Exclusive Interview Archives

Gehad Hamdy: Supporting Egyptian Women from Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment is a serious problem in Egypt and has become increasingly pervasive in recent years. The country has one of the highest sexual harassment rates in the world, with nearly 99% of Egyptian women reporting experiencing some form of sexual harassment.

Sexual harassment often takes the form of verbal or physical harassment, including catcalling, unwanted touching, and even rape. It is often seen as a normal part of everyday life in Egypt, and many women feel powerless to do anything about it. Even if they report the harassment, they are often met with indifference or even denial from the authorities. Although the Egyptian government has taken steps to address the issue, much is still to be done. Many laws have been passed to protect women from sexual harassment, but they are rarely enforced. So, in 2020 Gehad Hamdy, a 27-year-old dentist, founded the Speak Up initiative against sexual harassment and gender-based violence in Egypt. Speak Up is the number one destination for the victims of gender-based violence in Egypt, looking for perpetrators’ exposure, psychological support, legal guidance, and solidarity. In 2022, BBC recognized Gehad as one of the 100 Most Influential Women in the world. She is also a winner of two Women SME Leaders 2022 awards, including The Change Maker and The Humanitarian. Additionally, she was a finalist for the Women Empowerment Award by Africa Women Innovation and Entrepreneurship Forum 2021 and the current finalist for the International Humanitarian Award by Women4Africa 2022.

Establishing Speak-Up

Since its foundation in 2020, the Speak Up movement has gained immense momentum. With its followers increasing each passing day, Speak Up has filled a much-needed gap for women in Egyptian society.

“Speak Up expanded widely and has been a direct cause of female-empowerment legislation issued by the Egyptian parliament. Also, we have initiated various campaigns against harassers and rapists, many of which resulted in their arrest and accountability,”– states Gehad.

Women from all backgrounds have found refuge in the Speak Up community for perpetrators’ exposure, legal guidance, and psychological support. Since the initiative’s inception, Gehad has witnessed an unbelievable rise in the number of women coming out and reporting their harassers, despite the threats made against every woman in Egypt who does so. After gaining unbelievable support from the majority of Egyptian celebrities, Speak Up also exposed many male public figures for promoting rape culture in their work and became widely feared by the harassers.

Bringing Perpetrators to Book

The most prominent example of Speak Up’s commitment to this cause is the famous campaign against a serial child rapist, Michael Fahmy. Gehad launched, managed, and mobilized all her resources for this campaign until the perpetrator was behind bars and tried for severe charges that eventually ended in a life sentence. Gehad was so devoted to the process of seeing these victims get justice that she had to quit her profession as a dentist in order to focus on the case.

“We also pushed for public figures to be canceled after promoting rape culture in their work, such as singer Saad Lamjarred who was accused of rape and whose shows in Egypt were canceled after a collaborative feminist campaign in which Speak Up played a big role,”– explains Gehad.

Gehad also spearheaded Speak Up’s viral campaign against the iconic Egyptian singer Amr Diab who took part in a Citroën advertisement that promoted non-consensual photographing of women. This viral campaign eventually resulted in the cancellation of the advertisement and an apology from the car manufacturer.

Bringing an Immense Societal Change

Under Gehad’s Leadership, Speak Up worked on more than 400 cases, bringing justice to victims. Through its vast network of connections, the organization has provided free legal and psychological assistance to more than 14,000 victims by connecting them to volunteering professionals.

Speak Up advocated for amendments to Egyptian law that criminalized Female Genital Mutilation, which the Egyptian House of Representatives adopted, and the law came into effect in march 2021. In response to its campaigns, Speak Up has collected over 15,000 sexual harassment testimonies and 20,000 testimonies of domestic violence, marital rape, bullying, virginity tests, female genital mutilation (FGM), violent obligation on religious rituals, and medical bias against women. Also, a viral campaign by Speak Up has ensured the provision of free sanitary pads in more than 80 schools and 11 cafes across Egypt.

Looking at the Future

In the future, Gehad will continue to advocate for creating a special unit at the ministry of interior trained to handle female blackmail and extortion. She also plans to scale the initiative to get higher reach in all governorates of Egypt with professionals addressing local issues in each Egyptian governorate and launch a professional blog to increase awareness on various topics related to sexual and reproductive health, legal issues regarding harassment, and general awareness.

Being the initiative’s founder, Gehad envisions Speak Up solidifying and officializing its role as the primary actor and channel of communication coordinating between the victims and the authorities.

“My vision for a better world is one free of gender-based violence in all its forms, where women and minorities are empowered to speak up for themselves and not be shamed by their societies,”– Gehad concludes.

Dr. Ani Atanasova: Harnessing New Technologies to Enhance Communication, Education, and Entertainment

As the CEO of Pixelhunters, a global leader in 3D content, Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality, Metaverse, and game development, Dr. Ani Atanasova is well-versed in animation, 3D design, anamorphic content, and user interaction. With a Ph.D. in Quantum and Optoelectronics, she has been involved in research, teaching, and various patented projects in the EU pertaining to lasers, laser amplifiers, laser applications, and magnetic field management. She is on the advisory boards of several universities in the UAE and is the UAE correspondent for the Young Business Leaders France and chairwoman of the UAE Chapter of the International Game Developers Association. Additionally, she has been a judge for the International Business Awards, Stevie Awards, and “A Design” Awards. Dr. Ani is also a frequent speaker at conferences focusing on technology, women’s leadership, AR/VR, innovation, game design, and gamification.

We recently got the chance to sit down with Dr. Ani to learn more about how she is leading Pixelhunters to exceed customer expectations by binding future technology to their accomplished artists’ visual imagination and knowledge.

Below are the highlights of the interview:

Q) Ani Atanasova, first of all, thanks for your time from the suitcase of your busy schedule. Enlighten us, as a businesswoman, what was your mission at the outset?

Dr. Ani) “Pixelhunters is not just a business for me, but my life.” It is a label of love, not just because am passionate about the work, but also, I run the business with my husband Iliya Atanasov.

I came from a science background before Pixelhunters. The reason for shifting to the creative field is actually my husband. We are 24 years together; for him creating digital art is a passion, he started in the CGI field as a hobby that he turned into a profession. Almost 14 years ago, he convinced me that we could have an exciting journey with Pixelhunters, and thus the story begins.

We merged our interests, and expertise to build Pixelhunters. A lot of people are curious about the name – we hunt pixels to create beautiful things.

I am a very tenacious person that doesn’t give up easily at obstacles; my mission was and still is to make Pixelhunters a recognizable brand that stands out with quality that brings value to our customers. In the beginning, I had to learn fast about the industry, but I was motivated to introduce science into the art, which we successfully did.

Q) Shine some light on Pixelhunters. What are its key services/products?

Dr. Ani) We create content in any format – 2D, 3D, films, games, combined with any latest technology available – AR, VR, motion captures, sensors, screens, holograms, and robots, empowered by Data and science to create digital experiences that matter.

Q) What is the change you are bringing with your brand today? Tell us about the clientele that can benefit from Pixelhunters.

Dr. Ani) We bring immersion to businesses and education. Our mission is to excite the audience’s interactions with brands, creating experiences that attract, educate, and entertain at the same time. We work for governments, large corporations, and SMEs.

Q) Please enlighten us on how did you build your team.

Dr. Ani) Teams are the essence of any business. Pixelhunters is a family-owned business. My husband is the CTO and the creative director. Our team is more than work colleagues – it is our family. We accept our team’s strengths and differences; we are trying to work in harmony while always enjoying the creative process. Most of our team members are many years with us. For our business, creative portfolios are essential, but they are something easy to build. We value most ethical skills and loyalty; this is what we reward in team growth.

Q) How did you deal with the challenge of acceptance? What were the other challenges you overcame?

Dr. Ani) My first challenge with Pixelhunters was related to conveying to the market who we are. We built a top team of recognized artists; we have been creating award-winning videos, but then you realize quality is not enough. Developing a business is building your reputation – everything is important – quality, leadership, production speed, understanding the values of the countries you work in, pricing, competition, customer service, flexibility doing changes, and working on last-minute projects. In the challenging economy nowadays, more stuff is added to this list. Business is not given; it must be earned. It is not guaranteed that if the company is old, it will sustain itself forever. We need to add value to it every single day.

Q) What has been the development path of Pixelhunters?

Dr. Ani) We started as an animation & VFX company; we became the first indie game developer in the UAE. We were within the first designing AR & VR starting with the early developer versions of these technologies; we experiment with every new tech on the market to see how to make more exciting digital journeys. We have developed a couple of VR & AR platforms related to education & training. We have done hundreds of experiential marketing projects, and lately, we have been very much involved in metaverses (for clients and with our metaverse platform). Creating immersions for every industry with proven engagement has always been paving our path to the future.

Q) How is your company synchronizing with the latest advancements in 3D designs & animation?

Dr. Ani) We must constantly learn and follow the trends and the latest innovations. Most of our team members are engineers, so R&D is the essence of our success. Improving the speed of production while increasing the quality is our top priority. We are proud that we often work on projects many others don’t dare to accept due to impossible deadlines.

Q) If you were to answer a young female executive’s question, ‘How can I be a good leader?’, what would you advise?

Dr. Ani) Most important is to know yourself well – your strengths and your weaknesses. Amplify your skills every day, and don’t be afraid to fail. Learning for life should be your motto, and keep going if you believe your actions are valuable for you, your team, and your customers. Success doesn’t come overnight. It needs persistence and hard work. Thus with time, all your weaknesses will turn into strengths.

Q) What is so exclusive about Pixelhunters that has brought so much success to the company? What business/people problems have it successfully solved?

Dr. Ani) Some people work to live, while we live to work. We love so much the creative process and seeing how our efforts turn into beautiful content and experiences. We do not perceive work as something we must do because it pays the bills. We accept every project as a challenge, and we always try to put ourselves into our client’s shoes, understand their pain points and align with their goals. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing our clients happy with the projects we did together and especially seeing our work in use for many years. Nowadays, there is so much content around us that sometimes it takes effort to focus. Must have outstanding quality, idea, something different, unseen before. Making the content interactive involves users in personalized experiences that they tend to memorize longer.

We are also well-known in the educational field, especially in game-based learning and gamification. The power of games is that they make people follow the rules voluntarily to achieve a game goal, so we use that as an advantage to make learning more fun, engaging, and lasting. We are leaders in multiplayer learning based on competition or collaboration to speed up studying, saving time and effort. We have our own game-based multiplayer platform, as well as our own metaverse, to experience learning and team interactions even better.

Q) What are your views on women’s entrepreneurship?

Dr. Ani) Women are less risk-takers, but women-led businesses are proven more sustainable in the long run. Women have more patience in achieving long-term goals, hearing often, and dealing with the “NO” word, and I believe this comes naturally from our motherhood.

I often speak worldwide about women entrepreneurs, women in technology, and women leaders, and I feel happy to witness and meet the growing number of great women professionals with successful businesses.

Q) Please highlight the achievements and accolades attained by the Company by far.

Dr. Ani) We have worked on several platforms that are worldwide innovations. For example, a VR platform for visualizing youth’s future; another is a unique hazard perception training and testing platform that evaluates driver’s performance to hazards in real-time; and the other is an AR-enabled multiplayer learning platform. We also created hundreds of game-based marketing & awareness tools, many immersive rooms & experiences, and we made a giant step into the metaverse last year for client projects and our own.

Barbara Amerio: Helping Clients Sail Away to a World of Luxury and Adventure

Fernando Amerio founded the Permare Group in 1973 to provide marine services to the expanding Ligurian customers and the nearby Côte d’Azur. Later in the 1990s, the Permare Shipyard began producing boats under the brand name “Amer Yachts,” which would later become synonymous with quality and customization in the boats and ships segment. The Permare Group is a family business led by its founder Fernando Amerio and his children, Barbara and Rodolfo. In the last 40 years, the shipyard has created over 90 custom-built yachts for Italian and foreign customers. Amer Yachts have been exported to the United States, the Far East, the Middle East, and Arab countries. The shipyard also facilitates yearly training by partnering with several universities, including Bocconi, Istituto Marangoni, IED – European Institute of Design, and IAAD – Italian University of Design to stimulate growth, innovation, and research in design and, most importantly, educate upcoming designers about the significance of integrating environmental awareness into their designs. We recently got a chance to sit with Barbara Amerio, the SPP Ambassador of the Permare Group, to learn how the organization serves its clients with its luxury products.

Below are the highlights of the interview

Q) Please tell us about your professional journey.

Superyacht building is a fascinating work of creativity, innovation, and technology for a unique handmade good strong enough to survive decades at sea and under the sun. Italians are at the top of the industry, and our company is at the top of the list for semi-custom superyachts in composite and steel.

Q) Please tell us about Permare Company and how it is serving its clients.

They are exceptional, sophisticated, and talented businesswomen and men with previous experiences in yachting and with professional crews. Both want the best and agree with our theory to prefer a limited production for saving the high quality and the detailed finishes. This fact permits a plus value in case of reselling.

Q) How do you motivate creativity and innovation in the workspace while maintaining a healthy work environment?

With healthy competition, our shipyard incentivizes and invests in the human factor to grow our workers’ skills. It helps competent and specialized people become comfortable and ready to face new challenges and find unusual solutions and new ideas for Ameryacht’s product development and company strategy

Q) Please share the pandemic’s effect on the shipyard.

It was like an invisible war. We protected all the workers, giving assistance and free health insurance coverage just in case of covid illness for them and their families. We have worked for several months only remotely. Some activities have remained on for granting base services. Casually I have spent a few months living on board due to a home change, which has permitted me to discover the boat as a private and safe place. After the first covid wave, many people did the same thinking. Boat = freedom+ health place+ oxygen. This is the best explication for the new after covid boom in yachting, coming back to being close to nature and giving the right weight to actual values, like life, family, and a holistic vision, never seen the same in the past.

Q) What are the primary challenges of the industry? How are you tackling those?

Good question. In the past, profit was the primary factor used to assess a company’s performance, but now the focus has shifted in the opposite direction. Profit is viewed as a result of a company’s actions and ability to propose well-defined and targeted strategies toward stakeholders and shareholders. ESG goals serve as the roadmap for the future. Building a reputable image is crucial and cannot be purchased, as it can greatly impact a company’s ability to sell its products and services. Our clients adopt similar principles in their own companies, seeking to purchase ethical products with added value.

Q) What milestones and achievements are you most proud of today?

We are growing fast. We have obtained excellent multi-awarded results to be shared along 50 years of activity and more than 90 units sold and under construction. Thanks to our confident customers, we contribute to building their best time and holidays. We recognize that the time our customers spend with us is invaluable, and as a result, we hold a great responsibility to ensure their safety and sustainability while reducing consumption, emissions, water, and energy. We invest in various fields to bring innovation and collaborate closely with our suppliers to achieve this.

Q) What are your priorities for 2023 and beyond?

We are working on new projects and testing basalt fibers to create a new recyclable composite. We have nine semi-custom superyachts under construction, and we are actively pursuing several potential deals to expand the Amer community

Q) Give us a piece of advice that you would share with entrepreneurs just starting out.

To create a strong reputation is important to keep the word and create a smart team. Make your story a good example, and be part of the change by actions for a new sustainable world.

Eric Wong: Making Healthcare Accessible for Everyone

Meet Eric Wong, the Chief Marketing and Partnerships Distribution Officer of Prudential Assurance Malaysia Berhad (PAMB), a Malaysia-based leading and innovative insurance company, serving the savings, protection, and investment needs of Malaysians by offering a full range of financial solutions through its branches, agency force, and bancassurance distribution partners network across Malaysia.

Prudential’s purpose is to help people to get most out of their lives by making healthcare affordable and accessible, protecting people’s wealth, growing their assets, and empowering them to save for their goals. Founded in 1924, the organization has been around for nearly a century and is looking forward to being around for many more years to provide value for its customers- as a relevant, accessible, and inclusive insurance protection to all Malaysians. Prudential takes pride in itself as the most trusted life partner for health and protection solutions, the two key pillars that help its clients to live confidently.

With Malaysia facing 12% medical inflation, Prudential is actively educating Malaysians on the importance of medical and critical illness protection. In order to help Malaysians navigate through this, Prudential provides the best medical coverage that grows with the customer to ensure they get adequate protection throughout their lives. The organization also rewards its clients who have a claim-free year with a no claim benefit feature.

The Steadfast Leader

Eric completed his graduation from University Malaya with a major in Accounting. He started his career with a global FMCG brand, where he had the opportunity to hold both local and regional senior roles, covering the APAC market. Later in 2011, he moved into banking and started working with one of the world’s premier consumer banks.

Presently, as the Chief Marketing & Partnerships Distribution Officer for Prudential in Malaysia, Eric is responsible for the equity of the Prudential brand, ensuring in-depth understanding of our customers by delivering best in class products and services in various customer segments and driving the bancassurance business in Malaysia, in partnership with UOB and Standard Charted Bank in Malaysia.

A Customer-Centric Organization

“If I had to list my greatest accomplishments in Prudential, it would be how we truly understand our customers and use this insight to design our solutions and services that are centered on their needs,” Eric explained. “This purpose, to help people get the most out of life, also drives our CSR commitment to ensure underserved families and children can achieve financial resilience and peace of mind.”

Understanding Customers and Delivering on their Needs: As a forward-thinking company, Prudential knows that technology is the future and launched its AI-powered health and financial well-being app- Pulse by Prudential, in 2019. This app is crucial to Prudential’s multi-channel strategy to make healthcare more accessible and increase financial inclusion. It provides users access to services like health check, online doctor consultation to help them better manage their health needs, and digital wealth tools to make financial decisions simpler.
Products and Solutions Designed Around Customer Needs and Interests: Financial protection is not a top priority for most in Malaysia. Young Malaysians between 25-34 are least covered for health emergencies or the death of a partner, as they claim insurance is difficult to understand. This prompted Prudential to find compelling ways that resonate with young Malaysians on the need for financial protection. It eventually led to the launch of Prudential’s first standalone critical illness solution, PRUMy Critical Care, through which the organization wanted to raise the fact that critical illness protection is becoming more prevalent, and starting your journey on CI protection when young is essential. It deep-dived into specific challenges that young Malaysians were facing, their needs and wants from critical illness protection, and ways to articulate the content, which sparked their curiosity to find out more. It eventually prompted Prudential to take a bold step and collaborate with local influencers, who are also cancer survivors, to share their stories light-heartedly. This message instantly captured the young generation’s attention, as they could relate to the influencers, who they view as everyday people just like them.
Building Financial Resilience for Underserved Families and Children: Prudential also takes pride in its community investment to help Malaysians Building Financial Resilience for Underserved Families and Children: Prudential also takes pride in its community investment to help Malaysians.

Putting Customers at Heart

Prudential’s solutions and offerings are designed to keep customers’ best interests in mind. It is one of the first insurers to offer protection from 14 gestational weeks to medical solutions with auto increasing annual limit and a critical illness plan that covers mental health.

“We are one of the first insurers who launched a Total Pandemic Protection plan, so customers had enhanced protection during the pandemic. Today, customers will automatically enjoy Total Pandemic Protection when they sign up for any medical plans so they can live confidently during turbulent times,”- Eric said. “We recently launched a comprehensive 5-in-1 protection plan – PRUFirst that is tailored to Gen Zs who seek simple and easy-to-understand solutions. This solution provides Medical, Accident, Life/ Total Permanent Disability (TPD), and Payor benefits to protect Gen Zs against the financial impact of unexpected life events.”

Beyond providing the best-in-class protection plan, Prudential also started its digital transformation journey several years ago. When the pandemic first hit the country, it immediately pivoted its services to digital platforms to stay operational with minimal disruption. This includes facilities like e-claims, e-endorsements, and e-submissions. Additionally, the organization has launched the NextGen Underwriting Engine to perform a real-time risk assessment to shorten the policy application processing time. It constantly engages with its dedicated and committed agents, who are at the forefront as they continuously engage with current and potential customers.

Increasing Awareness

Eric believes although the awareness regarding the importance of insurance is rising, the take-up rate has remained the same for the last five years. As a member of the industry, Prudential will play an active role in educating its audience and developing more solutions and offerings in line with the market needs to protect more Malaysians.

It also intends to empower Malaysians with the knowledge to make informed financial decisions. In order to achieve that, Prudential has made concerted efforts to increase financial literacy through its financial education programs that start with children and are extended to youth and adults from underprivileged communities.

Looking at the Future

“By living our purpose of helping people get the most out of life – we remain steadfast in our commitment to making healthcare affordable, protecting our customer’s wealth, and growing their assets.”- Eric said.

In the future, Prudential will continue to provide the best health and protection solutions to meet its customers’ changing needs and to offer seamless customer experience through its new digital capabilities.

Redbot Security: Simulating Real-World Attacks Before they Become Real

Based in Denver, Colorado, Redbot Security is a boutique penetration testing firm with a Sr. Level Team of cybersecurity experts. The entire team of Redbot Security is passionate about delivering cost-effective solutions that consider customers’ goals and priorities first. Redbot’s innovative penetration techniques and strong knowledge of evolving security trends allow the company to effectively identify exploitable vulnerabilities in even the most complex systems. Each member of the engineering team has a wide range of system knowledge and skills, which enables the boutique firm to deliver unparalleled service. Redbot’s immensely expert team of engineers has the ability to test applications, IoT, IT networks, and OT networks, helping their clients secure and protect their critical systems and data. Redbot Security serves a wide range of clients, from Utilities to Manufacturing.

The Inception Story

Redbot was founded by developer Brian Stearns, who also created and launched the hospitality’s first connected VRML virtual tours in 1997. It included exclusive partnerships with some of the largest hotel brands. The pioneer product was the industry’s first 3-party virtual display platform, making it onto Travelocity and Expedia and changing how people booked hotels. Throughout his career, Stearns was instrumental in marketing and deploying various structured, aligned campaigns that have increased brand equity for multiple firms. Eventually, in 2016, Stearns recognized that the Penetration Testing Industry had a primarily legacy company-dominated mindset focused on ‘churn-and-burn’- style engagements, while many organizations leveraged inaccessible engineers outside of the U.S. So, in 2018, Stearns launched his own boutique penetration testing firm, Redbot Security.

Solving a Few of the Most Complex Issues

Brian Stearns developed his product and brand from the ground up to solve some of the industry’s most complex issues. Under his leadership, Redbot Security has achieved 200% growth during the last few years. The company has helped several fortune 500 companies and critical infrastructure clients while still servicing and supporting the SMB market.

Stearns is a hands-on entrepreneur who tirelessly works on finetuning the machine and ensuring that customers receive the industry’s best experience. Additionally, he focuses on keeping his team healthy and happy so they can enjoy the dynamic nature of work. A family-first environment is a priority, and the Redbot team continues to exceed expectations.

Now with the promotion of Andrew Bindner as Redbot Security’s Chief Security Officer (CSO), the organization has created industry-leading manual penetration testing. Andrew has developed Redbot Security’s team, helping to define new standards that will drive the next generation of security. He holds over two decades of hands-on security experience leading teams on highly technical engagements for a wide range of commercial and government organizations in IT and OT security, starting from network and web application security to reverse engineering of embedded devices and vehicles.

Andrew is also skilled in developing policies, procedures, and communications plans that have transitioned into new service offerings. He is an active security community leader/member who has developed Redbot Security’s penetration testing methodologies, security policies, attack tools, social engineering tactics, and application and IoT testing guidance.

Keeping Employees at the Forefront

In contrast to the cyber security industry, which struggles to find and retain top cybersecurity experts, Redbot Security has actually grown, creating an internal culture that prioritizes employee health, well being, offering competitive pay, flexible PTO, Full Medical and Auxiliary Benefits on start date, dynamic work, and most importantly, an opportunity to learn from the industry’s top engineers. Considering a very crowded, demanding calendar, Redbot Security’s culture has been designed to mitigate burnout. The organization offers flexible schedules so workers can prioritize their personal lives without worrying about losing their jobs or getting bad reviews when they experience life events, family crises, or health-related concerns.

Arivuvel Ramu: Spearheading Asia’s First Next-Gen Financial Experience Platform

Any conversation about South-East Asia is incomplete without talking about the blue-collar or gig workers. Every year thousands of workers and laborers migrate from countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Srilanka, Philippines to other countries in the Middle East and South- East Asia for a better livelihood. Once getting their job in those countries, these blue-collar workers send a part of their earnings in the form of cash or goods to support their families back home. These transfers are mostly known as migrant remittances, which are multiplying over the past few years, and now represent the largest source of foreign income for several developing countries.

However, it’s tough to estimate the amount of remittance flow each year, as most of them occur in unofficial channels. In most cases, unofficial channels don’t provide real-time funds transfers, and the amount gets settled periodically through a commercial bank. In several poor households, remittance may buy essential goods, healthcare, and education. In wealthier families, remittance may provide capital for starting a business. Sadly, most of these Blue Collar workers are either unserved or underserved by most of the legacy banks, which makes it impossible to improve their standard of living.

So, Arivuvel Ramu, a serial entrepreneur, founded Inypay, a Singapore-based fintech startup, to shake the digital transformation for the financial service industry by providing the best-in-class, API-driven, cost-effective, cloud-native, next-generation financial experience platform, and digital banking as a service platform over a Managed SaaS model.

Micro-lending, domestic payments, e-wallets, remittances, micro insurance, and customized group savings are the primary areas of concentration for Inypay. Presently the fintech startup employs over 30 employees in Singapore, Vietnam, and India and has plans to expand across five countries in South-East Asia.

The Steadfast Leader

Inypay’s CEO and Founder, Arivuvel Ramu, is a veteran industry leader with over two decades of tech industry expertise. He has led digital transformation programs for banks across South-East Asia, the Middle East, and North America. Arivuvel has spearheaded projects with DBS, UOB, Maybank, OCBC, Axis Bank, Citi India, Union Bank, China Bank, Bank Danamon, MAB, and NDB. He is also the mastermind behind Tonik Digital Bank, Philippines’ first neobank. During his time at Tonik, Arivuvel was responsible for concept and implementation, managing both the group and local banking entities and enabling Tonik’s growth to more than a billion USD.

Establishing the Company

Being a serial entrepreneur, Arivuvel recognized that none of the current solutions in the market cater to the needs of blue-collar workers, foreign domestic workers, and micro-SMEs in Southeast Asia.

“Inypay is Asia’s first next-gen financial experience platform (Neobank) which improves the underserved and unserved people in SEA and empowers women and micro SMEs.”

So, he decided to create a financial institution that could help improve the lives of the underserved and unbanked in South East Asia with a next-generation digital platform providing them with hyper-personalized financial experiences and digital-only products & services, which led to the inception of Inypay in December 2021.

Path Breaking Services

Under Arivuvel’s leadership, Inypay is entirely focused on three segments (Retail Mass affluent and emerging affluent, Blue-collars, and MicroSMEs). For Retail customers, the fintech company provides Digital Onboarding and eKYC automation, Micro Lending, Payments, Micro Insurance, Personalized savings and communal Savings, Cards, Wallets, and Realtime Remittance. For tourists, it provides Wallets and Cards, Seamless remittance/payments services. And for SMEs, Inypay provides Working Capital and Invoice financing services.Inypay’s lending process is driven through its state-of-the-art in-house intent-driven alternate credit scoring to tab the underserved/unserved markets with its unique decision engine algorithms.

Asian Business Environment

Arivuvel believes the Asian market desperately needs a reliable place to save and access their money, quickly send money to a loved one in their home country, get emergency cash in real-time, access reliable insurance and working capital, and invoice financing for Micro SMEs.

Looking at the Future

Inypay is now all set for the Inypay Singapore pilot launch in Q2 2023, Inypay Philippines pilot launch (Rural bank) in Q4 2023, and SME (invoice financing / digital onboarding) in Q2 2024.

“We are targeting to launch a neobank in Dec 2023. It will generate USD 200m revenue by 2026 with an 8m customer base and a USD 2b valuation,”– stated Arivuvel.

Dr. Aspi N. Patel: A Steadfast Leader Pioneering Innovation

Dr. Aspi N. Patel is an accomplished leader with over three decades of international experience leading various technical, manufacturing, and tech marketing functions in the global textile, chemical, and flooring markets, building products, filtration, and aerospace industries. He has held leadership positions in organizations like GE, DuPont, and Invista and is the present CTO of Aditya Birla Group Mumbai. During his three-decade-long career, Dr. Patel has demonstrated his ability to lead and mentor cross-functional teams with the responsibility of research, development, and commercialization of new products, processes, operations, quality, and customer technical services.

He has developed a reputation for excellence while dealing with various stakeholders thanks to his ability to lead and mentor international cross-functional teams with responsibility for technological development and commercialization of new products, processes, engineering, and manufacturing. Dr. Patel is proficient in developing technology, vision, and strategy, recognizing emerging industry trends, and identifying competitive threats and acquisition opportunities.

Dr. Patel has received several awards and accolades during his long and illustrious career. In 2015, he received the Chairman’s Award for Outstanding Leader; most recently, in 2019, he received the prestigious Aditya Birla Group’s Leader of Leaders Award for his immense contributions to shaping the organization’s technology strategies and for the lasting impact of his leadership.

The Leading Textile Manufacturer

Grasim Industries Limited, a flagship company of the global conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, ranks amongst the top publicly listed companies in India. Established in 1947, Grasim started its journey as a textile manufacturer in India. Now, it has evolved into a leading diversified player with a presence across several sectors. It is a leading global producer of Viscose Stape Fibre and Viscose Filament Yarn, the largest Chlor-Alkali, Epoxy, Linen Yarn, and Fabrics in India.

Recently a team of fiber experts at Birla Cellulose, a unit of Grasim Industries Limited and Australia-based leading research and development company, Nanollose, has filed a joint patent application for a high-tenacity lyocell fiber made from bacterial cellulose.

The patent application, titled ‘High Tenacity Lyocell Fibres From Bacterial Cellulose and Method of Preparation,’ represents a significant advancement over Nanollose’s previous viscose versions of nullarbor™ and nufolium™.

“It is potentially a path-breaking innovation that can replace some of the current MMCF feedstock with microbial biomass developed from food and agricultural waste. Birla Cellulose filed a joint patent with Nanollose, where we successfully converted microbial biomass to a high-tenacity lyocell fiber. We are now exploring pathways to scale up this technology from food and agriwaste streams,“- said Dr. Patel.

Pioneering Environmental Control Technologies

Birla Cellulose’s approach involves the development of innovative solutions to increase circularity, resource efficiency and minimize environmental footprint. For example, Birla Cellulose’s work on chemical recovery from waste streams has led to the development of a new membrane distillation process that can use up to 50% less energy than the existing process, which has a significant impact on lowering GHG emissions. There is also a new process in development for recovering low-concentration zinc from waste streams and recycling it back into the process. Over the past few years, the organization’s intense focus on recycling has reduced chemical consumption by an annualized rate of 5% to 7%.

Birla Cellulose is the first manmade cellulosic fiber (MMCF) producer to have achieved Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) in the viscose and lyocell process. Although MMCF manufacturing is water-intensive, Birla Cellulose has become a global leader regarding the lowest water consumption per ton of cellulosic fiber. At one of its plants, Birla Cellulose recently completed a Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD) project that essentially eliminated all liquid discharge. This is an entirely new development, as no existing ZLD technology was available to treat viscose and lyocell effluent along with high organic and inorganic content, dissolved solids, and hardness. Birla Cellulose has also developed and commercialized the process in a way that the salts extracted from ZLD are of sufficient purity for reuse in industrial applications.

Building a Sustainable World

Grasim and Birla Cellulose’s business strategy and organizational culture are both fundamentally based on sustainability. They have a long-term commitment to building a sustainable business that is in line with their sustainability model, which is based on identifying risks and opportunities, mitigating risks, inclusive growth of all their stakeholders, building transparency in the process, and public disclosure of commitments.

Future Aspirations

As a global conglomerate, Aditya Birla Group is governed by a robust set of unifying values with a vision of creating value for all stakeholders. The organization seeks to be a leader in the industries it serves, with a focus on the following;

Excellence in Quality
Sustainability across the value chain – Implementing measures to continuously improve consumption ratios, reduce water usage and greenhouse gas emissions.
Customer centricity- Understanding customer expectations and obligations to convert them into meaningful long-term partnerships for shared benefits and goals.
Responsible governance- Creating sustainable employment, stimulating economic growth, and creating positive value for all our stakeholders, including investors, customers, employees, surrounding communities, and society at large.

“In today’s globally connected world, new ideas and innovations come from all corners of the world at a continually accelerating pace. Scientists and engineers need to be open and flexible in absorbing new knowledge and learning to apply it in different ways to develop new products and more efficient processes. I believe in Edison’s motto of not inventing or developing things that won’t sell since “sale is proof of utility and utility is a success,”– said Dr. Patel.

Joanne de Guzman Rico: A Marketing Trailblazer to look out for in 2023 Despite many challenges, this marketer built and turned-around brands from zero to hero

Meet Joanne de Guzman Rico, the Head of Marketing at Salma Rehabilitation Hospital, which is part of SEHA – the largest network of government medical facilities in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

A Story of an Empowered Woman

Joanne de Guzman Rico is a story of an empowered woman who is rising above adversity. From humble beginnings in Manila, she has gone a long way from her first job to now a truly inspiring global professional.

A consistent A-student, Joanne believes that having a strong academic foundation will serve as a springboard to success. Armed with resilience, grit, and ambition, she did not let poverty define her future so she studied very hard to earn scholarships. Her mother’s and family’s sacrifices became her inspiration and her drive to achieve more. She dedicated all her time and effort to complete each school year with academic and special awards so she could maintain her scholarship and help finance her education. In 1999, she graduated Valedictorian with 7 other academic, extracurricular, and special awards. She then took Bachelor of Arts, Major in Philosophy at the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy in the University of the Philippines – Diliman, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude.

Right after graduation, she joined Globe Telecom where she started her career as a Sales Administrative Associate, then later as a Customer Service Associate. While working at Globe, she received awards and special recognition from the company. In 2005, she joined Ministop Philippines as a Franchise Marketing Officer – her first break in Marketing. Despite not having a formal education in the field of Marketing, she won the Rookie of the Year Award on her 6th month in Ministop. On her 7th month, and only at age 23 then, she was handpicked by top management and was promoted to Advertising and Promotions Manager, where she headed a 7-person team and managed the main brand with a chain of over 250 stores. Joanne was mentored by one of the Philippine’s business tycoons, and was trained at Ministop’s Head Quarters in Tokyo, Japan so she could learn, replicate, and implement the core brand strategy in the local business arena.

In 2009, Al-Ahli Hospital – the largest private premium hospital in Doha, Qatar, took Joanne and later appointed her as the organization’s Marketing Executive. She was the first Filipino woman to officially breakthrough the space of healthcare marketing in Qatar.

In 2012, Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, UAE took Joanne as part of its pioneer team, where her main task was to introduce the brand in the emirate and grow its market share in the capital, within the country, and within the region. In the inception and growth stages of Burjeel, Joanne single-handedly managed all marketing campaigns of the brand across all platforms. She was awarded Burjeel Star Employee in 2013 and was recognized as Burjeel Star during Burjeel’s 2nd Annual Day in 2014. In 2015, Joanne was promoted to Senior Marketing Executive and a year later, she became the Assistant Marketing Manager of the brand, where she managed the PR communications and corporate events verticals of the brand.

In April 2018, Joanne joined NMC Healthcare – the largest private healthcare company in the UAE. NMC acquired Bareen International Hospital, which has been on negative profitability for 3 years since it started its operations. In less than a year after Joanne joined the company as the Marketing and Sales Manager, Bareen started growing patient volume and began gaining profits. As a result, the hospital expanded by adding more clinics, doctors, and beds to capture the continuous rise of patient footfall in its outpatient and inpatient departments. Joanne became the first Filipino woman in the leadership team of Bareen and played a significant role in the milestone that became a feather on the hat of both Bareen and NMC. Due to this breakthrough, NMC stepped up business expansion plans, acquired more medical centers in Abu Dhabi and winged each of them under Bareen Management team – which is now grouped as a cluster. In less than two years, Bareen Cluster has grown from managing one to eight medical facilities. In the same speed, Joanne was promoted to Head of Marketing and Sales of the cluster. She spearheaded functions related to Marketing and Business Development – from brand positioning to increasing brand awareness and growing brand loyalty to the facility, from increasing footfall to generating revenue and raising profitability for each medical facility.

In August 2022, Salma Rehabilitation Hospital under SEHA, took Joanne and posted her as Head of Marketing.

An Advocate of Children’s Right to Education

Joanne’s greatest dream is to serve, give back, and be an instrument of change in the community. Having experienced it herself, she has a strong personal advocacy on the right of children to access education, especially the underprivileged segment. She has been a resilient sponsor of World Vision Philippines for 17 years and has been supporting many children together with their families and their communities in depressed areas of her home country. While working at Ministop Philippines, she launched the World Vision Coin Bank campaign across all Ministop stores. She opened doors to introduce World Vision’s Child Sponsorship Program to JG Summit employees and Ministop franchisees. Her commitment towards the cause prompted her to be one of the pro bono organizers of the event and to host the program. Currently, Joanne is one of the ambassadors and spokespersons of World Vision Philippines overseas.

In order to inspire other Filipino women to rise to the challenge no matter the circumstance and break glass ceilings, Joanne wrote a book chapter about her journey which was published in Disrupt 4.0 Filipina Women: BEING – The Fourth Book on Leadership by the Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network. The book was launched at the Gremio Literario in Lisbon, Portugal in November 2022.

Awards and Accolades

During her 18-year career, Joanne has received numerous awards and recognitions for her accomplishments. In 2017, she was recognized and awarded as the Marketing and Advertising Professional of the Year by The Filipino Times, a glitterati red-carpet event held in honor of exemplary Filipinos overseas. In 2018, Joanne was one of the nominees for the Search for Huwarang OFW, organized by 700 Club Asia through one of the biggest TV networks in the Philippines: GMA 7. In 2020, she was named as one of the Thought Leaders in Illustrado’s 300 Most Influential Filipinos in the Gulf, Legacy Edition. In 2021, Joanne was recognized as one of the Most Influential Filipina Women in the WorldTM by a US-based non-profit organization, Foundation for Filipina Women’s Network. She was the only awardee from the Middle East during that year. In 2022, she received an award for Outstanding Leadership during the Health 2.0 Conference in Dubai, UAE.

Joanne’s journey in large, multicultural organizations was and is not a walk in the park. The struggles are real and are most of the time, daunting. Breaking stereotypes of nationality and gender roles in the workplace is still an existing unspoken issue. Bringing with her core values such as faith, hard work, dedication, passion, and resilience, Joanne rose to the challenge, and trail-blazed with pride and confidence in the international arena.

ICL South America: Creating a Sustainable Future

Meet Gustavo Vasques, the CEO of ICL South America, a pioneer in specialty minerals with a focus on cutting-edge and long-lasting approaches to plant nutrition, animal nutrition, and the provision of raw materials for the fertilizer industry. ICL’s distinctive combination of natural resources, personnel, and technological innovation applied to the particular requirements in countries where it conducts business impacts the growth of production and food quality, permits sustainability in agriculture and industry, and aids in environmental protection.

Born in São Paulo City, Gustavo has a degree in Business Administration, with an MBA in Business Administration from the Business School São Paulo and extension courses at the University of Toronto – Rotman School of Management and Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management. From November 2017 to 2021, Gustavo presided over the South American operations of Compass Minerals, where he was responsible for aligning and developing the company’s businesses – agriculture, plant nutrition and physiology, animal nutrition, water treatment, and chemicals for industrial processes – in Brazil and other places. With the acquisition by ICL in the same year, Gustavo eventually became the company’s CEO in South America.

A True Global Leader

Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, ICL(Israel Chemicals Companhia) is a global leader leveraging its unique resources and technological capabilities to develop impactful and sustainable plant nutrition and physiology solutions. With more than 12,500 employees worldwide, 38 production sites in 13 countries, and 24 Research and Development Centers including 3 in Brazil. In 2021, ICL reached revenues of approximately US$ 6.95 billion globally.

Currently, the company controls ICL, Aminoagro, Dimicron, and Maximus in South America. Its agricultural business portfolio now includes enhanced efficiency and gradual release fertilizers, soil and foliar micronutrients, secondary macronutrients, seed regulation, treatment and supplementation, soil and spray conditioners, adjuvants, and products for animal nutrition and industry.

Tackling Society’s Primary Challenges

“ICL understands that, in order to advance effectively, quickly, and towards society’s main challenges, it needs to work beyond the company’s walls, that is, in partnership with universities, academia, entrepreneurs, and startups. This world of agtechs is full of brilliant minds who are developing a series of projects that, associated with our efforts, can collaborate a lot so that we can achieve our challenges,”– said Gustavo

ICL’s obsession with innovation led to the introduction of the “ICL Planet Hub,” which is a platform that links these bright minds to think about the future. ICL has been leveraging this partnership to interact with entrepreneurs in Brazil and throughout the world through the Brazilian Agtech Garage, situated in Piracicaba, a city in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo. Still, from a Global point of view, ICL has two exceptional companies: Agmatix and Growers, which provide solutions in the digital field.

“When we combine startups with established companies, we have a positive combination of structure, capital, proximity to the market, and capillarity with entrepreneurs and good projects and scientists. So, the main way to connect to the objectives and challenges companies have been trying to solve is to present projects and purposes for this target audience. In our case, we have a platform to receive this information and contacts from the agri-techs with which we will relate to connecting our objectives and the projects of these entrepreneurs,”– Gustavo stated.

Tools Transforming the Agritech Industry

There are several tools aimed at digital agriculture to capture and process data in a much better way. Since agriculture is a very technological segment, rural producers make countless daily decisions regarding technologies and their positioning. On the other hand are the researchers and the academia, who generate information daily. Data to connect these two environments in an increasingly less empirical way is extremely essential. So, satellites, artificial intelligence, machine learning, drones, and rapid diagnostic tools are necessary for this direction.

Tackling the Pandemic

COVID caused impacts of different natures, including digital acceleration on farms. Not as a replacement for human presence in the field but as a process and communication facilitator. So, in that period, ICL witnessed an acceleration in the digitization of agriculture. Another important point is that in a pandemic period, perceptions regarding the quality of life and health gained other proportions, which are entirely linked to what we eat, that is, also opening new paths and opportunities for agtechs.

Awards and Accolades

ICL has been intensively dedicated to corporate governance, innovation, and sustainability. In addition to increasing the productivity of the field, ICL has received the More Integrity Seal (an award from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, and Supply to agribusiness companies for good integrity practices) from the Ministry of Agriculture for four consecutive years. It was also recognized as one of the most innovative companies in agribusiness by the Valor Inovação prize for two successive years and as one of the 5 Best Agro Companies in Brazil by EXAME Business Review.

“When we talk about increased productivity, we are very proud to see our customers standing out in national contests with soy and corn crops and quality in coffee.”– said Gustavo

Looking at the Future

ICL invests 52 million USD yearly, with innovation at the forefront. With three research centers in Brazil and 24 research centers worldwide, ICL aspires to bring satisfaction to its customers while being linked to a sustainability agenda. Annually, ICL brings new technologies and services and reinforces its commitment to continue in this direction.

“We see ICL growing with our customers and the communities we are in, following our commitment to innovation, pioneering responsibility, and sustainability. We will be active members of this agriculture and society of the future,”– stated Gustavo.

Andrew Stotter Brooks: A Global Leader with a Human Vision

Meet Andrew Stotter Brooks, the Vice President of Learning and Development for Etihad Airways, an international airline based in Abu-Dhabi, providing service to hundreds of destinations in 74 countries. As the Vice President of Learning and Development, Etihad Aviation Group, Andrew leads the creation of innovative, leading-edge learning solutions to support the development, growth and performance of Etihad’s incredible employees.

Andrew started his career in a small hotel in Dorset and learned the Art of Service in a variety of hotels on the south coast of England. In 1985 he joined Berni Inns, where he was tasked with the daily operational running of restaurants and Public Houses with Grand metropolitan in London. In 1987, he moved to Bass Hotels as an Operations Director and handled the daily operation of three small Hotels on the Southeast coast of the UK in 1992, Andrew joined the London YMCA as Hostel Manager, where he ran a multi-unit operation with over 200 bedrooms, restaurants, a children’s activity center, and a gym with a large after-school service and outreach programs for the broader community around London. In September 1995, Andrew joined TGI Fridays in Leicester Square, Central London.

In 1998, he joined Pinnacle Health Clubs now Nuffield Health as a Training/Recruitment Manager, responsible for the training department’s conception, creation and leadership development strategies. In 2003, Andrew joined Hilton Hotels Corporation and looked after the development of 16,000 team members across the 8 Hilton Brands in the UK and Ireland with a primary focus on Performance Management, Guest Service and Leadership Development. After serving Hilton for more than seven years, Andrew joined Carnival Australia, where he worked in partnership with the Regional HR Directors and the People and the Performance teams to provide specialist training and development advice and support to the South Pacific fleet. In 2011, Andrew joined Kout Food Group and it’s family of brands including Pizza Hut and Burger King in Kuwait in 2011 as Head of Learning and Development then in 2013 joined M.H. Alshaya Co. as Head of Learning and Development, where he was responsible for providing field education and development to thousands of leaders and team Members across the MENA region — supporting and developing learning and human capital for over 90 world class retail and restaurant brands, including Starbucks, the Body Shop, Harvey Nichols, H&M, Muji, the Cheesecake Factory, PF Changs and Foot Locker in 19 Countries, ultimately joining Etihad Aviation Group as Vice President Learning and Development in August 2019.

Tackling the Pandemic

Six months into his role and with growing numbers of coronavirus cases and travel bans around the globe, Andrew formed an online community to share knowledge and daily updates that connected teams around his network to keep communication human. Thousands of employees joined to listen to and enjoy, regular updates from fascinating people and famous guests. Daily video recordings of conversations quickly morphed into a weekly podcast.

“We’ve competed 135 episodes of the World Class Wednesday Webinar (WCWW); it’s been a fascinating and insightful journey. We’ve had an amazing time thanks to all of the incredible and brilliant guests that have joined us.”– he explained.

Advice for future talent

“It’s difficult to avoid hard work. But aspiring leaders should also think about their legacy and the value they add to the people they lead. Never underestimate the importance of understanding what the person in front of you needs, keep it human. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. People will never forget how you make them feel. All humans need four things from each other. Respect, Acknowledgment, to be Heard and ultimately Remembered.”

“Never underestimate the power of strong eye contact and a smile. Two, focus on a genuine, warm welcome. Three, a friendly offer of assistance, How can I help you today? What do you need from me? Four, follow up with additional offers of help and a personal introduction, for example ‘my name is Andrew if you ever need anything from me just ask! Finally offer a fond and sincere farewell.