Exclusive Interview Archives

Mário Leite da Silva: Assisting Clients in their Specific Business Problems

Mário Leite da Silva began his career in the banking industry and the assurance division of one of the Big 4 corporations. He has twenty-five years of experience, 15 of which were spent in top management positions with numerous industrial companies, business family offices, and financial institutions in several nations, including several listed companies on the stock exchange.

Mário was also an experienced university and post-university planning and management control professor until February 2020 and a member of the General and Supervisory Board of Porto Business School till April 2019. Mário also has extensive experience as a member of risk, audit, finance, and remuneration committees.

In 2020, Mário realized it was the right moment to launch his consulting project with an unequivocal and differentiated market position focused on value creation for his clients and not a mass market consulting company fighting on daily rates and with junior consultants. This led to the launch of PTCG, an independent management consultancy boutique that assists clients in their specific business problems related to planning, management, and control, change management, strategic planning, corporate finance, restructuring, project management, and specific challenges arising from family businesses. PTCG has the skills of a large management consulting company without its cost structure, so the company believes it can offer a highly competitive proposal with total flexibility to its client’s needs.

Rethinking the Way of Doing Business

PTCG operates in a reasonably relaxed work environment, and its team members get along well with each other. As part of its process of rethinking how it does business, the organization also promotes the introduction of fresh ideas and carefully considers each suggestion.

As the organization’s founder, Mário believes diversity and inclusion are essential topics not because they are now on the business leaders’ agenda but because they effectively increase the results of the companies. “It’s one of the topics that today, as members of some HR committees, we work more carefully given the cross-cutting impacts it can have on our organizations,“- he explained.

Creating Value for Clients

Since its inception, PTCG has grown a client base that recognizes the value that the company creates in each assignment independently of the experience of the promoters. “This is something special. To realize that the initial vision was right and that we can have a direct impact on our client’s portfolio, our teams, and our community,“- Mário said.

Looking at the Future

Under Mário’s leadership, PTCG wants to continue on the path of growth with consistency and profitability. PTCG also wants to help its teams to have a positive impact on its clients’ business. It is currently working on launching a new project that combines IT technology with management know-how as it believes that lifelong learning platforms are essential to improve its clients’ performance and to give them the tools that meet the current market volatility and complexity requirements.

Suggestions for Younger Self

Mário believes that when someone aspires to launch a new project, the individual should develop the concept carefully and study the market, competitors, and the client’s needs. He feels it is always better to be present in a context of growth, so it’s essential to tackle the timing for the launch properly. It’s never an easy journey, and young entrepreneurs must stay prepared to make some hard decisions. However, if the individual believes in the project and the vision, he/she should fight for it.

Towerwall: Pioneering Cyber Security Consulting

Established by Michelle Drolet, Towerwall helps its clients by providing them with continuous monitoring and protection against current and evolving cyber threats. As the industry’s leading data security preparedness partner, Towerwall’s end-to-end solutions help to bridge the gap between plan and action to ensure its clients’ security.

Michelle also co-founded the annual Information Security Summit in partnership with Mass Bay Community College, with the purpose of creating an open forum for knowledge sharing between cyber professionals, vendors, and students. Additionally, the summit also serves as a vehicle to raise funds to provide academic scholarships in the field of cybersecurity for MassBay students in their Cyber Program. Till date, more than $55,000 has been raised for scholarships. Michelle also serves on the college’s advisory board to help shape its cybersecurity curriculums.

Recently we got a chance to sit down with Michelle to learn more about Towerwall and how the cyber security company is safeguarding its clients from modern-day cyber threats.

Below are the highlights of the interview.

Please tell us about your professional journey.

Michelle: In college, I studied criminal justice, so from an early age, I’ve been interested in stopping the bad guys. In 1993 I was hired to run the US operations for an IT consulting business that was making inroads into cybersecurity. The company was acquired by a public entity, but I grew disenchanted with its direction and found a way to buy the company back. Since 1999 we’ve been offering customized cybersecurity preparedness and end-to-end solutions that bridge the gap between plan and action to ensure resiliency for organizations of all sizes.

Please throw some light on Towerwall and its services.

Michelle: Regardless of company size, almost every modern organization struggles with cybersecurity. Our clients trust Towerwall to provide them with continuous monitoring and protection against current and evolving threats. We learned early on that there is no single piece of technology or system that will keep any organization completely secure. There is no “one-size-fits-all” solution. That’s why Towerwall developed an operational security approach that distinguishes our services in the market. A methodology that is not only consistent, repeatable, and measurable but also flexible enough to adapt to the changing threat landscape. We call this customizable approach the “7 Dimensions of Cybersecurity,” which all organizations, regardless of industry or security maturity, should adopt to establish a multi-dimensional, multi-layered, proactive security defense.

Services include establishing a program and developing policies, conducting security audits and risk assessments, threat detection and response, guidance on abiding by compliance and regulations, penetration testing, vulnerability scanning, vendor questionnaires, employee awareness training, and many other security services. Our customer engagements last for several years, and these include Foundation Medicine, Middlesex Savings Bank, Dean College, Milford Regional Medical Center, Perkin Elmer, and local SMBs.

What are the primary challenges of the industry?

Michelle: The primary challenge facing our cybersecurity industry has really been about the glaring shortage of professionals who are well-versed in security, risk management, and compliance. To meet this high demand for skilled talent, Towerwall launched an innovative service called virtual CISO — a personal service to take on the responsibilities and duties associated with the Chief Information Security Officer (vCISO), the virtual Data Protection Officer (vDPO), and the virtual Chief Privacy Officer (vCPO). These roles are brought in-house for client engagements on a fractional or interim basis. These fractional services roles also act as a huge competitive differentiator and advantage.

How is Towerwall disrupting the entire industry for the better?

Michelle: Cybersecurity is multi-dimensional. Organizations need a partner who can deliver a coordinated end-to-end solution response. We like to guide our clients through all the phases of cybersecurity. That’s why we developed a unique security approach (the “7 Dimensions of Cybersecurity”) that is not only consistent, repeatable, and measurable but flexible enough to adapt to the changing threat landscape. As a market leader, our content marketing focuses on sharing the latest in active threats, vulnerabilities, and tactical steps our clients can take. Each month we hold webinars and in-person events to keep our clients and prospects informed and engaged.

Please explain the effect of the pandemic on Towerwall. How did you overcome it?

Michelle: Because we are a security tech company, most of our staff were already working remotely, having been set up with secure VPN connections long ago, ensuring business continuity in the face of the pandemic. We were fortunate to have hired people who are truly self-motivated. Also fortunate to have had 70% of our staff working remotely before Covid hit. We didn’t miss a beat. Today we support a hybrid work week with limited staff who do come into the office. This is what we believe creates a proactive, positive corporate culture that make our team deliver to the fullest.

What are your priorities for 2023?

Michelle: Towerwall plans to continue to grow and expand both our customer base and consultants globally. Our business model is all about partnerships. Recently we forged new vendor partnerships with Pentera and CyberSaint (adding them to our stable of 50-plus cyber-tech partners) to help our customers manage their cybersecurity programs as well as assist our consultants when conducting risk assessments. Other partners include Alert Logic, Varonis, LogRhythm, KnowBe4, Tenable, Sophos, and many other recognized brands.

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

Michelle: For young entrepreneurs just starting out, it’s important to state your values clearly and upfront. We believe in finding the right balance between work and family. Our values are about having focus, determination, and compassion. We all face challenges in our personal and business life, but the ability to persevere is the difference between success and failure. Particularly in business, nothing is more important than solving your customer’s needs. We often compete and win against larger players because our team has a ‘run through the wall’ attitude. Make teamwork a priority.

Mehul Mahicha: An Illustrious Film Director Personality creating Engaging Creative Content for Brands

Mehul Mahicha is an Animation Film Director, Producer, and Co-founder at Vivi5 Studios. He is an exceptional film designer in the business of storytelling. Along with his partner, Co-Director Rita Dhankani, the duo aims to help growing brands reach their true potential by connecting them with their audiences, through engaging-impactful film communications!

The Initial Journey

Animation is something that interested Mehul since childhood. It was magnified after his post-graduation in Animation Film Design from the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad in 2002. He started working in the industry as an Animation Director and worked as a Content Creator for Kids’ Channels in India. During this period, he also worked under some illustrious mentors like Sir. Rammohan at Graffiti Multimedia, Prakash Moorthy at Miditech, and Eeks Suresh at Famous Studios.

In 2009, he started his journey as an entrepreneur Co-Founding “Vivi5 Studios” with fellow NIDian & partner, Rita Dhankani. And in the past 14 years, they have partnered with some of the renowned Advertising Agencies, Corporate houses, Startups, and NGOs; in the country and across four continents.

Unicef India, UNDP, Ashok Leyland, Dentsu Webchutney, McCann, Leo Burnett, DDB Mudra, Tata Sky, Tata Elxsi, SBI Card, Amazon India, DataShurbs, Razorpay, are some of their esteemed clients over these years.

Mentoring is Mehul’s second love after filmmaking and he is ever ready to guide his team at Vivi5 Studios, film students, and aspiring designers in this domain. He is also an External Advisory Board Member for MIT Design Institute, Pune, and a frequent External Jury member at Srishti School of Design.

About Vivi5 Studios

Think, design, create, and connect to bring impact!

Vivi5 Studios is an award-winning one-stop Film Content and Design Agency building stellar Brand Stories for growing businesses.

“When I say stellar brand video content, I mean we do what it takes to grab your audience’s attention, make them pause and hear what you have to say, and ultimately take action to bring you results. How do we do that? By blending storytelling mediums, and design thinking,” states Mehul.

Both Mehul and Rita, come from multidisciplinary backgrounds such as animation, film, art, design, advertising & film-making. And as avid design thinkers and mentors, they make sure they cultivate the same in their teams and help them develop as design thinkers first and then as designers or animators. They nurture a creative team to cater to varied sectors but also multiply the studio’s expertise as a multidisciplinary film and design agency.

Apart from a good quality product/service, every growing business needs a good story to communicate its ‘brand’ value to the customers. Vivi5 Studios help them to do so by designing and developing unique custom-made engaging stories to build up this brand awareness amongst their users for greater returns.

Their USP is a varied story-telling palette such as 2D & 3D Animation, Stop Motion, Motion Graphics, and live action. In short, they do what it takes to help their clients sell better when it comes to creating promotional and awareness films in the most effective ways across varied platforms and geographies.

Their main offers include Content creation from Concept to Screen, Brand Identity, Advertising Films, Brand Films, Corporate Videos, Promotional Films, Explainer videos, Education Films, and Brand Design Consultancy; for both Broadcast, Digital Platforms and at times for print media, as well.

As brand communication experts, their job is to get an in-depth understanding of the brand/client, their requirements, and their target audiences; and bring them the right kind of film and design solutions.

Mehul is proud to share that his partnerships with clients are for the longer run, and his client’s success is his success “What helps us create unique solutions is our design thinking process. It is the magic mantra to building success stories for our clients,” adds Mehul.

Wall of Achievement

FOXGLOVE Awards 2022 – Best use of Animation for PSA ‘BHOOK’ The Hunger
ANN Awards 2022 – Best use of Animation for PSA ‘BHOOK’ The Hunger
FOXGLOVE Awards 2020 – Best CSR Film for ‘HAPPY EARTH DAY
FICCI Award 2017 – Best Animation Ad for Y K ORGANICS MYNTRA, INDIA
FICCI Awards 2016 – Best Animation Film (nomination) For ‘Wahga Time’ I Khalifa University, UAE
TASI Awards 2015 – Best Animation Film (nomination) for Right to Education I UNICEF, India

Cherishing a Collective Growth-Driven Environment

One thing that keeps team Vivi5 going is their common love for storytelling for brands. The company works for diversified industry verticals such as Automobile, Fintech, Healthtech, Lifestyle, E-Commerce, Fashion, FMCG, Health, E-learning, Telecom, Electronics, Consumer Products, Banking, etc. Their primary aim is to create content that touches the hearts and ignites the minds, of all their stakeholders.

Vivi5 Studio’s vision is to empower collective growth for all its Stakeholders: Clients, Teams, and companies. That’s their 3-win formula.

The Studio believes in collective growth and that’s what keeps Mehul motivated. His studio provides consistent in-depth design knowledge, why-s & how-s, and practical experience while unparallel scope on upgrading creative skills for its employees through day-to-day learning and knowledge sharing that is at par with any international design institute.

Current Market Trends

Today’s content has become more user-specific. It’s not simply limited to one celebrity using a product that influences many buyers. Rather it’s the buyer, who is now a celebrity influencing the sales. Personalised content has taken over center stage as there has been a remarkable sales increase of 20% when brands nurture individual customer relationships. Nearly 92% of the buyers trust individual recommendations.

Influencer marketing is the most evident trend and has grown multifold, especially during the lockdown. B2C and D2C communications seem to have a great scope when it comes to content creation and business generation. It is in fact, responsible for the fast-growing technology solutions that are equally influencing marketing and advertising strategies. When one sees nearly 4000+ apps being created every day globally, one knows it’s an internet swaraj.
Reels are on fire. It’s one trend that every brand is leveraging. Unscripted or scripted, polished or crude; these reels are welcomed by audiences who are content creators or are aspiring to be one. Live videos are helping brands attract leads, get rich customer data, and generate new businesses, and most stay future-ready.
Interactive storytelling content is yet another promising format that works well for the current shorter-attention-span criteria for effective communication. More and more brands are building interactive and immersive storytelling content, as they don’t want to lose their audiences amidst many brand promotions, where each is working on bringing more impressions with every post. Brands are moving to bring an immersive storytelling experience.

“If you observe any of the content today, it’s within the first 2 to 3 secs of the video you see the CTA appear to hold the viewer’s attention from clicking the ‘skip ad’ option. Hence, businesses are moving towards more engaging and immersive storytelling narratives now more than ever,” states Mehul.

All in all, it’s a chain effect. With a focus on personalised advertising, there’s a change in the way content is being designed, optimized, and showcased. Storytelling for brands is changing to a concise format to engage the audiences of today, in the quickest way possible.

Getting Future Ready

Vivi5 Studios aspires to assist more and more businesses on their potential growth path through its expertise. “Storytelling has always been as immersive but translating it into a physical space experience is something we are aiming to do,”– explains Mehul. The company is currently in talks with brands to collaborate where its designers, animators, and visualizers can work with programmers, engineers, and data specialists to come up with immersive storytelling solutions for its clients and audiences. With a symbiotic association as such in the upcoming times, Vivi5 Studios aims to expand its horizons and reach a wider audience base.

“As a creative content agency, we will always face new challenges while keeping up with the latest trends in the marketing and advertising industry. We also need to bring more awareness of the importance of capitalising on immersive storytelling video content to growing businesses. And how can they make the most in their social media and the digital marketing campaigns to enhance their brand positioning and generate more value.”– says Mehul.

To bring this awareness, Vivi5 Studios is actively talking about creative storytelling and its need for the hour, through its publications on LinkedIn Vivi5 posts.

They are also developing IPs to help create effective yet affordable video content for brands, who want to engage with their users on regular bases but find it tough to test the waters at a cost that is way beyond their marketing budgets.

A Promising Time

“As we move from the Internet of Things (IOT) to the Internet of Place (IOP)and the Internet of Ownership (IOO), we foresee a paradigm shift in all sectors. Metaverse and Web3 will transform every aspect of the business narratives. Challenge it that it’s going to change how you interact with customers, how we work, products and services we offer, how we make and distribute them, how we run and operate our business/es, everything in-between and beyond.”

Vivi5 Studios is excited to take up this new challenge as it is working towards building content that will be easily adaptable to this versatile, evolving, expanding continuum. Being a multidisciplinary creative agency that is known for creating excellent content in the past amongst its partners, and where information can seamlessly be transformed from 2D to 3D to Live action, Mehul is sure that Vivi5 Studios is ready as it already has the expertise and tools to hone the upcoming new trends of communication of the future.

As an executive director of the studio that offers creative content, design, direction, and production, Mehul aims to explore new ways to ‘immersive storytelling’ in the Metaverse that will shape the future of content in the coming years.

Words of Wisdom

“These are exciting times for all of us as we see 5G on a rollout in India, leading Metaverse & Web3 to come into play. There will certainly be more competition and more challenges, and we all will be part of it. But in the end, a good-story will always be at the core of it all. And it will be our focus, all the time.” – Mehul.

Melanie Kossan: Cultivating Happier and Healthier Souls through Natural Remedies

A lifelong entrepreneur, natural wellness Aadvocate, leader, mother, and innovator, Melanie Kossan is a woman of many virtues.

Professing the significance of self-care, she knew a little about CBD and dove into research further to benefit the community in that area. “If you don’t see a clear path for what you want, sometimes you have to make it yourself”, Mindy Kaling said, and Melanie Kossan perfectly fit in this picture.

The aspiring woman leader has always loved learning, but she has never been able to focus long enough to attend college or acquire a degree beyond high school. She asked questions, read, and listened to podcasts and audiobooks.

Her Initial Journey to Start Mtn Mama, LLC

With a supportive family and her zeal to make an impact, Melanie took to building the foundation of Mtn Mama.

The company manufactures all the products they market, and they are now manufacturing for other companies. Their B2B offerings range widely and include White Label, Private Label, and Wholesale. Essentially, they can create anything you want, label it with your name, and support you in marketing it.

To ensure maximum safety, I tried all the products extensively on my family, my dogs, and myself during the product research. I had a good feeling about the outcome. I’ve since developed all of my own formulations. Product creation is still one of my favourite areas of my job, and I still do it now. She added, “We develop topical and ingestible products for people and their dogs.

With Mtn Mama, Melanie’s mission is to: “Cultivate happier, healthier souls through the production and sale of natural remedies that relieve pain, anxiety, and other ailments which interfere with the lifestyle you DESERVE!”

Stillwater Hemp – The Renowned Montana-based CBD company

Incorporated in 2017, Mtn Mama produces, distributes, and retails all-natural CBD, CBG, and CBN topicals and tinctures for people and animals. Stillwater Hemp is a renowned CBD firm with headquarters in Montana. Here, products are prepared with only natural, organic, and premium cannabinoid extracts from hemp farming in the United States.

Additionally, they are providing business opportunities, Private Labeling Services, CBD School and CBD School 2.0, and training individuals on how to start their own CBD businesses. They also accept speaking engagements and have established the first CBD Distributors Association.

Melanie’s Definition of Success

Melanie believes deeply that when her clients are successful, she is too!

“When my clients and consumers share their success stories with me, I can see that I am doing something right. I enjoy listening to people’s tales since they are unique, and everyone has one. When someone tells me a story about how working with my company has impacted their life for the better, to me, that is success”, she further apprised.

Achievements Along the Way

Sharing accomplishments has never been easy for Melanie. Because it isn’t about her, it’s about her customers. Some of her clients have fur, but others don’t. In any case, she does this so she may watch them accomplish things they previously couldn’t.

The Enigmatic Future of Mtn Mama

Mtn Mama has grown from being a one-woman show in a home office to now having a skilled workforce, a manufacturing and retail facility in Columbus, Montana, and other locations. Their future plan is to accelerate their growth and boost sales.

“My aims are never time-bound because they can turn out to be just that. I’ll be ready to sell much sooner than I anticipate”, shared the inspiring leading lady.

Words of wisdom

I have learned a lot in this business. I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way, and I promise you – that is expensive! Always have a mentor or advisor—someone who has done this before. Don’t choose someone who is too encouraging. A mentor who will tell you when you are wrong, your new idea is garbage, or you are wasting your time on a particular project will be far more valuable than someone who only speaks in rainbows. Get a mentor.

From the CEO’s Desk – A Recent Case Study at Mtn Mama

I’ll close by sharing one of my favourite tales about a furry friend or client. Kota is a 12-year-old German Sheppard-Bull Mastiff mix. He is handsome and debonaire and dumb as a box of rocks. He has all heart and no brain. He will bring you a gift as soon as you walk in the door. You can admire it and express gratitude to him for it, but you cannot take it. He enjoys snuggling and being the “small spoon” as well. He was somewhat limping one day. He wouldn’t put any weight on that leg the following day. His ACL tore, according to Dr Vet. Kota would probably require both legs to be operated on, which would be incredibly expensive. He then started using the CBD/CBG/CBN supplement that Mtn Mama, LLC produces. He had previously taken it, but only sometimes. Now he took it in the morning and at night. Within days he was able to run around with his BFF Bea almost as well as he used to! His ACL will heal a little each day, and the pain will be minimal. But as long as he can play with Bea and bring me gifts, everything is right as rain.

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.