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Karin Volo, Leading A Novel Training Firm, Evoloshen Academy Bringing Joy to the Workplace

Standing strong on the sturdy shoulders of a flourishing businesswoman, a global leader, an employee engagement expert, and a recognized HR Influencer, Karin Volo, CEO, Evoloshen Academy endeavours to guide employees to be empowered, engaged, and help them reach their full potential. Evoloshen transforms business through culture. It is the team of expert trust advisors to CEOs, CHRO’s, and top management teams to help them work strategically on culture issues.

With over 20 years of experience working with Fortune 500 companies globally, this inspiring leader has insights on business building, cultural transformation, and high performance. Aside from becoming an expert in culture, employee engagement, personal and organizational development, she is an international bestselling author. She is also an accomplished inspirational speaker and a Certified C-IQ™ Coach. Her purpose is bringing joy to the workplace.

Further Karin apprised “I’ve had my own company since 2003 when I started an Executive Search firm in Sweden. My work has evolved from taking the best talent out of companies to helping companies keep their talent through working on their culture. The catalyst for this change came from writing a book called Engage! in 2012 which became an international bestseller. It lead to me speaking on culture, engagement, trust, and purpose and developing impactful training programs in these areas.”

Successful Clientele & Core Values

Evoloshen Academy works actively with progressive CEOs and CHROs who understand the value of culture. They have worked with a number of industries and types of organizations from fast-growing tech companies, global consulting firms, manufacturing, private equity, and governmental agencies to give some examples.

The core is focused on developing and training employees to be empowered, engaged, and to help them reach their full potential. They have training programs such as Ignite Your Trust Factor, am International Cultural Engagement Specialist certification, and Discovering Your Purpose.

The deeper they are able to work with their clients, the stronger the trust and relationships grow. Besides training, they have expanded to offer coaching and group masterminding as well. This has developed from their clients asking the team to support them even more.

Progressing In Entrepreneurship

The absolute key is to know your purpose! Evoloshen aims to bring joy to the workplace and that is what drives Karin and her team every day. They know the power of reaching their full potential and thriving. They share tools and knowledge that are empowering and help people understand who they are. As an entrepreneur, Karin finds it as the complete commitment to a bigger purpose that will drive her through the challenging times. It gives inner confidence and commitment to never give up and to keep going forward no matter what.

From the CEO’s Desk

The two biggest challenges I’m looking at currently are how best to grow my business and to offload many of my daily tasks and projects. As a leader, I’m evolving and growing as well. This is why I’m a big believer in coaching and mentoring! It helps along the way and can save a lot of time and mistakes.

While talking about the branding strategies of Evoloshen Academy to stay ahead, Karin said, “We rely a lot on word of mouth and recommendations. Giving value and building strong relationships over time builds high levels of trust. I also have a podcast called The Amazing Leader Series where I love to showcase progressive CEOs and leaders who are proving that working with culture is great for business because they are actually doing it. This provides a lot of value and inspiration to leaders. In addition, we have published a number of free reports on our website that have great value and information to help support people who want to learn more about cultural transformation.”

Challenges for Women Entrepreneurs & Karin’s Views

She finds it tough to generalize this. She says we all have our own experiences and journeys we are on. Women need to support each other and lift each other up as much as possible. In Karin’s view, young women feel pressure to balance between their personal/family lives and their professional lives. She has noticed that once kids are grown, women seem to step into their power. They have a lot of drive and energy and can really make an impact. And she always encourages mothers to enjoy their time with their children because they grow up too quickly! It’s important to enjoy each stage of life and know that the journey is constantly changing. When you can embrace the phase of life you are in and truly appreciate it, that helps to handle the ups and downs that life will bring your way no matter what. It’s a part of the human experience. So why not enjoy it along the way?

Karin’s Daily Routine

“With an ideal day, I normally wake up around 6:30 or 7:00. I like to enjoy my mornings by easing into the day, working out at home, drinking my daily green smoothie and walking my dog. My days are always different based on the projects I’m working on, which I normally have two to three at a time. It often includes meetings with clients and/or my team, sometimes preparing for workshops, writing articles, checking emails, making videos, working on web pages”, Karin shared when asked about her daily routine.

Milestones & Future Roadmap

Evoloshen has been recognized as one of the Top 10 Organizational Development Companies in Europe by HR Tech. Karin Volo has also been recognized as a Top Thought Leader in Trust, named on the Engagement 101 Influencers several years in a row, Top 10 HR Influencers, and many others.

Evoloshen is on the way to be known globally as the trusted company to help develop leaders and employees, create high trust organizations, and the team is working diligently to transform many lives! Plus, with every client project, Evoloshen will also contribute to support education, clean water, or fighting child sex trafficking.

A Piece of Advice for Aspiring Female Entrepreneurs

The world needs women entrepreneurs now more than ever. Women are naturally caring and nurturing and the business world is changing to be more supportive on a human-to-human level. Karin Volo believes that will make it even easier for women to be themselves and step into their power. There is nothing that can hold female power back and their time is now!

Turning Solutions towards Covid-19

Karin Volo said, “Our world has gone through some severe trauma in recent times. We need to come together to heal and support each other. I absolutely see a world in the future where every person can thrive and reach their full potential. Our children deserve this and together we can solve the problems in our world. It all comes down to love. Love is the currency of business—we want to love our jobs; we want to Live Our Values Daily. So, it’s time for us to realize that when we are united, we become an unstoppable force and we can use this to create momentum to change the world. We must have the courage to care for and love one another!”

Kamales Lardi, Moving Businesses into the Digital Age with Brainchild Endeavour Lardi & Partner Consulting

Kamales Lardi, a Digital Business Transformation Expert & Thought Leader successfully contributing top-line growth of businesses, their operational excellence and capabilities development through digital transformation. She combines over 21 years of deep cross-industry experience with the latest digital and technology solutions and is presently leading Lardi & Partner Consulting in the key position of CEO.

In academics, Kamales did B.Sc. in Computing & Information Systems where she found her interest in technology, programming, and business strategy. The inspiring lady began her career at Accenture (Andersen Consulting back then) after graduating in 1999. Then, she enrolled in MBA at Durham University Business School in the UK (2003). Kamales worked in Zurich Insurance for a while, and then at Deloitte Consulting. In the year 2012, she decided to start her own consultancy.

Further Kamales shared about her journey, “I became a parent and found the consultancy business model not conducive to a balanced lifestyle. This became the premise for my ‘modular consulting’ business model, a term that I coined to combine high-quality solutions with a flexible and agile delivery model. This approach has resonated well with many business leaders and has helped my company stand out in the digital space.”

In addition to consulting, Kamales Lardi is active in teaching as well and has lectured at several higher institutions like ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences, HWZ Zurich University of Applied Sciences in Business, and Durham University Business School. She is the Chairperson of the FORBES Business Council Women Executives group and a dynamic and influential speaker.

Lardi & Partner Consulting, Transforming Traditional Business Models

Lardi & Partner Consulting GmbH is a boutique consultancy specializing in digital business transformation and emerging technologies. We enable organizations to transform traditional business models, processes, and operations to meet the needs of the digital economy and customer experience. We help companies define their customer’s needs and identify the best ways to utilize digital and emerging technologies across the business value chain to gain sustainable returns.

The firm provides advisory services to mostly multinational companies across various industries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. In addition, over the years they have also advised SMEs, start-ups, and the public sector.

Kamales’s focus on creating value in business enabled by technology has helped the Lardi & Partner Consulting firm stand out. She often says, ‘technology is not a silver bullet solution, a clear value proposition should drive any transformation effort’. This approach resonates well with many business leaders and has helped her stand out in the digital space.

The Impacts of Covid-19

COVID-19 has shifted mindsets towards greater adoption of technology and digital platforms. As experts in Digital Transformation, Kamales and her team have extensive implementation experience in this space and actively support companies in driving. They have taken a people-first approach that focuses on team wellness and prioritizing clients in their work. This works well as they have strong personal relationships with their clients and understand their personal and business challenges. In addition, their capabilities in business transformation and emerging technology solutions are exactly what companies need now to create business continuity and resilience.

From the CEO’s Desk

When asked about her views on challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and advice to overcome them, Kamales Lardi said “I do believe there is still a certain level of bias, conscious or unconscious, in the field of tech, entrepreneurship, and business. This could relate to a range of challenges such as women getting fewer opportunities in the field, struggling to gain funding, not receiving the credibility or recognition that they deserve for their work, or even manifest in the technology solutions being developed because of the lack of diversity in the development teams. This challenge should be addressed at various levels to be effective, including education, support, and deliberate actions and policies to enhance diversity – not just across gender but in every area.”

What Fascinates You the Most about Running your own Business?

“I take an active role in every client engagement that we deliver. I like working with clients and each company is unique, bringing new experiences, challenges, and opportunities. I find this fascinating and exciting. Also, the best part for me is seeing our solutions and advisory moving from vision to action, driving transformation in the company, and delivering real business results. This brings satisfaction and motivates me to keep doing what I do”, shared Kamales Lardi while disclosing the fascinating part in her business role.

“By running my own business, I have full control over the types of projects we do, who we work with, and what kind of results we can bring. For example, we usually work with multinational corporations, however, if there is an interesting project with a small company or start-up, we could still take it on. I am also excited about exploring new capabilities and skills. For example, back in 2016, many clients asked about the impact of blockchain and crypto in their business. This led me to deep dive into the topic, including understanding the technology and programming in this scape and eventually designing and building a blockchain-based traceability solution for the agriculture supply chain”, she further added.

Awards and Milestones on the Way

The company has hit the 10-year milestone for the business this year and they are still going strong. This is a big achievement considering the competitive market. Lardi & Partner Consulting has been honored with the 2020 Global Corporate Excellence Award from Business Worldwide Magazine in the category ‘Digital Business Transformation Firm of the Year’.  In addition, Kamales Lardi has received numerous awards including:

  • “Top 10 Global Influencers & Thought Leaders in Digital Transformation” (Thinkers360, 2021)
  • The Top 50 Women in Tech – Influencers to Follow (2021)
  • Top 20 visionaries of the media and technology industry (Adello Magazine, 2021)
  • First-ever Forbes Business Council Women Executives Chair (2021)
  • Women in Fintech Powerlist (2017)

Lardi & Partner in The Next Five Years

Lardi & Partner Consulting aims to flourish into a globally recognized brand and expert partner in digital business transformation in the near future. Also, the team is planning to work on more technology projects that deliver towards sustainability and climate change solutions

Advice for Female Entrepreneurs

Don’t limit yourself to what others or society or even you think you should be doing. The possibilities are unlimited, as long as you are bold and take a leap of faith in yourself. Build the right capabilities and experience required to succeed, but remember you do not need to be 100% ready, leverage teams that can help you build the right capabilities.

Jane Stevensen: Woman Behind JS Global Advisory Resolving Environmental Issues

Finding the path to motivation and purpose is uniquely carved by every individual. Jane Stevensen, Founding Director of JS Global Advisory, is leading by example as an inspirational woman leader with over 20 years of experience advising businesses on sustainability strategy and practice. She is an expert in the creation of global engagement programmes to achieve consensus and drive visionary change.

Understanding the need for robust solutions for fragile ecosystems with enormous environmental challenges, Jane established JS Global in 2018 after holding senior executive roles in both corporate and  not-for-profit organizations .

JS Global brings together an industry-leading team of advisors in climate-related policy & regulation, sustainability strategy, and practical ways of enhancing ESG – Environmental, Social and Governance – performance. Experienced in working across sectors, with particular expertise in oil & gas, shipping, mining & metals, and financial services, they have deep understanding of the new technical, regulatory, commercial and digitalisation challenges confronting Boards, CEOs and executive management teams.

Prior to setting up  JS Global, Jane led Grant Thornton LLP’s Sustainability Advisory Practice, is a former Managing Director of the highly influential Climate Disclosure Standards Board, was Chair of the Oil & Gas Advisory Group at CDP – the global climate information disclosure specialists (formerly known as the Carbon Disclosure Project) – and headed CDP’s engagement with the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (or TCFD) set up by Mark Carney, ex-Governor of the Bank of England and now the UN Special Envoy on Climate and Finance. She has advised the UN Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative and the UK-City of London Green Finance Initiative.

Jane began her career in the Oil & Gas industry – as an exploration geologist, her working environment encompassed the oil rigs of the North Sea, the rare Jarrah Forest of Western Australia, the rainforest of Papua New Guinea, the Apennine Mountain home of the European Brown bear and the cities of London, Milan, and Paris.

Many of these places comprised fragile ecosystems with enormous environmental challenges, and indirectly led Jane Stevensen to ultimately setting up her own business. With an early understanding that the planet was a stakeholder in all operational activity and a belief that business has the potential to be a real force for good, Jane’s journey has brought her to where she is today, advising global companies on environmental risk and opportunity, governance, climate strategy and across the whole spectrum of ESG.

More about the Company and its Distinct Offerings

JS Global works across sectors and brings particular knowledge, insight, expertise, and understanding of the natural resources and energy industries – often called the “hard-to-abate” sectors. Their bespoke approach to sustainability consulting and climate change strategy and engagement is built on a unique understanding of the diverse perspectives that influence the way governments, businesses and financial market participants address the mega-trends affecting our planet and society.

The key areas JS advisory work encompasses consist of:

Engagement programmes – the company specialises in the design and delivery of engagement programmes to bring together key influencers with often conflicting viewpoints to catalyse real change.

Sustainability strategy – JS Global helps clients address key issues related to sustainability strategy, environmental and social impact across operations, stakeholder engagement, sustainability-related growth, and cost opportunities, and understand the reputational implications.

TCFD Advisory – the recommendations of the Taskforce for Climate-related Financial Disclosures (the TCFD) provide a vital catalyst to enable companies to achieve climate-related targets in line with the Paris Agreement, and in particular map out a route to Net Zero carbon.

ESG services – Environmental, Social and Governance – ESG – criteria are a set of standards for a company’s operations that socially conscious investors use to screen potential investments. JS Global works with businesses to support them in the development of ESG policy and strategy and strengthen understanding of the rapidly evolving regulatory environment.

Clientele & Corporate Ethos 

The JSG clientele ranges from global FTSE 250 companies to small independents. Climate change and the need for a sustainable business strategy affect every business and everyone in it. They all receive the same care and attention to ensure that each consulting project is bespoke, tailored to their objectives. Above all the team builds relationships, and their clients trust them.

Major Impacts of Covid-19

Covid-19 brought the whole world to a standstill, and some clients were unable to continue with the advisory work they had commissioned. The philosophy of JS Global is to engage with the clients and build trust to give the team the confidence that once the crisis abates, they will be back, and that is already proving to be true. The practical implications of the pandemic for the business have meant travelling to clients’ premises and working alongside them has stopped completely and they have all had to work from home, and so building those relationships has meant working much harder as it’s all had to be done over Zoom and Teams!

From the Founding Director’s Desk

“Having started my career in the Oil industry, being the lone woman is something I’m very used to! Once you’ve been in charge of an oil drilling rig in the North Sea or remote Western Australia there’s not much that phases you”, asserted Jane Stevensen while discussing her biggest challenges as a woman entrepreneur.

Jane’s Approach towards Entrepreneurship

The sheer unpredictability of the business world is something that fascinates Jane Stevensen the most!

Jane’s style is collaborative, thoughtful, she likes to listen to all the viewpoints, and determine the facts. She is able to draw on a whole career in business and industry, has run multidisciplinary teams around the world, and worked in difficult and dangerous environments where it was essential to be able to think on your feet and anticipate multiple outcomes. She has also spent time as Managing Director of a highly influential global climate NGO and sat on the Boards of charities as well as commercial entities. Furthermore, she has a wealth of experience to draw on, and as an entrepreneur she is able to deal with whatever comes up – the key is always to expect the unexpected.

A Day in the Life

“I’m an early riser – a lark not an owl, so usually up well before 6.30, cup of English breakfast tea as I stroll around my garden (weather permitting) with my dog. Then I will start the day with the 5 Tibetan Rites, an ancient yoga practice. Then it’s usually time to check the emails, work on client pitches, and respond to requests. During the pandemic with working from home I will have a daily morning Zoom call with my senior business partner where we touch base on what’s needed for the day, review new opportunities, discuss the current projects, and generally catch up”, said Jane Stevensen when asked about her daily routine.

“Lunch is a sandwich, and I will have a break and take my dog for a walk. Then back to it for the afternoon, often with client calls and reviews. I enjoy cooking and dinner is usually around my kitchen table with whoever is at home from my family”, she added. “As the world opens up post-pandemic I’m looking forward to getting back to the theatre and opera which I love, and supporting the arts again”.

JS Global in the Next Five Years

The foundation of JS Global Advisory was to support businesses in their sustainability journey, tackling the most pressing issue of the current time – climate change. The vision of JS Global in the next five years is to be able to provide the toolkit for businesses, regardless of sector or size, to address both the risks and opportunities of climate change and be part of the global solution. Moreover, they want to be able to inspire organizations to believe they really can do it and radically increase ambition to achieve much greater targets than they thought possible.

A Piece of Advice

Stay focused, have a target in mind, but don’t be inflexible. Stuff happens along the way, and being too rigid will not help you. Accept help whenever it’s offered – if you can find a mentor you really like who supports but also challenges your thinking that is enormously helpful.

Above all – keep calm and carry on!

Meet William Shum, the persona spearheading the first tourbillon brand of Hong Kong – Memorigin

 

Meet William Shum, the persona spearheading the first tourbillon brand of Hong Kong – Memorigin

Revolutionary leaders get to lay the foundation of innovative business culture and initiate amazing strategies. Counted among these business tycoons is William Shum, CEO, Memorigin Watch Company.

 

In 2011, Memorigin embarked on its incorporation under William’s dynamic leadership and today, after nine years of its journey, it has become a prominent name with a market presence in more than 20 countries including Taiwan, Japan, the USA, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Australia, etc.

In his role as founder and CEO, William Shum brings his expertise to one of the renowned companies, driven by strong domain competence and extensive industry knowledge.  The visionary has led the venture to attain a number of awards and recognitions from the society such as the 2011 Hong Kong Emerging Brand by CMAHK & HKBDC and the champion of the 2012 HSBC Youth Business Award.  In particular, he was nominated and got the Young Industrialist Awards of Hong Kong in 2015 and Chinese Outstanding Youth in 2016. His brand Memorigin won the Hong Kong Top Brand 2019. In 2019, He was nominated by Inside Retail Magazine as one of the top 50 Retail Innovative Leaders in Hong Kong. Due to his contribution in promoting Eastern Cultural Art, he was awarded “Datuk, Dato“in 2020 by Maharaja, King of Kerajaan Kutai Mulawarman in Indonesia, and Justice of Peace (JP) by Malaysia Datuk.

In academics, Mr Shum graduated from Cornell University attaining his Master’s degree, majoring in applied economics and management. He completed the Financial Risk Management (FRM) exams after coming back to Hong Kong and worked in investment banking for a year. He then started his entrepreneurship by utilizing his in-house watch factory to create the first Hong Kong tourbillon brand – Memorigin.

Memorigin, the specialist of tourbillon watches

 

Being the first Hong Kong brand that specializes in tourbillon watches, Memorigin integrates marvellous oriental arts and top western watchmaking skills to produce tourbillon watches with prominent cultural features. Over the past few years, they have collaborated with various international brands. their watches are also well received and collaboratively marketed by top Asian celebrities.

“Memorigin”, a combination of “memorial” and “original”, represents the fountain of hope for humankind. When creating every exquisite tourbillon watch, Memorigin is devoted to creativity, determination, and hope. It is hoped that each watch can ignite inspiration and courage to seize opportunities, conquer challenges and realize dreams, creating infinite miracles ahead.

“We offer a unique movement engraving service as we believe that engraving a customized inscription on the movement instils soul into the watch. It will add value to the many meaningful moments in your life”, said William Shum.

Memorigin’s clientele includes traders and end-consumers. As the company often collaborates with different celebrities, IPs, and representatives from different industries, they are renowned for forward-thinking creative designs and artisanal craftsmanship. Much imagination has been turned into reality. They offer a wide variety of watch designs, from timeless and classic to artistic, glamorous, and more to take care of their customers’ needs at all times.

What influenced William’s decision to be an entrepreneur?

 

William was nurtured by his grandfather, who was well-versed in literary classics and history, with a profound wealth of knowledge of Chinese culture. He was also deeply influenced by his woodcraft-collector father, Shum Mak-ling, who had a breadth of knowledge in woodworking craftsmanship. The vast amount of literary talent and artistic craftsmanship has trickled down through generations in the family and bred William’s interest in the long-standing and rich history of Chinese culture.

William studied the relationship between the educational level of factory’s employees and their productivity when he was writing for his master’s thesis. He found that the watch factory which his father had invested in produced tourbillon movements for Swiss brands. Tourbillon is one of the world’s top three most sophisticated mechanical watches.

William completed his master’s degree in the U.S. in 2008, the year that Lehman Brothers collapsed. Many of his fellows couldn’t get a job in the finance field and chose to pursue further studies. Fortunately, he returned to Hong Kong and got to work at an investment bank. Yet, he often pondered upon ways to start his own business as he came up with an idea that he could utilize his father’s factory to create a Hong Kong watch brand with local design and in-house movements. He believed that merging the Chinese wood carving art with top Western watchmaking techniques could present the essence of “East meets West” and also preserve and pass on this unique cultural asset to future generations.

Despite his parent’s worries, he decided to give it a try. He quit his job and resolutely created Hong Kong’s first tourbillon watch brand at the young age of 25.

Significant hurdles on the way

 

It has been hard to revitalize and modernize the aging local watch industry. Therefore, William and his team have to transform from a traditional watch brand and enhance their competitiveness by creating breakthroughs with innovations.

The disruption of the Covid-19 epidemic has brought them a lot of challenges. It kept the big-spending tourists away and local consumers tightened their purse strings. The market expansion could also be difficult because of the restricted border control and quarantine measures implemented by different authorities.

The driving force behind this innovative journey

 

It is the passion and perseverance that have helped William achieve what he has today. He hasn’t forgotten the intent of starting this business. Strong faith has led him to overcome a lot of obstacles along the way.

He expressed his heartfelt gratitude to his team and partners. They have made a great effort in growing and keeping the business healthy. He wouldn’t miss his family whenever he gets the chance to show his appreciation. They have been giving him encouragement, emotional assistance, and unwavering trust.

 A day in William’s life

 

William usually has a healthy breakfast with his wife and daughter. Then, he goes back to the office and talks to the team to see how they are doing. He often arranges one client meeting in the morning and another one at lunchtime. In the afternoon, he sometimes participates in various community services or charitable activities. Otherwise, it can be packed with meetings. When he finally has his own time at night, he will read, exercise, and spend some quality time with his family.

Favourite books

 

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman & Business Dynamics by John Sterman

Memorigin’s future roadmap

 

Memorigin will continue to pursue quality excellence and customer satisfaction with an insistence on cultural heritage and dedication to product and technology development. They hope to achieve more breakthroughs and create more milestones in the future. 2021 marks the 10th anniversary of Memorigin.

Another highlight will be the partnership with the NBA rising star LaMelo Ball. Through this opportunity, the team hopes to spread the unique blend of oriental and western cultures to the rest of the world.

A piece of advice for female entrepreneurs

 

Female characters usually incorporate toughness and gentleness. While males tend to be more dominant, stoic, and straightforward, they can be laughed at and seen as weakened if they show some traditional traits of femininity. Female entrepreneurs should utilize this strength in the business world.

Favourite quote 

 

As you sow, so shall you reap.

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How I Live After Death

Lee McKing started his journey to being a hypnotist on a rather rough track. It started when he was about 18 years old when his father passed away suddenly. Filled with grief and guilt, he fell into depression the first time, wanting to escape from reality. Just a couple years later, just 2 months before his 21st birthday, McKing’s right lung mysteriously burst in his sleep, and according to his doctor then, he could have died in days or minutes as the escaped air could crush his heart. You could say it was a medical anomaly, as many doctors came and saw him but couldn’t explain what had happened, or why it happened. This near-death experience traumatized him, and he develop PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and fell into depression again. He suffered for another 2.5 years with mental, emotional and physical breakdowns, collapsing onto the sink of the toilet, tears, mucus, and saliva flowing non-stop down his face.

It wasn’t until a few years later where he decided he had to make a change in his life, since no one can explain not heal him, McKing decided to take matters into his own hands. He came across Neuro Linguistic Programming or NLP for short, and this course from an Australian school was going to share about holistic health techniques, which was what he wanted for himself. During the basic NLP course, he realized what was happening in his mind and more importantly, that he can be cured. Furthering his learning into the Master Practitioner course of NLP with the same school, he realized that hypnosis was the core of NLP. As luck with have it, a German hypnosis trainer was coming to Singapore for the first time to train people in the concepts and principles of hypnosis, and so he signed up and attended that course. If NLP was the foundation or the breadth, the hypnosis course provided the height or depth, and putting this two together allowed McKing to understand the mind deeply, especially his own. In doing so, he started to use a combination of NLP and hypnosis techniques to resolve his own mental health issues, of which there were many.

After settling his mind and recovering, he helped a few people for a meal. This opened his mind to the possibilities of helping people professionally, especially the ones who are suffering from mental health issues in silence. McKing then decided to start a practice professionally in 2015 to help people resolve mental health issues. Over the next few years, due to his unique Conversational Hypnosis style where clients are still conscious and alert during the hypnosis, it has gotten him exposure to various print and online media, both local and overseas. Lee McKing also won the SEA Business Award for Hypnotist of the Year 2020. He is able to do his best for his clients and hearing testimonials from them surprised and delighted on how much they have recovered in just 1 session is deeply satisfying and spurs him on during the rougher times. This is because Lee McKing believes that starting a business requires passion and perseverance, the passion to do your best for your clients or customers, and the perseverance to endure even through hardship. For example, Covid is a tough time for all of us, and in fact, there were thoughts closing down the business at one time. But a reminder of how many clients have been helped, who have recovered from their anxiety and depression, and how many more can be helped if this business continue to exist, gave Lee McKing the courage to continue through such a time.

The key to a leadership revolution is a mindset that embraces change.

The pandemic introduced new central challenges for commerce around the world. Even so, the future of commerce exists all around us – a flexible, resilient, collaborative, secure digital framework coupled with best practices that quickly incorporate new ideas and new technologies. The pandemic beckoned our future faster, summoning tomorrow’s commerce to meet today’s needs.

One such dedicated revolutionary leader in the business arena is Joseph Chan, the Founder, and CEO – AsiaPay.

In the following interview, Joseph shares with us his journey with AsiaPay and how it is aiding the development of the digital payment world.

He has indeed come a long way….

Presently, the leaders have a more comprehensive ideology about the working of the company. Joseph is the highflier in the digital payment solution and technology industry. He founded AsiaPay in 2000 to pursue the vision and dream to be the predominant leading digital payment service and technology player in Asia. Since its inception, he persistently led the company and product development together with his management team becoming one of the most successful e-payment service and Technology companies in Asia, with operations covering 11countries. Through successive positions in the banking and finance industries, he has consolidated his expertise and experience in strategic planning, management, and implementation of financial, electronic banking, Internet, and mobile product services and systems in Asia.

What does AsiaPay offer?

AsiaPay is a premier digital payment solution provider and technology vendor. It strives to bring advanced, integrated, and cost-effective digital payment processing solutions and services to banks and e-businesses around the world. The company’s services are in abundance, covering international credit and debit cards, bank account/net banking, digital wallets, over-the-counters, prepaid cards, and other digital means.

Besides these, AsiaPay also offers a variety of award-winning, multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-card, and multi-channeled payment solutions. Alongside its advanced fraud detection and management and data analytics solutions, it is an ideal payment provider.

Commitment to Uninterrupted Service remains Constant…

The wake of coronavirus has orchestrated leaders with the issues of protecting the interest of both clients as well as employees. The cross-border business-to-business and hospitality industry transactions have halted and been majorly affected due to the shutdown of boundaries. The other effect can be seen on the growth of online marketing—retailers with more aggressive digital sales and marketplace through online and mobile have benefited from consumables and groceries.

On the other hand, there is a strong rise in contactless payment due to the new norms of social distancing which has helped AsiaPay immensely. The company is providing digital payment solutions continually. “Our commitment to providing secure, reliable payment processing, quality local client service as well as our 24/7 technical support remains unchanged and is in force,” said Joseph. He further added that AsiaPay’s regional virus taskforce is constantly communicating and monitoring closely the latest developments of the virus and the related Government Policies in each country and will apply necessary measures timely.

New Normal, New Preparations

The pandemic has altered the business operations globally and has had a startling impact on both the organizations as well as employees. Joseph and his team, however, ensured this transition be smooth. The team was asked to operate remotely and was allowed flexible working hours. While working remotely, the team made effective use of online meeting tools and webinars. Moreover, Joseph identified the need of keeping the employees’ morale high in this unprecedented situation and developed various “learn-from-home” training programs, and launched the “family-aid program” for the families with financial needs.

Furthermore, once the lockdowns were released, Joseph offered holiday benefits to the employees. He also ensured the safety of the working environment with continued sanitization and provision of medical supplies. “AsiaPay is on top of the situation when it comes to implementing safety protocols and social distancing orders in the workplace. Containing the virus through safety standards is the top priority when running our business,” added Joseph.

Walking on the Right Path

Talking about the company’s future plans, Joseph asserted “AsiaPay must follow the three future directions of the payment industry–globalization, digitalization, and personalization.” Under the auspices of Joseph, AsiaPay is continuing to expand its footprint by providing customized and convenient payment solutions. The company has recently added several new payment solutions to its portfolio. It includes a recently launched application AppPay –which allows merchants to accept AliPay, WeChat Pay, and other local QR payments such as FPS. With this application, real-time transactions can be done by your smartphone without extra hardware installation.

Moreover, AsiaPay has launched a Direct Payment Link/QR and eInstallment. It has also introduced new payment options such as ShopeePay, GrabPay, Kredivo, DANA, Zip, MayBank, QRPay, KCP, NETSPay, and AMEX Enabled along with the latest card authentication technology –3D Secure 2.0. With these innovative new solutions, Joseph strives to continue serving the customers in the best possible way.

Advice to the Aspiring:

All dreamers encounter constant challenges and dilemmas, be it betting money, capital investment, human resources, and even your destiny to flight. In this highly uncertain business environment during the pandemic and ever-changing technological world, perhaps, entrepreneurs could stay calm and be at P.E.A.C.E. always, being “P”assionate; “E”mbrace changes; “A”gile; “C”ollaborative; “E”volutionary.

Ritche Evidente, An Ardent Leader Steering the Philippines’ Leading Medical Laboratory, Singapore Diagnostics

Serving the laboratory requirements of up to 300 different institutions nationwide, from the hospitals to the largest clinic chains, to free-standing physician clinics is  Singapore Diagnostics, one of the largest laboratories in the Philippines and the current project of  Ritche Evidente, President and CEO of Singapore Diagnostics.

Under the able leadership of Ritche, Singapore Diagnostics has made rapid strides and is the only CAP Accredited tertiary laboratory in the Philippines. It all started in 2015 for the healthcare executive, seeking to bridge the ascending disparity of healthcare access in the Philippines, Singapore Diagnostics was founded.

Aside from owning a decade of experience in the healthcare industry, the  Healthcare Chief Executive has a background in Political Economy and spent most of his early professional life in financial services. He joined healthcare a little over a decade ago. While in the healthcare industry, he has worked in 4 start-ups: 2 became market leaders, 2 led to successful exits for early investors. He was previously connected with a Financial Services conglomerate, built a strong foundation in new business ventures and start-up environments. “It has been a continuing journey filled with challenges, the greatest of which is the ongoing pandemic”, said Ritche.

The Inspiration

Marrying a physician allowed Ritche to become familiar with the various struggles in Philippine healthcare. He saw that high quality often equated to high-priced healthcare. This made it difficult for most Filipinos to experience world-class diagnostics. he also saw an industry where the basic principles of economic theory were often misunderstood and misapplied. From there, one opportunity led to another until he found himself building what is arguably among the biggest laboratories in the Philippines.

Singapore Diagnostics, The highest standards of quality, competence, and safety

A noteworthy name in the healthcare segment is that Singapore Diagnostics is operating out of the Philippine capital and has grown to be one of the largest and most respected laboratories in the Philippines. It started out as a laboratory for other laboratories, a laboratory outsources provider if you will, serving the requirements of over 300 hospitals and healthcare institutions in the Philippines. Now they are pivoting to a more direct-to-patient approach, reaching as many Filipinos directly and providing them with the high-quality laboratory testing that they deserve. “This pandemic has taught us that every Filipino deserves high-quality, world-class diagnostics at affordable rates. No longer should high quality be equated and be exclusive to expensive healthcare institutions. It should be available to as many as possible.”

Clients & Unbreakable Faith of Clients

Today, Singapore Diagnostics serves 50,000-70,000 patients monthly. Half of these patients are served directly, while the other half are through the many hospitals and clinics with whom the firm is partnered. In both cases, Singapore Diagnostics’ commitment is to deliver world-class services at affordable rates.

Unlike other players in the industry, Singapore Diagnostics’ laboratory services are CAP Accredited. This means that their team’s competence, processes, and testing results are measured and are at par with some of the world’s best hospitals and reference laboratories.

Passing through the Pandemic

As the company was pivoting to a direct-to-patient model, the world was hit by the Covid-19 Pandemic. Asia was hit harder than most. While people will generally think that healthcare would be the first to benefit from such a pandemic, the truth is that more than half of Ritche’s customers shut down their businesses – the out-patient clinics, the industrial medicine providers, even a few of the health insurance companies – they all closed down. The industry and the entire economy were in total disarray.

They saw the real healthcare heroes shine amidst the disarray. They had team members who walked 3 hours just to come to work. They had team members sharing every last piece of surgical masks with each other, ordering and preparing food for each other, delivering groceries to colleagues who were in quarantine. In a town hall meeting, they all accepted that this will be the biggest challenge the Philippines will face since the war, and probably the most difficult time the generation will ever experience.

“One long forgotten virtue of the Filipino is the spirit of volunteerism. It is called “bayanihan.” Regardless of the challenges ahead, with the right ingredients, that spirit of volunteerism shines bright,” according to Ritche Evidente. While competitors and customers shut down, Singapore Diagnostics brought out the virtue of “bayanihan” in the team.

As their way of expressing their gratitude, they have given away thousands of Covid-19 tests to healthcare workers. They have provided health and life insurance coverage for all their employees. Ritche Evidente Evidente has doubled, and in some cases, tripled the income of healthcare workers who go the extra mile to serve their fellow Filipinos.

The Driving Force behind the Successful Journey

Two things stand out. First, we all contributed to the organizational culture. Second, I have been blessed with coaches and mentors in my professional life”, stated Ritche.

Most new employees hear this on their first day here- Second place is the first loser. It is something Ritche Evidente and his team in the organization embrace and apply. It is their culture. They do not aim to be mere survivors, but rather, they want to be winners. This mindset, along with teamwork and competence, has led the whole team to where they are now – the laboratory market leader in the Philippines.

Besides, Ritche Evidente has also been blessed with brilliant mentors. It is something that he hopes he can emulate as they build a new generation of leaders for Singapore Diagnostics.

A Day in Ritche’s Life

Sharing his daily routine, the leader said, “I am normally up at 6 am and I review various metrics while having my morning coffee. From feedback reports, census and sales metrics, KPIs of each of our facilities, I have the opportunity to review these before I get to the office. At work, we rarely have meetings. We have huddles and stand-up discussions, but rarely do we have long meetings involving multiple participants. As we all collaborate and communicate with each other regularly, we all know what is happening and there is hardly a need for meetings.”

He continued, “Because of the pandemic, we rarely sit down as a team to share a meal. In the past, lunchtime would be spent with a few teammates to discuss concerns in a more informal setting. As we operate in 23 sites, I would often spend part of the afternoon visiting these sites, speaking with members of the team. If not, I would spend this time face-to-face with key customers. Then, I would spend the early evening running around the city or working out in the gym.”

Awards & Milestones

Singapore Diagnostics was cited as among the Philippines’ Growth Drivers in 2020 by market research firm, Statista, and news publication, Philippine Daily Inquirer. It is a testament to the company’s growth and achievements in its short history. It was also the first tertiary laboratory in the Philippines to receive accreditation from the College of American Pathologists in 2019.

Favourite Quote 

Second place is the first loser.

Dr. Wendy Liew, The Award-Winning Entrepreneur & Certified Consultant Building Organizational and Personal Brands with The Image Creator

In a rapidly transforming virtual world, Dr. Wendy Liew, Director & Founder, The Image Creator, is a growth partner carving the path for success. She is the woman with multiple hats- Certified Image & Brand Management Consultant, Keynote Speaker, Trainer, Author, and an award-winning entrepreneur.  Wendy is also recognized as a Trailblazer of AsiaBizToday, Inspiring Women of Malaysia by Malaysian Business Magazine under the class of 2019 MB’s Notable & Successful Women, accredited as one of the personalities in the First Edition of Human Encyclopedia (Britishpedia) titled “Successful People in Malaysia” by British Publishing House Ltd and featured in the 3rd Edition coffee table book titled “50 Influential Women of the World”. Furthermore, Wendy Liew has been listed as one of the LinkedIn Icons & Influencers in the article “Power of Persuasion” on Social Media Influencer by “TheSunDaily”.

While sharing her business journey, Wendy Liew apprised, “I’m running 4 different companies, from Image & Brand Management in Education & Training, Branding & Marketing content development to IT & infrastructure and lastly into Trust & Integrity building for businesses. With TIC, we started on conducting personal branding in the areas of image, colours & style workshops a decade ago and it slowly moved into mostly conducting corporate training to Multinational companies, Government Link companies and Fortune 500 companies.”

More about the Company

TIC is one of Asia’s Best Brands 2019 and Malaysia’s leading training providers of image and skills consulting services, specializing in helping clients develop a strong impression, desired perception, and brand identity, through image and brand management, communication, etiquette, and protocol skills.

Almost 90% of TIC’s clients are corporate companies that include MNCs, GLCs & the Fortune 500 companies. To date, it has trained more than hundreds of companies and over 70, 000 corporate people ranging from lower-level all the way to the C-Suites level and the VVIPs in the areas of Professional Image Branding, Protocol & Business Etiquette.

Hurdles on the Way

The toughest time so far was last year when the pandemic started where everything was put to a halt. As it dragged on for months and months with low business, Wendy Liew said, she struggled a lot in sustaining the business and maintaining all employees. They are trying their best not to reduce their salary and to retain all employees with the company. Fortunately, she made it happen.

However, Wendy Liew believes, everything that happened is like the flip of the coin. The impact of the pandemic isn’t that bad after all. Instead of moving downhill, they are maintaining and what’s most precious to us is that they see clarity, they feel the unity and they manage the urgency in pivoting.

What Helped You along the Way?

“Being a trainer/educator, I believe strongly in continuous education regardless of the level or position that we are in. When we stop learning, we stop growing”, shared Wendy Liew.

“I set aside a fund for at least 2 new courses every year overseas. This helped me tremendously in my journey in building my business. It’s so important to learn from the people or industry that is totally out of our own industry and finding relevancy on how to bring our existing offering from different perspectives and to different levels. In each of the courses, we can see what have we done well here in our country, and what are the things that work in other countries, and how to close the gap in solving current challenges with the new input that we learn from the new learning and the other countries”, she further added.

Creating a more Balanced and Equal Industry

In the goals of achieving diversity in having a greater proportion of women and ethnically/culturally diverse individuals) especially in the leadership of large companies and financial outperformance, some of these contributions and efforts What can companies do in order to achieve a more balanced and equal industry:

  • Commit and cascade from top-down to convey the importance of I&D as part of the company culture and values, especially during onboarding.
  • Link I&D as a part of the growth strategy. The I&D priorities must be explicitly defined based on what will drive the business growth strategy.
  • Craft an initiative journey or roadmap in pursuit of the I&D goals. Companies should go for programmes and training to build the culture of I&D.
  • Tailor for impact. I&D initiatives should be tailored to the relevant business area or geographic region context to maximize local buy-in and impact. There are no one-size-fits!

A Day in Wendy Liew’s Life

Here is Wendy’s schedule after Covid-19:

  • 7.00 am: Wake up
  • 7.30 am – 8.30am: Physical Activity
  • 9.00 am: Salad breakfast with hubby
  • 9.30 am: To-do list (meetings, coaching, training, speaking, and meeting clients)
  • 12.00pm: Lunch
  • 1.00pm: continue working
  • 5.30 pm: Family leisure time
  • 7.00pm: Dinner
  • 8.00 pm: Will continue to work if it’s urgent, else, that will spend with family
  • 10.00 pm: Supper time
  • 11.00 pm: Reading/ preparing on tomorrow’s schedule/to check with any unfinished work or catching up with backlogs if any.
  • 12.00am/1.00am: Sleep

Favourite Book

“How Women Rise” – Marshall Goldsmith & Sally Helgesen

Future Roadmap

Dr. Liew is pivoting her business needs to integrate the essential touch of humanization with the full fledge of digitalization that eventually promotes a sustainable future!

Her whole team is super excited and looking forward to the whole completion of their digital ecosystem that can be fully automated from e-learning in training & education to Image Gamification system, 100% Online Certification Programmes, Sales & Marketing Vault Funnelling system, Image Apps and finally to an award giving platform. Meanwhile, they are in the midst of coming out with a few implementation programmes for SMEs/start-ups that will eventually also be converted into digital/automated systems.

Jewels in the Crown

  • Award Recipient of “Malaysia Most Fabulous Training & Development Leaders 2020” – World Federation of HR Professionals
  • Award Recipient of “Women Super Achiever 2020 & 2019” – Women Leadership Congress Award
  • Award Recipient of “Content Developer of The Year” under the category of Asia Training & Development Excellence Award 2019
  • Award Recipient of “Malaysia Women Leaders 2019”
  • Award Recipient of “101 Top Global Training & Development Minds 2019”
  • Award Recipient of “Distinguished Trainer 2019”
  • Award Recipient of “Coaching & Development Leadership 2019”
  • Award Recipient of “Asia Best Brand 2019” – CMO Asia Singapore
  • Award Recipient of “Women Icons Malaysia 2018”
  • Award Recipient of “The 100 Most Influential Young Entrepreneur 2017”

Advice for Female Entrepreneurs

  1. There’s nothing wrong to be ambitious as ambition is for everyone, not just for men.
  2. Never short-change yourself as a woman.
  3. Demand for your value as you know what’s the value that you can bring to the table.
  4. It’s okay to be vulnerable and seek support. The support system is your strength.

Favourite Quote

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from. The ability to triumph begins with you, always! – Oprah Winfrey

The Technopreneur who Introduced XaaS Ltd to Strengthen the Cyber Defense, Matt White

In support of companies seeking to enhance their cybersecurity, an eminent transformation strategist and technopreneur, Matt White, laid the bedrock foundation of XaaS Ltd to provide excellence and innovation in the protection of digital data and empower everyone on their cyber transformation journey.

The driven, rock climbing author, and father of 2 girls began his career fixing computers and giving businesses support when he was in his early teens. From then he moved to development in the dot com boom, covering infrastructure, resilience, and leading into consultancy.

The Life-Changing Incident

When Matt was 12, he injured his wrist and when 13 was diagnosed with a chronic pain condition, Complex Regional Pain syndrome (CRPS).  CRPS is a poorly understood condition where a person experiences persistent severe and debilitating pain.  As a result Matt gets little sleep and is fueled by adrenaline.

Matt now sees his condition as both a gift and a curse, having learnt over time to reframe it as a superpower.  The pain fuels him, giving him the ability to push himself harder and further, whilst driving him to keep fighting.  He is inspirational living proof that any hardship and problem can be turned into advantage, with willpower and a positive attitude.

More about the Venture  

XaaS helps companies improve their cybersecurity, removing the ‘witchcraft’ and subjectivity by helping define and then guiding them through their transformation journey.  XaaS has two products, ‘Advance’, the enterprise product designed for companies who want to undertake a full transformation, and ‘Evolve’ the cutdown solution aimed at helping improve the cybersecurity of small businesses by guiding them through a much more simplified journey to be secure, in line with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and CyberEssentials.

Matt explained further, “Our platform allows you to assess yourself against our baseline model, mapped to the industry standard control frameworks such as NIST and ISO 27001, taking into account your constraints (time, budget, resource and risk appetite) and then delivers you a step by step dynamic roadmap, tracking progress and offering reporting.  Using an analogy, we offer turn by turn navigation like modern day SatNavs, rather than the traditional, static line drawn on a map route.”

The Inspiration of Becoming an Author

Matt has been fortunate enough to meet a lot of different characters along the way.  In particular, he has met many people at the top of their field, and they all had one thing in common… they were giving back.  They mentored, they helped their colleagues and acquaintances, not out of expectation, but because they felt it was the right thing to do.  The help and guidance he was given made Matt want to pay it forward.  When the opportunity with NY Times Bestselling Author Neil Strauss came up, it felt like a book was a way to support even more people than he can in person, hopefully preventing them from making some of his mistakes.

Clients & the Unbreakable Faith

The clientele of XaaS includes businesses of any size.  Whether a global enterprise going through a planned transformation or a sole trader, the team helps make cybersecurity easier.

Matt ensures the unbreakable faith of his clients by being pragmatic, open, and honest.  If he does not know or cannot do something he is upfront about it, then where possible he puts them in touch with the people that can.

Challenges & Learnings on the Way

Jim McKelvey defines the Innovation Stack as “a series of inventions that differentiates a company and allows it to completely dominate a market”.

Initially, Matt and his team did not understand that was what they were building with XaaS, they just had a proven idea and methodology.  As they realised the extent of what they were doing, it quickly became a question of, “How do you find the time to build not just a product, but an entire innovation stack of solutions, whilst getting to market quickly?”

The team knew the big things that needed to be done, everyone has those large milestones in their start-up plan, but the journey so far has taught Matt that those big things aren’t the important ones, it’s the hundreds of ‘micro-challenges’ that each needed solving and how they drove XaaS down the path as the team built what had become not a single innovation, but a combination of innovations all working together symbiotically, their own XaaS Innovation Stack.

Who Helped Matt in the Journey?

Matt’s dad was the single most influential person in who he is today.  Matt’s gift for innovation is in great part from his perception of how to handle challenges in the world.  Through Saturday nights watching MacGyver and weekends repairing items around the house, his father taught him a couple of key lessons that have served him well…  that anything can be fixed with enough duct tape and superglue and that no problem is unsolvable.

Daily Routine

Matt shared his daily routine, “I tend to get up between 06:00 and 07:00 depending on whether I’m travelling to London.  My breakfast is usually a protein shake and a bulletproof coffee, with my first call between 07:30 and 08:00.  Then I answer emails and do my ‘admin tasks’ until 09:00. Next is 15-30 minutes for me to do that day’s Power MBA session.” 

“09:30 – 18:30 is the core of my day with our team or our clients.  My time is spent doing anything from administrative paperwork needed as you build a business, to product workshops, client meetings, strategy sessions, or interviews. During 3 of the days I slot in a couple of hours to climb at my local bouldering gym”  

“Assuming I’m at home, at 18:30(ish) I spend some time with my daughters and put them to bed at 20:00. Then, I take my meal and spend some time with my wife. At about 22:00 I’m back out in my office working or writing.  If I haven’t wound down, I’ll read for an hour before going to bed at about 02:00.”

Favourite Book

‘Trillion Dollar Coach by Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg, Alan Eagle”

Future Roadmap

When asked about his future plans, Matt said, “Whilst at the moment we might be focusing on cyber security, the methodology we developed for transformational journeys at XaaS can be applied to many challenges in the industry and in our personal lives.  This means that we are able to expand XaaS to multiple transformation themes, both in industry and for personal use.

We’re particularly excited to be working with Team GB Climbing coach, Belinda Fuller,  looking at applying our platform to improve fitness, ability and maturity for anyone who wants to climb.  As we see it sky’s the limit…”  

A Piece of Advice

Now more than ever there is a place for entrepreneurs.  Regardlesss of gender, race, ethnicity, or belief system, if you have a vision then go for it.  Don’t let ANYONE tell you it can’t be done or you can’t do it, but remember to make it true to yourself.

Just be awar that you’re going to get setbacks and you’re going to get blockers.  You WILL fall before you fly, but that is a part of the game. It’s those falls that teach you the best lessons.

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