101 minute read
Five minutes with
Q. What technology are you most looking forward to using more of? A. We are always looking at innovative technologies and thinking about how to use them, vetting them carefully in our engineering team. We have a unique approach for automation in IR, and we use Jupyter notebooks with Spark engines for Big Data and machine learning. Spark supports batch and real-time processing, interactive querying, analytics to machine learning, and graph processing. Spark uses in-memory query execution to provide a fast and efficient big data processing solution. We use it all over the three main cloud vendors (AWS, GCP, and Azure).
We are also developing a unique internal Python package to support our Forensic as Code process. The Python package includes the logic of the Incident Response and is developed on top of Spark.
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Another unique technology we have is the way we prepare and save the collected data of customers to allow future fast retrieval at low cost.
Q. What is your leadership style? A. I believe in focusing on communications – up, to the sides, and down. Strong communication is based on two principles: • Being authentic: be genuine, frank, respectful but direct.
Respect other people’s time – speak your mind. • Listening: there is a huge difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is done through the ears while listening is through the mind and heart. I always strive to really understand the feelings, opinions, and perspectives of the other person.
Plans for the future
We are a startup, so we have many plans. I’m excited about our growing team and increasing our automation capabilities to enable continuous, proactive breach investigation. We’re also building a new readiness dashboard for customers to easily understand where they stand and how they can improve.
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Building success on technology, culture, and core values
AD FEATURE WRITTEN BY:
SCOTT BIRCH
PRODUCED BY:
GLEN WHITE
Manu Gopinath, Chief Operating Officer at UST, on building success based on core values of humility, humanity, and integrity
Rewind to 1999 and picture the scene. Manu Gopinath meets with the founders of a startup company called UST that dreams of becoming one of the world's most prominent and best IT organisations. Many thought this vision was ludicrous, but not Manu. He bought into the journey and became one of the believers. More than two decades later, Manu is still there, but instead of working with 20 others, he is now overseeing over 30,000 associates as the Chief Operating Officer. As for UST, it is now well over a billion-dollar revenue company certified as a Top Employer of the Year in North America, APAC, the UK & Spain. Manu has played a pivotal role in that meteoric rise. "We've had an amazing run over the last 22 years," recalls Manu. "UST was set up with the ambitious goal to transform lives. I remember interviewing with our founders, and they were talking about building the best IT company in the world. We had nothing but big ambitions."
You could argue that is the exact position that every startup finds itself in – global ambitions and dreams of becoming the Next Big Thing. Many dreams are quickly shattered, with a staggering 90% failing and 10% failing within the first 12 months. So, what made UST different? What's the secret to their success? Manu puts it down to the foundational values and culture.
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"To be honest, I wasn't fully convinced that we were going to build the best IT company," says Manu. "But what changed was every step of the way, the founders made that vision happen. The big focus was on building the foundational values and culture of the company – even before customers or projects came in, and that was the major focus."
Pivot is a word we have heard a lot in the last two years as organisations have had to reassess aspects of their business just to survive. For UST, it was not the first time. The company was formed and was taking its first steps when the dot.com bubble burst at the turn of the new millennium. It's worth refreshing our memories on some stats from that crazy time. With computers and the internet taking off, investors clamoured for a slice of the action. In 1999, shares in semiconductor company Qualcomm rose, wait for it, by 2,619%. A dozen other companies saw their shares rise more than 1,000%. The Nasdaq 100 lost 78% of its value when the bubble burst. It was a time when UST realised it had to change its strategy. "During the first Dot.com boom, our goal was to provide the up-and-coming startups with cutting-edge technology solutions. But we soon realised that by the time we invoiced, many of these Dot.coms had perished because the venture money ran out," remembers Manu.
MANU GOPINATH COO, UST
MANU GOPINATH
TITLE: CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER LOCATION: UNITED STATES
As UST's Chief Operating Officer, Manu Gopinath leads the company's business operations, executes UST's business strategy, and ensures operational excellence company-wide. He is responsible for client and partner relationships and new business development for UST across North America, Spain, and Latin America.
Manu, passionate about building innovative & high-performance environments, also owns UST's global people practices, including employee experience and talent acquisition.
Since the inception of UST in 1999, Manu has partnered with associates across the globe to create change and aligned our workforce to UST's mission of "transforming lives" for customers, partners, and the communities we operate.
"We had to reinvent ourselves and say, 'how do we pivot from here?' And we did that. We said we are going after large, global 1000 and Fortune 500 enterprises with sustainable budgets. So that's the goal we set out, and we had some early success. "We were just a blip on the radar for many of them because they had big-scale service providers. We grew because we provided excellent execution and delivered services on time and with quality."
Even though they were relatively small, UST soon saw repeat business coming. Manu says it is because the clients liked what they did and trusted UST "to do what is right".
Manu also puts UST's success down to its passionate engineers who go the extra mile to deliver brilliant outcomes for clients. The technology inevitably evolves, and UST's learning agility sets them apart from the big-name competition. "It's about understanding what the customer needs to move the needle," he says, "to be a differentiator in the market. Our engineers are young, dynamic, and focused on learning. They were able to figure out solutions and upskill to deliver work for clients – taking a long-term view on the client relationship."
That approach has clearly paid dividends, with the average tenure of each customer being 13 years with UST. That has also enabled UST to focus on around 150 valued Fortune 500 and Global 1000 companies. This focus on the customer has helped UST come a long way.
NURTURING TALENT
Building a team means being able to spot talent, and Manu, as Chief People Officer until 2019, set the stage for UST's talent transformation.
"Talent is the cornerstone for any kind of competitive advantage and, in technology business especially, talent has a lot of choices," says Manu. "Talent is critical because they compete and win against the competition at the end of the day. UST's strength lies with its talent, which means individuals in the company compete against individuals in other organisations to win business."
One person who spotted talent in the young Manu Gopinath back in 1999 was Founder Chairman, the late G.A. Menon, who made an impact and who Manu
30,000
Employees
1999
Founded
150
Clients in the global 1000
13yrs
Average client tenure
MANU GOPINATH COO, UST describes as an incredible human being. He was also a brilliant businessman, building eight businesses, many of which are over a billion-dollar revenue. "He has been a phenomenal inspiration in terms of how we should think about business, people, and technology. He was a visionary," says Manu. "If you look at UST's foundational values, we distilled that from all the different conversations Mr. Menon had with employees. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2003, but that spirit still lives on in UST."
Specific advice Manu garnered from Mr. Menon included focusing on creating value, focusing on what matters, and trying to make every employee an expert in the organisation. "Our core values remain humility, humanity, and integrity," says Manu. "And those things have come directly from Mr. Menon's influence on the entire UST organisation."
BUILDING RESILIENCE
Resilience is another essential quality that a successful, sustainable company needs in abundance. It is also an elusive characteristic that can be hard to identify and even harder to achieve. So how do you build resilience in an organisation? Manu believes there are several factors, but it all comes down to "purpose". "Creating that larger purpose is important," he says. "Then getting your employees to believe in that organisation and that purpose is super important. Taking that long-term view is important to move the needle."
Manu adds that it's also essential when designing a product, service, or solution to ensure that it helps the end consumer and that you are thinking about them, not just the engineering.
Then, of course, there is technology everywhere and in everything. Technology needs to be applied to understand and empathise with the end-user or consumer. Another essential element to building resilience is learning agility and learning capability. "We live in a super dynamic world, and nobody can predict what's coming next," admits Manu. “The ability to learn quickly. Ability to adapt. The ability to pivot so that your business can grow is critical to bring resilience and build resilience into an organisation." “OUR CORE VALUES REMAIN HUMILITY, HUMANITY, AND INTEGRITY. AND THOSE THINGS HAVE COME DIRECTLY FROM MR. MENON'S INFLUENCE ON THE ENTIRE UST ORGANISATION”
MANU GOPINATH COO, UST
In a recent White Paper, Manu discussed the six guiding principles of a resilient enterprise, and it is worth sharing that insight here. "Pretty much every business is trying to go digital to build a resilient enterprise," says Manu. "When the pandemic struck, companies who had the digital storefront had a better chance of succeeding and growing. Companies that have embraced digital have reacted better in the face of adversity. "The other piece is looking at security and taking steps to mitigate cyber-attacks. For example, if you look at Facebook, they hold billions of personal data, and they are attacked every moment. It's not a question of whether Facebook is being attacked – they are being attacked every minute, so it's a question of how they plan and mitigate the risk, and I think that is critical."
Thirdly, Manu highlights the need for organisations to be lean and agile, to be able to move quickly. Fourthly, and this relates well to UST itself, the purpose is key. Having a purpose and ensuring that your customers, your employees, and the communities you operate in know your purpose is essential. That would also help to build resilience. "The other piece is building an ecosystem," says Manu. "No company can thrive independently, and even the largest companies need suppliers and an ecosystem. We look at it from the perspective that the customers are important, our communities are important, our employees are important, and all of our ecosystem, our partners, are very important. "You cannot operate in a vacuum and be successful. Companies connected to an ecosystem can manage the shocks and manage the risks."
DELIVERING DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
UST has built a glowing reputation for helping leading organisations with their digital transformations, no matter how large or complex. Many organisations find this transformation a struggle, so they turn to UST. "The key to digital transformation is to make sure that there is a change in culture and mindset in an organisation," says Manu. "If your employees and your leadership do not have a mindset to adapt, change and look at new ways of doing things, the transformation will not help."
UST focuses on creating a fantastic customer and employee experience, leveraging the tools and solutions they already have. They help to put together the strategy, the design, the development, the maintenance, and even the architecture. Then UST optimises the business processes so the organisation can be resilient and agile. Another area where UST helps clients to future proof their business is via its extensive partner ecosystem.
"We are proud to have some of the best technologists globally, and they are proud to serve and help our clients," says Manu. "That's a big factor that makes UST the go-to provider for many of our clients."
As a company, UST is working towards being a partner of choice for some of the world's best companies, helping them create a competitive advantage by leveraging technology. UST also strives to be an employer of choice for the best-in-class talent from around the world, plus provide the ecosystem of choice.
"We are focused on building products and platforms that help enterprises solve their business problems," says Manu. "We are passionate about helping our clients transform their business. "The best thing about working at UST is the flexibility and the freedom to do the best you can. Unleash your imagination and creativity, and you will get support from the organisation, and you get to turn those ideas into reality."
Nurturing the Next Generation of Women Leaders in Africa
WRITTEN BY:KATE BIRCH
The argument for women leaders in Africa is compelling, yet numbers are small. But one female leader is on a mission to change that – meet Awamary Lowe-Khan
The future of African women is bright. This is the opening gambit from seasoned executive and management consulting CEO Awamary LoweKhan from her home in The Gambia.
It’s a concrete message of positivity and hope for women, but also for Africa, whose economic prospects are looking good right now, but promise to be even better with women as part of the leadership workforce.
And this is the mission that drives the GambianSpanish entrepreneur, philanthropist, CEO and mother of two, who has been named one of 35 rising women in Africa by CNBC, and has been directly empowering women and girls in Africa for the last four years through the NGOs she founded in The Gambia – The Woman Boss and Innovate Gambia, the country’s first tech hub.
Awamary Lowe-Khan
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About Awamary Lowe-Khan
Of both Gambian and Spanish heritage, Awamary spent her formative years between the two countries, attending high school in The Gambia before leaving at 17 to the US to further her education. She spent the next 23 years living and working in the US, earning a bachelor’s in accounting and an MBA, and two decades working as an executive for various organisations, including as finance executive for non-profit American Red Cross. She is also an entrepreneur, having founded businesses, NGOs, and products – among these a tech startup (PointClick Technologies, cofounded with her husband), a non-profit (North Carolina’s Black Entrepreneurship Week), a product (Ndox, The Gambia’s first boxed water product aiming to reduce plastic waste), and two NGOs in The Gambia, The Woman Boss and Innovate Gambia. As well as currently running the NGOs, Awamary is CEO of a management consulting company, AKHAN Inc., and an active global speaker at forums and conferences worldwide, on everything from leadership and entrepreneurship to diversity and gender parity. She advises on policies that impact minorities, women, girls, and small businesses, for the White House, US Congress, US State Legislature and the Gambian Government. She has been named one of 35 Rising Women in Africa by CNBC and received other accolades for her contribution as a woman to Africa. She splits her time between The Gambia, the US and Spain, is married to an entrepreneur and has three children.
Awamary Lowe-Khan
She is an active global speaker at forums and conferences worldwide, on everything from leadership and entrepreneurship to diversity and gender parity. Passionate about the role of women and girls in society, she advises governments and organisations on policies that impact minorities, women, girls, and small businesses, and has addressed the White House, US Congress, US State Legislature and the Gambian Government.
At The Woman Boss, a female-focused creative space she founded in 2018, and now present in 11 countries, women are given
Advice for women leaders in Africa
Here, Awamary offers advice for women looking to lead in Africa.
Be your sister’s keeper
African women leaders have the responsibility of pulling other women into leadership positions. They need to be intentional about mentoring and sponsoring other potential women leaders into top management spaces. Mentorship is such an important part of growth. Every woman should have a mentor or coach.
Be intentional about being transformational
Being a leader in a predominantly male dominated field can be difficult. Some women leaders feel the need to be autocratic because of insubordination challenges. Be transformational, not transactional. Encourage open communication, inspire others and intellectually stimulate your followers. Be intentional about changing systems and encourage creativity.
Serve on a non-profit board
In some countries in Africa, there’s a challenge for women to serve on boards. Most boards comprise men: a good ol’ boys club. Women leaders need to challenge the status quo and request a place on boards to increase the diversity of thought for these organisations. This also helps women leaders expand their networks and skillsets, opens doors for possible mentorship opportunities, and increases growth opportunities.
Expand your network and circle
Networking helps you to strive, both personally and professionally. Your circle of influence should be a village: with diversity of thoughts, experience, age, race, and gender. Be intentional about networking. Even if some communities shy away from this due to patriarchal beliefs, remember that your network is your net worth.
Awamary Lowe-Khan
Elsewhen
the tools, training, strategies and support to become entrepreneurs and leaders.
The aim of the organisation, says Awamary, is to “increase the economic opportunities for women, foster the next generation of women leaders, and ultimately reduce the gender equality gap”.
And so far, the results have been impactful. Through its many programs and initiatives, including its 90-day accelerator, leadership series and a schools program, The Woman Boss has helped more than 4,000 women and girls – trained over 1,500 girls in leadership and mentored more than 600 female entrepreneurs.
In some ways, Awamary acknowledges, empowering and educating women in Africa is easy in that most entrepreneurs in The Gambia are women, and more women than men in Africa hold college degrees.
“Women in Africa have been putting children through school and reinvesting in their homes for generations.”
The hard part comes with wider society and the patriarchal views that are still held there with particular challenges including getting institutions to invest in women and getting women into leadership roles.
Awamary points to ‘unconscious bias’ as the problem, a theme highlighted in this
Awamary Lowe-Khan
year’s International Women’s Day, and an issue she describes as being “pervasive and often unnoticed”.
It’s an issue she herself has faced, in the US and in Africa, when, as a young, African woman in America she was promoted to CFO age 24, and was subsequently treated by some with insubordination and condescension. In Africa, where patriarchal norms persist and gender equality lags, the challenges are greater still, challenges Awamary addresses as part of The Woman Boss, with strategies focused on helping women overcome obstacles to advancement.
“We mentor women on how to communicate their desires, goals, and to ask for what they deserve,” says Awamary. “We teach them how to advocate for other women too, for things such as benefits for mothers, paid vacations, and on influencing other policies within an organisation.
“We are intentional about nurturing and building the next generation of women leaders in Africa,” says Awamary. “We intentionally focus on innovative ways to make entrepreneurship flourish, giving women access to the technology needed to grow their business”
But some of the challenges cannot be overcome by mentoring of women alone, including the lack of support and resources available for women.
“African women lack resources. Most women in The Gambia do not have collateral to access loans for their business because the majority of assets are owned by men. We need more assistance from corporations.”
It’s these challenges, along with having two daughters herself, and a son, that are Awamary’s driving force in the empowerment of women – because when women are empowered, they thrive.
“When more women are given a position of power, they shine, but there just aren’t enough women making it to senior leadership roles. We need to ensure that women are around the tables where decisions are being made.”
She’s not wrong. African women are barely present in leadership circles, where 95% of CEOs in the continent are men, according to McKinsey, and women hold just 12.7% of the board seats in Africa’s top-listed companies, according to data from the African Development Bank. And yet the argument for women in leadership roles in Africa is compelling. Research from the IMF shows that countries ranked in the bottom 50% for gender equality globally, among them large African economies like Ethiopia and Nigeria, could add a whopping 35% to their economies by bringing more women into the workplace.
Considering that Africa is already home to six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies, and that by 2050, one in eight people globally will be an African woman,
Awamary Lowe-Khan
Elsewhen
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VENTURE BUILDING: AN ‘INGENIUS’ APPROACH TO INNOVATION PRODUCED BY: BEN MALTBY WRITTEN BY: JESS GIBSON
Injazat’s Vice President & Chief Venture Builder, Nour El Ansari, lists the ingredients for innovation in his InGenius Ventures’ digital and tech incubator
Currently, we are traversing a bright, exciting age of technological advancement. From traditional tech giants and their wide-ranging solutions enabling digital transformation to utilising tech for conservation, connectivity and education worldwide, an abundance of creativity is spilling over and colouring almost every single industry – even those deemed traditionally Luddite-like.
An industry-recognised market leader for digital transformation, cloud services and cyber security, Injazat is enthusiastically and strategically invigorating the industry via several global tech partnership networks, and co-creating digital platforms and services. As such, this Middle-East technology leader – located in Abu Dhabi, capital of the UAE – has turned its attention to partnering with up-and-coming ventures creating out-of-the-box technology platforms and businesses with both Governments and Private Corporates.
This core, driving focus of empowerment through end-to-end digital solutions has led to Injazat’s newest creation, InGenius Ventures, for which the parent company’s Vice President, Nour El Ansari, is the Chief Venture Builder.
“I joined in April 2020, in the digital business building department, as it was named then,” says El Ansari of his start at Injazat, which coincided with the 2020 global pandemic.
Nour El Ansari Vice President, Injazat
“I have spent almost a year working on the strategy and the transformation of Injazat, accelerating its shift from an IT outsourcing company to a real technology company that is able to provide its clients with a full digital transformation enabled by cloud advanced applications and cyber security, but also to help them challenge their current business models through venture building. And this is where we have created and named InGenius Ventures.”
InGenius Ventures: tech-enabled disruptive businesses with a human focus
With a wide range of expertise across business, technology and digital solutions – not to mention prior experience of founding ventures and developing innovations – El Ansari is the perfect man to lead Injazat’s dedicated Venture Building activities.
Born in Morocco, he went on to study engineering in France, spending the vast
NOUR EL ANSARI VICE PRESIDENT, INJAZAT
majority of his career thus far in Paris, where he married and started a family. “My background is as an engineer from TELECOM Paris, so basically in technology, I like to think of myself as a generalist engineer. I'm very passionate about technology,” El Ansari explains.
It was after living and working in France for a while that El Ansari really started “leveraging [his] engineering background for the sake of having a business impact”, working for the renowned management consultancy BearingPoint, and then co-founding a startup in Paris with his wife that provided platforms funded and incubated by the French Chamber of Commerce.
First, working in management consulting provided El Ansari with the “corporate advisory capabilities, delivery toughness and the experience of transforming and setting up new businesses and strategies for large telecom corporations and government executives”.
Then, through his early venture-building experience – which buoyed his “startup spirit” – El Ansari displayed passion for what he deems “disruptive tech”, otherwise known as technology that aims to change the game through the alteration of traditional business models. In short, the process deepened his profound desire to develop end-to-end digital technologies that have an impact “beyond the surface level”.
This process also gave El Ansari experience of the entire startup journey, from initial conception to a “real, funded startup” with a dedicated team by his side: “That was where I really tackled all the issues related to building a company – recruiting people, managing a team, thinking about the journey from an idea to a real funded startup.”
While he definitely had an impact with his first startup, it wasn’t until El Ansari started
EXECUTIVE BIO
NOUR EL ANSARI
TITLE: VICE PRESIDENT INDUSTRY: CLOUD, AND CYBER SECURITY LOCATION: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Nour El Ansari is passionate about the Digital Era and what advanced technologies can bring to us! His current mission is inventing and building impactful ventures for the UAE and MENA region. He is convinced that Digital Technologies - when used the right way - can have an unprecedented positive and global impact on communities, organisations’ and nations’ prosperity. Usually described as a results-oriented professional, his motivation is to discover, learn and create value by solving complexity and subsequently leading execution with impactful teams. While his focus now is on Digital Ventures, he comes from management consulting, engineering and entrepreneurship backgrounds. Across the EMEA region, Nour El Ansari has led strategy, innovation and transformation projects, serving major telecom operators, governments and technology players. In addition, he has founded a Paris-based Digital Venture to pursue his deep interest for the Digital Platforms Economy.
NOUR EL ANSARI VICE PRESIDENT, INJAZAT
working as Injazat’s Chief Venture Builder – a position he gained after joining Injazat through his connections in Abu Dhabi – that he realised the scope of meaningful, influential change that could be achieved with a larger network as a base.
And it’s in this environment that the InGenius Ventures’ story began.
“InGenius Ventures is a venture builder, which is significantly different from a startup studio or a startup accelerator, because the aim of a venture builder is to build assets for the group, to have control and a real impact through the ventures that we own,” explains El Ansari, keen to highlight how startups and ventures differ.
“One of the most exciting journeys is when we co-create with our partners and try to go beyond basic digital transformation to discover adjacent opportunities for their core business, which is a way for them to diversify whether they are in healthcare, in government, in oil and gas, and so on. In that journey, we play the role of the technology investor, partner and venture-building specialist.”
There are multiple stages in venture building: the first of these is the Explore stage that starts with a “pool of ideas”, which
INGENIUS VENTURES
InGenius Ventures activities are naturally heavy on Healthcare and on Smart City capabilities and started industrialising venture building with many of our partners in healthcare, in smart mobility, in advertisement, in construction, across Abu Dhabi, the UAE, and in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region, mainly. – Malaffi is the first health information exchange in the MENA region, developed as part of the strategic Public Private Partnership (PPP) between the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi (DOH) and Injazat. In 2021, Malaffi connected 100% of the Hospitals in Abu Dhabi – Since 2018, Injazat has been working with UAE Civil Defense and the Ministry of Interior to revolutionise the nation’s ability to respond to emergency events. In line with the countries' 2021 Vision, making the UAE one of the safest countries in the world, Hassantuk uses smart monitoring equipment, alerting and control systems to make and keep more than 150,000 buildings across the UAE secure. – In 2021, InGenius Ventures launched with UAE leaders in Oil and gas platforms building, a venture dedicated to employing AI to transform methods of oil and gas asset management, extending to even renewable asset-management operations. – Awards – Injazat won three in 2020: - Hewlett Packard Enterprise: Service Provider of the Year 2020 - FORTINET: MSSP Partner of the Year 2020 - Tahawultech.com Future Enterprise Awards: Cloud Services Provider of the Year 2020 – 2022: The UAE National Cyber Security Council and UAE-based technology company Injazat have signed an MoU aimed at improving coordination and response time to potential cyber-attacks in the country.
funnels suggestions that are prioritised via “a matrix of criteria” to help “de-risk investments” for the company and its partners; then comes the secondary data research, where a range of methodologies are utilised to highlight market potential and any challenges that need overcoming; this is followed by the design and validation phases, which include “building an investment proposal on a theoretical basis, using data that can be bought or researched, as well as a practical dimension, such as running a Proof of Concept to measure market traction on the venture idea so that the investment case can be revamped based on real data”; next is the build and recruit phase, which is fairly self-explanatory; and the final part of the process is growth and expansion, achieved via symbiosis between InGenius and the venture partner.
The most notable part of this process is the fact that InGenius Ventures accompanies the venture throughout the entire journey, whereas many others will exit following the ‘build phase’. In essence, InGenius is an investor and isn’t just there to extract shortterm profit; it’s there to cultivate talent and develop impactful, long-lasting businesses.
NOUR EL ANSARI VICE PRESIDENT, INJAZAT
Developing a digital ecosystem
In order for Injazat and InGenius Ventures to have the type of impact envisioned by El Ansari and his team, developing digital ecosystems is essential. This means identifying a range of partners and investors from across different sectors, as well as from across both the public and private spheres.
Such an ecosystem would enable InGenius to link its chosen ventures with governmental departments, as well as to the technology and platforms accessible via its partners, this would enhance the venture builder’s ability to bounce initial ideas through the various stages of innovation – from design and validation, through to the building and growth phases – extending the venture’s longevity in addition to the overall positive impact.
El Ansari wants the development of digital ecosystems to be connected to, and accelerated by, government leadership, providing an example of how this may work in the future: “Health tech is presenting a huge potential, and I think that the digital ecosystem of healthcare will accelerate once it's led by the government and supported by the private sector. The scheme I see there is a hyper-platform that can host other platforms.”
“Another example is Advanced and Autonomous Mobility in which, unless the
government takes the lead, the friction between regulation and private operations’ newness may indefinitely slow down any deployment progress. Proof of this can be seen when looking back at aviation developments, which were based on accelerated military innovations. The reason it happened so fast is that military innovations are government-driven and born in a quasi-unregulated realm of urgency…”
An open-innovation approach teamed with collaboration
“My day-to-day job is to oversee a portfolio of ventures that we source from different channels, including our strategic partners “The goal is to improve many dimensions of our purpose, to have a purpose that is around people and businesses, around safety, peace and the environment, too. I personally call them ‘The Four Ps’, for People, Peace, Planet, and Progress”
NOUR EL ANSARI VICE PRESIDENT, INJAZAT
that are already technology clients for us, but also from new partners that could be future co-investing venture partners,” says El Ansari.
To obtain a rounded digital ecosystem, El Ansari champions an “open-innovation” approach to collaboration and partnerbuilding – and here, he uses a kitchen analogy to demonstrate what he means by this.
“In what we call the ‘InGenius Kitchen’, we take an open innovation approach, which is based on sharing a pool of ideas from our teams and from our teams’ networks that could make sense to one of our partners.” In other words, each idea or solution is like an individual ingredient coming together in a proverbial pot to build a full venture recipe that may or may not work.
When it comes to choosing what to work on, El Ansari states that the decision hinges on whether ventures have the following three elements: a human design perspective, a business design one, and a tech design
one. All three are required for long-term partnerships, which links back to El Ansari’s interest in complex industry disruptions, from HealthTech to Smart Cities.
“We are part of a group that is probably a regional or global leader in AI and cloud – Group 42. And AI is now impacting a lot of industries that we want to play in,” enthuses El Ansari, before outlining how this will look in future. “Among the few things that I personally see on the horizon – and that I'm really excited about – is the potential of health tech, which is something that everyone knows, but I think the digital ecosystem of healthcare will be accelerated once it's led by the government and supported by the private sector.”
He adds: “This is the future because health should be connected and pivoted in a preventive manner. Our group, with the capabilities of AI components, can help people take care of their health in a predictive way – as the English would say, ‘prevention is better than cure’!”
Another key partnership for Injazat is Gellify, who the company has partnered with for the last few years.
“They present a few characteristics that are close to our new company, Injazat 4.0, as we call it. Gellify presents a condensed level of talent, high adaptability, as well as being another kind of VC-backed venture builder, startup accelerator and investor. They also developed consulting and advisory capabilities that are key in helping us crack some of our challenges, whether with our transformation or other areas. So they play a key partner role,” explains El Ansari.
“We have what we call delivery partners and venture partners. This encompasses best-in-class consultancies, as well as established technology companies,
research companies, and obviously, companies from the realm of startups.”
In terms of future partnerships, El Ansari states that both Injazat and InGenius Ventures are looking to diversify this portfolio of partner companies, perhaps by working more closely with different government departments, as well as tech companies.
Mission possible: pioneering with purpose and bridging the innovation gap between the corporation and start-up models
At Injazat, InGenius Ventures’ overarching mission is to build ventures with a significant impact on society, in terms of both businesses and individual citizens, in-line with the country’s leadership trajectory.
“The goal is to improve many dimensions of our purpose, to have a purpose that is around people and businesses, around safety, peace and environment, too. I personally call them ‘The Four Ps’: People, Peace, Planet, and Progress,” smiles El Ansari, summarising his goals – which are many and wide-ranging.
The core pillar of this, though, is the human element; El Ansari feels that InGenius can generate untold societal benefits from really emphasising its purpose in the space between corporations and startups.
“Venture building is a job by itself, because it comes at the intersection of two worlds: corporations and start-ups. We are not an innovation department in an established corporation, and we're not a startup living in an accelerator. Instead, InGenius Ventures makes the link between the two,” he establishes.
As such, El Ansari is excited by the future of technological innovation, imagining the applications of AI in road safety and vehicle tracking, and how blockchain may end up impacting more than the financial world.
“I think that the way we manage transactions will be deeply transformed by blockchain. The way the cinema industry works could also be completely changed by blockchain, with a cryptocurrency not only transforming the way we finance the next blockbuster, but also transforming the way cinema tickets and platforms like Netflix work,” predicts El Ansari, his brain evidently ticking away with the burgeoning possibilities forming in his mind.
“So the major disruptor for Netflix would be a blockchain that's distributing access to watch movies directly to people from productions. Which movies would have been financed through an ICO, and this is something that we're talking about – but the day it happens, the cinema industry will never look like before because its investment budgets will be multiplied and the way we consume it will change.”
Flexible work perks heat up PEOPLE as war on talent rages
From office shut-downs and extra days off, to shorter weeks and work-from-anywhere policies, flexibility is the work perk must-have for summer – and beyond
WRITTEN BY: KATE BIRCH
With the arrival this year of the first proper summer since the onset of the pandemic, any HR exec worth their human capital salt is dishing up big on benefits – offering employees everything from unlimited holidays, to shorter work weeks, to workfrom-anywhere policies.
Grant Thornton, PwC and Kellogg’s have all unveiled new summer time-off policies; while Airbnb, Deloitte, KPMG and Yahoo are giving employees the opportunity to work from anywhere.
In a recent letter to Airbnb employees, introducing a work-from-anywhere policy for the “vast majority” of staff, CEO Brian Chesky declared that remote working and flexibility would “become the predominant way that we all work 10 years from now”.
The best people live everywhere, not concentrated in one area. And by recruiting from a diverse set of communities, we will become a more diverse company
Brian Chesky
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And even the most hardened employers – those who were until recently demanding all workers return full-time to the office – are jumping on the flexible work-perk bandwagon.
Here’s looking at you Goldman Sachs, whose CEO David Solomon had until recently repeatedly insisted that employees return to the office full-time; but has since told its most senior bankers they can take as much holiday as they want so they can ‘rest and re-charge’.
This sentiment to ‘re-charge’ after what has been a particularly long and difficult few years is popular among forward-thinking firms, as they look to reward and incentivise workers with more holidays and WFH allowances.
In fact, for employers, this work perk might just be the secret sauce needed to tackle the growing rate of employee burnout, and attract and retain employees amid tight labour market conditions and the Great Resignation.
Rise of unlimited time off
Originally a perk offered by startups and tech companies, unlimited vacation policy, otherwise known as DTO (Discretionary Time Off) or unlimited PTO (Paid Time Off), is gaining traction, especially in the US, where workers take less vacation time than many of their counterparts worldwide.
LinkedIn said in 2015 that it shifted to unlimited PTO in a bid to give employees more flexibility and a sense of empowerment, while Airbnb is betting on a wider talent pool and increase in diversity. Some businesses have adopted the policy to encourage workers to take more vacation time, as a way to limit burnout and increase productivity.
The results of unlimited PTO appear as varied as the reasons. Talent consulting firm WilsonHCG, which unveiled its unlimited PTO program in 2020, has seen the number of vacation days employees take rise by 57%, while HR platform Namely found that employees with unlimited vacation plans take an average of only 13 days off per year, whereas traditional-plan employees average 15 days.
Regardless of results, the offer of unlimited PTO is considered a major perk by many, and is known to to help in recruiting and retaining talented employees, and in increasing morale and reducing burnout. When asked what non-traditional perks and benefits interest employees, 80% said increased paid leave or paid time off, according to the 2021 US Employee Benefit Trends Study by MetLife.
Workers want a new deal and there’s a danger that businesses that don’t get on board won’t be able to compete for the best and brightest minds
Steve Collinson
Head of HR at Zurich
Life-work balance is the goal post pandemic
The roll-out of such summer work perks comes as pressure mounts for employees to return to the office post-pandemic.
In the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted people are more productive in the office, while leading businessman Alan Sugar has derided shorter summer working hours a joke. In the US, New York City Mayor Eric Adams has been on a dogged mission to bring office workers back to the city, and Wall Street giants JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley continue to take hard-line stances on bringing employees back to the offices.
But workers, it seems, are playing hard ball. Having enjoyed flexibility for the last two years, they are not only putting their health and happiness first – with 53% of global workers more likely to prioritise wellbeing over work than before the pandemic, reports Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index – but they are reaping the benefits of a better work-life balance.
For the first time in seven years, work-life balance trumped salary as the main thing prospective employees look for in a job, with 65% ranking it as most important, Randstad research reveals. In Singapore, from July to December 2021, 64% of employees who switched employers or careers cited worklife balance as the main driver in searching for new jobs.
Life-work balance is the employee goal du jour, especially for women and younger generations, who are generally considered to be more driven by purpose, and want flexibility. And bolstered by a strong jobs market and new priorities, employees are empowered, and increasingly vocal in their quest of an optimal work-life blend.
Inflexible employers could lead to a ‘flexidus’
And if they don’t get one, they will leave for a better opportunity. Dubbed ‘flexidus’, new research from LinkedIn has shed light on employee sentiment – and it’s not looking good for employers.
While the majority of businesses (80% in the UK, 97% in the UAE and Saudi,) have improved their flexible working offer since the pandemic, and around three-quarters of firms believe their employees are largely satisfied with it, a staggering 70% of those surveyed in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, and 55% of women globally, say they are considering leaving their job due to lack of flexibility.
In Australia, more than two in three women say they want more flexibility, and globally, 71% want increased annual leave allowance, and 68% a four-day working week.
Did you know?
Employers offering flexible work arrangements can now shout about it, as they look to hire top talent. Flexa is a new platform that aggregates workplace benefits, including remote working and flexibility, giving employees complete transparency on employers before applying for a job. Used by 150 companies including Allianz, Farfetch and Paddle, the platform only features companies “who meet a certain standard of flexibility and who are willing to be upfront about what they offer”, says Molly Johnson-Jones, co-founder.
3 startups powering the future of work
From startups to corporates, the latest tech facilitating the remote/hybrid work experience.
1 | Anywell – improving wellness in the community
Described as a “new way to work remotely”, anywell is an Israeli-based Workspace-asa-Service platform helping firms transition to a hybrid work model by enabling employees to work from spaces in their local communities. With a market presence in Israel and New York, and plans to expand globally following a recent fund raise of US$10m, anywell has to date partnered with 200 hosts, from cafes to co-working spaces. With expenses covered by employers, workers can use choose a local venue to work from on any given day. “Employers who join anywell commit to not only putting their employees’ wellness first, but also to supporting local businesses and giving back to the community,” says Chemi Peres, founder of Pitango, investors of anywell.
2 | Remi – building culture for remote teams
As remote/hybrid working sets in, team culture remains a challenge with employees often feeling disconnected, and less psychologically safe in their teams, which in turn leads to less productivity and higher turnover. This is where culturebuilding platform Remi comes in. Acting as a people experience manager, the Berlinbased platform, which has just raised €1.2m in funding, takes a proactive and intentional approach to culture building, curating and facilitating social interactions via team-building rituals and proactive nudges. Insights from interactions gives employers the chance to optimise cultural interventions in teams to improve belonging and connection.
3 | Clockwise – avoiding employee burnout
Clockwise, a time management and smart calendar tool, has optimised calendars for some 10,000 organisations, including Netflix, Twitter, Coinbase, and Atlassian. The platform, which recently raised US$45m in funding, uses AI to help teams free up their workdays and avoid the challenges associated with remote and hybrid workplaces, like burnout. Clockwise optimises team’s schedules to create more time, so workers “can feel present when working together and focused when working alone”, says CEO Matt Martin.
Matt Martin (CEO and Co-founder) and Gary Lerhaupt (CTO and Co-founder)
The pandemic has brought a revolution in flexible working. And now many professionals, particularly women, rightly, don’t want to go back to the way things were as it has improved their lives in untold ways
Ngaire Moyes
VP, Communications and Brand, International at LinkedIn
“The pandemic has brought a revolution in flexible working,” says Ngaire Moyes, VP of Communications and brand. “And now many professionals, particularly women, rightly, don’t want to go back to the way things were as it has improved their lives in untold ways.”
And with the current war on talent and Great Resignation raging on – four million workers left their jobs in April 2022 in the US alone, to seek out higher salaries and more flexibility, according to the Labor Department – firms are having to up their flexibility work perks to attract and retain the best talent.
Zurich UK is a case in point. The insurer has seen applications from women for senior roles soar by 19.3% after including flexible working options in its job adverts, attracting double the number of applications from both genders for every role since the change.
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Mehmet Akcin, CEO of EdgeUno, tells us how the company is providing solutions to problems in the data centre industry and its focus on edge and cloud computing
Despite only being three years old, the foundations of EdgeUno go back to 1993 when it was incorporated by Colombian firm Red One. Described by
CEO Mehmet Akcin as a unique startup, the company has a US base in Miami,
Florida, and LATAM Headquarters in Bogota,
Colombia and Uberlandia, Brazil. EdgeUno also has a large presence in the region, which, in addition to the countries listed above consists of Argentina, Costa Rica,
Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and
Puerto Rico.
Akcin says that what makes EdgeUno special is that it does not provide services but rather solves problems with them. “We provide solutions to issues with connectivity and colocation fast. We provide remote hands support where needed. If somebody’s equipment is broken, we help them to fix it in a timely manner, and we will provide them with equipment and the full solution to their needs,” explains Akcin.
EdgeUno also offers Cloud services to both existing customers in the LATAM region or customers looking to enter it. The customers use EdgeUno’s Cloud services to lower the latency of connectivity with their users. “Any company looking to establish a quick presence in Latin America can come to us and enable our Cloud solution in a matter of seconds,” Akcin said.
Mehmet Akcin, CEO and Founder, Example of EdgeUno an image caption
EdgeUno is a LATAM-based Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) rapidly growing company that focuses on connectivity and edge computing. It operates in the LATAM region, providing its services for companies in countries such as Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, and Cairo.
The role of digital transformation is becoming ever more important in the data centre industry. In a recent study on the benefits of digital transformation by FinancesOnline, 40% of executives surveyed believed the most important of these was improvement of operational efficiency, whilst 36% said it allowed a faster time to market.
To support digital transformation in the LATAM region, EdgeUno has a professional services division that acquires companies with this as their focus - with two out of every three acquisitions focused on providing digital transformation services to internet service providers in the LATAM region. Currently, EdgeUno has around 50 large Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the region - including 5G providers and subsea cable operators - and, according to Akcin, helps them to build, monitor, run, and revolutionise their networks. EdgeUno also supports them in becoming more costeffective and makes suggestions as to how they can grow and enter different markets.
MEHMET AKCIN CEO AND FOUNDER, EDGEUNO
Focusing on edge computing rather than building massive-scale data centres
EdgeUno operates its own data centre facility in Colombia, but its focus is on edge computing. The reason for this, Akcin explains, is that EdgeUno is not looking to compete with multi-billiondollar companies to build massive-scale data centres: “This is not the problem. There are a lot of data centres in Colombia, but what is missing is a connection hub where the centres and ISPs can come together and meet.”
EdgeUno currently provides the connection hub solution in Bogota.
It is also looking at creating an exchange point in Cairo, Egypt. As the market there opens up, Akcin says the company’s plan for the city is to form small partnerships with telecom agents. “I wouldn’t really say we
have our own data centre there, but we will go to Cairo with our modular data centre solutions and just focus on connectivity.”
The plan also involves taking these modular data centre solutions and targeting the connectivity points where networks interconnect. This is because in countries like Colombia, Peru, and Chile, the interconnection points are occasionally historical buildings around 80 to 90 years old.
EXECUTIVE BIO
MEHMET AKCIN
TITLE: FOUNDER AND CEO INDUSTRY: DATA CENTRES, INFRASTRUCTURE AS A SERVICE (IAAS)
A former Microsoft and Yahoo employee, Mehmet Akcin is the Chief Executive Officer and Founder of EdgeUno, an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) rapidly growing company providing turnkey solutions for the LATAM region. The company also provides a wide range of services focused on Emerging Markets such as Brazil, Mexico, Turkey, Egypt, Russia and more. He is an engineer and owns several patents focusing on content delivery and internet acceleration and performance.
With over 20 years of experience, Mehmet is highly regarded as a bona fide veteran in the telecommunications industry, and his impressive professional pedigree speaks for itself.
MEHMET AKCIN CEO AND FOUNDER, EDGEUNO
“In the case of Mexico, the ISPs are not all interconnected with each other. There are not enough networks, so we are working out a solution to these issues.” To rectify this issue, Akcin says that the company is going to buy space in a data centre and build its own rack solutions with a focus just on edge computing.
EdgeUno is a “people-first” company that takes care of its customers and staff. Talking about the workplace culture, Akcin said: “We have people who have had to go the extra mile during COVID - working late nights and on the weekends. We’ve even had some people who couldn’t work due to the pandemic, and they had to cover each other.
“Building that culture is tough and you need to really care about your people to do so.” When looking to attract talent, EdgeUno looks to its engineering background for inspiration. “We are an engineering-focused company with a 70 to 80% focus on the industry. We are hiring people every day, and whilst that percentage changes regularly around three-quarters of our company will be predominantly centred around engineers.
Another way in which the company hires staff is through having dedicated programmes within the education sector.
$1.82bn
In April 2017, American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.
#1
123 Reg is is the UK's top domain registrar. Title of the video $1.82bn
American hosting company GoDaddy acquired 123 Reg from the parent company, HEG.
$30mn
Company revenue (ARR)
120+
Number of employees
2019
Year founded
MEHMET AKCIN CEO AND FOUNDER, EDGEUNO
“We have great programmes which we are establishing with schools in Brazil and Colombia and we attract talent at a young age and give opportunities to move internally within our company.”
“So, for example, we hire somebody and after working for us for a year and a half they are opening their first data centre. Even though they may not be the most experienced person, we bring them in and offer them training and the opportunity to work on big projects, and then we help them develop their career. I think this is what helps us retain good talent,” Akcin said.
Akcin says competing with companies like Google and Microsoft on hiring staff is difficult. “It’s a challenging thing because people come into these companies, and they want to hire you. They have a great brand that’s hard to compete with but also, they offer three or four times the salary. Of course, it’s hard to match their salary offers, but in general, I think that hiring really talented people and building a group of young and hungry people is the way to grow your business.”
The ‘sweet spot’ in EdgeUno’s company strategy
In addition to growing its operations, Akcin says that the ‘sweet spot’ of its company strategy is its ability to deliver its services to smaller companies quickly. “If a company comes to us and says it would like one terabyte of capacity in the LATAM region, EdgeUno is probably the only company that can deliver it in less than a week, because we have this kind of capacity ready to build,” Akcin says.
As part of its strategy, EdgeUno also focuses on completing several company acquisitions as a way of expanding its customer base. In 2022, Akcin says that it is looking to acquire around six or seven additional companies with a focus on different areas such as cloud professional services and security.
Furthering its mission to solve problems, the company is looking to create a machine that can design networks based on its customers’ needs, something which relies heavily on partnerships and acquisitions. Akcin says that this is a good way to attract
Title of the video
engineers, because when EdgeUno acquires companies, it hires very senior people. “These senior people know other veterans in the industry, and they are attracted to the idea of working with us,” Akcin said.
One such partnership is with Seaborn Networks with whom EdgeUno works very closely. Seaborn is a submarine networks company that addresses global communications needs across the Americas delivering transport, Ethernet private line and IP services. “We use their internet backbone infrastructure very heavily - we rely on it,” says Akcin. EdgeUno’s other partners include Equinix, Juniper, and Dell working on both the equipment side and server side of their operations.
Discussing the partnerships in more detail, Akcin said: “EdgeUno is a very transparent company. We tell our partners our intentions clearly. We work with longterm partnership opportunities - we don’t just look for the one day or twelvemonth contract and we want to focus on win-win situations. Sometimes we might be buying something from a customer, but it might turn out to be that we can be their customer too. So, we like to be dynamic.”
Additional company acquisitions and new edge data centres are on the cards of the future
Akcin outlined what we can expect to see from EdgeUno in the near future. Although he didn’t want to name them specifically, he said that EdgeUno is going to be working with “some really big names” in the industry as their LATAM representative. Akcin also mentioned the company may be venturing into the Fintech industry with investments as well as providing support for startups. “These startups don’t
MEHMET AKCIN CEO AND FOUNDER, EDGEUNO
have to be technical. They can be health or education. We love education specifically, and anything to do with it is going to be a priority for us,” commented Akcin, who added that investing in Fintech will allow them to diversify and grow their portfolio.
Talking of investments, EdgeUno is also in the process of trying to finalise a funding round of its own, which Akcin says should be closed in less than twelve to eighteen months’ time. In addition, there will be three or four new edge data centres focused on connectivity. According to Ackcin, these will be started and finished in a relatively short period of time due to the fact they will be prefabricated. “It’s just a matter of putting them on a ship and bringing them to Colombia or Chile or Peru.”
Additional company purchases are also on the cards for the future. Commenting on these, Akcin said: “You can definitely expect to see EdgeUno acquire more companies. We are looking at three or four different types of businesses, and I believe that you will also see EdgeUno establishing new partnerships, too.”
PROFIT Put suppliers at the heart of your business to drive profit
Daniel Weise, global leader of Boston Consulting Group’s procurement business line, on the timely publication of his new book, Profit From The Source
When it comes to procurement, supply chains and sustainability, few people know these vital business foundations better than Daniel Weise.
Boston Consulting Group’s Global Topic Leader - Procurement is also the CEO of INVERTO – a BCG subsidiary specialising in procurement and supply chain management consulting.
You will often find Weise’s co-authored byline on publications, reports and books, but even he would be the first to admit that with his latest offering, Profit From The Source, the subject matter of supply chain disruption, risk and resilience is more relevant right now than when he first put pen to paper.
Working with BCG colleagues Alenka Triplat, Christian Schuh and Wolfgang Schnellbächer, Weise says they came together to write the book because they wanted to get across a clear message – business leaders should put their suppliers, and by extension their procurement function which ‘owns’ the corporate relationship with suppliers, at the heart of their business.
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Weise on INVERTO
“INVERTO is an independent subsidiary of BCG – a company we acquired five years ago in order to strengthen our procurement and supply chain management offering to our clients. Founded in 2000, it brought us some very distinctive, specialist capabilities as well as an unrivaled data set stretching back 20 years that allows us to benchmark our clients and provide a very customised service.
I became CEO in 2021, and I do this job alongside my role as leading BCG’s procurement consulting business. Yes, there’s added pressure, but I relish the challenge. It provides me with a unique perspective on the evolution of the procurement business – how it has changed over the past few years and how it is poised to change over the next few years.
I feel extraordinarily privileged to be leading INVERTO’s next phase of growth. We are planning to add more than 100 consultants in 2022, which is more than we had when we bought the company in 2017.”
A company has no hope of meeting ESG standards without the active cooperation of suppliers
Daniel Weise
Global leader of Boston Consulting Group
But time and again, they encountered CEOs who spent next to no time thinking about or getting actively involved with their suppliers. Time and again, they saw that chief procurement officers were marginalised and given no opportunity to influence the strategic direction of their company. This made no sense.
Suppliers account for half of a typical company’s budget. On top of that, they are a rich source of competitive advantage – helping companies to create products and services that are not only lower cost but also lower risk, more sustainable, more innovative, higher quality, and faster to market.
Bearing that in mind, Weise wondered how CEOs can justify spending so little time with suppliers. The result is Profit From The Source.
Business Chief: What is the book all about, and why is it relevant right now?
Daniel Weise: Well, as the subtitle says, the book’s about how CEOs can transform their business by putting suppliers at the core. We offer a blueprint for radical change that identifies three building blocks of a revitalised company: what the CEO needs to do to change, what the company needs to do to change, and what the company’s ecosystem, or network, of suppliers needs to do to change.
As we started to put pen to paper, or rather finger to keyboard, the book was highly relevant, because the world was facing supply issues as a result of the trade war between the US and China. But it has become even more relevant since then, with the currently raging supply chain crisis triggered by the global pandemic and the
Daniel Weise
Global leader of Boston Consulting Group
war in Ukraine. Business leaders, struggling to get essential raw materials, components and other parts, are realising that they failed to pay enough attention to suppliers and their procurement function. Also, they need to find a way to generate profitable growth as they emerge from the various crises. They are urgently looking for answers – for solutions. This book has them.
BC: This is a book about procurement and supply chains, but is it also essential reading for any CEO right now?
DW: Absolutely. In fact, the CEO is the main, target reader of Profit From The Source. There are two reasons. One is this: We know that, as with most things in a company, if the CEO doesn’t get behind something, it won’t happen. But the bigger reason is that we believe suppliers and procurement should be strategic, and therefore by definition, CEO priorities.
Indeed, our #1 practical principle, the first of 10, is: Start At The Top: Make your Suppliers and your Procurement Function Leadership Imperatives. It is only when they are deemed strategic priorities and leadership imperatives that they can have a positive impact on corporate decision-making and the future direction of a company.
To make them strategic, CEOs must do a number of things. For example, at a personal level, we recommend that they spend more time with suppliers. Research from Harvard Business School suggests that CEOs spend just 1 per cent of their time with suppliers – the equivalent of seven minutes a day. That’s not enough. In particular, they should nurture one-on-one relationships with the CEOs of their top suppliers – the 20-40 companies that account for half of their supplier budget.
At a company-wide level, they need to change the mindset, so that procurement is regarded as an important business capability. One effective way to do this is to elevate the role of the chief procurement officer
Weise on Weise
“I joined BCG in 2003, just after the tech boom and bust. Since then, the world has experienced some turbulent times: the financial crisis which led to the Great Recession, the UK’s departure from the European Union, the US-China trade war, a once-in-a-century global pandemic, and now, with the war in Ukraine, the first conflict between neighbours in Europe since the Second World War.
During this time, BCG has grown exponentially, as demand for its consulting advice has increased, and I have taken every opportunity to work across different industries (in particular the industrial goods and energy sectors) and different regions. Above all, I have specialised in procurement and supply chain management, and now serve as BCG’s global leader for procurement.
I studied procurement at university as part of my degree in business administration. But the big triggers for my developing interest in procurement were two separate events. First was Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Ukraine’s peninsula on the Black Sea, in 2014: this foreshadowed some of the global supply issues we’re now seeing – for instance, the price of neon gas, a by-product of the Crimean steelmakers that is essential for the manufacture of semiconductors, increased by 600 per cent. The second was the United Nation’s Paris Agreement in 2015: this set a new benchmark for carbon emissions that completely changed the game for business and made climate change a CEO imperative.
I realised that on both of these issues – the resilient supply chain and sustainability – procurement needed to have a bigger voice around the boardroom table. It is only there, where the big decisions are made, that procurement can make a meaningful contribution to the strategic direction of the company.”
by appointing the CPO on their first day in the top job, choosing someone who could be their successor, and installing them in an office next to or near their own. Also, CEOs should revamp their procurement function.
BC: How important are procurement and supply chains in 2022? DW: I would say: Is there anything more important for business, and indeed political, leaders this year? The world is facing a potential humanitarian crisis, with some 400 million people reliant on the grain produced by Ukraine, the bread basket of Europe. Meanwhile, with factories closed, and vital ports (such as Shanghai and Los Angeles) either closed or severely impaired, companies are struggling to get the raw materials, oil and gas, and essential parts they need to make their products.
In the automotive industry, for example, the shortage of semiconductors is having a severe negative impact. In 2021, automakers cancelled plans to build ten million cars. This year, we forecast that they will cancel a further seven or eight million vehicles. And that won’t be the end of it. Next year, we anticipate that they will cancel four million automobiles, as demand for semiconductors outstrips supply by 10 per cent. It all goes to show that without functioning supply chains, the global economy grinds to a halt.
Daniel Weise
Global leader of Boston Consulting Group
BC: You talked about black swan events and grey rhinos at BizClik Media Group’s recent Procurement & Supply Cahin LIVE show – tell us more?
DW: ‘Grey rhino’ is the expression coined by business writer Michele Wucker to describe a highly probable, highly predictable, high-impact event. She came up with this idea as a contrast to Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s ‘black swan’: a random, highly improbable event. So often, business leaders rush to identify an unusual event, such as a pandemic, as a black swan event. They do so to explain away their failure to anticipate and prepare for the event and its negative impact on the company. But really, a pandemic or a tsunami or a cybersecurity breach or a
product failure—these are all predictable. In other words, they are all gray rhinos.
So, how can you best prepare for them? There are three things we think CEOs can do. First, they need to develop a deep knowledge of their supply chains: not only understanding where their suppliers are located and what they are producing but also forging better links with the suppliers of their suppliers—all the way back to the start of the chain. Second, they need to gather intelligence from suppliers who are a precious source of news about competitors’ current and future products, information about up-to-the-minute trends, and the latest thinking on faster, better, and safer ways to source and make products. And third, they need to understand that the next crisis is not an ‘if’ but a ‘when’.
BC: Most people would think that suppliers and procurement are primarily the concern of the CPO. But, in your book, you say that it should be a CEO issue. Why do you think so?
DW: Even in the best of times, CEOs all too often fail to fulfill the lofty ambitions that they set for themselves when they took the top job. The urgent gets in the way of the important, short-term firefighting trumps long-term thinking. But since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, CEOs have been experiencing the worst of times. Amid all the turmoil, they have still been expected to do the seemingly impossible: cut costs while improving the quality of their companies’ goods and services and while making their businesses faster, more innovative, and more sustainable.
It is my and my co-authors’ view that out of all the different business functions, only the procurement function can help CEOs on all of these dimensions. Its role managing suppliers means that it holds the keys to the engine that really drives the company and its future. Very simply, this is why it is a CEO issue.
BC: One of your key points is that the job of procurement is more than just reducing costs. So, how else can procurement contribute to the growth of their company?
DW: Yes – in fact, this is the key point we make in the book. In most companies, CEOs instruct the procurement team to focus on purchasing goods and services from suppliers at the lowest price. But this limited instruction means that they routinely fail to capitalise on the team’s phenomenal potential to contribute to a company’s profitable growth.
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Leon Gauhman
Elsewhen
LEFT: Alessandro Hatami RIGHT: Leon Gauhman
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) is arguably the biggest shake-up in consumer finance since the launch of credit cards. A new report forecasts that BNPL will account for $438 billion (5.3%) of global e-commerce transactions by 2025, up from 2.9% in 2021, as it becomes the fastestgrowing e-commerce payment method in markets including the US, UK, Brazil and India.
On the surface, this is welcome news for retailers that rely on providers such as Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna and PayPal Credit to persuade consumers to keep spending as the cost of living crisis bites. But there are also dangers for brands that become overreliant on the model's easy allure.
Despite the buoyant forecasts, there are growing concerns that the BNPL model could burst. At time of writing, Klarna announced 10% job cuts amid fears that the next funding round could see its £46bn valuation slashed by one third. Klarna attributed the job cuts to factors including the Ukraine war, inflation and a possible recession.
Meanwhile, regulators worldwide are starting to scrutinise leading BNPL players, and retailer brands could get caught up in any subsequent blowback. From June, Klarna started sharing customer borrowing information data with credit agencies before being formally compelled to by the regulators. With consumer credit ratings
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Leon Gauhman
likely to be impacted in the next 12-18 months, Klarna’s move may lead to less uptake by consumers.
So what does this mean for retailers considering whether or not to move ahead with BNPL? How can they strip back reliance on BNPL providers and build their own customised embedded finance alternative?
Business Chief talks to Fintech experts Leon Gauhman, chief strategy officer and co-founder at digital transformation consultancy Elsewhen and Alessandro Hatami, managing director of strategic consultancy Pacemakers, about winning strategies retailers can adopt.
1 Say no to one-size-fits-all “BNPL has strong consumer and merchant appeal because it offers a friction-free, apparently affordable payment option,” says Gauhman. “To differentiate in a crowded market, retailers should look to develop a seamlessly embedded finance offer tailored to their specific brand values and the needs of their customers. For example, Hamburg Football Club (HSV) partnered with ComDirect Bank to offer fans a current account including credit and debit cards, a ‘payment’ bracelet and various promotions and discounts such as TV subscriptions to watch games.”
2 Deploy brand equity to simplify customers’ financial needs “Its current problems aside, Klarna has developed an aspirational brand out of payment which is a dull but necessary task,” says Hatami. “Retailers can reverseengineer this approach. Imagine banking with Zara or Dior, not just buying products from them.”
“Understanding your customers' financial needs in the context of your brand is key,” adds Gauhman. “As part of their experience of your brand, do customers need to insure, borrow, save or pay? Could your brand help streamline these tasks?”
Outside retail, brands are already adopting this approach: Mercedes for example has a “Fuel & Pay” payment platform that enables drivers to buy and pay for fuel via a Mercedes app or through their vehicle’s infotainment system. In addition, most US airlines offer forms of BNPL and in the EU Lufthansa and TAP are already doing so. “These brands simplify things for the customer, allowing them to enjoy what the brand allows them to do – be it to drive or fly,” says Hatami.
Alessandro Hatami
3 Ensure embedded finance reflects your brand’s values and purpose Beyond regulatory issues and cheap credit concerns, Gauhman believes that the risk for retailers relying on payment providers like Klarna is that BNPL brands are likely to be focused on goals that could be out of sync with brand-based customer needs.
“Ethical brands might favour goals such as longer-term loyalty or a more measured attitude to consumption that embraces ESG values,” he says. “Take Patagonia which currently gives 10% of its profits to small-scale environmental campaigns. It could apply a similar mindset to the way it structures any embedded finance offer to customers. Cashback, discounts or slightly reduced interest rates for ethical purchasing are all tools that e-commerce platforms or retailers could deploy.”
4 Embrace the new-gen power of tech In the UK, supermarket giants Tesco and Sainsbury’s were retail pioneers in the finance space however Hatami believes their offers are outdated. “Today, myriad fintechs offer agile and composable solutions like Banking As A Service (BaaS),” he says. “These solutions make it easy and cost-efficient for brands to launch more innovative and inspiring embedded finance products. For example, Walmart recently launched a fintech startup with investment firm Ribbit Capital, with the ultimate goal of developing financial “experiences” for its employees and customers. Ikea parent Inkga, meanwhile, has recently taken a stake in BNPL firm Jifiti. Coupled with Ingka/Ikea’s previous investment in Ikano Bank, the company is now well placed to deliver competitive and accessible financial services to customers.”
5 Embed finance in your customer experience Whichever embedded finance option brands decide to adopt, both Hatami and Gauhman emphasise that ensuring first-rate customer experience is key. “Ride-sharing apps like Uber and Lyft are great examples of what ‘good’ looks like in terms of customer experience around embedded finance,” says Gauhman. “These brands make paying for journeys simple and seamless, but they also offer financial services to their drivers (eg. Lyft's debit card and bank account).”
Hatami believes that the potential for embedded finance goes way beyond BNPL into areas like credit/debit cards and mortgages – perhaps even pensions. “Travel
Alessandro Hatami
industry brands, including Airbnb, Ryanair and Trainline have all realised that travel insurance is an easy sell when someone is at the point of purchase – but there are many retailer scenarios where this logic can be applied.”
A win-win blueprint
Embracing embedded finance requires careful consideration about engaging with customers and communities in a way that reaches beyond just financial transactions. That said, Hatami says retailers wanting to go ahead shouldn’t delay. “Recent research from BaaS provider Vodeno revealed that 34% of retailers are planning to increase their embedded finance offering in the next 12 months, while 22% aim to dip their toe in the water for the first time. So there's a real risk of being outflanked by rivals”.
Done well, Gauhman maintains that embedded finance should intuitively fit into brands’ existing playbooks on customer retention and engagement. “The big opportunity is to make embedded payments/lending/insuring part of a genuinely customer-first experience,” he says.
“In the process, retailers can distance themselves from consumer debt criticisms that could be magnified by the cost of living crisis.” In other words – beyond the glamour and buzz of BNPL – retail-own finance could be a powerful path forward, one that's hiding in plain sight.
READ THE FULL STORY
Top 10
These Michelin Starstudded restaurants have all bagged the Green Star with their sustainable efforts – from sourcing local to composting waste
Any foodie worth their salt knows the value of a Michelin Star, the French three-tiered rating system honouring the world’s finest restaurants. But even the savviest gourmand may not have heard about Michelin’s Green Star, which landed in 2020.
Michelin’s Green Star recognises restaurants committed to sustainable gastronomy – those sourcing ingredients responsibly, championing local and ethical produce, pioneering the fight against food waste, using seasonal ingredients, eliminating non-recyclables from their supply chains, focusing on a plant-based menu, and tackling issues related to ethics and wellbeing.
To date, 338 restaurants across 21 countries have bagged Michelin-worthy green credentials including in France (82), the UK and Ireland (22), Spain (27), the Nordic countries (34), Germany (52), the US (11) and Japan (24), among others.
From Tokyo to London, Moscow to Phuket, and Copenhagen to California, we spotlight 10 of the world’s most sustainable restaurants to help you eat well and sustainably.
Sweden's Best Kept Secret Awarded a Michelin-star: Äng at Ästad Vingård
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ANG
TVAAKER, SWEDEN
Owned and run by three three siblings, third generation dairy farmers, One Michelin Star ANG is a destination restaurant complete with a vineyard, hotel and spa. Organic, seasonal and local produce take centrestage with ingredients sourced from the Halland region only, many foraged each morning from nearby forests, meadows and fields, with vegetables grown, and lambs reared, on the restaurant farm. ANG offers a zero-waste surprise tasting menu with paired beverages, all organic and artisanal with wines produced from the onsite vineyard. “We choose our produce very carefully in both quality of flavour and sustainability aspects with most of our ingredients based right here in Halland county,” says chef Filip Gemzell.
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Loam
GALWAY, IRELAND
Credited with being the first chef in Ireland to champion natural ingredients, owner Enda McEvoy runs One Michelin Star Loam, an industrial-style setting with open kitchen that contrasts with the most natural of ingredients. Loam has committed to using ingredients sourced only from the west of Ireland using local farmers and fishermen and delivering highly creative dishes with a focus on seasonal and foraged ingredients like elderflowers and sea vegetables. A zero waste, nose-to-tail and leaf-to-root ethos is followed, with any unused food preserved through pickling and fermentation, while waste is composted. They also use renewable energy sources and educate students at local schools.
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Kodaij Wakuden
KYOTO, JAPAN
One of 24 Michelin Green Star restaurants in Japan, Two Michelin Star Kyoto-based Kodaiji Wakuden delivers a minimalist Japanese menu that limits unnecessary elements and uses seasonal flavours and own-grown ingredients. Owner Yuko Kuwamura and her team initiated a tree-planting exercise to revive the surrounding forest and here she grows wild vegetables, pepper, fruit and other crops used in her three restaurants. Her employees plant rice each year and use no pesticides or chemical fertilisers. “We spread crab shells supplied by a ryotei over the paddy fields, thereby returning them to the earth as nutrients.” says chef Shinsuke Tsuruta
Kyoto-wakuden
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The Inn at Little Washington
WASHINGTON DC
Located 90 minutes from DC, and nestled in the foothills of the stunning Blue Ridge mountains, this Three Michelin Star 43-yearold restaurant may be maximalist in décor but it is minimalist when it comes to its impact on the environment. Chef O’Connell has pioneered a regional American cuisine using indigenous products sourced from local farmers, ranchers and the Inn’s very own Garden. They employ two full-time farmers and five gardeners and utilise their own greenhouses for herbs and lettuces, while a beekeeper looks after the hives which supplies the restaurant’s honey.
World's Most Sustainable Restaurant? Amass in Copenhagen by Chef Matt Orlando Aims for Zero Waste.
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Amass
COPENHAGEN
Credited with being the most sustainable restaurant in the Nordics, fine-dining Amass has been led by former Noma chef Matthew Orlando since its 2013 debut. The restaurant’s minimal setting – industrial dining room with high ceilings and an open kitchen – mirrors its minimal approach to cooking with all parts of all ingredients used, cleverly turning skins, seeds and stems into dried seasonings, miso’s or crisps. Ingredients are organic and seasonal, many grown in Amass’ own garden featuring 80 varieties of plants and an aquaponic farming system, and the rest is sourced from Danish farmers and suppliers. Meats are sourced only from farms that practice ethical animal husbandry, and waste is composted, or turned into biofuel.
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Pru
PHUKET, THAILAND
Phuket-based One Michelin Star fine dining restaurant Pru bagged Thailand’s only Green Star in 2021. Not surprising considering this fine-dining degustation-centric restaurant is founded on sustainable principles – the name Pru stands for ‘plant, raise, understand’. Located just a stone’s throw from the sea, Pru is 100% locavore – only using local farmers, fishermen and produce and with a menu built around dishes with ingredients sourced from ecosystems across Thailand. Chef Jimmy Ophorst and his team forage for ingredients all over Thailand and have discovered a small chestnut Yala in the south and a pink guava in the northeast, both ingredients used on the menu. They also have their own 96-acre organic farm and use their own compost.
Phuket-based One Michelin Star fine dining restaurant Pru bagged Thailand’s only Green Star in 2021. Not surprising considering this fine-dining degustation-centric restaurant is founded on sustainable principles – the name Pru stands for ‘plant, raise, understand’. Located just a stone’s throw from the sea, Pru is 100% locavore – only using local farmers, fishermen and produce and with a menu built around dishes with ingredients sourced from ecosystems across Thailand. Chef Jimmy Ophorst and his team forage for ingredients all over Thailand and have discovered a small chestnut Yala in the south and a pink guava in the northeast, both ingredients used on the menu. They also have their own 96-acre organic farm and use their own compost.
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Twin Garden
MOSCOW, RUSSIA
Two Michelin Star Moscow-based Twin Gardens is one of just three Russian restaurants with a Green Star in 2021. Founded in 2017 by twin brothers Ivan and Sergey Berezutskiy (Ivan trained at El Bulli), and previously included in the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list, Twin Garden’s concept – described as a “symbiosis of science and nature” – is seasonal and designed around ingredients that come from the brothers’ own farm near Moscow. The menu offers a tasting course with dishes to represent different Russian regions with vegetables a focus – they even make vegetable wine. They have a solar-powered oven, and high-tech lab equipped with a mushroom wall and 3D food printer.
TWINS GARDEN - RUSSIA, MOSCOW
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ONA Restaurant
ARES, SOUTHWEST FRANCE
Not only does vegan restaurant ONA (Origine Non Animale) have a Green Star, but it’s the first double Michelin-starred vegan restaurant. Led by self-taught vegan chef Claire Vallee, ONA is 100% vegan, organic gastronomy with no meat or dairy on the menu and no leather or fur products in the décor. Instead, the interiors feature wood and bulrush plants while a terrace showcases 140 varieties of organic edible plants used in the kitchen. ONA uses seasonal, organic and local produce and the menu, which changes monthly, is designed as a sensory journey around organic seasonal products, both raw and cooked. All energy used is renewable and the restaurant has its own compost system.
Harbor House Inn
CALIFORNIA
Located in a cliff-side town in Mendocino County, California, the Two Michelin Star Harbor House Inn is led by executive chef Matthew Kammerer who puts a “massive focus on where our ingredients come from and the waste involved in our preparations,” as he recently told sister publication Sustainability Magazine. Almost everything he sources comes from the immediate surroundings with seaweed foraged in the cove below, and herbs, vegetables and eggs from an on-site organic garden and chicken coop. “We limit importing, have removed plastic wrap, save grey water from rinsing vegetables to water our gardens, grow as much of our food as possible, have begun to raise our own animals, and limit meat to grass-fed small-scale production,” he says. All ceramics are made locally, and of the 12-14 courses on any given menu, the majority are vegetarian or sustainable seafood.
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Sense of Place: Harbor House Inn - 2 Michelin Starred Restaurant in Elk, CA
TOP10 01 01
SILO - London - The worlds first Zero Waste restaurant
Silo
LONDON
Dubbed the world’s first zero-waste restaurant, Hackney-based fine dining Silo may not have a Michelin star to its name (yet), but it has bagged the prestigious Green Star. Embracing a preindustrial food system, showcasing pure foods born from clean farming, Silo’s philosophy is based on respect – “respect for the environment, respect for the way food is generated and respect for the nourishment we give to our bodies”, says owner Douglas McMaster. This is reflected in its mainly plant-based menu and zero-waste ethos which extends to everything. On offer is a tasting menu to control what is ordered and make the most of all ingredients with meat prepared following a noseto-tail approach. Leftovers and scraps are composted, and the restaurant mills its own flour, churns its own butter and oat milk and brews its own fermented beer from live cultures. All produce is locally sourced, arrives in reusable containers and is served on crockery made from crushed wine bottles. Even the furniture is recycled with tabletops made from recycled food packaging and lamps made from Mycelium, the vegetative part of fungi.
Become the CEO of your own health with our restorative roundup of postpandemic wellness programs, from reducing stress to building resilience
WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH
It’s been a long hard two years. For everyone. The pandemic has left a physical and emotional toll – weakening immune systems, derailing once healthy habits, piling on pounds, and ultimately leaving people drained, exhausted, stressed, and burned out.
Recent research from Ceridian reveals that the majority of American and British workers, 87% and 74%, respectively, have experienced burnout with 44% and 35% reporting high or extreme levels.
On a positive note, however, the pandemic has shone a spotlight on physical and mental health, in particular the need for people to take preventative action – whether to strengthen their immune systems, manage stress levels or address burnout. As such, people are becoming more motivated to explore new lifestyle behaviours that lead to stronger bodies, better sleep, clearer focus and longevity.
In April 2021, McKinsey found that 79% of consumers believe wellness is important and nearly half consider it a top priority, with consumers in Brazil, China, Germany, Japan, the UK and US reporting a substantial increase in the prioritisation of wellness over the past two years. This supports the sentiments of 67% of consumers in an Accenture survey who said they would spend more time and money on self-care and wellbeing in 2021 and beyond.
In the post-pandemic era, immunity has become the new wellness business buzzword with people increasingly looking for ways to boost their immune and respiratory systems; while others are looking for ways to become more resilient and manage stress better, and others still to find a new purpose.
Whatever your goals, if you’re looking for a postpandemic reset, look no further than our restorative roundup of wellness programmes, from Switzerland to San Francisco, Hawaii to the Himalayas.
Strengthen your immune system
Chiva-Som, Hua Hin, Thailand
If pioneering retreat resort Chiva Som in Hua Hin, Thailand – recently crowned Top Destination Spa Resort in the World by Conde Nast Traveler – isn’t enough pull you from the boardroom, then its new post-pandemic Immune Resilience Programme might just. Promising to improve your health outcomes, the 5 or 7-day program combines mindful exercise, nutrient-rich cuisine and detoxifying treatments to help you to boost your resilience both during the retreat and beyond. Included in the package are massages and drainage therapies designed to remove blockages in the lymphatic system; outdoor workout sessions to fortify your immune system; and holistic wellness therapies like Shirobhyanda, Yoga and meditation to relax the mind. A nutritional consultant customises your meal plan, and you get an individual health and wellness consultation, a complimentary physical analysis and skin consultation, access to fitness activities, unlimited use of the water therapy suites, and a daily treatment of choice, not to mention a post-stay consultation and exercise program. Not for you? Chiva Som has three more goal-oriented, post-pandemic packages up its wellness sleeve. Gut Health or Senior Wellness retreat, anyone?
SHA Wellness Clinic-Facilities
Reduce and manage your stress
SHA Wellness, Alicante, Spain
One of the world’s most acclaimed medi-clinics, and a pioneer in the integration of eastern and western medicine, Spain’s five-star SHA Wellness Clinic is the place to shed stress. Not only will the clinic itself, a grandiose beach club-style resort perched atop a cliff overlooking the Mediteranean sea, ease stress levels but its focused, goal-driven programmes overseen by a wealth of specialists guarantee long-term success. Expert in reducing the impact of accumulated chronic stress, in part thanks to its innovative Cognitive Development Unit, SHA delivers a dedicated Stress Management program, either 7 or 14 nights, designed to tackle burnout. Following in-depth consultations to identify how the body and mind react to stressful situations, you receive a highly personalised program of natural and medical therapies designed to reduce adverse symptoms including fatigue, anxiety, insomnia, irritability and concentration and memory issues; increase energy levels; improve quality of sleep, and give you the tools to manage stressful situations. Therapies include acupuncture, osteopathy, colon hydrotherapy, cryotherapy, along with cutting-edge treatments like Indiba (balances the functioning of cells) and stress management sessions. Fitness, physio and nutrition are key components too with personalised plans created along with group activities, from cooking classes to talks and walks. The spa’s other stress-related programs include the 7-night Anti-Stress and Burnout and Mindfulness & Stress Management.
Re-energise and restore your balance
YO1 Health Resort, Catskills Mountains, Upstate New York
Ideal for New Yorkers needing post-pandemic recuperation and a mind and body reboot, the 3-night Restorative Program at YO1 Health Resort in the tranquil Catskills mountains, two hours north of New York, is just the ticket. Based on the principles of naturopathy and Ayurveda, the resort – which bills itself as a ‘state-of-the-art centre and upscale nature cure destination” – delivers an array of customised health programs that address numerous health issues from diabetes to depression. Its Restorative Program is designed to relax and re-energise. Following consultations with specialists, including an Ayurveda expert who will determine your dosha and make recommendations accordingly, a customised program of blended therapies is delivered – think reflexology, enemas, massage, hydrotherapy, Yoga flow, herbal powder massage. Rather than a short-term fix, the program, both immersive and authentic, is designed to teach guests the importance of a disciplined daily routine and provide them with the tools and motivation they need to continue. Nestled in 1,300 acres of pristine mountain landscape on the edge of a lake with the freshest of mountain air, guests get to dine on vegan cuisine, practice yoga daily, and can avail of mind-body activities and workshops from private plant-based cooking classes led by Michelin-starred chefs to art therapy workshops including pottery and painting.
Visit of Clinique La Prairie - Switzerland
Regenerate your body and restore vitality Clinique La Prairie, Montreux, Switzerland
Where better to restore vitality and give your immune system a boost than at the exclusive Swiss Clinique La Prairie, a medi-spa with a high-flying clientele that has dedicated the last nine decades to unlocking the secrets behind longevity and wellbeing. The 7-day Revitalisation programme is a truly transformative experience that stimulates regeneration, fights the signs and causes of ageing, and enhances overall mental and physical health. The stay begins with multiple consultations with leading medical specialists, including a pulmonologist (sleep expert) along with advanced DNA and blood tests, a cardio risk assessment, abdominal ultrasound, CT scan, skincare analysis, and other screenings before a highly personalised plan is put in place. All plans centre around La Prairie’s unique and tried-and-tested CLP extract, a powerful and exclusive cellular formula used since 1931 and that helps to regenerate the organism and fight the effects of ageing. Diet is also key here with customised culinary plans focused on gut microbiota recovery, cellular protection and reduction in inflammation. Energising spa therapies like light meditation, deep massage, skin treatments and spiritual exploration, as well as oxygen replenishment and herbal infusions, complete the program. And all this wrapped up in a chocolate box setting on the edge of Lake Geneva with a pool framed by mountain views and a vibe that oozes old-school elegance.
Cavallo Point: California Luxury Minute Resorts
Discover passion and purpose
Cavallo Point, San Francisco
Designed specifically to help guests address the stress of the pandemic, improve resilience, optimise sleep and mental clarity, and bring to light purpose, Cavallo Point’s Healthy Living program – in partnership with BlueWave Medicine – is created around six pillars, including passion and purpose, active living, restorative sleep, stress reduction and connection. Depending upon your need and goals, targeted treatments range from meditation, massage, reiki, Yoga, sound baths, hypnotherapy and acupuncture, to herbal consultations, trail hikes, energy clearing and counselling. With guidance, you mix and match treatments to tackle specific issues. To help you find your purpose, an overcoming blocks hypnotherapy session will help boost your motivation, while intuitive counselling helps you to explore and bring to light your purpose. There’s so much else to get involved in here, with extensive and well-curated classes covering everything from cooking classes to art talks to nature walks, all providing inspiration for finding your purpose. Nestled on San Francisco Bay at the foot of Golden Gate Bridge, facilities include a eucalyptus steam room, meditation pool, cocktail bar and art gallery. If all else fails, head for the wine cellar which has no less than 12,000 bottles.
Enhance cognitive function and memory Four Seasons Resort Maui, Wailea, Hawaii
Part of a collaboration between Maui’s most luxurious oceanfront resort, Four Seasons, and cutting-edge longevity centre Next Health, the Revitalised Health Optimisation Program is a customisable preventive program that focuses on the prevention of illness, promotion of cognitive function and restoring energy and vitality. Described as the “next level of treatments that guests are seeking in the evolution of wellness travel”, you can relax on Maui’s golden beaches in the morning and access the future of health with premium white-glove service in the afternoon. Initially, comprehensive diagnostic biomarker testing is undertaken to provide a complete picture of your current health and determine a unique optimisation plan for you. Then you mix and match treatments from a customisable menu featuring targeted vitamin-rich IV therapy drips, for weight loss, energy, longevity, stress, detox, immune system and gut health, to name a few. The Brain IV is designed to promote enhanced mood and cognitive function – focus, memory and clarity, while the Stress IV delivers relief from day-to-day stressors, and Longevity is packed full of antioxidants and amino acids to detoxification. There are also IV drips of the NAD coenzyme, said to help reverse the signs of ageing at a cellular level with expected benefits including enhanced cognitive abilities (memory, focus and creativity), increased performance and better sleeping patterns. Vitamin shots are also on the menu, a brilliant boost before relaxing with a Mai Tai cocktail and taking in the Instagram-perfect views.
Create healthy habits and embrace change
Kamalaya, Koh Samui, Thailand
With its focus on supporting those going through a big life change or challenging situation, Kamalaya’s Embracing Change program taps into the post-pandemic condition. As much a process of self-discovery as it is a treatment plan, this 5 or 7-night program allows you to explore your emotional habits and address your current life situation. Ideal for overcoming negative habits, experts work with you to explore past trauma and release physical and emotional blockages, so you can achieve inner balance, confidence and freedom from unhelpful patterns of thought and behaviour. Following a wellness consultation and body bioimpedance analysis, you are treated to a fusion of homoeopathy sessions, massage therapies and traditional Chinese medicine to build emotional strength; and group activities such as cooking classes, Pilates, tea-sharing ceremonies and movie nights focus on creating new habits. It helps too that five-star Kamalaya is located in the most serene location, surrounded by tropical plants, perched on a hillside with sea views, a private beach, blue lagoon and centred around a tiny cave temple where Buddhist monks once meditated. And relax.
Recovering from long COVID?
For those who have had Covid-19, and are experiencing Long Covid symptoms, from headaches and fatigue to respiratory issues and sleep disorders, there are dedicated packages designed to help build immunity, nourish and revitalise, and balance bio-energies to aid long-term recovery.
Set in the magical surroundings of the Himalayas, India, destination spa Ananda offers a Post Covid Rejuvenation program for 14 or 21 nights. An expert team of doctors and therapists assess your specific symptoms and system dysfunction before delivering a personalised treatment plan combining Ayurvedic therapies, diet, herbal medicines and supplements, yoga, pranayama and medication, while emotional healing and yoga experts address the psychological concerns. That still leaves plenty of time to swim amongst the trees, participate in group workshops, from cookery to fitness meditation, and take organised treks. The result? Greater lung capacity, clarity in cognitive functions, better absorption of nutrients and improved digestion and metabolism.
A similar program exists in Europe, at renowned medi-spa SHA Wellness Clinic, a serious but stylish spa resort tucked away on a hillside overlooking Spain’s southern coast. Run over either 4, 7 or 14 days, the Post-COVID programme claims to alleviate Covid’s long-term symptoms including immune deficiency, cognitive impairment and digestive and breathing issues. An initial health assessment by a specialist in internal medicine is followed by a series of diagnostic tests to determine biological damage or longterm effects with specific treatments undertaken to address symptoms. The clinic’s holistic approach delivers targeted therapies and treatments, everything from Chinese medicine to genetic testing and a macrobiotic diet prepared by a chef who spent time at Michelin-starred El Bulli.
WHY WORK FROM HOME WHEN YOU CAN ‘WORKATION’
Why work from home when you can work from a tropical beach, mountain peak, Parisian café? Business Chief shows you how to log off and lounge
WRITTEN BY: SCOTT BIRCH
Imagine signing off that last Zoom call at 3pm and walking out the door to the golf club, a surf lesson, a poolside bar where a cocktail with your name on it awaits. Imagine no more. The rise of remote working means you can now take advantage of the hotels, resorts and destinations luring remote workers with practical but playful remote working packages that give new and exciting meaning to WFH. Think an office with an ocean view.
Rise of the flexible working policy
Thanks in large part to the pandemic, and the acceleration of digital, flexible work is now a fact of life, with more companies offering employees the chance to work how they want and where they want.
Firms are waking up to the realisation that remote working has many benefits, from improved productivity and happier employees to less spend on overheads, not to mention attraction and retention of top talent – the latter key in the current war on talent.
Big Four firm PwC announced in December 2021 that it will permit staff in eight countries including the UK, US and India to work remotely for up to eight weeks, allowing them to take extended overseas trips. The move follows a similar one weeks prior from Deloitte and KPMG Australia permitting extended overseas working holidays; while Deloitte UK is allowing its workers to choose how often and when they come into the office, if at all.
A host of companies are letting employees work from home forever – among these, Twitter, Facebook, Square, Salesforce, Spotify, Zillow and Coinbase. Some firms are upping the flexibility offering with unlimited holidays (think Netflix, LinkedIn, GitHub, Roku, Visualsoft) while others still – like Google, Microsoft, Amazon – are delivering a hybrid model, three days in the office, two at home meaning employees get a possible ‘work from anywhere’ window of four days, from Friday to Monday.
Piotr Kupiec
General manager of Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa
These ultra-flexible working models mean employees can enjoy extended weekends away, take two-month-long family summer retreats, or work from a different destination every single month.
People want a better work-life balance, time to travel
And people it seems are game. Not only have they become excited at the possibility of travelling once more, but they are also awakened to new working possibilities, one where there’s no daily commute or household chores, and which allows greater flexibility, a better work-life balance, more time with loved ones, and the chance to work in exotic locations and have new experiences.
According to Slack’s Future Forum study, 93% of knowledge workers globally say they want the freedom to decide where and when they do their job. They also want to travel. Research from American Express reveals that more than half of travellers say the freedom and flexibility to live and work while globetrotting is more appealing now than pre-pandemic; while a Tui study finds that more than half of all UK office staff would welcome the opportunity for a workation and believe it would not only make them happier but also better at doing their job.
“The pandemic has not only changed the way millions of us work, but it has also changed the way we feel about work-life balance. It has made us realise that life is precious and there to be enjoyed,” says Richard Sofer, TUI UK Business Development Director. “There’s absolutely no reason why workers can’t happily combine having fun in a lovely environment with working. Indeed, it’s likely that the happier they are the better they will perform and we should embrace this.”
Piotr Kupiec, general manager of Sofitel Singapore Sentosa Resort & Spa believes that in 2022 and beyond, business is going to be very much linked with leisure – Bleisure, a group of long-staying, out-ofseason workationers. “Bleisure is going to be about this synergy where people will decide when they are working or having leisure,” states Kuipec.
Whether a workation (working in resort or hotel environment), flexation (hybrid of holiday and workation) or nomadation (on-the-go working), the opportunity to enjoy a better work-life balance is there for the taking.
Workation packages – from city hotels to remote resorts
Five-star hotels, resorts, travel companies, tourism boards and even countries the world over have been rolling out the red carpet for those looking to change up their WFH routine with Work From Hotel alternatives.
These packages, programs, visas, villages fuse function (work) with frivolity (play) and offer safe (Covid-free), convenient and work-friendly environments along with five-star perks and the chance to tick off bucket list entries, have out-of-this-world experiences, learn new skills, and even be part of a community.
International hotel brands such as Marriott International, Hyatt, Hilton and Four Seasons have all introduced work from hotel programs with locations stretching from Venice, Bali, Las Vegas and Thailand to Cyprus, Brazil and Egypt; while travel firms, big and boutique, are also delivering.
Following the introduction of its own ‘work from anywhere’ policy for employees, UK-based travel firm TUI recently unveiled a range of ‘workations’ with luxury 7, 14 or 21-day packages at more than 30 all-inclusive hotels across Spain, Greece, Portugal, Morocco and Jamaica. Expect private workspaces, super-fast WiFi and a focus on wellness and family with yoga at sunrise, cooking classes and kids’ clubs.
For those who want to workation in different locations year-round, the Blueground Pass program offers an innovative solution. Available as a six- or 12-month option, this nomadic apartment lease gives you the freedom to seamlessly move between 250 neighbourhoods in 15 cities across three continents (the US, Europe, Middle East). You get access to perfectly placed, high-quality fully furnished apartments with all the work perk mod-cons and experience different places and cultures.
And then there’s the world’s first digital nomad village, in Madeira, launched last July. Designed as a place to mingle, work and network, the village has already attracted more than 500 entrepreneurs, developers, lawyers, writers and consultants staying from a minimum of one month up to three months. The village delivers access to co-working space, Slack, strong WiFi, a hosting team to facilitate your stay and exclusive daily events, talks and workshops. The village is located in the coastal town of Ponta do Sol, credited with being the island’s cultural hub with breath-taking beaches, great dining and good hiking trails. Expect to see the concept replicated throughout Portugal in 2022.
“The pandemic has not only changedthe way millions of us work, but it has also changed the way we feel about worklife balance. There’s absolutely no reason why workers can’t happily combine having fun in a lovely environment with working. Indeed, it’s likely that the happier they are the better they will perform, and we should embrace this”
Richard Sofer
TUI UK Business Development Director
Home is where the laptop is...
Make your virtual Zoom background a reality with these six longer-stay workation packages, from Bali to Dubai
Boardwalk, Aruba
Who wouldn’t want to work from the ‘happiest island in the world’? Boutique hotel Boardwalk in Aruba has a 21-day stay minimum workcation program where you can work from a hammock, in a private seating area alongside the pool or request desk extensions for use at a reserved beach hut.
Jumeirah Emirates Towers, Dubai, UAE
Work remotely, from a minimum of 31 days up to a year, from the five-star Emirates Towers in the heart of Dubai. The Discover Remote Work Package gives access to a co-working lounge and Biz Pod centre with full secretarial support. There are breakfastonly, half-board and full-board options and you get discounts to the hotel’s many outlets including Michelin-starred Hakkasan and London favourite, The Ivy. There’s an oxygen bar to keep buzzing, a flotation pool to relax, a karaoke bar to have fun, and access to the hotel’s sister property’s pristine private beach.
Desa Potato Head, Bali, Indonesia
With a business travel visa, you can now stay up to six months in Bali and at creative village Desa Potato Head reside here on a workation package from one week up to six months. Designed to reshape how people experience hospitality, this beachfront village and hotel embraces community living, with spaces dedicated to sustainability, cultural immersion and the arts. Long-term residents enjoy allinclusive access to beachside co-working spaces, and stay in rooms with ocean views and adjoining offices. There’s a doctor on call 24/7.
Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane, London, UK
Want to stay in the heart of London? Four Seasons’ 30-day-plus Extend Your Stay package delivers a number of perks curated to provide optimum work-life balance – from airport transportation and personal concierge to a personalised culinary and wellness plan and twice-weekly fitness sessions. In-room espresso machines and 24-hour business services will ensure productivity.
Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome, Paris, France
Promising a stay where you can be ‘pampered and productive’, Hyatt’s The Great Relocate package has a minimum 29-night stay and can be taken in more than 125 destinations throughout 2022, from Zanzibar to Venice. Why not try the Park Hyatt Paris-Vendome? Centrally located, just a stone’s throw from the legendary Place Vendome, and super-chic, the hotel delivers Michelin-starred gastronomy, 24/7 secretarial support, complimentary laptops and a technology concierge. Pack your work, family, even your pets.
Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa, Seychelles
The workation package, for 10-plus nights, at Hilton Seychelles delivers high-speed internet, meeting rooms and a library for when you really need to focus. Stay in a tree-house style residence with a huge terrace offering panoramic views to top even the swankiest of corner offices. Prework, enjoy floating breakfasts from the privacy of your own pool, and post-work, take part in a host of free activities from snorkelling to kayaking.
Five-star work and play perks aplenty
Global brand or boutique, city or beach, hotel or resort, one week or one month, the hotel and resort packages on offer give guests nextlevel work perks as well as the usual five-star luxuries, from the fastest WiFi, in-villa printers and private PAs, to tech hotlines and doctors, beachside cabana offices, networking cocktails and co-working spaces.
Villas outfitted with computer setup and printers and regular in-room 20-minute neck and shoulder rubs are the work perks offered on the two-week Work from Village packaged from Belmond Hotel La Samanna in the Caribbean’s St Martin. Access to a PA and reserved poolside daybed that doubles as an outdoor office are on the table at Casa Chameleon Hotels, Costa Rica, which delivers a week-long workation. The hotel also offers a Work Bubble package for those who want to bring their team, not their family.
Complimentary lap pads and iPads provided poolside, a roaming Screen Doctor to keep tech clean, 24/7 tech hotline, and pool or beachside work/study cabanas outfitted with WiFi, TV monitors and energising snacks are all part of the Knowledge for all Seasons Programme at Four Seasons Punta Mita in Mexico – designed for families who want to work and study together. Extracurricular learning includes surf sessions and Spanish lessons for kids and sea foraging and cocktail making for adults. Or shake off the workday with a
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