iSON GROUP:
Enhancing lives of a continent and building communities through technology PROJECT SPONSOR
iSON GROUP:
Enhancing lives of a continent and building communities through technology
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iSON Group continues to innovate in the disruptive and volatile market of Nigeria to remain as a growing IT and IT enabled service provider. The company is continuously expanding its footprint and portfolio across all of Africa
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any companies achieve substantial growth and success but the real test is in their resilience during turbulence and how efficiently they face and adapt to it. For Ramesh Awtaney, Founder and Chairman of iSON Group, one of the largest IT and ITeS company’s in Africa, discovering the joy of resilient and proactive employees weathering through disruptive markets proved to be a cornerstone moment last year. “It may not sound profound, but as the founder of the company, when you find your company can withstand these storms and has the resilience built into the system, it is extremely satisfying,” he says. So, Ramesh mush be contented surely? “As satisfying as it was,” he adds, “there is so much more to do,”
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Market volatility iSON Group’s African headquarters is located in Lagos, Nigeria. For Awtaney; the market volatility of Nigeria presented the company with the biggest test of its fortitude. A large part of iSON Group’s business and profit is generated from Nigeria and over the last 12 months the company suffered headwinds with major currency devaluation across the country and wider Africa. “This also meant that our customers cut down on their budgets” points Awtaney. He adds devaluation and reduced customer budgets meant substantial operating profit challenge, nevertheless the company weathered the storm and continued to grow. iSON Group’s ability to adapt, change and continuously innovate in
Ramesh Awtaney
Founder and Chairman, iSON Group Ramesh Awtaney, a dynamic entrepreneur, an Indo-African business magnate, investor and philanthropist has deep business interests across Africa and Middle East. He carries more than 28 years of rich experience in global technology, market development and business process outsourcing across Telecom Providers and other Verticals. Since 2014, Awtaney has embarked on a journey to create ISON 2.0, an innovation driven enterprise that would employ 40,000 people by the year 2017 and acquire an expanded footprint across 35 Sub Saharan African countries. Ramesh is married and lives in Dubai. His son has studied digital management and is currently working with 10 African Start Ups as an entrepreneur in residence for UX/design at Startupbootcamp, Cape Town, and his wife runs an up market boutique in New Delhi.
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these trying times with ears close to what customers want has enabled stronger relationships with key customers. iSON has also acquired a new base of operations in Durban, South Africa. This really broad bases the risk while representing a major step in expanding the company’s footprint throughout Africa. Expansion As Awtaney oversees a major expansion of the company’s national footprint, iSON Group continues to be a fast-growing company. iSON has four verticals, iSON BPO, iSON Technologies, iSON Innovation & Investments (i3) and now iSON Foundation. “Through our growth and resilience in that difficult period, we’ve really been able to diversify and expand our portfolio offerings for new IT solutions and customer services in different verticals,” says Awtaney. iSON Group has also embarked aggressively on iSON Innovations and Investments. i3 is a vertical through which the company seeks out and invests in small start-up companies, enabling them to grow and scale throughout Africa by providing infrastructure support, capital, mentorship and management support. Last year i3 invested in
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iSON GROUP IS BASED IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
It may not sound profound, but as the founder of the company, when you find your company can withstand these storms and has the resilience built into the system, it is extremely satisfying Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman
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Pravin Kumar
Global CEO, iSON BPO Pravin Kumar is an industry veteran with more than 35 years of experience during which he has been credited with the creation of three large business empires. He is a widely respected name in the Business Process Outsourcing space and is regarded as a pioneer in call center services. Kumar is a Board member of iSON BPO - the leading ITeS services company in Africa. Under his strong leadership, iSON BPO now has operations in 16 countries in Africa and ASEAN regions with about 10,000 employees within three years of iSON BPO’s establishment.
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a taxi hailing app business: Mondo Ride, 2016 also saw investment in a hyperlocal search and discovery platform -Oliza, and a platform aggregator for golfers – Golflan . Recently, i3 has been evaluating investments in speech recognition technology enabling companies to support in growing BPO business followed by collaboration in the field of chat bots; thus, leveraging the power of natural language processing and Artificial Intelligence. The process of selecting these companies is no different to any large company investing in a start-up. For Awtaney, the differentiator is in one simple question. “How can we add value to this company, which in turn will add value to Africa?” he says. “We have a very significant presence in 25 African countries, so we look at how these companies can benefit from that significant platform.”
Smart investing One particular start-up that the company has invested in is a ride hailing service called Mondo Ride , in Kenya. With Uber already operating in Nairobi, Mondo will utilise the infrastructure and support of iSON Group as a platform on which it can build through its unique business model that aims at the corporate world of Kenya. Mondo has signed around 40 transport rights contracts with several organisations, including The Kenya commercial bank. These corporate employees will also use Mondo for personal requirements. This is the added value that iSON Group seeks out in start-ups. Through investment and infrastructure support, iSON can enable Mondo to scale and expand beyond Kenya. “We feel that once Mondo is successful and gets its big business
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iSON BPO , the BPO business unit of iSON Group was awarded with 2016 West African Frost & Sullivan Award for Competitive Strategy, Innovation and Leadership during an awards ceremony at Growth Innovation and Leadership Event at The Table Bay Hotel, Capetown on 17th August 2017. Ramesh Awtaney, Founder and Chairman, iSON Group receiving the award from Hendrik Malan, Operations Director for Africa, Frost and Sullivan.
10,000
THE NUMBER OF STAFF WORKING AT iSON GROUP
break in Kenya, then you can lift that up and move into different countries where we [iSON Group] are already operating – because our core system and infrastructures are already place,” Awtaney says. Having that national footprint spread across 25 countries allows iSON Group to play the role of a “trusted advisor” with the knowhow to tap into the African market and help emerging companies with innovative technologies succeed. “We have supported global majors such as Huawei, Oracle, IBM, AVAYA as knowledge partners for doing business in Africa which is set to grow further with new partnerships to be announced with global technology majors and leading
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Akshay Grover
Chief Growth Officer, iSON Technologies Akshay Grover is the Chief Growth Officer, iSON Technologies. He is responsible for formulating and executing the go-to-market strategy of the company. This includes new customer acquisitions, customer retention strategies, building technology-led partnerships, new product roll outs and inorganic growth initiatives. Akshay has been focused on the TMT sector across Europe, India, Middle East and Africa. During his stint as an investment banker and a private equity professional he has closed transactions over ~USD 5 billion and led multiple strategic initiatives for several players in the sector.
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enterprise software vendors.” “Not many companies can add the momentum that we do from our footprint from Nigeria to Ethiopia,” Awtaney continues. “If a start-up wants to think about solving a PanAfrican problem, it’s going to need a trusted confidant who can take it to 25 countries. Similarly if you’re a large company in America or elsewhere but do not have the know-how to tap into Africa, then you need a trusted advisor who is present in 25 countries and can execute for you.” Platform of growth This presence is what provides iSON Group with a crucial advantage. A pan continent footprint becomes the unique selling point above all else as the company has the understanding of local regulation, local challenges and the ability to successfully operate in 25 different countries with 13 new clients last fiscal year. “The real unique thing that iSON offers is the platform across those
countries and the ability to combine that presence with these start-ups and build and scale from that,” Awtaney says. Throughout its four verticals iSON Group has made significant investments in order to grow as a smart technology company, but for Awtaney, one particular area of growth is something that is very close to his heart – iSON Foundation. Through iSON Foundation, which hasn’t been officially formalised just yet, iSON Group has partnered with a number of non-for-profit charities to work with and support local communities. Spearheading this mission jointly with the foundation is an organisation called Girl Effect . The Girls Connect pilot program, launched in July 2016 through an initial pilot phase, is a pioneering platform that allows girls to access information, conversations and oneto-one mentoring that is designed
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iSON Group wins ASSOCHAM India- Africa Champion in Biz Awards for "Disinguished Achievement in IT & ITeS category" during the Indo-Africa Summit in 2015 and consecutively in 2016 during India Africa Trade and Investment Forum
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If a start-up wants to think about solving a PanAfrican problem, it’s going to need a trusted confidant who can take it to 25 countries. Similarly if you’re a large company in America or elsewhere but do not have the know-how to tap into Africa, then you need a trusted advisor who is present in 25 countries and can execute for you. Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman
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www.isontechnologies.com
ISON TECHNOLOGIES’ NETWORK OPERATIONS CENTRE
24/7 22 countries support to
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24/7 Hours
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in Africa. The team comprises
600+
of employees of different nationalities. to enrich their lives. The pilot phase saw over 50,000 girls sign up over a two-month period and as the second phase of testing takes place this year, the target is over a million. Awtaney names this endeavour as “One Million Unheard Voices” iSON Foundation represents the company’s vision of adding value to Africa, not only through business foundations, but through programs and initiatives with Girl Effect. “Trying to transform the lives of marginalised people, through Girl
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NOC SUPPORT
Effect is very close to my heart and special. This is what life is really about and keeps you going. Take time, every day from your work and think about giving back” Awtaney says. Using digital innovation to go further faster and deliver change at scale, iSON Group and Girl Effect have come together to deliver Girls Connect: a breakthrough resource for vulnerable girls. “We’re proud of our groundbreaking partnership with iSON Group,” says Farah Ramzan
Rahul Srivastava
Chief Operating Officer, iSON Technologies Rahul Srivastava is the Chief Operating Officer of iSON Technologies and is responsible for key account management, project delivery, SLA based operations and support functions globally. His core expertise is managing large complex engagements and articulating a unique and compelling value proposition.
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iSON GROUP
With the iSON Foundation, the Group has partnered with a number of nonfor-profit charities to work with and support local communities.
Golant CBE, CEO of Girl Effect. “Working with them has given us the technical expertise and infrastructure to make our pilot a real success. Girls have already told us that they have applied their learning from Girls Connect to open a bank account, to stay in school or even to become a trade apprentice. We’re challenging conventional beliefs in how effective, with the right training and support, distance role modelling can be.” As the company continues to grow and expand its footprint across Africa, Awtaney has ambitions for
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the company becoming synonymous with building local competence, local knowhow and bringing the efficiencies it has gained through other markets and locations and bringing them into emerging markets such as Africa. “Our mission is to use our services competence onshore to smartly transform and benefit customers. We’re not a company with billions of dollars at our disposal, we are a young company focused on our model, our training of people and adding true value to Africa and the countries we operate in.”
We at iSON Group, are deeply committed in purposely enabling industries and societies with the help of technology. The upliftment agenda using smart technologies and customer centric theme is core to our principles and our hearts as we continuously evovle. Experience us and feel the difference. Ramesh Awtaney Founder and Chairman
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CAMAC House, Plot No. 1649 3rd Floor, Olosa Street, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria 72064. T: + (234) 80879 49563 E: info@isongrp.com