Exclusive Interview Archives

Mouna Abbassy: Bringing Moroccan Beauty Secrets to the World

Meet Mouna Abbassy, who grew up in Morocco, a country where beauty rituals take the form of social affairs, where her mother, sisters, and friends would bring their own natural recipes prepared at home with the finest ingredients.

For female members, it was a time of joy, sharing, and celebration, the joy of being with loved ones, sharing beauty secrets, and the joy of celebrating femininity.

In her words, “The beauty recipes were judged for the experience they provide as much as for the final result thus, the ingredients were chosen for their capacity to exalt all our senses and create that unique moment where time and space don’t matter anymore, a moment where we focused solely on our well-being.”

Once a gathering was over, everyone would look forward to the next one. Mouna moved to Dubai in 2005, and she immediately fell in love with the growing, multicultural, dynamic city that is full of energy and opportunity. Soon she joined one of the largest beauty corporations in the world, where she fed her passion for beauty care.

However, Mouna soon found herself longing for the connection with mother nature that would reveal her inner beauty. She always wanted the feeling of being beautiful inside and out; above all, Mouna missed the boost of energy to shine as the woman she wanted to be. So, this hunger eventually marked the beginning of IZIL.

“The world ‘IZIL’ was derived from the ancient Amazigh language. It means ‘Pure,’ which is the brand’s foundation.”

izil is an all-natural skincare line entirely inspired by the ancient recipes of Moroccan women. These recipes are made from purely natural ingredients that provide pure moments of joy and happiness, just as they did for Mouna, her mother, her grandmother, and a countless generation before them.

Diversifying Products

Thanks to her educational background in marketing and a successful career behind her, Mouna realized a gap in the beauty market for a natural, chemical-free brand that works and merged it with the secret beauty recipes from her Moroccan heritage. She feels modern women nowadays want to feel beautiful inside and out without compromising their time or exposing their skin to harmful chemicals. These women are comfortable in their own skin and want to become the best version of themselves; that is what izil offers them.

Along with skincare, izil also has its range of body care, hair care, and man care products, as the organization believes self-care is not gender-specific. It also offers premium hammam and spa services at its bespoke spa facility, where it only uses izil’s premium products to provide the best experience possible.

The flagship store in The Dubai Mall is all about the experience. The company has built it in such a way that as soon as a client steps in, that individual feels completely immersed in the world of izil and disconnected from the outside world, as the person has instantly been teleported to Morocco.

The beauty product brand grabs the best nature has to offer and mixes it with Moroccan beauty rituals and secrets in order to offer it to the world.

Greatest Accomplishments

At the age of 10, Mouna was diagnosed with a very rare syndrome named Guillain Barre Syndrom, which affects all the muscles and leaves people completely paralyzed. It also affected her breathing, leaving her hospitalized for several months. She had to learn how to walk all over again. Surviving that was like a rebirth for her. This experience has made Mouna what she is today, a person who genuinely believes ‘Nothing is impossible’ and ‘miracles do happen’ as long as you put your mind, heart, and lot of hard work to realize your dreams.

As a female entrepreneur, Mouna feels proud and humbled to have been the first in so many awards. In 2015, she was the winner of Hadafi Women’s Entrepreneurship Season 3 and received Cartier Women’s Initiative Award. Later, she was also featured in several articles and news.

“However, my greatest achievement, as a Founder of izil, is building a beauty brand from scratch and with limited resources and making it one of the fastest-growing natural beauty brands in GCC and making it the 1st reference for Moroccan beauty, a brand endorsed by biggest celebrities and influencers, with customers from all over the world.”– says Mouna.

This has also earned her recognition from various channels and magazines of the region, including Forbes Middle East.

Preparing for the Future

Izil’s strategy for the future includes many objectives that will eventually help the brand drive its business forward and set the foundation for international expansion in the coming years. The brand’s primary objective is to streamline the processes through fully integrated ERP and IT infrastructure, enabling accelerated growth in GCC and outside of the GCC.

The brand has further planned to drive online growth through direct and consumer in GCC, Europe, and Asia through e-tailers distribution.

Izil also plans to obtain various brand certifications and further expand offline by opening new concept stores and spas in the GCC market.

On the other hand, the launch of multiple izil products are lined up, and it plans on investing more in ‘hair care’ and ‘face care’ range to cater to wider skin and hair concerns, backed by scientific and clinical research.

Liliane Mubanga: Solving Cllient’s Legal Issues

Meet Liliane Mubanga, a result-oriented and passionate lawyer spearheading Thambwe-Mwamba & Associates in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. Liliane completed her education in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which makes her a prime example of DRC’s world-class educational system. She holds a law degree from the University of Lubumbashi, majoring in Judicial and Private law.

After obtaining her law degree, Liliane applied for a registration as a lawyer to join the Bar Association of Kinshasa/Gombe as a trainee lawyer in Law firm BOKUMA & KENEM. Once Liliane earned her aptitude certificate for a lawyer, she renewed her registration and obtained the inscription to the Roll. Then, a law firm named John Claude Crespy and Associates recruited her as an associate, which acted as a stepping stone for her to enter the world of real estate law and other real estate contracts. Later, when the partners of the said firm decided to separate, Liliane moved to Thambwe-Mwamba & Musafiri Law firm.

With time Liliane has obtained her certificate of competence in production sharing and oil rent law, a certificate in Insurance and public procurement, and a Master’s Degree in Commercial law from Robert Kennedy College, Zurich, and Salford University, Manchester. She has also taken a course in leadership and personal development. Liliane is currently training in Financial Analysis at ICCF (HEC- Paris online courses).

A Law firm with Human Face

In 2005, when the partner Thambwe-Mwamba decided to create his own firm under the name “THAMBWE-MWAMBA & Associates”, he asked Liliane to manage the firm, since at the time, he held a ministerial position in the government.

Thambwe-Mwamba & Associates combines the ability to leave a personal mark in its relationship with the client and professionalism when it comes to handling businesses. With the ever-changing complex world of legal matters, the law firm’s members keep increasing their knowledge base in different matters, maintaining a multidisciplinary vocation. The synergy of its skilled members, reinforced by external consultants recognized for their specialties, enables the law firm to master a broad area of law.

Tackling Organizational Challenges

As Liliane had no prior experience in managing a company, initially leading a firm like Thambwe-Mwamba proved to be a challenge for her. At first, there were several challenges like choosing competent and intelligent collaborators, creating a portfolio of confident and satisfied clients, and establishing/maintaining the reputation, which was already well established due to the founder’s reputation. Although her task was stressful and exciting, Liliane had confidence in herself from the start, which was further reinforced by the founder’s trust and support.

Solving Legal Issues and Staying Competitive

Thambwe-Mwamba & Associates offers the traditional lawyer services in criminal, commercial, and civil matters, with good expertise in: Labor and Social security law, Mining and hydrocarbons law, Business and Corporate law, Tax law, Real-estate law, Insurance law, criminal law, Family law, special procedures, legal audit, etc. As a senior executive of her law firm, Liliane’s main objective is to look after the firm’s growth and gain a competitive advantage over its competitors with great expertise in several areas of law.

With a small but competent team of seven attorneys, the law firm offer integrated services. This team of attorneys brings the needed experience from various verticals. Thanks to their knowledge and expertise, the law firm is now standing tall, with a solid reputation, and is well quoted on Kinshasa’s market.

“There are many changes to face, and for each area of life for each change, the law is present, and the need for a professional will also be present.”

Liliane Mubanga sees this as the result of years of sacrifice, sharing, and complementarity between the members. So, the client is entirely entrusted to the lawyer who is best equipped to give the necessary advice and appropriate opinions a case requires.

She feels that the area of consulting is very competitive, so it is extremely important to be armed with courage and patience to build yourself and your business in the long term.

Advice for Young Entrepreneurs

As per Liliane, one must have a love for him/herself, for others, and for what they do to achieve it. Liliane Mubanga makes her own what Saint Augustine said: “Have in your heart the root of love, from this root nothing bad can come out.”

Abdulla Najem: Redefining Water Deliveries

Meet Abdulla Najem, the CEO and Co-founder of Waterwa, which offers a variety of brands of beverages and water to be delivered to customers’ doorstep. Available on both iOS and Android platforms, the Waterwa app helps its clients to subscribe for weekly or monthly deliveries to their homes and offices.

Since his childhood, Abdulla was fascinated by the whole idea of starting his own company, which eventually pushed him to start network marketing at the age of 17. In a world still apprehensive of the internet’s power, people were surprised to see a young entrepreneur taking a route that was so out of the box. Later, Abdulla joined a college of business, where he fell in love with business once again and started his first startup with a friend.

Soon, they entered the world of media as a powerful force, and the humble agency eventually proliferated. However, Abdulla then transitioned into a corporate career, where he realized how a big scale company works. He started working with RedBull and then with a locally successful co-working space. Later he moved to start working for an incubator in order to stay close to the start-up world, where he learned every detail about starting a company, which eventually led to the creation of Waterwa.

Catering to a Demanding Market

Abdulla knows that the current market is very demanding and constantly changing. He says, “You need to keep an eye on what happens around you, so one of the things that keep us on track is to focus on the audience’s perspective.”

The human aspect of his organization’s strategy also helps him to understand better what drives the market and creates a new trend. Abdulla believes growing and standing out in a competitive market can be challenging, so following the already proven trends can be an effective tool.

As the Co-founder of his company, Abdulla now believes building a formidable team that led the company in its legacy journey is one of his most significant accomplishments. He takes pride in developing a team that can tackle any challenge at any point in time collectively and successfully. Also, by being the pioneer of the “drinking water delivery platform,” many of Waterwa’s suppliers successfully created their own e-commerce platform, which is incredibly rewarding for Waterwa.

Abdullah is a passionate businessman with leadership skills capable to create competent teams in different functions. His leadership in Waterwa proves his problem-solving skills and agility to create forward-looking enterprises and potential unicorns. Abdulla’s consistency is what every company strives for in their leadership.

Tackling Failures

Abdulla feels the most significant failure was when he first started Waterwa. He realized that he gave people the benefit of the doubt too often, which is a red flag for productivity. This caused him a lot of time and value that he could have used to grow his company. Now he follows a strategy of “three strikes, you are out.”

This new strategy ensures that Abdulla reaches out to everyone who has reached a second strike and collaborates with them to mitigate the challenge further.

When it comes to success, Abdulla says, “Success is when people recognize the brand you built even by its deconstructed elements, like a letter, a color, or even shape. That kind of potential for legacy pushes me every day to build it with Waterwa.” He also added, “But on a more personal note, success for me is to be able to be a serial entrepreneur that builds up multiple different brands that truly benefit consumer needs.”

Preparing for the Future

Abdulla explains that Waterwa is well on its way to building a legacy. As businesses depend on the constantly changing market, the team is razor-focused on making a brand that can stand the test of time and stay relatable in the market for a long time.

Abdulla and his team at Waterwa are building a brand that customers can depend on and feel genuine loyalty.

A Supportive Leader

Waterwa’s employees and clients love Abdulla for his authoritative and coaching style leadership.

They say, “You motivate us and give us the direction that helps us develop and utilize our abilities more to achieve not just our full potential but also work/company goals.” – Project manager of Waterwa.

“Every project I worked on with Abdulla, he made sure to give it his full support and attention. His teamwork is always inspiring, and he knows that he only works without ego and with a collaborative mindset. Working with Abdulla Najem is easy because he knows how to juggle all the tiny details while still being diligent of the bigger picture.” – Deena AlSaweer – founder of Dpro.

“Abdulla Najem has always been great at developing the needed structure and direction no matter what his role was. He creates a culture of mutual trust and care by always acting with integrity, accountability, and transparency.” Robetra Dsouza – Head of Country Logistics of TExpress – Talabat

MAIA Biotechnology: Addressing the Unmet Needs of Cancer Treatment

Globally, cancer is the second leading cause of death just behind cardiovascular diseases. With more than 15 million cases each year, the cancer burden continues to grow globally, pushing individuals and families towards mental, emotional, and financial strain.

Particularly the health systems in the low and middle-income countries are not prepared to manage the extra burden of cancer, and many cancer patients do not have any access to timely diagnosis and treatment. On the other hand, where healthcare systems are robust, survival rates are growing up due to early detection and better quality treatment.

Cancer is a group of diseases highly correlated with aging, and with the continuous increase in human life expectations, the incidence of cancer increases dramatically. Although the world has seen therapeutic progress in recent decades, not nearly enough has been accomplished. The unmet medical need still remains vast, and with the objective of addressing it comprehensively, MAIA Biotechnology, Inc. was founded in 2018.

The organization is a targeted therapy, immuno-oncology company entirely focused on developing first-in-class drugs with novel mechanisms of action intended to improve and extend people’s lives with cancer meaningfully.

With more than twenty years of experience in oncology, Dr. Vlad Vitoc is the Chairman and C.E.O. of MAIA Biotechnology. Curing cancer has always been a calling in his life. With the mission to find curative effect therapies to improve and extend the lives of cancer patients, he has managed and supported more than 20 early and mature stage compounds, which have included targeted and immune therapies across more than 25 types of tumor, including lung cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, prostate cancer, and renal cell carcinoma.

Dr. Vitoc has received an M.D. from the University of Medicine and Pharmacy, “Iuliu Hatieganu,” Cluj-Napoca, Romania, and his M.B.A. from the University of South Carolina.

The Fundamental Source of Innovation

Dr. Vitoc believes the BioTech industry is the primary source of innovation for various modern medicines. Historically the R.O.I. has been substantially exceeding other industries. Over the last six months or so, the market has undertaken a substantial amount of correction, creating opportunities for another episode of high growth.

With high levels of unmet medical needs and a relatively price-sensitive market, Oncology has become a very important sub-sector of the BioTech industry, resulting in very profitable operations and robust R.O.I., better than any other sub-sectors in the BioTech industry.

On the other hand, MAIA has developed THIO, a first-in-class telomere targeting agent with a very effective immunologic anticancer effect. Currently, the firm is advancing THIO in Phase 2 clinical study in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer. This will be the first study to test THIO’s immune system activation followed by administration of the checkpoint inhibitor cemiplimab, allowing for the immune activation and PD-1 sensitivity to take effect.

Tackling Challenges

MAIA is a virtual operation, and the leaders have the advantage of using the national and international resource pool to attract and employ talents from all over the planet. So, with employees operating remotely, the pandemic had minimal effect on the company.

However, the pandemic impacted the global supply management chains in unpredictable ways, delaying the firm’s manufacturing process by a few months due to vial shortages.

Dr. Vitoc also believes that one of the most critical challenges is the weak capital markets. He and his team have already prepared MAIA for its I.P.O. and are now waiting eagerly for the reversal of market trends to price and execute.

Mission and Vision

MAIA’s vision is to become the first BioTech company to commercialize telomere targeting agents and develop a franchise of increasingly more effective agents, which will eventually help it evolve into a fully integrated global BioTech company.

As the organization’s leader, Dr. Vitoc says, “Our mission is to research, develop, and deliver innovative medicines to improve and extend people’s lives with cancer. Our focus is on telomere targeting agents, a therapeutic class in which MAIA are leading the field.”

Future Roadmap

Thanks to THIO’s vast applicability and ability to work on telomerase-positive cells, MAIA plans to develop THIO for multiple tumor types.

The firm’s THIO-101 trial is in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, the largest tumor type market in the world. MAIA is currently planning for its approval and commercialization in the U.S. by 2025. The organization also plans to partner with large international pharmaceutical companies.

While THIO- 102 trial is in a salvage setting in Colorectal Cancer, Liver Cancer, and Small Cell Lung Cancer. On the other hand, the THIO-103 trial is the first line of therapy in 9 tumor types.

MAIA is also developing the next generation of telomere targeting agents. The first two agents provide an incredible amount of efficacy in preclinical models and will be following THIO to the market in the next 3-5 years. Also, in 2022-24, the firm’s entire emphasis will be on building its Research and Development capabilities. In 2025 the firm plans to add commercial capabilities to become a fully integrated U.S. BioTech company.

Dr. Vitoc says, “With THIO, we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us: we have launched an exciting clinical pipeline, including a well-known strategic partner in Regeneron. THIO is the only telomere-targeting agent in the world.”

The best part of THIO is the ability to use it in a sequential combination with existing immune therapies. It has a novel dual mechanism of action, which provides direct telomere targeting and immunogenic effect, making existing drugs far more effective. With its accomplished management team navigating, MAIA Biotechnology direction and development of assets, the firm is developing next-generation candidates to complement its platform.

Visit MAIA Biotechnology.

DeepPsy: Using Technology to Personalize Psychiatric Treatment

DeepPsy is a Swiss startup that was founded in 2021 with the goal of bringing technology developed by the psychiatric scientific community into the everyday routine of clinicians. Indeed, one of the main problems in psychiatric treatment is that, opposite to most other fields of medicine, treatment decisions are mainly based on information obtained at the symptomatic level, with little consideration for the biological mechanisms of individual patients. As a consequence, patients often go through a prolonged trial-and-error process in order to find an effective treatment.

DeepPsy wants to change that: By giving psychiatrists access to the newest technologies developed, tested, and validated by the scientific community, they can better identify the treatment with the highest likelihood of success in a specific patient. The organization’s flagship technologies are algorithms that analyze brain waves (EEG) and heart activity (ECG). Those are made available to clinics and hospitals through a user-friendly web interface. DeepPsy processes its patients’ electrophysiological data according to the latest evidence-based research findings in this field, resulting in the computation of different features derived from patients’ brainwaves and heart activity. These parameters can be interpreted on which treatment options might be best for a patient.

Further, DeepPsy collects the anonymized data from patients (with their permission) and trains its Deep Neural Networks to identify even better patterns for the prediction of treatment response. This guarantees that DeepPsy improves its service with every customer!

Steadfast Leaders

DeepPsy was co-founded by Mateo de Bardeci and PD. Dr. med. Sebastian Olbrich. Mateo studied physics and data science at the ETH Zurich. He started doing research in psychiatry back in 2019. As there are few data scientists working in psychiatry, he felt that his background and work would allow him to create a lot of value in the field. It was also in 2019 that Mateo met Sebastian at an entrepreneurship workshop. Sebastian is a trained psychiatrist and the Chief of the Center for Depression, Anxiety Disorders and Psychotherapy at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Switzerland – one of the largest academic Psychiatry Hospitals in Europe. He has been conducting research on psychiatric biomarkers during the past 10 years, especially in the field of electrophysiology, with the goal of improving the treatment outcome in psychiatric disorders and thus decreasing the suffering of his patients. He told Mateo about his vision for the future of psychiatry, and both of them soon decided to work together to make it come true.

Founding Stone

During his research days, Mateo quickly realized that there is a huge need for innovation in psychiatric treatment. Indeed, while technology has changed our day-to-day life completely, these changes have not arrived to psychiatry yet. Furthermore, Sebastian understood that many academic research findings never made their way into everyday clinical decisions either. Usually, physicians choose treatments based on very subjective information, not considering objective markers that could guide and improve their decisions for a specific drug or other types of interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or psychotherapy. Hence, both of them created the idea of DeepPsy to make the findings of biomarker research available for every psychiatrist and patient and to help to find the best individualized treatment. Now DeepPsy has a web-based framework that will help to improve treatment outcomes in major depression based on individual EEG and ECG data. This will shift the way in which psychiatric patients are treated and propulse psychiatry into the 21st century.

“Mental disorders are among the leading burden of disease worldwide. We, as a society, are building rockets to fly to mars and our cars will soon drive autonomously. Then why take psychiatric disorders such as depression as a predetermined fate? We have the knowledge to treat them based on objective information, and hence we should take this chance. DeepPsy is ready for the voyage.”

The firm’s goal for 2022 is to bring its first product to the Swiss and EU markets. In the coming years, the organization is planning to expand globally and increase its portfolio of solutions to include more mental illnesses and treatment options.

Data-Driven Solutions are Key

A major trend in the biotech industry is using data-driven solutions that have proven to be successful in other industries – especially the use of real-world data. These technologies have already proved to be a game-changer in oncology and imaging. DeepPsy is bringing it to psychiatry.

Tackling Challenges

DeepPsy believes that personalized treatment should be a global standard instead of only a research project. The firm’s mission is to bring psychiatry to the 21st century.

DeepPsy wants to help as many patients as possible. Therefore, it wants its solutions to be fast, accessible, and low cost. Simultaneously, the organization has very high standards of quality, data security, privacy, and scientific validity. However, creating solutions that fulfill both aspects was a challenge for the company.

Amaze Insurance Brokers: Solving Client’s Insurance Needs

Handling an insurance portfolio is not an easy job, it requires great professionalism, technical competencies, skills, and experience, which together are a rare combination. However, clients can now utilize these combinations through Amaze Insurance Brokers Private Limited, which in return provides amazing benefits in terms of coverage, savings in premium, timely renewals of policies, and expeditious & judicious settlement of claims.

Amaze Insurance Brokers Private Limited is an insurance broker licensed by the Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India. As an insurance broker, Amaze employs professionals with proven professional skills and technical competencies from the field of insurance and insurance broking with years of experience in managing insurance portfolios of clients starting from SMEs to big organizations.

The firm designs the most suitable insurance program (MSIP) for the clients duly meeting all their insurance requirements. It also makes a thorough analysis and evaluation of existing insurance covers and recommends definite solutions to fill up the lacunae, if any, in coverage. Additionally, Amaze Insurance Brokers sends recommendations to clients on ensuring proper and adequate coverage of assets, operations and liability areas.

The Skilful Leader

K. Muralidhara Reddy is the Managing Director and Principal Officer of Amaze Insurance Brokers Private Limited. k.Reddy is a professional with more than 3 decades of experience in managing various insurance portfolios starting from SMEs to big companies bringing in customer satisfaction. K. Reddy has a rich experience working in the insurance field as an MD and principal officer since January 2003. He is a team builder in multiple areas of operations including underwritings, claims, marketing, IT, client retentions, and finance.

Skilful in maintaining a cordial relationship with insurers, other organizations, and clients, K. Reddy is well known for a very high-level competency in underwritings and claims of all departments. Additionally, he possesses special skills in designing and implementing various rural insurance schemes by devising suitable procedures and involving software platforms.

The Differentiator

Amaze Insurance Brokers offers its Insurance Portfolio Management Services to various corporate, small, and medium-sized organizations for their entire portfolio. Until there’s a reasonable ground to consider, the firm stays away from where clients appoint multiple insurance brokers. The insurance broker firm handles all insurance requirements of its clients and delivers the best for them. The firm is very experienced in handling the insurance portfolio of clients from every sector and insurance covers of all types.

Project Insurances: EAR/CAR//CPM/Marine Cum EAR (MCE)/Global WC etc. Operational Covers -IAR/ Fire &Special Perils Policy/Marine/MBD/ BPP/EEI/Money Insurance – Cash in Transit & safe/ Employee Crime (Fidelity Guarantee), Jewellers all risks insurance.
Business Interruption Covers: Advance Loss of Profits (ALOP), Marine Delay in Start-Up (Marine DSU), Weather Insurance, Fire Loss of Profits (FLOP), Machinery Loss of Profits (MLOP).
Liability Insurances: CGL/ Public Liability (Act)/E&O/D&O/Professional Indemnity/Product Liability/Clinical Trials/WC/ Cyber Liability Insurance etc.
Employee Benefits: Group Health (GMC) /Group PA (GPA) /Group Term (GTLI) /Group Gratuity/ Superannuation/ Leave Encashment/Group Overseas Travel (GTI) etc.
Other Insurances: Vehicle Insurance for company’s and employees’ vehicles/top-up health/unnamed PA/Special Contingency/Export and Domestic Credit Insurance/Rural Insurance and other insurances.

Currently, Amaze Insurance Brokers handles sectors like; IT &ITES, Pharma, Hospitality, Power Sector (windmills, solar, biomass, gas, thermal, hydro), Bio-Tech and Clinical Research Organizations, Manufacturing, Service, Various Government Departments, SMEs, Rural Insurance covers, etc.

The firm is also one of the first insurance brokers in the industry, which successfully designed, developed, and implemented a unique software platform in 2016 for implementation of sheep insurance. Amaze Insurance Brokers prefers to subscribe to various national and international journals. With well-trained employees, who have completed their Brokers’ Training and passed various examinations as stipulated by IRDA, the firm is solving its clients’ insurance-related problems since its inception.

An Industry on the Rise

Introduced in 2002, with the first batch of licenses issued in 2003, two decades are nearly completed for the concept of insurance broking in India. ‘Broking’ is still considered taboo in India, creating many hurdles for the companies. During the first few years, even the government bodies and big corporate houses were not inclined to avail the service of an insurance broker. However, since then, the industry has come a long way, and many of the clients have started to engage, the services of insurance brokers.

Though Mr. Reddy believes, still a majority of clients have not been able to realize the full potential of professional services from an insurance broker, and they still consider insurance brokers as a quote getters. Insurance brokers are also expected to educate clients and deliver value in their services. Internationally, clients chose one insurance broker for the entire portfolio or policy-wise. Eventually, the selected insurance broker will manage the portfolio by extending his/her risk management services and dealing with various insurers to arrange the proper cover and expeditious settlement of claims.

Interestingly, many Indian clients appoint multiple insurance brokers to get a quote from the insurance companies. However, this process does no good for the clients, as they often miss out on the loyalty from the insurance broker, who might limit his/her services only to obtain the quotes. Here IRDA has given orders to the insurers, that they have to provide the same quote when multiple insurance brokers approach them for a quote under the same risk/policy. This step was taken to enable the client to select the right insurance broker and avail of his/her services. A client should understand the benefits of the services of an insurance broker and should appoint them only after the due selection process.

As the MD of Amaze Insurance Brokers, Mr. Reddy says, “Insurance Brokers have garnered as high as 55% of total business underwritten by insurers in India, which is a great achievement for this concept introduced by IRDA. This growth would continue and may touch 70-75% over next five years.”

The services of an insurance broker to a retail client are the need of the hour. K. Reddy feels the areas of claims need to be the focal point for all the insurance brokers and IRDA to create and build the much necessary trust factor among the policyholders and common man.

Mission and Vision

Amaze Insurance Brokers aspires to;

Being an ethical, principled, and value base organization set a new benchmark in the industry
Cater to the needs of all sections of the society
Bring in customer delight by adhering to the TATs in underwriting and claims settlement
Deploy appropriate Risk Management practices across the clients’ portfolios

As an insurance broker, Amaze’s vision is to establish and emerge as one of the most preferred insurance brokers in the country. The firm provides innovative solutions and ensures complete client satisfaction. It also aspires to combine excellence, quality, and timely service delivery with the utmost professionalism in risk management, premium management, risk coverage, and insurance portfolio management services to all its customers. K. Reddy believes sustainability will be a key factor when it comes to earning a great reputation for great ethics and trusted services to all of the clients.

Picture of the Future

In order to keep up with the competition, Amaze Insurance Brokers have entered into the world of online sales of insurance products. The website offering online sales, is in its final stages and will be launched commercially in May 2022. The online portal has been named Bimastreet, and it has its uniqueness when it comes to claims service to the customers, which is a big differentiator in the crowded market.

Bimastreet meets the unique need of retail clients. The firm would also love to have its digital solutions for SMEs and Corporates with all the required features, which will be its next big project.

Additionally, the firm is also coming up with an onsite insurance audit for its clients. Thus enabling them to evaluate the portfolio being handled by Amaze Brokers to make improvements.

Tiffany Kinslow: Meeting Client’s Real Estate Needs Successfully.

Meet Tiffany Kinslow, Realtor at Main Street Realty, which serves to meet its clients’ needs in Smith, Simpson, and Rankin county areas. She graduated from Copiah Lincoln College in 2000 and attended the University of Southern MS and Ashford University, where she completed her studies in 2004. Before getting into the real estate profession, Tiffany was a school teacher for many years. However, she always loved real estate and knew beforehand that she would eventually pursue her career in real estate.

The area where Tiffany operates is very rural and has many unique challenges compared to larger cities. She says, “I was teased when I decided to niche down and serve my small community. Many thought I was making a bad decision for being a small town realtor, but I love my community.” Tiffany believes her love for the community keeps her going in the industry.

Last year, she was also recognized as a top agent by the Top Agent Magazine. For the past 8 years, she has maintained between 30-45 listings throughout the year and closed between 65-80 transactions. Currently, she has 48 listings.

Tiffany also serves as the VP of the Magee Chamber of Commerce, Board member of the Mendenhall Chamber of Commerce, Director of the Simpson County Developmental Foundation, and serves on Keep Magee Beautiful.

About the Realty Company

Main Street Realty represents over 3 decades of combined experience in meeting its client’s real estate needs. The firm’s established presence in its community enables it to provide clients with the needed knowledge of its market area, trends, and finance solutions. MSR serves all its clients with honesty, integrity, and dedicated professional representation as a realty company. The realty firm feels privileged to assist its clients in one of the most important decisions of their life. It brings the needed experience, integrity, hard work, and relationships with several buyers and sellers. MSR uses the latest technologies to dominate the market and make the necessary connections for its success.

As a real estate leader, Main Street Realty takes an active interest in supporting the local community’s children. Each year, it sponsors a local baseball field and teams.

“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.”

The entire team of Main Street Realty is very actively involved in their community with their families. Family time is crucial for the realty company members, and they work very hard to enjoy their time off with their families. Every member of the realty company is associated with the National Association of Realtors, the Mississippi Association of Realtors, and others.

Tackling Challenges

Tiffany Kinslow feels that the lack of inventory is a big challenge nowadays. She is trying to overcome that by reaching out to her older clients and informing them about the current value of their homes, and she can help them sell those for the best market value.

She believes another challenge is realtors holding themselves to a professional standard, having the needed industry knowledge to represent their clients adequately, and operating with integrity throughout the transaction.

The Pandemic

Before the pandemic, Tiffany Kinslow had a robust social media presence. She is an avid lister and constantly listens to real-estate training courses. These courses pushed her to opt for video marketing from the very beginning. So, Tiffany started marketing her homes through videos over the internet even before the pandemic. As a result, the pandemic’s effect on her business was milder than it was on other companies. However, some of her deals did fall through as the banks were closed and halted their lending processes. She says, “It was a scary time. I approached it like I have every other challenge I have faced in my business. I knew I needed to pivot my business to accommodate my clients through Covid, and that’s what I did.”

Tiffany soon started encouraging her clients and reminded them how she could virtually market their homes and follow CDC guidelines in case of any physical meeting. She considers her clients an important part of her life, and they know it. If her clients were uncomfortable marketing their homes at the height of the pandemic, she refrained. However, she marketed like crazy when they were comfortable with the process. Tiffany closed 75 and 78 transactions during the two years of the pandemic.

Patrice Boenzi: Helping Clients to Reach their Real Estate Goals.

Meet Patrice Boenzi a Realtor at Fathom Realty, who is also a credentialed minister. Fathom Realty, provides her with all the tools she needs to be successful while keeping her splits almost non-existent. It was Patrice’s first business decision and one of the best ones she has made. Patrice pastored for 15 years and left the full-time ministry to pursue the ministry idea that she needed to fund.

After leaving pastoring, Patrice got her real estate license and started her career by flipping homes, purchasing rentals, and building her client base. Patrice has her Senior Real Estate Specialist designated and she loves to help her clients downsize.

The Problem Solver

As a business leader, Patrice loves solving problems, thinking out of the box, educating the consumer, and helping her clients reach their real estate goals. This “rush” keeps Patrice going. As an active real estate investor, she brings a different set of skills that help her clients prepare their homes for the market (to get top dollar); as well as, creative, out-of-the-box negotiation skills in this tough market.

When A Pandemic Shook the World

As opposed to other businesses, Patrice’s business thrived during the pandemic. She always leads with value and keeps in contact with her past clients and the pandemic allowed Patrice to check in and make sure everyone was okay. During the pandemic, Patrice learned to do things differently. She utilized Zoom for listing appointments and to meet new buyers. She witnessed people moving out of state, upsizing, and selling to take advantage of the low-interest rates. The pandemic affected the real estate industry as a whole in many ways. Patrice observed people having the freedom to work from anywhere which catapulted people to sell their properties for different options. Additionally, Patrice witnessed, second home prices soar as people had the opportunity to work from home. Historically low-interest rates encouraged people to make a housing change if they were on the fence.

Tackling Challenges

The main challenge for Patrice is low inventory and rising home prices. This combination is making it hard for some of Patrice’s first-time buyers to secure a home. In addition, in her experience, she is seeing buyers with FHA or VA loans having a harder time securing a property.

Patrice also tackles these problems by sending out postcards to potential sellers, networking with other agents, and making sure their lending options are solid. For her FHA and VA buyers, Patrice advocates for them with the listing agent and writes an offer that is solid and creative!

“In sales, no matter what industry, people buy from someone they know, love and trust; work your sphere!”

Patrice feels blessed with many accomplishments and achievements in her short time as a Realtor. She started her real estate journey full-time in January 2017. During her first year in real estate, she was Broker’s MVP and has been a top producer since she started. Patrice was on the cover of Top Agent Magazine, and in 2021 received two awards from her MLS board – Gold for top 3% Sales Volume and Diamond for Top 2% Transactions. In 2021, she was the top producing agent in her brokerage for the State of Illinois.

Suggestions for Younger Self

Patrice is a mentor for Fathom Realty and loves to train new agents to be successful. She feels, that entrepreneurs need to understand that no one is going to wake them up in the morning or hound them to do what they need to do; that must come from within. There are no shortcuts! The Millions are in the Follow-up. No Excuses! She says, “As entrepreneurs, we are responsible for running every aspect of our business and figure out what needs to be delegated.” Patrice feels many entre – preneurs want to be in control of every aspect of their business, but this mindset eventually slows them down. Entrepreneurs need to understand their value and how much their time costs. Shortly after Patrice launched her real estate career she hired a transaction coordinator, who took so much off Patrice’s plate that she was able to be in front of clients more which turned into more happy clients and more revenue.

Future Roadmap

In the next five years, Patrice Boenzi sees herself with several other types of income-producing proper – ties. She is making a shift to duplicate herself more, especially in this market. Patrice Boenzi is working on building a team of buyer’s agents, listing agents, and showing agents so she and her team, can service more clients and together.

Danielle Addante: Solving Client’s Real Estate Needs.

Andrew Carnegie once said, “The wise young man or wage earner of today invests his money in real estate.”

Meet Danielle Addante, Realtor at d’aprile properties, who is known as a well-respected, and innovative real-estate service provider throughout the Arlington Heights and Mount Prospect areas. She is deeply rooted in where she operates.

Danielle is involved in the local school systems, supporting local businesses, and she has spent years forging personal and professional relationships with the residents and vendors. She brings an unmatched level of expertise and enthusiasm to the industry, which needs both.

Danielle entered the business of real estate with a unique background. Before she started working as a realtor, Danielle was a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist, working in the therapy department of rehabilitation centers. Danielle pursued a Bachelor of Sciences degree from the University of Illinois in Communication Disorders. She later completed her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Coming from a background known for breaking down communication barriers, Danielle’s strong sense of ethics and heartfelt desire to help people helped her advocate and guide clients through their most significant transaction of life.

Understanding the importance of an interdisciplinary team approach, she took the opportunity and started working with lenders and attorneys to achieve clients’ real estate goals.

Providing Unparalleled Service

Danielle is a full-service realtor, a consistent top producing agent, and she is a Certified Staging Consultant and Pricing Strategy Advisor. She supports her clients at every point of the buying and selling process. Danielle’s support team includes; brand managers, a full-time marketing team, a design team, a list of exclusive vendors, and a transaction coordinator.

“The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away.”

With her constant market study, Danielle provides a very high level of information to prepare her clients for entering the market. With her strong communication skills and loyalty, Danielle delivers unparalleled service to assist her clients in their real estate buying or selling process. Her mastery of client/agent relationships has been a great asset for her firm. She has implemented a new multi-tier platform of various marketing tools and techniques, which have set a certain standard in her local market and beyond.

When Pandemic Bought Uncertainties

During the initial days of the coronavirus pandemic, many felt some uncertainties about the real estate industry. However, the pandemic opened up new opportunities to meet clients face to face. Apps like Zoom and Meet enabled clients to participate in consultation meetings or video tours of properties when physical visits were not permitted. Following the pandemic, Danielle has witnessed year over year growth, as it has solidified her goals in taking an individualized approach to how her clients wanted to be served and the ways d’aprile properties could make properties and information available to them.

Tackling the Challenges

Danielle feels the nationwide shortage of real estate became the biggest challenge of the last year. Additionally, the rising interest rates are also a cause of concern for the buyer. Danielle explains that tackling these issues will need another pivot.

She says, “Focusing on different ways to source properties for buyer clients and getting creative to help your sellers develop a plan, to sell their home to set them up for another purchase requires creativity, education on options, and a solid negotiator to help execute the best possible outcomes for the clients.

Awards and Accolades

Since she transitioned to brokerage in 2019, Danielle is recognized as a Top Producer in her firm year after year. She has also been recognized by providing her the Platinum and Black Key Awards from d’aprile properties, recognizing her high sales volume and the number of yearly transactions. Danielle earned the Daily Herald Readers’ Choice Best Realtor award in 2019 and 2020. Chicago Agent’s Magazine has featured her in Who’s Who in Residential Real Estate 2020 and 2021. Additionally, she has also been in the cover story of Top Agent Magazine 2021.

Preparing for the Future

In the future, Danielle Addante wants to see herself as a reputable industry leader and top choice for the suburban real estate market. She also plans to be a mentor and resource for the newer agents in the industry. Danielle Addante intends to become the person who can lift newer agents and help them grow their business to live a life worth living and careers they are proud of having.

Kul Nijjar: Helping to Discover a Place You can Call Home

It is a great feeling to help people move forward in their lives, which is the best part of being in the real estate industry. Buying or selling a home can be emotional, but often they are a part of a larger process, that is finding a home, where the next stage of life begins.

Meet, Kul Nijjar, founder of Kootenay BC Property Matchmakers. Kul’s beginnings in real estate came from needing employment, something where she could stay at home and raise her family in Kaslo. Her story started in Domeli, Punjab, India. Kul was only 5 years old when her family moved to Toronto. From there, Kul’s journey through life has brought her to Argenta, and later to Kaslo, BC. Community is something Kul values, and she always feels, her relationships with people have to be honest and caring.

When Kul became a real estate agent, becoming a real estate agent was primarily a means for her to make a living and remain in Kaslo, her home base and community. Then real estate business meant making hundreds of calls in the pursuit of making money, which Kul never felt right. Over time, Kul figured out how to do real estate differently, challenging the status quo simply by being herself and genuinely caring about people and her community. She focused on improving the quality of life for her clients through finding them the best possible homes, bringing her natural kindness along through every step of the process, from looking through listings to signing the final documents. During the past 12 years of working in the Kootenays, success for Kul has meant empowering people to live fulfilled and engaged lives in the communities where they belong. And doing things right, always.

In 2020, Kul founded her organization, KootenayBC as a bridge between the old way of doing real estate and what’s next. It’s a kinder, simpler, and more engaging experience that goes beyond a business transaction. The kind of service where clients feel supported, heard, and empowered to find their dream home and community.

The Steadfast Leader

Kul enjoys working and challenging herself. She feels, with every new listing or new client there’s a new journey. Not every property is the same and not every client is the same. Dreams and Resolutions – people buy or sell real estate usually for two reasons; because they have a dream to create and a goal to meet. Or it’s because an event has happened in their life and they have to make a tough decision, that usually has an impact on their life choices. So, to be able to assist someone in their exciting or challenging times is satisfying to me. Kul also likes to see how much she can grow and succeed. She says, “In this business, you have to not only keep up with all the changing industry regulations but also the available new technology. It’s not a mundane job that’s for sure.”

When Values are the Driving Forces

Under Kul’s leadership, KootenayBC provides service to its clients, community, team, and the belief that real estate done with heart can help change lives and neighborhoods everyone calls home.

Kul believes, the key to quality and efficiency is professionalism. Her firm offers proactive, engaged, and expert matchmaking services that put the client’s s best interests at the center of everything it does. Kootenay BC is adaptable to shifting circumstances while always being grounded in its values and principles. As a purpose-driven organization, Kootenay BC’s priority is making a positive difference in the lives of people. The firm fosters honest, consistent, and uncompromising principles that guide, its actions and relationships. It is entirely committed to building trusting relationships, being accountable, and staying open to improving at every level.

“Set your life on Fire, Seek those who fan the Flame”

Kul and her colleagues feel energized and inspired by the firm’s purpose and mission. Kootenay BC does not come from a place of lack but rather sees the world as a place full of opportunities that inspire Kul and others to think big. The firm is excited by the challenges ahead and is positive, grateful, and empowered partners for its clients and communities. Kul believes, her organization will choose joy over competition and it’ll readily share its knowledge with others while maintaining a beginner’s mind.

Tackling Primary Challenges

Kul Nijjar feels the biggest challenge is probably getting clients to realize, that although the area is very beautiful, people still have to live there. So, clients need to know how they are going to make money, as jobs are scarce. People also don’t always realize the size of the region and that each community is unique and diverse in its way. So, clients may think about moving to the Kootenays, but they do have to learn about the region and all the different communities within. The other challenge is not enough appraisers, home inspectors, lawyers, when it’s busy, everyone is very busy so clients need to accommodate for longer timelines to make sure that everything can be done, on time.

The Pandemic’s Affect

According to Kul Nijjar, the Covid-19 pandemic has certainly provided for a very busy marketplace, especially in the area where Kootenays BC provides its services. The firm is located in the SE interior of BC.

Kootenays has always been considered as a small, hippy, pot-growing, back to the land type of area. It has a ton of outdoor recreation, and as those sports have become more popular it has drawn more attraction from people outside of the area. When Covid hit, all the things that folks may have seen as negatives – ruralness, less populated, fewer amenities, all those things became very popular. All of a sudden folks wanted to be in areas that had less population. Where it’s easier to get to nature.

Advice for Upcoming Entrepreneurs

When we asked Kul Nijjar to provide some suggestions for new entrepreneurs, she says, “Consistency and sticking with it. Nothing happens overnight. There are so many things that are going to challenge your inspiration and your motivation. To just kind of put your head down and keep at it. Don’t pay too close attention to your competitors – know who they are but don’t get stuck paying more attention to their business than your own.”

She also adds, “Knowing your limits – once you know them you can decide to challenge them or to stay within them. Both are good and are dependent on what situations you are in.”

She also advises not to lie, tell the truth no matter how hard it is. “If you screw up don’t make excuses, own and figure out a solution. Ask for help when you need it. Don’t be loud about your accomplishments and how great your ideas are. Let your customers show that to you. Don’t be afraid to take risks. Take the risk and stay cautious at the same time.”-she says.

Picture of the Future

Kul Nijjar feels times are super interesting right now. She can see folks becoming more concerned with their pocketbooks, and the cost of everything. Her goal would be to grow, her business and her brand. Create working relationships with like-minded realtors – provide good honest services – and have more KootenayBC Property Matchmaker visibility in other areas. But if needed she is prepared to see what are the challenges, economy, and housing markets bring and change how she needs to.