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Aradhna Dayal: Bringing Foreign Investments in Asia

Even a few decades ago, Asian financial markets were frowned upon as they were a bit hard to access. In order to provide the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, Access Alts Asia was born. The organization was founded by a pioneer in Asian investments Aradhna Dayal, who also serves as the CEO of the company. She is a proud global citizen who believes that Asia with its rapid transformation, innovation, and multi-culturalism, holds the key to the global economy. She is always passionate about people and connecting them as global communities.

Aradhna explains, “For as long as I can remember, my biggest joy has been traveling the world, eating at local haunts, chatting with cabbies, exploring cultural nuances, and understanding what makes people who they are.”

Aradhna’s other passion is social justice and societal global challenges that threaten humanity’s future; she has devoted her life to harnessing the power of people to solve them. “In many ways, AccessAlts is my way to create an interconnected community of remarkable people from all around the world who are passionate about making a difference and protecting our future,” explains Aradhna.

Early Career

During the late 1990’s Aradhna moved to Hong Kong and started her family investment office. Hong Kong provided her with the best seats to witness the transformation in Asian financial markets. Soon she witnessed the transformation of countries like China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. With many Asian countries becoming economic powerhouses, the potential for global investors to come in grew by quite a few folds.

However, Asia was always frowned upon as opaque and hard to access. So, Aradhna saw this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. She believes that business families are inherently entrepreneurial and they like looking at new geographies. However, they prefer coming through a trusted network. Aradhna provided the perfect conduit for global families to come and invest in Asia, which eventually led to the birth of Access Alts Asia.

Bringing Global Investors to Asia

AccessAlts Asia is a Hong Kong-based platform that brings different global investors and ground-breaking technology to Asia. As we all know Asia is transforming, and it needs ideas and capital.

However, before Aradhna started AccessAlts, Asia was seen as a market that is opaque and hard to access. Aradhna understood the importance of this niche and leveraged her wide global network to bridge this gap. Started as a simple idea-sharing platform in Hong Kong six years back, Aradhna has led AccessAlts’ exponential growth into an influential, global “members-only” investment club with over 350 members, channelizing smart capital into transformative companies.

Aradhna’s unique business idea and vision are the main reason for Access Alts Asia’s growth. Launched at the right time and at the right place. Through AccessAlts, Aradhna inadvertently created the first East-West investment bridge that tied global family offices together. It was also the time when Asia was creating the largest number of Unicorns in areas like transportation, financial services, deep technology, and e-commerce.

Amidst this, Access Alts pioneered the concept of discreet, intimate Member Meets in key financial centers: New York, Dubai, London, Washington, San Francisco, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, giving the club a global footprint very quickly.

When the Pandemic Wreaked Havoc

According to Aradhna, Covid was disastrous for her organization, which relies on physical meets to bring its members together. The business stopped for three months. However, the organization soon leveraged the opportunity to pivot into a Digital Consultancy on Business Preservation and Impact Investing;

  • The club started providing 360-degree consultancy to family businesses, from digitalizing their operations to entering new markets and verticals.
  • The club also incubated multiple start-ups in Asia. The start-ups serve in areas like e-payments, electric vehicle batteries, e-education, etc.
  • Also the club has done many landmark deals with companies like SpaceX and Beyond Meat during the pandemic.
  • It used various innovative techniques to begin hosting Virtual Meets to replace physical meets, creating an online network of investors and experts from around the world. This led to a more powerful community than ever.

 

Preparing for the Future

Having created a formidable network, Aradhna wants to leverage it to empower women business leaders and entrepreneurs. “I have always been passionate about creating a just and diverse society that provides equal opportunities to all,” said Aradhna. “Covid has allowed me to take a pause and think about the legacy I want to leave behind.”

“We want to fund women-led businesses and create a formidable ‘she-economy.” We also want to nurture female talent and have launched a Women on Boards initiative that handholds talented young women for corporate boardrooms roles.”

Aradhna, along with her children, Pradyumn and Pankhuri Dayal, also runs the aid platform Move4Migrants to integrate migrant and minority communities into mainstream society.

Finally, through Access Alts, Aradhna wants to direct capital and resources towards technology that creates a fairer world. “As I head towards my 50s, I have become cognizant of the importance of focusing on social ROI rather than financial ROI,” explains Aradhna.

Quote: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Company Name: Access Alts Asia

Management: Aradhna Dayal, CEO, and Founder

URL: accessalts.com

Industry’s Only Family of Standard Non-Hybrid Space-Grade Power Converters Now Includes 28 Volt (V)-Input Radiation-Tolerant Options

  • Microchip’s alternatives to inflexible hybrid-style converters improve design flexibility while reducing system size, cost and development time

India, January 27, 2022 — Space system designers cannot easily support non-standard voltages or add functions with traditional hybrid-style power converters. Microchip Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MCHP) has eliminated the cost, complexity and customization challenges of these hybrid solutions by offering a discrete-component-based, space-grade DC-DC power converter family that now includes 28V-input, 50-watt (W) radiation-tolerant options.

“Our latest 28V-input SA50-28 products greatly simplify and accelerate system development,” said Leon Gross, vice president of Microchip’s discrete product business unit. “They are easier to customize than alternative space-grade power converters so they can meet specific voltage, current and other needs. Customers gain flexibility while reducing the size, cost and complexity of their space system designs.”

Microchip’s SA50-28 family is the industry’s only off-the-shelf, 28V-input, radiation-tolerant power converter offering that is based on discrete components with surface-mount construction and non-hybrid assembly processes. Delivering more capabilities than alternative off-the-shelf, space-grade power converters, a single SA50-28 device with customized parameters eliminates the volume, weight and complexity problems of using hybrid solutions with their multiple devices and surrounding circuitry.

Microchip’s comprehensive SA50-28 product line is a 20V- to 40V-input, 50W family with nine standard outputs of 3.3V, 5V, 12V, 15V and 28V in single- and triple-output configurations. The devices can be tailored to a system’s exacting power needs in a relatively short time with minimal additional costs as compared to hybrid-style power converter products. Other features include high efficiency, low output noise, output inhibit control, overcurrent protection, external synchronization and full-rated power operation through −55°C to +85°C with linear derating to +125°C. The SA50-28 family is part of Microchip’s growing line of standard non-hybrid, space-grade power converters that enable designers to use commercially available, off-the-shelf components whose circuitry has a proven spaceflight heritage. The products join the radiation-hardened SA50- 120 power converter family, introduced in February 2021 that reduces risk and development time for qualified space systems by allowing designers to start with proven commercially available off the shelf technology in ceramic or plastic packages and quickly scaling up development using lower screening levels than traditional Qualified Manufacturers List (QML) requirements.

Availability

Microchip’s radiation-tolerant SA50-28 family is available for volume production and limited sampling. Prototype-grade units are available from stock, and non-radiation-tolerant engineering units are also available with the same performance as the space-grade units at a lower cost. Delivery times are usually faster than hybrid-construction units with no associated lot penalty. The devices are complemented by Microchip’s family of FPGAs, high-reliability radiation-hardened power semiconductors, and space-grade timing devices. For additional information, including pricing, contact a Microchip sales representative, authorized worldwide distributor, or visit Microchip’s website.

About Microchip Technology

Microchip Technology Inc. is a leading provider of smart, connected and secure embedded control solutions. Its easy-to-use development tools and comprehensive product portfolio enable customers to create optimal designs which reduce risk while lowering total system cost and time to market. The company’s solutions serve more than 120,000 customers across the industrial, automotive, consumer, aerospace and defense, communications and computing markets. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at www.microchip.com.

ICICI Bank makes ‘InstaBIZ’ interoperable; instantly empowers merchants with digital collection solutions

ICICI Bank today announced that it has made ‘InstaBIZ’ interoperable, making the benefits of its business banking mobile app available to all merchants including customers of other banks. The first-of-its kind initiative enables merchants- owners of grocery shops, supermarkets, restaurants, stationery stores and pharmacies and professionals like doctors and lawyers to instantly create digital collection solutions like UPI ID and QR code, and start collecting money from their customers immediately. They can also digitally apply for Point of Sale (POS) device. Further, they can transform their shops into an online store in just 30 minutes, and apply for a voice messaging device that confirms the receipt of the payments.

  • The first-of-its kind app enables merchants to link account of any bank with it
  • Merchants can instantly create UPI ID and QR code on the app; start collecting money immediately
  • They can also apply for POS; quickly convert their physical shop into an online store
  • It offers fully digital and instant KYC process

Any merchant, no matter it has a current/savings account with ICICI Bank or not, can avail the solutions by simply downloading the ‘InstaBIZ’ app from Play Store and link their bank account. This initiative features a completely online and instant Know Your Customer (KYC) process. Merchants do not need to visit any branch nor upload any document. The initiative leverages upon advanced APIs of the Bank that instantly and digitally validate PAN/ Aadhaar number which is required for verification of KYC.

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Anup Bagchi, Executive Director, ICICI Bank said, “We at ICICI Bank always believe that the self-employed and the MSME segment forms the backbone of the Indian economy. A large part of this segment consists of retail merchants. It is our endeavour to support merchants- around two crore across the country by offering them solutions that make their business easy. With this aim, we were the first to introduce ‘InstaBIZ’, a mobile banking app for businesses, two-and-a-half years ago.

We believe that the benefits of our products and services should not be restricted only to our customers; those who bank with others should also avail them. In line with this philosophy of ‘open architecture’ of our digital banking platforms, we made ‘iMobilePay’, our mobile app for personal banking, available to any individual last year. It was the first of its kind initiative in the industry. Similarly, we are now delighted to extend the ease, speed and safety of ‘InstaBIZ’ to merchants having accounts with any bank in the country, another industry-first initiative. Now, any merchant can instantly avail digital collection services from ‘InstaBIZ’ and immediately start collecting money from their customers. Merchants also get the advantage to get their KYC process done in a fully digital and paperless manner without visiting a branch of the Bank. We believe that this new and unique digital offering resonates with merchants across the country, as it frees up their bandwidth to a large extent, which they can devote to grow their main business.”

Here are the benefits of the digital collection services of ‘InstaBIZ’ for any merchant:
Key benefits:
Create UPI instantly: Merchants having bank account with any bank can download the app, instantly link their bank account and generate a UPI ID easily. This helps them to collect payment physically at the store, home deliveries and online payments. The facility provides instant settlement of payment in the merchant’s account as compared to the industry practice of getting it credited on the next day.
Create QR code instantly: Merchants can instantly create and activate QR code and link it with their account in any other bank. They can then generate digital QR codes with specific amounts and share it with customers digitally on email or messaging platforms. They can also take print outs, keep it at their stores and start collecting payment immediately.
Apply and manage POS: Merchants can apply for POS through the app itself and receive it in a day if they are based in major cities. They can digitally place service requests like indents for paper roll, terminal issue, activating EMI, international card acceptance, statement request, transaction status, GST invoice among others, through ‘InstaBIZ’. They can also track status of all applications of their POS device itself.

Value-added services:
Create digital store: The facility enables merchants of any bank to create digital store on ‘EazyStore’ mobile app. They can choose from over 500 attractive templates and catalogues to design their digital store. The facility also enables merchants to create promotional campaigns, manage invoicing, inventory and collections. The digital stores can be created in flat 30 minutes by just four clicks.
Apply for UPI contactless solutions: Merchants can order counter standee/ plaque for UPI payments from the app itself in quick and easy steps. They can also apply for a voice messaging device, ‘EazySound’, to get real time instant payment confirmation for both successful as well as failed transactions.
Loyalty programme: The merchants are also offered ‘Eazy Rewards Programme’, another industry first feature. With this, merchants accepting instant cashless payments from customers through POS/QR solution, get points for transactions which can be redeemed for shopping, vouchers, vacations among others.

About ICICI Bank: ICICI Bank Ltd (BSE: ICICIBANK, NSE: ICICIBANK and NYSE:IBN) is a leading private sector bank in India. The Banks consolidated total assets stood at 16,82,904 crore at December 31, 2021.

India’s Gautam Adani Becomes Asia’s Richest Man

According to Forbes’ Real-Time Billionaire estimates published on Thursday, Indian industrialist Gautam Adani has surpassed Bill Gates to become the wealthiest Asian, with a net worth of $90.1 billion. He is now the 10th richest person on the planet. According to Forbes, he just beats out fellow Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, the chairman and CEO of Reliance Industries, worth only $100 million less at $90 billion. Previously, Ambani held the title of wealthiest Asian billionaire.

The achievement is extraordinary for Adani, who is 59 years old and a college dropout who founded a commodities export company in 1988. In 2008, he was listed as one of the world’s billionaires, with a net worth of $9.3 billion, according to Forbes magazine. His Adani Group is comprised of a diverse range of enterprises, ranging from power production and transmission to edible oil to real estate and coal mining. A total of six of the group’s Indian subsidiaries are publicly traded, the most valued of which is Adani Green Energy Ltd, which has seen its stock price rise by 77 percent in the last year.

Adani’s net wealth had almost quadrupled since Forbes published its annual World’s Billionaires list in April 2021, when his net worth was $50.5 billion. During the same time, Ambani’s net worth increased by just 6.5 percent, from $84.5 billion in April of last year to $90.5 billion now. On Thursday, the stock of Reliance Industries, which operates in the oil, petrochemicals, retail, and telecommunications industries, declined 1.47 percent, taking the company’s year-to-date loss to 2.3 percent.

Adani hails from the Indian state of Gujarat, which is located in the west. His college studies were cut short, and he created Adani Enterprises, a commodities exporting company, in 1988. He soon extended his company’s operations to include port management, electricity generating, solar energy, and other services. According to reports, Narendra Modi, the Indian Prime Minister who served as the state’s chief minister before becoming Prime Minister, has lent his backing to the Adani Group’s expansion. Modi was a guest at Adani’s son’s wedding, according to a 2014 storey in Forbes magazine. The Adani Group purchased a 74 percent share in Mumbai International Airport, which is the second busiest airport in India, in September 2020.

Witness Gauri Das shifting the Paradigm in Human Resources

Meet Gauri Das, the Head HR Marketing and Admin at India Factoring and Finance Solutions, who challenged the traditional customary ways of HR processes through her optimistic approach. Her unique ideology and methods have directly and indirectly helped in creating a productive environment with the right HR strategies. Through her work, she has earned a name in the industry and led her company to achieve new milestones in the domain of HR.

We, at Tycoon Success, admire passion-driven leaders and take pride in featuring Gauri in its special issue, “The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch in 2022.”

Below are the highlights of the Interview:

An Engineer turned HR Professional

After completing her engineering, Gauri Das continued to learn and completed double Masters in Human resources and Psychology to become an all round HR Professional. Prior to this, she completed her early education in vernacular medium in a small village. With her introverted disposition and lack of opportunities for personality development and extra curricular activities, communication was not her forte’ then but today she is an international speaker. Despite her uncertainties, she explored possibilities and grasped opportunities to later become Vice President – HR for a subsidiary of a European bank. She takes great pride in her work and pushes people to explore their unknown limitless possibilities. She inspires people to use their learnings from the past to trigger their future progress.

In her 15+ years of experience, as a strategic HR leader, she has crafted and aligned HR strategies with business goals. She supports businesses in setting the right culture, driving performance, reinventing employee experience and improving capabilities. She also carries a wealth of experience with both start-ups and well-established organizations thus she prefers to work in high energy and growth-focused environment. Moreover, she is well-known for mentoring students, young professionals. She is a passionate speaker and has graced multiple national and international forums as a keynote speaker and panellist. She is a TEDx speaker and her talk is about creating a possibilitarian mindset. Also, she was Lead Membership of the Professional Speakers Associations of India, Mumbai chapter (PSAI).

In addition to that, she sits on the advisory panel of various institutes and NGOs. While her love for writing never waned and her work has been published by leading publication platforms in the country including TOI, Economic Times, people matters, human capital, and others. Apart from this, she is passionate about women’s empowerment and is leading a Leanin circle called Leaders Lifting Leaders. She has been recently appointed as National President WICCI for Future of Work Council. She loves networking and knowing people beyond their profiles brings her happiness and therefore she is a core committee member of Navi Mumbai LinkedIn Local.

Gauri Das believes that every individual faces his or her challenges while laying the foundations of a successful journey. But she also reckons that times are continuously evolving and making things uncertain—which Gauri Das refers to as a case of forced OD. “Change is the name of the game,” she mentions. To overcome such obstacles, one must adapt an open-mindedness, be flexible with the work and new innovative aspects, and most importantly embrace the support provided by the people surrounding us. “People around me and my family keep me going,” she mentions. She defines success as a feeling of contentment and happiness by supporting others, by being with family and friends through their ups and downs. She believes that by being in the moment and having amazing people around as friends, mentors and well-wishers, one can easily prevail in his/her endeavours.

In her impeccable journey, by adapting such ideology, she has achieved many milestones. She was recognized HR 100 under 40, selected as LinkedIn person of the year,and very recently featured as Top 200 powerful voice in Leadership in 2022 globally and has also been featured as a speaker at TedX. She has gained the title as a Top HR Mind (India) and was highlighted as Economic Times Young HR Leader. Besides, she has been recognized as Lighthouse of L&D and WICA luminary growth.

A brief note of the Company

India Factoring and Finance Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a financial services company specializing in working capital solutions through the Factoring product, aimed at converting receivables into cash. The company is a subsidiary of a European bank – FIMBank p.l.c., Malta, and is registered with the RBI as an NBFC – Factor. Through its global network, it offers one-stop shop solutions around receivables finance solutions. It supports business Spread across all segments of customers from MSME to large corporates; primarily manufacturers and exporters but also right domestic customers as well. It helps businesses grow with timely working capital support. Also protects against default of overseas buyers and helps balance sheet deleveraging. The company also provides solutions to the customers who are looking at new-age working capital solutions with a cost optimum approach.

Noteworthy bits of Advice

Gauri Das suggests that every individual must acquire certain traits to achieve triumph. In her opinion, she suggests that leaders need to be one with the teams with three H— heart, head, and hand. People value autonomy because it helps them to explore the possibilities and to be creative with their work; they also have individual ownership over multiple aspects of their work. This helps an individual or a group of individuals to develop a connection with the heads of the team members. However, the connection with the head merely completes the 1/3rd part of the whole process. But when these team members are made aware of the value added by their work and the relationship developed with the purpose, a leader can witness an increase in their passion for the work i.e. the heart. “Finally when you have their head and heart, hands support. 3H is my mantra of leadership and with this comes empowerment empathy and openness to diverse thoughts. In my view, these lead to great performances and innovations,” she concludes.

“Be limitless… be a possibilitarian. No matter how difficult the situation is, there are always some possibilities, all we need to do is keep looking for them,” –

Dr. Archana Surana: A Champion Of Education, Inclusion And Sustainable Social Development

The seeds of public service were planted when Archana Surana was a high school student. Witnessing her parents Dr. P M Bhandari, a renowned medical practitioner and Mrs. Sunitha Bhandari, a recipient of the prestigious Presidential Medal involved in community service, young Archana wanted to play a central role in effecting sustainable societal changes after her graduation.

A National Scholarship Awardee from the Ministry of Education & Culture, Government of India, Archana completed her bachelor’s in arts as a meritorious student. Her passion for making a difference in people’s lives through her work got a shot in the arm when she married Dilip Surana, Managing Director of Micro Labs, a leading pharmaceutical giant in India.

Tryst with passion

‘Making the lives of people and the communities better’ has been the common denominator for everyone at the Surana household. While her husband was busy driving science to bring affordable medicines to patient care, Archana chose ‘Education’ as the path for social development.

While she was sitting on the board of Micro Labs, she was invited by her father-in-law Sri. Ghewarchandji Surana, a visionary industrialist to helm the GDA Foundation – a Charitable Trust owned by the Surana’s. Today, the Trust manages four educational institutions in Bangalore and serves over 5000 students from primary school till postgraduation. The educational institutions that completed 25 years off service in 2020 have served 45000 students from various social and economic backgrounds.

Taking higher education to the next level

Having spent over 25 good years running academic institutions of all nature, Archana Surana wants to offer world-class education to Indian students. The giant leap of moving away from University shadow to an autonomous institution is a significant milestone for the educational institutes she manages. She is determined to make industryrelevant education a reality through autonomy. She is also in talks with many leading academic start-ups to offer global education options to her students. Under her leadership, Surana College is re-accredited with the prestigious ‘A+’ grade by NAAC, a feat achieved by very few institutes in India.

Archana spent the COVID lockdown as an opportunity to chalk down the vision document for the next decade for her educational institutions. In a major rejig, she has been infusing many young and experienced faces to take up high-performing roles to take the educational institutes to the next sphere of growth.

The joy of giving

Watching problems get solved in front of your eyes is very satisfying, says Dr. Archana Surana when you ask her what motivates her to give and continue giving. From slashing the tuition fees for the needy to the academically meritorious, from supporting the single/double orphaned students to helping students pursue their areas of interest, from sending relief materials to contributing to the PM’s emergency fund during natural calamities, Archana Surana doesn’t wait for an opportunity to give.

Her mid-day meal events for the visually impaired, donations to critical medical care and gifting of tractors to the local corporation for water distribution go beyond the ambits of education. According to her effecting a crucial societal change through education, healthcare, or rural development aligns with her definition of success. Her nature of giving is so contagious that the students and faculty members of her educational institutes are widely known for many social impact projects like blood donation, environmental cause, gender diversity and so on. She was also one of the Advisory members for Association for Health Care Providers-India (AHPI) for drafting Guidelines for Reopening of Schools, Post-Covid-19 Pandamic (Joint Advisory by AHPI & GCCMC.

A leader par excellence

The strong humanitarian side of Archana Surana has been the distinguishing quality of her leadership style. Today, she manages a workforce of over 500 across the educational institutes, most of whom she hired over a couple of decades ago. Archana strongly believes in diversity and inclusion. Her educational institutes are predominantly managed and run by women. Her hands-on approach and mentoring capabilities have benefitted people far and beyond.

Her thrust for quality and excellence has time and again brought laurels to the educational institutions she manages. Under her leadership, the educational institutes have collectively bagged more than 48 university ranks across streams in the last two decades. Archana Surana means business when she talks about ‘Holistic Development’. During the late 2000’s, she started giving more significant push towards churning students in the field of sports, culture, and media. It is a matter of pride that many alumni from the Surana Educational Institutions have made their mark in the national and international arena in sports and culture.

She encouraged the faculty members to embark on a research-driven teaching approach. Under her leadership, the educational institutes have organized many national and international conferences, symposiums, and thought exchange forums to address many pressing issues in the fields of science, arts, mental wellbeing, and literature.

When she is not at work…

A pious and religious individual, Archana spends time at the Jain temples constructed by her family in Bangalore. Today, the temples have come along not merely as a place of worship but as a monastery for wayfaring monks and spiritual seekers. Archana ensures that the facilities in these monasteries are top-notch so that the seekers of truth do not undergo any discomfort in their profound passage. She personally oversees the weekly ‘Anna-Dhana (food donation) at these temples for the public.

Archana loves to take quiet breaks from the mundane and globe-trot with Diya Surana, her Warwick Business School graduate daughter who recently joined the family business. Archana is also a most sought-after speaker on women’s rights, quality in education, child development, life skills and management.

Few honors received by Dr. Archana

  • Karnataka Gaurav Award
    By All India Technical & Management Council
  • India’s Most Valuable Woman Educationalist
    By Network 7 Media Group
  • Best Interactive Solution Provider
    By The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India (ASSOCHAM)
  • Best Educationist Award
    By International Institute of Education & Management
  • Mahila Ratan Gold Medal Award
    By ISC-Indian Solidarity Council
  • Bharath Shiksha Ratan Award
  • By Global Society for Health & Educational Growth
  • India’s Most Valuable Woman Educationalist
    By Network 7 Media Group
  • Star of Asia Award
    By International Business Council
  • Outstanding Entrepreneur Award
    By Management Teachers Consortium,MTC-Global
  • Mother Teresa Sadbhawana Award
    By Achievers Association for Economic Research & Development
  • Honorary Doctorate (D.Litt)
    By University of South America
  • National CSR Women Leadership Award
    By National Awards for Excellence in CSR & Sustainability
  • Certificate of Excellence in Recognition of Exemplary Contribution to the Education Sector
    By Stimulus Research Services
  • Daughter of Karnataka Award
    By All India Conference of Intellectuals

Zaitun Khan: Persistence, Positivity, and Empathy can Offer Disruptive Results

Being a leader and spearheading innovative aspects to better the functioning of any business is a difficult task. It is an art that allows the blending of various developing factors in order to fabricate the pavement of success. A leader has to be imperative with his/her thoughts to provide an apt and all-encompassing solution to eradicate the issues if any. He/she leader must be able to consider every individual’s perspective in the team to present a mutually satisfactory resolution. Very few such personalities have been witnessed that have transformed the customary organization’s ways by implementing the essence of decisiveness and positive energy; one such is Zaitun.

Meet Zaitun Khan, the Director – HR at MouthShut.com, an avid business personality who has strategically brought a disruption in maintaining human resources. She drives with compassion for her employees wanting to assist them in procuring a productive approach to the betterment of the business. With a diverse industry experience of 10+ years, she has been a strong team player who is attentive to detail and has the ability to work in a fast-paced environment.

In the year 2005, Zaitun earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from SVKT College, followed by a degree in business administration. However, as she belongs to a family of lawyers, she was always motivated to acquire that degree for herself. Thus, she went on to study at NBT Law College for her Bachelor of Law – LLB, Criminology, and Business Law. “In all my years of experience, I’ve found that having a law degree has benefited me from comprehending the nuances of working in the IT business since the beginning of her career,” she asserts.

Changing the Customary Ways

Prior to joining MouthShut.com in 2016, she had the opportunity to work with major organizations such as Mahindra Lifespace Developers, MattChariot Education and Technology, and others. With extensive experience, she has been able to direct MouthShut to excel in reliability, emotional stability, workplace structure, and functional skill. It is India’s most popular social network for people to assess and review goods and services; a forum where customers can review thousands of items and resources that are accessible to everyone for free. It has earned a reputable stature in the market that combines all-encompassing information and provides access to customers in order to improve their awareness of the products/services and make it easier for them to make purchasing decisions. Simultaneously, Mouthshut enables businesses and companies with a large archive of reviews to help them improve their offerings, products, and company image. She mentions her company highly invests in Research and development (R&D) to develop and strengthen the business through market research and meeting consumers’ demands with superior products and services. “Businesses that have an R&D plan have a better likelihood of success than those that do not,” she emphasizes. She firmly believes that a research and development strategy can increase productivity and innovation while enhancing one’s sustainable competitive position. “Innovation can only be brought about by Research and Development, which is an essential component of any organization, and without it, the company would be dormant,” she continues. Moreover, the company desires to expand its operation in India and add additional brands to the platform from a variety of categories. “The future is bright because most businesses are now using reviews to enhance or develop new product lines,” she adds.

Overcoming all the barriers

One of the most difficult aspects Zaitun faced was to manage the entire company’s HR single-handedly. “It was the most challenging experience I’d ever attempted,” she mentions. There were times when she was the sole point of  contact between the CEO and the staff. She has taken on roles that entail a high level competence and knowledge base. She used to inspire departments and assist in the formation of new teams, particularly in marketing and communications. “I’ve seen the essence of every job in the company,” she says. She feels grateful to her CEO, Mr. Faisal Farooqui, for trusting in her ideas and measures to build his business to a successful stature. Further, she says “I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to manage the complete functionality of the HR team.” 

One of the most significant aspects of her career has been shattering the glass ceiling to ensure that all employees should accomplish progress and can relate to strategic initiatives in order to maintain a healthy work-life balance. By phrasing Betty Bender, “people should never have to leave their hearts at home when they go to work,” Zaitun tries to explain that empathy should also be implemented as a factor in creating a healthy work environment.

Insights to Cherish

Being a compassionate and optimistic leader, she recommends every business leader to be energetic, motivated, and inspired, for their employees to follow. A leader must maintain a decisive approach and sheer enthusiasm to complete his/her task. She reckons that empathizing with employees and offering imperative feedback to them can elevate their confidence substantially.

Personally, she encourages her employees to bring their A-game to work each day. Thus, she understands the possible benefits of offering imperative feedback to employees and empathizing with them. She advises companies to start their workforces immediately in order to emerge stronger from the COVID-19 quandary. “COVID-19 has accelerated the use of totally digital approaches to re-create the best of in-person learning through live video and social sharing,” she adds.

It has been predicted in the future that a larger priority on category-based emphasis, will be placed in order to help end-consumers, make better purchase decisions and its clients handle difficulties and develop their products. Thus, she also suggests to aspiring business leaders to research the population and demographic-economic statistics for the targeted area/zone before starting a business. He/she should also ensure that market is vast and powerful enough to accommodate the type of consumers or targeted audience. Zaitun also states that one must he/she invest in employees who are committed to the company’s success and also share its values and ambitions.

To conclude, Zaitun as an exceptional HR professional will continue to encourage her employees and their leaders to acquire a strategy to cumulatively provide a better solution for the greater good of the company. She believes that as IT sector is growing at such a rapid speed, one must constantly focus on the quality, modernity, and distinctiveness of the work. With this industry’s ever-increasing expectations and the world recuperating from a pandemic, it is critical to find the correct balance between the company, the customers, and the staff. It has been critical to keep employee morale at an all-time high. It is a difficult experience to keep an eye on everyone else’s mental health while preserving your own. It is harder to cope with such a volatile and high-stress workplace. Now that things are gradually returning to normal, she highlights that she envisions an exponential growth in this industry.

IoT success depends on data governance, security and privacy

“Agility” and “Nimbleness” stands to be the key factors to capitalize on the emerging trends like the internet of things abbreviated as IoT, as said by Tyrone Grandison, Deputy Chief Data Officer at the US Department of commerce.

According to him, these “waterfall demands” on the data management life cycle emerge on the increased focus on more complex and detailed data governance. But these waterfall demands, in turn, lower the probability of organizational success.

Several key and highlighting themes emerged when the industry experts viewed this topic. With the emergence of IoT, big data has become bigger, making it more dynamic by amplifying opportunities and challenges. So, keeping all the aspects in mind, the most common mistakes are:-

 Not clearly understanding data or accurately defining the problem.

Clarity is the root of preparation. Dana Blouin, IoT thought leader, reports that the most significant error a company could make would be to not handily augment a data privacy policy, which skillfully outlines the scope of the data instinctive collected and how it will be used.

We are not asking the right questions.

The promise of IoT can go unfulfilled if we don’t ask the right questions, such as:

  • Who owns the data?
  • How can we ensure great data quality, discovery, usability and security for the numerous exclusive groups and business gadgets that create, use and control the data?
  • How will we manipulate ad hoc data analytics? Can we restrict it or inspire it?

Keeping too strong of a hold on data

Governance is synonymous with the control to ensure security and compliance, even data quality, as thought by many. But according to Chuck Martin, Editor at MediaPost, it is a mistake to think so. He says that it is an error to tightly restrict the ebb and flow of recommendation, especially accompanied by and together in the middle of associated devices. Such sticking together can significantly fracture beside the agility, and skill, which are the key factors the organizations are after.

 Underestimating security and privacy implications

Everything bears a risk when connected all at once. In this esteem, Gilmore points out, a data breach destroys consumer trust and can devastate an enterprise’s reputation and business. Businesses are putting themselves at terrible risk by not putting privacy and security first in a hurry to capitalize in the region of massive data and related devices.

Data collected by IoT contains many sensitive customer information, part of the managed data analytics. So, these sensitive customer data should be highly treated like an asset with maximized security to maintain reasonable privacy standards.

Operating under a veil of complacency

We should be responsible for our data governance. We should not be a victim of this. Martin warns people by saying that one must not subside to complacency uncovered technologies, expecting those outside suppliers have unconditionally bulletproof products.

Either be responsible for one’s governance or pay the price.

Waiting until all the ducks are in a row

According to Daniel Newman, CEO at Broadsuite Media Group, It is a risk to wait to leverage the power of colossal data, but though you are not jumping in beneficially, your intention to control acceptance needs to be a priority for bearing in mind you realize. Just profit in motion and do not wait too long.

Concluding, the IoT places intense needs on the data control existence cycle. However, with the IoT, considerable information has become even bigger and more dynamic, amplifying both the opportunities and the demanding situations. The resulting want for data governance records security and statistics privacy has in no way been more significant.

Co-working space vs Working from Home

In the current scenario, the work circumstances have been different after the pandemic has ended. Initially, as office goers, we could never think of executing good work within the vicinity of our homes. Office work would be conducted outside at separate premises. But here, the situation was different.

While some may like the work-from-home culture, others might have mixed reactions. So, let us check both types and compare them with the co-working spaces to find out the best of both worlds.

  • Productivity

When we are in the vicinity of our houses, we are surrounded by the issues of the homes. This might be bothering us now and then as a result. We might not be able to give the best performance. This might affect the productivity of our work. However, when we are working in a co-working space away from our home, we can fully concentrate on the job and give our best performance. As a result of this, the productivity rate is very high.

  • Networking

When we are working at home, we hardly get to meet anyone and are more or less isolated as the options to. The only way for recreation and communication would be through social media. However, when we work at a co-working space, we can get to meet learned professionals from various fields and industries who can be helpful for our work as well.

  • Business Perception

When we work from home as a business, that looks pretty confined and unprofessional. However, when the address of an office is that of an office away from the home confinement, that will create a separate impact on the clients. Also, it will not reveal our abode to anyone. When a client sees that the office is based in a city, they will be much interested in working with us as they will always consider that the work background is that of a metropolitan area.

  • Mental Health

Working from home may be very convenient for some, but it can be highly damage-inducing to mental health. It is always advisable to avoid shuttling from one place to another during a pandemic. But being in the same place all day means that we have nowhere to go, making us feel isolated. Co-working offices allow us to make an entire partition between work and leisure. It helps to get the benefit of friendly interactions when we need it. This can be vital when we need a break from work.

If we choose to move from working at home to co-working spaces, we must first look at the services and utilities that come along with a good co-working space. If we are concerned that working from home is damaging our potential to run a business to the best of our expertise, then a co-working space is just the thing for us. We should start working there and get the office feeling so that the work prospect increases and we are also lead a happy and busy life.

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