 Cyberpunk, Dark Ages, and so on.

Additionally, MetaLoka aims to solve the inefficiency of the cryptocurrency industry by utilizing the potential of blockchain technology. It consists of the most robust blockchain team from Vietnam with 5 years of experience, a highly experienced game team from the U.S., and more than 20 in-house developers and marketers.

The Leadership Team

Back in August 2021, when the term metaverse was known to very few people, Nguyen Ngoc Tung, the Co-founder of MetaLoka, sat with Minh Do, the CEO of the organization, to discuss the future of it and its challenges to adapt. Soon, both realized that not only metaverse but the entire blockchain system was still in its infancy, and it hadn’t reached its potential. However, Nguyen realizes that blockchain technology has many practical applications in decentralization and security.

Graduated from the Singapore Institute of Management, Nguyen (Steve) has more than 5 years of experience in various multi-national tech projects and corporations funded by Alibaba Cloud, Enterprise Singapore, and the Department of Science and Technology Vietnam. Additionally, he has been a very active investor in the real estate and fashion industries.

With his solid skills and vast knowledge in directing or operating a project, Steve now focuses on market insights and customer experience throughout the process and ensures mutually beneficial growth.

The leadership team includes Nhat Minh Nguyen, COO of the organization. She is an experienced venture builder in technology. Thanks to her experiences in investment banking and business development for the state government, she grew a deep love for technology projects and blockchain technology. On the other hand, Truong Nguyen serves as the CTO. He is an experienced blockchain developer in blockchain and Defi. He has also advised development teams of various top-tier projects like AvatarArt, SpaceHunter, etc.

An experienced software engineer with Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Minh Do serves as the CEO. Before working for MetaLoka, Minh worked for several start-ups in various industries, including entertainment, finance, and human resource.

The Asian Market
Steve believes Asian countries have kept up with the rest of the world with various advanced technology and cutting-edge infrastructures like 5G and others. Steve explains that Asian countries invested heavily in multiple regional tech startups, especially in the areas like supply chain and manufacturing. Additionally, Asian governments have worked with local tech companies to advance their aim toward A.I. and renewable energy. “With its resources, Asia’s rapid development has all the capacity and potential to grow and compete with other economies in the digital information-technology services.”– asserts Steve.

Mission and Vision

MetaLoka’s mission is to develop its trademark building engine to solve the challenges arising in the metaverse world, including the risky liquidity of various crypto assets and the cross- chain ability to bridge to other metaverses. On the other hand, the organization’s vision is to solve the cryptocurrency industry’s inefficiencies by utilizing blockchain technology’s potential.

Suggestions for the Younger self

“Research, Practice & Be a Life-long learner” are my go-to phrases whenever I encountered something new. You will never discover the true potential and insights of the section you start in if you do not carefully examine and practice beforehand.”- says Steve. He also believes that many frameworks and approaches, including SMART, SWOT, 5W1H, and Five forces, were successful in every scenario. However, he believes the success recipes of a business lie in creating a great product or service that can solve the problem of a large audience.

Future Roadmap

In simple terms, Steve wants to build a company that leaves a positive impact on its users. MetaLoka aims to become a go-to metaverse ecosystem for users to experience, entertain, Defi investments, and create optimal utilities.

Recently, MetaLoka has also established a strategic corporation with Polygon Studios, and it is now planning to introduce its metaverse ecosystem on the Polygon blockchain.

As partners, MetaLoka and Polygon will push for a better metaverse adoption rate across the planet, which will bring out a unique virtual experience for each individual. Polygon Studios will be the strategic partner for MetaLoka across multiple aspects of the project, including GameFi and metaverse initiatives.

Additionally, Alibaba Group will soon become the official partners of MetaLoka to venture into the unknown world of the metaverse.

With its world-class technical capability and reputation, Alibaba Cloud is all set to help the organization in several initiatives to achieve global reach and sustainable ecosystem development.

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