Exclusive Interview Archives

Hudi Shehu: Transforming Organizations with a One-Stop Solution

Armed with the desire to transform online businesses and help other enterprises to overcome the same issues he had faced during his early days, Hudi Shehu founded Postjer Ltd. which provides a variety of services to help businesses establish and improve their online presence.

Postjer is a website builder and CMS that helps to develop websites, online businesses, and blogs using the most contemporary technologies like drag and drop, WYSIWYG, poster editor, and many other features that come with the package.

Born and brought up in Memaliaj, a small town in Southern Albania, Hudi’s passion for technology started growing at the age of 6 when his family created the first radio in his hometown.

He says, “My passion for technology and my adventure with it began at an early age, and I also learned how a business operates from my family.” At the age of 14, he started creating online media and managing numerous local company websites. He also began selling Gerid clothing in Albania and multiple other European countries with the help of his family.

As he learned a lot of things about online businesses and how to manage a family business, Hudi realized that technology is the future of business. He has always tried to start businesses by providing hosting for local businesses, but he was only able to do this only for a couple of businesses as the digital transformation had some limitations in Albania.

However, the complexity of using multiple platforms during the pandemic situation has now provided Postjer the much-needed opportunity to deliver a better user experience.

Uniqueness

Hudi believes, Postjer is unique because of its young team, which is very passionate about technology. This team is working hard to develop a platform that can be easily described as unique for all the capabilities it will offer, and many of these aspects will enable significant flexibility. Brilliant for various businesses, this platform will make it simple to build websites and online stores, handle content and technological upkeep. So, what distinguishes the company is that it is always thinking and upgrading for the benefit of the community, expanding the Postjer ecosystem with the most recent technological breakthroughs that are often relevant to various enterprises.

Mission and Vision

Hudi says, “My mission, objective, and dream have always been to build a team that thinks and works for the community, to become one in order to provide as much simplicity as possible to the building of websites, online stores, their maintenance, and the cost reduction of many enterprises. He adds, “My mission and dream are to create more digital platforms that provide individuals and small and medium enterprises with strong and simple interactions.”

Every day Hudi and his team strive for achievement, but the final target remains the same, which is to offer every customer a chance to expand their businesses online, allowing any company, irrespective of capital or budget, to experience the benefits of digital transformation. Initially, Postjer was only a website builder platform, but this year the team realized that a component of this SaaS platform would become an essential marketing tool, automation system, and data management system for online retailers.

Picture of the Future

As the CEO of Postjer, Hudi will not stop with just one platform. The organization will continue developing various other platforms available to a wide range of organizations, communities, and enterprises. It believes that during a second phase, elements of developing web applications will be there, but it will also be a part of the Mobility industry, as the company is in the process of including an application dedicated to reserving only electric vehicles to make people aware of the renewable energy sources.

Empowering Individuals and Organizations

Hudi says, “We aimed to have individuals that are enthusiastic about technology, making user-friendly products, and having a group that would produce stories in many areas of technology in our team or other people who join us. What I constantly tell new employees that join us or the team is that our sole purpose is to empower any individual or organization to participate in the digital transformation.”

“This is a philosophy shared by all members of the Poster team, and we are all striving to improve every day in our quest to build sustainable and adaptable goods.”- he concluded.

Iris Santiago: Helping Clients by Providing Customized Healthcare

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

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

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

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

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

The Steadfast Leader

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

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

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

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

The Founder’s Word

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

Preparing for Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Diversifying Offerings

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

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

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

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

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

The Greatest Accomplishment

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

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

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

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

Defining Success

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

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

Tackling Challenges

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

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

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

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

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

Gabriel Meza Madrid: Revolutionizing the Aviation Sector

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

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

Making Processes Better

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

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

Fixing Broken Processes

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

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

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

Handling Failures and Success

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

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

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

The Driving Force

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

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

Preparing for the Future

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

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

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

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

Rabih Fakhreddine: Fuelling the Global F&B Revolution

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Greatest Accomplishments

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

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

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

Tackling Challenges

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

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

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

Key Learnings

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

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

Putting Smiles on People’s Faces

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

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

Picture of the Future

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

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

Suggestions for Young Leaders

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

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

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

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

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

Introducing a Fresh Perspective

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

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

What Success Looks Like

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

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

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

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

Leadership Principals

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

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

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

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

Accomplishments and Challenges

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

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

Future Roadmap

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

Giovanni Blandina: Secures Driving on Wet Roads

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

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

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

Path Breaking Products

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

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

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

Reaching the Target Audience

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

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

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

The Supportive Leader

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

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

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

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

The Most Important Characteristics

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

Future Roadmap

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

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

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

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

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

The Dynamic Leader

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

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

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

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

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

Preparing for the Future

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

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

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

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

MetaLoka: Solving Inefficiencies of the Cryptocurrency Industry

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

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

The Leadership Team

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

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

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

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

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

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

Mission and Vision

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

Suggestions for the Younger self

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

Future Roadmap

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

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

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

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

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

Caroline Purvey: Helping Clients to Discover Freedom

Meet Caroline Purvey, the founder of TRE UK®, which takes pride in building a service platform that allows clients to discover the full benefits of the Total Release Experience® program to find freedom from their mental, physical, and emotional pain.

The TRE UK® program is a simple but effective somatic process that helps activate neurogenic muscle tremors from the core of its client’s body. This simple, empowering, powerful self-help practice promises to be one of the most effective tools one could discover for self-healing.

In Caroline’s words, “It all started in South Africa in 2011 when I found myself with 99 others from around the world in a venue that I already knew, at a time I was meant to be there, for the birth of my daughter’s first baby.”

After completing three days of training to learn trauma prevention techniques, Caroline understood that she had found her life’s purpose. Soon after returning to the U.K, she opened her yoga studio, a long-held dream which soon became a reality. With a new string to bow, she had little or no support with it leaving her with two choices, either step up and carve her own path or step out.

Caroline chose the first option, and eventually from her extensive experiences created the unique Total Release Experience® program. This program empowers clients to heal from their past stress, overwhelm and trauma, build resilience, and transform their lives.

Diversifying Offerings

In late 2019, the world started witnessing the emergence of the pandemic. Cut to the first quarter of 2020! The world came to a screeching halt as the governments across the planet began imposing lockdowns to reduce the infection rate.

Like many other businesses, the Covid-induced lockdown was pivotal in how TRE UK® delivered its program. According to Caroline, “Creating an online platform utilizing years of experience ensuring that in the practical process clients would feel safe and supported was key. It was exciting to know we achieved that goal.”

Now with online learning, new clients from any part of the world can reach out and choose to learn independently or 1-2-1 online. TRE UK® offers different options for those seeking a face-to-face experience for themselves, family, and friend groups or workplace training.

The Secret Sauce

Caroline believes that being flexible and ready to change is critical. Nothing stays the same, and as a market leader, she is an innovator of change. While facing many challenges, doubts, and questions, Caroline believed in the discoveries she was making in a unique field. She adds, “Back then and still today, I honor my principles, ethics, and values. Standing for what I believe and never making a compromise for the sake of it.”

Working with integrity helps her stand in a good position, especially when vulnerable clients put their trust in her and what she teaches. Caroline and her team at TRE UK® value client feedback and reviews and take onboard clients’ suggestions to improve the experience. Listening to clients has been a critical element of TRE UK’s continuous improvement.

Tackling Failure

Caroline Purvey says, “My biggest failure professionally was engaging people at the start, that I took on face value to support me in work, and not checking out their skill set.” She also considers saying ‘yes’ to the suggestions of services or technologies without carrying out due diligence to ensure they were suitable for the needs of TRE UK® was costly. Having learned the lessons, she now investigates and discusses any new ideas or proposals that come to her before committing.

The Driving Force

Caroline Purvey explains, “Every day, clients share their progress or story; it is an honor and a privilege to know that I have been blessed to be able to support them on their healing journey so they can and indeed as it has for many ended years of suffering, and discover a life of freedom from pain.”

Caroline Purvey believes every leader should have passion for their purpose. She adds, “Without passion, the motivation is in danger of being driven by money.”