10BUSINESS The
Most Innovative
Leaders to Follow in
2021
Innovation- The Key Innovation Defines Success
Omar
Mohamed Said
Leading with Authenticity and Adding Value VOL 06 | ISSUE 01 | 2021
Editor’s Desk L
Leaders who Support, Empower and Motivate
eading people is the work of responsibility. Everyone expect that leaders should lead by example and has to keep his/her team motivated all the time. Well, this is not possible every time. As leaders need their team, in the same way their team needs them. With time, the leadership style has been changing and modern leadership has many dimensions than before. The one leadership style that covers all the dimensions of leadership is innovative leadership. It includes a leader who has perspective, vision, and ability to collaborate with different people and capability to change ideas into reality. Today, most of the innovative leaders are entrepreneurs who are aspiring to bring change and value their people. The following are few key characteristics of innovative leaders. Field expertise Innovative leaders are mostly the people who belong to tech world. As they are expertise of the field, they better understand how to communicate with and what insights they have to provide to achieve the desired outcomes. Openness Innovative leaders realize the importance of an idea and vision. If their any team member has come up with any unique idea that can help with any particular project, innovative leaders always hear it. Collaborative Approach The time has gone when whole army depends on a single person. In modern leadership, everyone’s contribution is equally required. A leadership can’t be successful without a complete team support. Visionary Having a vision is the beginning of every innovative leader’s journey. A vision is the key to success, but it also requires a great deal of risk. Visionary leaders are more perceptive about their work and people. Stability Choosing a path and leading others with to achieve it require great deal of emotional stability. An innovative
leader comprehends about situation’s gravity and acts accordingly by understanding all the consequences. There can be numerous other forms of leaderships and there are many characteristics that can define a good leader as well. There is no particular way to define a leader as everyone is unique in his/her own way and that differentiates them. But innovative leadership is the requirement of the modern world, as it supports flexible work culture, more room for everyone’s view, gives confidence, and keeps everyone together while leading them to success. Insights Success in its upcoming edition “The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2021” has enlisted such innovative leaders who are an inspiration for many and leading with a novel approach. The cover features Omar Mohamed Said, the CEO of Flowco Malaysia. Omar Mohammed is an embodiment of value-added leadership. Humans consciously or subconsciously imitate, adapt, and inculcate the qualities of others that are close to them. Omar Mohamed is no different. His good leadership qualities stem from the leaders he served under, and it is easy to identify that the greatest influence on his leadership capabilities was that of his late father. Delve into more such inspiring stories of innovative leaders that carry the potential to bring a difference in the business world and ultimately people’s lives. Lastly, never stop learning with our CXO standpoints written by the industry experts and the creative articles by our in-house editorial team that will help to improve your skillset. Let’s Read!
Rohit Chaturvedi rohit.chaturvedi@insightssuccess.com
COVER STORY
08 Omar Mohamed Said
ARTICLE
Leading with Authenticity and Adding Value
24 Innovation- The Key Innovation Defines Success
36 Leader’s Viewpoint The Talent Landscape is Now Your Biggest Threat, or is it?
(Leader of The Year)
14
20
28
32
40
44
Dr. Chad Audi Serving Humanity with Clarity, Sincerity, and Humility
Alice Chang
Delivering the Most Impactful Consumer Beauty Shopping Experiences Using AI and AR
David Wachs
Building Lasting Bonds with Customers through Power of Handwritten Notes
May Yap A Proficient with Extensive Work Experience
Mona Jalota A Real Estate Professional
Nin Desai
A Prominent Personality in the Venture Capital and Private Equity Industry
C O N T E N T S
Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller
Executive Editor
Assistant Editors
Rohit Chaturvedi
Jenny Fernandes Sharad Chitalkar
Visualizer
Art & Design Director
Associate Designer
David King
Asha Bange
Kartik Balapurkar
Co-designer Shubham Dali
Senior Sales Manager
Business Development Manager
Kshitij S
Peter Collins
Marketing Manager
Sales Executives
John Matthew
David, Martin, Calvin
Technical Head
Business Development Executives
Jacob Smile
Steve, Joe, Sanket
Technical Specialist Aditya
Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza
SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar
Research Analyst Frank Adams
Database Management Stella Andrew
Circulation Manager Robert Brown
Technology Consultant David Stokes
sales@insightssuccess.com June, 2021
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Featured Person
Company Name
Brief
Alice H. Chang / Adam Gam CEO
Perfect Corp perfectcorp.com
Perfect Corp. is the world’s leading beauty tech solutions provider transforming the industry by marrying the highest level of augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology for a re-imagined consumer shopping experience.
Ben Dorks CEO
Ideagen ideagen.com
Ideagen plc provides market-leading information management, safety, risk and compliance software solutions that allow organisations to achieve operational excellence, regulatory compliance and reduce risk.
David Wachs CEO
Handwrytten handwrytten.com
Handwrytten allows to send real cards and notes with the message written in pen and ink.
Dr. Chad Audi CEO
Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries drmm.org
The Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM) has served metro Detroit’s homeless, hungry and hurting population since 1909.
Leslie Bailey Cofounder
Indy Maven indymaven.com
Indy Maven offers lifestyle content to delight an audience of highly engaged, badass women in the greater Indianapolis area who want to stay informed and be inspired.
May Yap CEO
lht lht.com.sg
LHT Holdings Limited is a publicly listed company that has been in the timber industry for more than 20 years.
Mona Jalota Founder
Krypton Global Investments kryptonglobal investments.com
Krypton Global Investments is a breakthrough platform in India, offering International Property Investments and migration services.
Nin Desai CEO
NIN Ventures nin.vc
NIN Ventures (or NIN.VC) is a unique and first of its kind crowdfunded technology venture capital fund for accredited investors.
Omar Mohamed CEO
Flowco Malaysia flowcomalaysia.com
Flowco Malaysia is a leading downstream retail oil & gas equipment supplier and maintenance service provider company in Malaysia.
Sheri Atwood Founder & CEO
SupportPay supportpay.com
SupportPay is a first-ever automated child support payment platform for parents living apart.
Omar Mohamed Said CEO
Flowco Malaysia
Cover Story
Omar
Mohamed Said Leading with Authenticity and Adding Value
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Flowco Malaysia is a leading downstream retail oil & gas equipment supplier and maintenance service provider company in Malaysia.
Humans consciously or subconsciously imitate, adapt, and inculcate the qualities of others that are close to them. Omar Mohamed Said, the CEO of Flowco Malaysia, is no different. His good leadership qualities stem from the leaders he served under and it is easy to identify that the greatest influence on his leadership capabilities was that of his late father. Learning from Variety of Leadership Styles Omar did not start his career in Flowco as one would expect. He started with one of the large accounting firms and had to find his own feet while striving to work his way up. This challenging environment outside of his father’s domain of control and security was the ideal incubator for Omar to develop his sense of humility. Omar was under the impression that he had to carve out his own destiny. He never had the sense of security and stability and was unaware that he was going to join his father until he received the offer in 2007. Being in a large corporate environment, Omar was exposed to the various types of leadership styles of his superiors. He found that many did not resonate with him, but he also discovered some that he idolized. The ones he admired and respected left a deep impression on Omar and nurtured his maturity as a leader. Growing through Challenges Omar’s journey to CEO of Flowco gained traction after the passing of his father, the founder of Flowco Malaysia. These were very trying times for Omar, and he was challenged in a professional and personal manner. On the one hand, he had to attend to and console his grieving family and on the other he had to take over the reins of the company.
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At Flowco our passionate focus has always been at providing our customers with the highest standard of quality and services by exceeding our improve our quality, consistency and efciency.
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ssociation can stimulate and influence a person’s consciousness, cognitive processes and also, leadership style. Due to the influential impact of association, it is advised that a person should be aware and consider the type of personalities that they allow in their vicinities.
challenge that they have had to overcome leads to the evolution of the company in some ways. Flowco Malaysia became the company that his late father had envisaged so many years ago. After 10 years, Omar believes that now is the end of one chapter of the company, and the beginning of another exciting one. Keeping Customers Abreast of New Solutions Flowco has always been customer centric. This is especially important when operating on the consumer retail side of the business, where public expectations and requirements on the quality of service are enormous factors for the satisfaction of our customers. This is why Flowco is positioning itself as a maintenance company first, above all else. Constantly improving our service level delivery is a perennial task for Flowco and being able to offer something better by adding value to our customers with innovative ways of doing the things, is one of the vital objectives that we strive to achieve. Enhancing Effectiveness
During the decade that Omar had been at the steer of Flowco Malaysia, there were numerous challenges facing the company. Regardless of the severity of these challenges, to date, Flowco has managed to overcome them all. These challenges seem to feed the success of Flowco as every
Flowco Malaysia prides itself as a company that contributes to the future financial sustainability of its customers by keeping them informed of what is happening in the markets. The company identifies the needs of their customers and
tries to match their demands with appropriate new products and services that arrive in the market. As a maintenance service provider, Flowco Malaysia was the first in the industry to digitalize business operations that only enhanced its own efficiency but also transferred benefits to its customers. The improvisation led to improved management and overall effectiveness in meeting key deliverables of its service contracts. Fine-tuning to Global Trends Flowco Malaysia’s ability to differentiate themselves stems from the desire to be a leader and staying ahead of the curve. History has shown that they are very efficient at predicting what the market will do next, but this is not a coincidence. There is no guessing involved, but their accurate predictions are underpinned by meticulous market observations, global trends identification and past experiences. They carefully deduce how customer will be affected within their own local niche. Flowco Malaysia continuously plays an advisory role to its customers by using its own inferences as tools to help them. Omar thinks that this strategy is an example of mutualism as the advice Flowco provides, serves as a complementary addition to their existing strategies. Leading with Tolerance and Respect Omar is a proponent of breaking down barriers between ranks. He is affirmed in the belief that barriers should be minimized, and that mutual respect and acknowledgment of organizational contributions should be present instead of entitlement and delusions of grandeur. Malaysia is known for its diversity and Omar puts in maximum effort to ensure that diversity within his organization is acknowledged, respected, and valued. He thinks that the world is already a very sensitive place, and that Malaysia is not excluded. He believes that there should be no discrimination regarding race, faith, sex, culture, etc. and that everyone should tolerate and respect each other’s differences. This company value is what’s most important to Omar and, according to him, deserves the most energy to grow due to its relevance to company survival.
Successfully Managing Difficult Situations Flowco has faced numerous obstacles in the past and if one thing is certain, it is that they will be faced with numerous more in the future. Omar believes that if they are serious and passionate about their work, they will find a resolution every time. Omar’s recipe for dealing with challenges entails a great deal of patience, trust in the established processes and believing in yourself, no matter how great the external pressure is. Appreciating the Contribution of People Omar believes that one of the pivotal points of success of an organization is the employees of the organization. Flowco Malaysia supports and invests in its people and empowers them to deliver beyond what is expected. The return on investment is immeasurable.
Omar is incredibly grateful for the people in the organization, and he knows very well that the company would not be as successful and would not receive all the accolades it did, had it not been for the employees of the organization. Emphasis on Scaling Up Omar is firmly assured that the future success of the company would depend on digitalization. The traditional brick and mortar business is bound to be around in the future, but there would be a greater emphasis on scaling up and the influence the organization would have on not only its customers, suppliers, and industry as a whole. Having a Healthy Growth Mindset Omar and his team are on route to chart out a new legacy. He sees himself as being fortunate to be surrounded by a team who shares his vision. They not only have a healthy mindset regarding growth of the company, but also on a personal growth level too. There are many attainable goals that Flowco is hoping to achieve within its current position, but it strives to achieve more. Omar hopes that by the end of this decade, Flowco Malaysia will be the number one preferred partner of petroleum marketers in Malaysia and the region. It will be a daunting task, yet attainable as they will leverage the fact that they have been the petroleum marketers’ most trusted and preferred partner since 1994. Being Relevant Sustainably Omar advises aspiring entrepreneurs to focus on finding their niche and complement the industry by being original and not a copy. Being original is the key to staying relevant according to Omar. What works for one doesn’t necessarily work for others, and originality is the key to long-term sustainability.
Your opinion on “The Evolution of the Role of CEO During Pandemic” As if the modern business environment was not challenging enough, out of the blue appeared the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had CEOs all around the world up on their feet and challenged their abilities to the maximum. Navigating, managing, and staying on top of an unprecedented event with no reference to any case studies or past success stories whatsoever, left many CEOs with limited options and they had to execute every single play they knew in their playbook to weather this storm. Many companies are still not out of the woods yet, and we are still seeing many companies fighting for survival. CEOs are tasked with tough decisions that they never had to face before. Although professional by trade, they are still human in nature. CEOs feel the repercussions of these decisions, especially when they impact the employees. But in the bigger picture, it must be done to ensure the survivability of the company, and they must live with the burden of these decisions. I predict that whenever we come out of this, many CEOs whose companies survived will have more perseverance, wisdom and resolve within them. And the fact that the company would still be operating, would be a testament to that CEO’s capabilities of successfully steering a company during extremely turbulent times. In my modest opinion, this pandemic is exactly the kind of challenge that most CEOs dream of and live for. Facing this epic challenge, standing up to it and emerging victoriously is the kind of accolade that no other CEOs in the past can boast about. This achievement is quite unique and something to be extremely proud about.
& & 20 The
Most
SUCCESSFUL
BUSINESSWOMEN to Watch, 2020
kimberly Khoury
Paving her Way in Sustainability Development
Leader of The Year
Dr. Chad
Audi
Serving Humanity with Clarity, Sincerity, and Humility
The 10 Most Innova ve Business Leaders to Follow in 2021
Dr. Chad Audi
President and Chief Executive Officer Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM)
You don’t solve a problem by kicking the can down the road; you solve a problem by understanding and confronting it the right way.
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larity in vision, sincerity towards the goals, and humility in behaviour are the essential traits to acquire to become a transformational leader. Dr. Chad Audi is one kind of leader whose leadership style and work are an epitome to achieve for emerging leaders. He is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the 1909founded Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries (DRMM), a faith-based, non-profit organization recognized by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) and reputed for devoting a wealth of resources to meet the basic needs of humanity while motivating individuals to rebuild their lives, one life at a time. A Phenomenal Journey Dr. Chad Audi’s journey started with curiosity, determination and learning. By age 27, and with the guidance of his exemplary father who was Chief Financial Officer of an international business, he had equipped himself with graduate and terminal degrees in business administration and finance. He had also garnered some leadership experience working in the private sector, with many people as direct reports. Dr. Chad worked in very dynamic and challenging business environments and had the benefit of watching some remarkable business leaders up-close as they grappled with very tough issues and decisions. So, when he came to nonprofit Detroit Rescue Mission in 1997, and started as a volunteer in the finance department, he already had a good foundation. Still, he believed he needed more insight and mentoring. The then president and CEO, Don DeVos, saw the good work Dr. Chad was doing and took him under his wings, helping him gain a fine understanding of the nonprofit world, and particularly faith-based human services. Instructively, the more he proved himself with percipience and problem-solving, the higher the responsibility he got. Thus, in a few years, Dr. Chad became the Chief Operating Officer, and in 2004, the Board appointed him the President and CEO. Since then, the organization has grown in all ramifications – annual budget, staff strength, number of program beneficiaries, locations, donor base, partners, volunteers, just name it. Under the able leadership of Dr, Chad, the organization has accumulated a greater capacity to respond more effectively to the changing needs of disadvantaged and distressed individuals and families in the Detroit area. He says, “Looking back now, I see and appreciate the role great mentors have played in my leadership journey. But I also see the irreplaceable place of
insightfulness, creativity, people skills, constant selfevaluation, decisiveness and grit.” Immeasurable Support for the Impoverished Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries is primarily drawn to individuals and families in disadvantage and distress. They could be in homelessness, hunger, domestic violence, abandonment, substance use disorder, joblessness or recidivism. “We are their go-to nonprofit organization,” says Dr. Chad. He further adds, DRMM’s programs are designed and implemented to help people in such situations turn their lives around. In recent years, it has expanded beyond Detroit and Highland Park to bring its services nearer to people who need them in cities like Roseville in Macomb County where it has a thriving food bank, and Port Huron in St. Claire County with a life-changing shelter for women and children. The organization’s well-equipped and fully accredited 240-acre camp in Howell serves the camping and leadership development needs of young people from the Detroit area. And, its food box and toy delivery program has been taking the organization to cities like Inkster, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Wayne, Westland, Livonia and, of course, Detroit and Highland Park neighbourhoods, targeting seniors and children who need a little help. Thankfully, the community outreach also enjoyed great support from volunteers and donors who strongly identify with DRMM’s 112-year-old mission of giving hope and help to the “least of these” in the community. Increasing the Circle DRMM is opening a new location in Livonia for senior respite care, free walk-in healthcare, opioid treatment and counselling. It is also revitalizing its withdrawal management and substance use disorder treatment facilities in Detroit to better serve substance use disorder patients and their families. Because of the economic challenges that persist as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, it will scale up its food box and toy deliveries to reach more families in need. “We are also designing shelters of the future that will provide greater opportunities to men and women in need,” says Dr. Chad. Traits of an Ideal Leader According to Dr. Chad, every leader should have a very good understanding of the problem that needs to be solved, a clear vision of what needs to be achieved and how to achieve it. A leader should also possess an ability to attract
and retain the right people to help in achieving the vision, a flair for thorough self-evaluation, openness to new and disruptive ideas, and an insatiable appetite for continuous improvement. Embrace, Help and Grow “A positive work culture is essential both for the guests we serve and our staff members”, says Dr. Chad. The team at DRMM treats each other as a family member. Here, everyone believes that it is one big family of brothers and sisters. So, staff members are encouraged not to see their colleagues as competitors but as team members working toward the same goal of helping the homeless, hungry and hurting turn their lives around. They don’t just work together in serving guests and community; they also help each other in different ways. Through celebrating each other’s birthdays and praying for each other, the team shows compassion and love for each other. Dr. Chad asserts, “If you are facing a challenge, colleagues come to your aid. Our work culture places premium on treating everyone – guest or colleague - with dignity and respect. That’s actually our policy, which I reiterate in my interactions with staff.” Challenges Make You Strong Community service is about serving the community, not self. “If you commit yourself to serving people in the community, you must brace yourself for the challenges that come with it,” says Dr. Chad. He further adds, “I can tell you here and now that it is never a smooth ride. There are bumps, twists and turns along the way. But you must never give up. You must see each challenge as a passport to greater heights. Each challenge is a teachable moment. So, serve with clarity, sincerity and humility.”
Alice Chang, CEO and Founder
Perfect Corp.
20 | June 2021
www.insightssuccess.com
The 10 Most Innova ve Business Leaders to Follow in 2021
Alice Chang Delivering The Most Impactful Consumer Beauty Shopping Experiences Using AI and AR
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s an industry projected to be worth nearly 440 billion dollars by the 2026, it is safe to say consumers are into their beauty products. Given the complexity and ever-growing assortment of newness entering the beauty shelves, consumers are looking for ways to a safely and conveniently experiment and explore new products in order to make more confident purchase decisions. As a beauty lover herself, Alice Chang was motivated to find a unique solution that improved the consumer shopping journey. She had always been a problem solver and her experience with advanced AR and AI technologies sparked her desire to translate the idea for the beauty journey. She wanted to find a solution that would deliver hyper-realistic virtual beauty effects that rivaled the accuracy of physical product try-ons, in an engaged, fun, and convenient way. Her desire to improve the consumer beauty experience led to the inception of Perfect Corp., the leading global beauty tech solutions provider using AI & AR to transform the consumer experience. Embracing Challenges and Solving Problems Alice has always been a leader to embrace challenges that solve consumer and business pain points. It’s what motivates Alice to think strategically and find resourceful and impactful ways to grow as an individual and as a company. The road to success in the beauty tech category has been an ongoing hustle to prove to potential brand partners and billions of beauty consumers, that its virtual try-on technology and solutions went beyond a cool selfie editing tool, and proved a true utility to aid in the consumer shopping experience. Over the years, brands adopted the hyper-realistic AI and AR effects as a means of boosting
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conversion and consumers have learned to rely on the trueto-life try-ons to help them make more confident purchase decisions. Deploying Innovative, Experimental Digital Services During pandemic consumers have quickly adopted AR and AI powered virtual try-on as a means to safely experiment, discover, and shop for beauty. Living in a Pandemic, virtual beauty has become a necessity, for brands, retailers, and consumers. With business closings and stay at home orders, the demand for engaging direct to consumers online shopping experiences increased, and brands were forced to look toward technology-powered solutions to deliver on the try-before-you-buy consumer journey. As a company, Perfect Corp. quickly adapted to offer a variety of special programs to provide complimentary beauty tech services to brands looking to leverage the power of AR and AI to enhance their online consumer journey and adapt to the evolving impact of COVID-19. Perfect Corp. is helping brands lean into beauty tech with a 360-degree omni-channel approach that deploys innovative, experiential digital services across all consumer touchpoints, instore, online, mobile, and social. Encouraging Free-flowing Communication A positive work culture is essential for productivity. At Perfect Corp., its leadership team strives to maintain a flat organization that gives every employee direct access to top management and encourages free-flowing communication from all team members to help drive the next big idea forward. Innovation and teamwork are at the root of everything Perfect Corp. does and no idea is too big or too crazy.
June 2021 | 21
Being Innovative in Approach Innovation is at the heart of everything Perfect Corp. does, and it hopes this forward-thinking vision inspires its brand partners as well. It’s essential for businesses to continue finding new ways to align their offerings and consumer journey with the evolving consumer demand for more engaging shopper experiences and to seamlessly integrate across all omni-channel touchpoints. Adopting Impactful Beauty Tech Solutions The age of Shoppertainment is here, and brands must challenge themselves to find new ways to connect with their audience—across physical, online, mobile, and social—and deliver impactful digital experiences through a 360-degree direct-to-consumer strategy. Perfect Corp. hopes to inspire brands to lean into the digital transformation and adopt the impactful beauty tech solutions—like virtual makeup tryon, AI Skin Diagnostics, on-demand beauty consultations, and AR livestream video content—in order to deliver a more personalized and fulfilling consumer shopping experience. Educating Consumers About Beauty Tech Innovation As a leader in beauty tech, Perfect Corp. strives to not only service its brand partners with cutting edge beauty tech solutions to meet their business needs, and deliver one-of-akind virtual app experiences to its users, but it also wants to drive though leadership and educate the greater beauty industry. Perfect Corp. first launched its Global Beauty Tech Forum in 2019 with single day conferences around the globe (from New York, to Tokyo, and Paris), featuring innovators and
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“Perfect Corp. is the world’s leading beauty tech solutions provider transforming the industry by marrying the highest level of augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) technology for a reimagined consumer shopping experience.”
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key opinion leaders who can speak to digital transformation and results of beauty tech innovation. The company also launched a Global Beauty Tech Education Series which offers step by step tutorials spotlighting new innovation today and its successful implementation. Furthermore, Perfect Corp. strives to continue to be a resource for brands, retailers, press, and aspiring entrepreneurs, and release regular weekly content across its blog to help educate readers about the benefits of beauty tech in driving business today. It also releases a quarterly Global Beauty Trends Report that dives into data and analytics of virtual try-on to deduce evolving consumer beauty behaviors around globe. Unlocking Endless Possibilities The vision for Perfect Corp. over the next five years is to continue expanding, innovating, and adapting to deliver on the most impactful consumer beauty shopping experience possible. It’s time to double down on AI innovation and unlock the endless possibilities that this smart technology brings to the industry. Perfect Corp. will continue to provide cutting-edge beauty tech services to partners across the globe expanding to all markets in order to meet the growing demand. It will strive to deliver unique beauty tech solutions and digitally enhanced consumer experiences to the industry, leaning into the digital transformation. It also envisions cross-category expansion using advanced beauty tech for jewelry, hats, eyewear, accessories and beyond. Alice says that the ‘sky is the limit so stay tuned’. Enlightening Emerging Innovators Alice’s message for aspiring entrepreneurs has always been to dream big, embrace change, and never give up! She says that this mentality will inspire a future of innovators who embrace challenge with confidence necessary to achieve the impossible and break boundaries. www.insightssuccess.com
Innovation- The Key
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very day there is a new product that brings disruption to the market and becomes innovative. In the business world, innovators are the ones who look at problems differently and find solutions others may not see. Not following traditional methods and looking for new ways is the way to success. Being innovative is the most crucial aspect to thrive in today’s competitive business world, and without it, one may survive but will not get successful. What Numbers Say? In 2015, the Deloitte Innovation Survey found out that many companies approx. sixty-six percent believed that innovation is the key to business growth. Innovation allows businesses to increase their reach, merge with new partners, and scale up to more human force. Adding innovation also puts the organization at a positive front end and attracts more investors towards it. Why Innovation Matters? When an organization comes up with innovation, no matter its size, growth is guaranteed. Top leading companies in the world with different sectors like Tesla, Apple, Google, and Microsoft are known for their innovation. Apple is the leading smartphone company but it generates 1/3 revenue from its accessories; Apple’s AirPods' revenue is more than Adobe, Spotify, and Twitter. The reason behind this enormous success is the innovation and the focus towards the problems which can only be solved by making an innovative approach. What’s the Catch? We all have encountered people in our life who are different than others and even being alone is not becoming a hurdle to their success. The logic is simple, thinking different or out of the box is also a part of innovation where one wants to explore new things beyond its declared boundaries. Thinking EV cars as the future of automation looked like a dream but Tesla made this possible. The company did not choose the easy path, but explore the possibilities with futuristic batteries, and enhance the durability. Now, this is what any company can do which is what we call advancement. What Tesla did differently is they just did not advance
24 | June 2021
their EV cars but transform them into futuristic ones by adding automation. They introduced the concept of cars without human interaction. It was combining the idea of renewable energy and making driving safer than ever before. Today, Tesla is one of the leading Fortune 500 companies that has doubled its revenue in a very short period. Understand the Market Innovation is also the key to ruling the market. The modern world is not waiting for anyone, as the customers' demands bar have risen very high. From advanced communication, digital platforms to globalization, everything from anywhere is reachable now without any boundaries. We already have seen that if anything that has the capacity to bring global impact can be monitored by the whole world in few seconds. An idea that has the potential to transform people’s lives to some extent or can fill the consumers' demand that has not noticed before, is innovation. People constantly change their choices and want something amazing, and new with upgrades, and that makes the market unpredictable. Innovators have to predict change and understand the demand of consumers, so that there will be a solution even before the customer needs it. Determination and appetite for constant growth is the real quality of innovators and successful business leaders. Idea Check, Market Availability Check, Then What is Next? Transforming an innovative idea into a successful venture is a long journey. If you are capable enough, you can finance the idea, but if you are not then there you need stockholders (angel investors) who will provide the fund. But arranging the funds and establishing the operations is only half success. It is people who brings an idea into reality, and then lead it to success: people with the same mindset, people who are able to see and modify the perspective. Finding and adding talented people to the team is essential. And people with talent and vision also love to work with innovative ideas and in a vision that comprises success. For an innovator, the challenge is the thrill they are starving for and is the way to keep them encouraged. So lead with talent, align vision with investors, and most significantly innovate; an idea, a dream, or something that can bring change.
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INNOVATION DEFINES
SUCCESS
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June 2021 | 25
The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2021
David Wachs Building Lasting Bonds with Customers through Power of Handwritten Notes
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n an age where everyone is drowning in electronic communication, handwritten notes really stand out. They go a long way in building lasting relationships with people, and companies that send notes are set apart from the competition. To help its clients leverage this untapped form of outreach, Handwrytten automates handwritten notes on behalf of companies large and small. Handwrytten was founded to fill an unmet need of sending handwritten notes as easily as sending an email. To solve this problem, the company invested heavily in robotics to build a machine unmatched in handwriting quality and scalability. The mind behind the company is David Wachs, CEO, Founder and Chief Robot Mechanic. A serial entrepreneur, David is bringing back the lost art of letter writing through scalable, robot-based solutions that write one's notes in pen. The Challenge of Educating People about the Unique Service
Facebook and LinkedIn advertising, but also through earned and paid media placement. Delivering Realistic Handwriting As Handwrytten has grown, it needed better robots to write the notes for its clients. Its initial vendor's technology was antiquated, and the results were not in line with its expectations. Four years ago, Handwrytten began a journey to design, program and build robots itself. Now, it has 115 custom built, pen-wielding robots. These robots deliver the most realistic handwriting available. Handwrytten builds these robots for much less than its old robots used to cost, allowing it to scale up faster. As it has full control of the software and firmware, it designs fonts and signatures quicker than it could have otherwise, and makes additional improvements to increase realism as well. Handwrytten's robots are now its point of difference and no other company comes close to its capabilities. Learning from the Greats
Handwrytten was founded in 2014. The first challenge that Handwrytten faced and is still facing is making its target audience aware of its service. Handwrytten is very unique and has truly defined the space of automated handwritten notes. It has been successful in doing this primarily through
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David states that he was fortunate to meet Conan O'Brien while he was in college over twenty years ago. Conan told David and his classmates to “always get in over one's head”. David has never forgotten these words of advice. He www.insightssuccess.com
lives by this mantra daily. The book “E-Myth” by Michael Gerber has also made an impact on David. This easy-toread book talks about setting up one's business as a franchise, even if one never plans on operating it as one. By going through this process, one is forced to create a manual, define jobs, create processes, and as Michael explains, “work on the business instead of work in the business”. Reaching out Using Handwritten Notes The pandemic has created terrible isolation for a good percentage of the population. People are forced to work from home, abstain from in-person meetings and gettogethers and are separated physically from their loved ones. This is painful and scary for many people. David says that as a business, it is important to reach out to one's clients and customers just to tell them you care. Of course, Handwrytten recommends reaching out using its service, as it knows that handwritten notes generate impactful and personal results.
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As a company Handwrytten used handwritten notes throughout the pandemic, but its team also picked up the phone, called its clients and asked if there was anything they could do to help. Handwrytten is uniquely qualified to overcome this challenge due to the nature of its business. By the end of 2020, Handwrytten's business was hitting sales records as people began using its service to send well-wishes to their prospects and clients. Ensuring Happiness and Productivity of Employees David has built and sold a company before. In this process, he has learned what is truly important. It turns out, happy, productive employees are the key! As such, he works every June 2021 | 29
day to ensure his employees are happy and excited to come to work. While he certainly makes his employees work hard, David wants them to stick around for the long-haul. He states that employee turnover is one of the most expensive factors in running a business. To improve work culture, David advises to hold weekly meetings on the financial and operational state of the company. This creates a sense of transparency and instils ownership by the entire team. He suggests praising publicly and criticizing privately. He advises giving “shout outs” to team members during the weekly meeting but giving criticism to employees only in private. He also suggests having frequent fun events. Supporting Inclusiveness Handwrytten has put a “Handwrytten Cares” section on its web site, with cards for equal rights and Black Lives Matter causes. 100% of the profits from these cards go to aligned causes.
David Wachs CEO, Founder and Chief Robot Mechanic
Handwrytten's technology allows customers to scale their handwritten outreach, creating positive impressions and long-lasting bonds.
The Road Ahead for Handwrytten Handwrytten will continue iterating its robots and creating more integrations into other platforms. In addition to its plugins for Salesforce, Zapier, Integromat and SyncSpider, it is releasing a plugin for Shopify shortly, and it hopes to revisit its HubSpot integration. It is currently revamping its web site and is excited to release the new version in Q3 of this year. Longer-term, Handwrytten plans to roll out additional facilities around the world. It will also partner with 3PL and other forms of partners to incorporate its offering into their service.
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Being Considerate of Emotions of People When everybody else is pivoting towards digital, David advises future leaders to realize the consumer is analog and emotional. He recommends the leaders of tomorrow to come up with solutions to grab the emotions behind their target audience, and don't just recreate a familiar marketing offering done by dozens of other software firms. David says that in the last 5 years so much of marketing and advertising has gone online, and this has created huge opportunities to improve the offline experience as well.
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MAY YAP A Proficient with Extensive Work Experience
“Deforestation is one major cause of climate change. Recycling is one of the many e orts that reflect our commitment toward mitigating climate change and global warming”
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The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2021
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e must know the market well, identify our competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. Build rapport with customers, find out what matters to customers, provide solutions, and solve their matters,” says May Yap. She is the Managing Director, and CEO of LHT Holdings Limted and accountable for strategic IT management and smooth day to day operations across operating sites in Asia and US.
May has Extensive Management Consulting Experience advising clients on business transformation initiatives; familiar with operations in Manufacturing, Government, pharmaceutical, Bank and Insurance, Telco, FMCG, Airlines and Logistics sectors. In an interview with Insights Success, May Yap highlights the importance of customer service and understanding the market one wants to grow in. Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a young and proficient shepreneur. It all started in December 1977, after completed my secondary school, I joined former Lian Hup Timber Trading Co before it was retitled to LHT Holdings Limited as a multi-tasking clerk which handles accounts, administration, operations, and housekeeping. At that time, the firm had around 20 employees and on leasing land size of less than 1000 sqm situated in a remote area in the north region of Singapore. During my 40 years of services at LHT, I have climbed the corporate ladder through rank-and-file from an admin clerk to a chairwoman. I have witnessed the changing landscape from a traditional company to an environmentally friendly company. As time went by, wood pallets became prominent as many foreign MNCs invested massively in Singapore that required these pallets as export goods. And inevitably, LHT followed the same wind too. At that time, Singapore was on its journey toward development and the firm grew so tremendously that we had to pursue bigger land in Sungei Kadut.
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Moving the factory two times, in 1988, the firm acquired a 35,680 sqm land, and the company staff strength went up to 168 employees, and with the right timing, the group renamed to LHT Holdings Limited when listed in the mainboard in 1999. During this time, I was Sales Director-in charge of all sales and marketing functions. Perceiving the opportunity to be an Executive Director, I became one of the major shareholders during the company’s reconstruction. I was appointed as the acting Managing Director in 2016 due to my MD had health issues. In 2017, followed by the retirement of my founder MD, I was re-designation as the chairwoman, Managing Director, and CEO. How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to entice the target audience? Wood pallets have been traditional for more than 60 years since world war two, to entice our target audience we need to provide a competitive one-stop solution. Besides selling wood and plastic pallets, we have technology pallets known as system pallets that cooperate with the RFID system. We also manufacture June 2021 | 33
of confidence and trust to be built over the team or management working with. As per your opinion, what roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them? Nobody knows that the Covid-19 will hit and disrupt that hard in all kinds of business and make changes to the way we do business. As a pallet manufacturer, we are lucky to be considered as essential services as we provide logistic support to the supply chain. Without pallets, goods cannot be transported and stored in the warehouses. As for us, we remain status quo, except the reshuffle of our workforce to cope with the high demand from some sectors due to customers’ stop work. Have you in any way contributed towards the cause of women empowerment?
environmentally-friendly pallets that make from recycling wood waste. By 2013 we took over a big plant at Johor, Malaysia for Green innovative Gpac moulded pallet production, and became a multi diversity of wide ranges of ECO Green pallet leadership to distribute all kinds of Wood packaging and Champion the green journey and made company with more effective business model and longevity sustainable for success. What are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess? A successful entrepreneur is focused on the business and its goals. At this digital transformation era, and Covid-19 had changed the way we do business. Creativity and flexibility, we need to embrace that changed and go back to the drawing board and restart, reorganize, relook on what is the better ways at the current situation, brainstorm, and amend accordingly. As a businesswoman, she shall have a charismatic character that possesses good knowledge in that field, a high level
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In Singapore, I do not see any gender discrimination as long as you can do the job. This day, I do see many women are leaving their home as a housewife to join the society and many women are now holding the high ranking post. I could only post and set an example that a female clerk that it is possible comes one day she can be the top management. How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth? Yes, we need to embrace the change and adapt the appropriate one. Firstly, we must understand the purpose of adopting the technology, which is to provide convenience or to make things simpler and not complicated and should be users friendly too. What are your future endeavors/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future? The Covid-19 pandemic is a testament that proof the company is sustainable over the majority of companies that were shut down due to the lockdown period and we were the few companies that provide the essential service to the community as well as the society.
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Nicole Mar n Founder
HRBoost
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Leader’s Viewpoint
The Talent Landscape is NOW your Biggest Threat, or is it?
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n 2010, I founded HRBoost and I had a big vision. I aimed to bring JOY and PURPOSE to people through their work. Today, I have nearly twenty (20) Boosters that are more than employees, they are people I respect and admire. I pray each day they see me as more than a “boss” and rather someone they can respect and admire. When HRBoost was founded, it was the only HR Shared Services firm of its kind that blends virtual service with embedded presence, providing a dedicated team and at the clients’ pace and budget delivering strategic HR. We like to say, strategic HR, day one, employee one! Back then, my first client was my first-born child. I had earned the privilege to consult and work on my own terms. Little did I know, I was not the only working mother who had earned skill through years of experience/education that desired to be “mommy” and yet still exercise intellectual potential all the while not sacrificing my earnings. Today, nearly every person on my team is a parent, and some are even grandparents. I am humbled to see them deliver excellence to our clients while playing in our intellectual playground a.k.a the “office”. For us, the word “office” became a verb long ago and performance is measured by impact. Commitment is not measured by physical presence but rather the level of collaboration against execution through the work itself. Amidst the Pandemic, something fascinating has taken place. The world is acknowledging the challenge of working families and the fact that they represent a third of the workforce. Recently, I discovered Maven, the largest virtual clinic for women’s and family health. They partnered with a Great Place to Work® to conduct the largest-ever study of working parents. The data says it all. Parents are diverse and families can be made up from any subset of humans. What
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once was standard benefits plan design (e.g., Compensation, Fair Management, Participation/Involvement, Opportunity for Advancement/Career Path as well as the benefits themselves) is no longer going to be enough to retain your skilled talent. Nearly every company has changed and/or adapted their policies amidst Covid-19. Some were legally required while other, newer programs and benefits emerged to become the new, must haves to achieve talent retention. The need for businesses to invest in the challenges their talent has been facing has been critical to not only keeping the business alive but also keeping the people that serve the business working. Women have long been an opportunity for businesses. The fact remains that 57% of women that become mothers fail to return to work after taking their initial maternity leave. So, gender equity has always been a factor, but in the United States there is even more happening. Racial unrest has been an ongoing wave, comprising protests and riots, against systemic racism towards black people in the US, notably in the form of police violence. The impacts of these events have confronted the business community to act. Diversity and Inclusion officer and management positions were staffed, donations, public statements and commitments were made. The fact remains that the results of these events will reveal for years to come as decisions are being made now. The now evidence however is that the events of late have resulted, despite years of progress, in gender and diversity taking a direct negative hit. In fact, we are now back at the level’s women participated in the labor pool back in 1988. While a record number of women were elected to Congress in 2020, there are other statistics that tells us that 80% of the talent that left the labor force by September 2020 were in fact women. The Bureau of Labor Statistics provides that this includes 324,000 Latinas and 58,000 women of color. Maven translates this data to result in four times (4x) more women
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than men have dropped out of the available talent pool these past 12 months. This is compounded by the reality that despite what many think, this is not a temporary trend. The shift of human capital will not bounce back as easy as economists forecast business to bounce back in coming years. I believe that the exodus of talent shifting in the marketplace is a trend that is actively shifting to men as well and some may ask why? Well, burnout is a real problem, and it is still unraveling before our eyes. Maven reported a 320% spike in mental health appointments in recent months. Not surprising, as I have declared to my own team that mental health can no longer be taboo in the workplace. I have personally been witnessing real burnout among the caregivers inside businesses; be it your manager, your CEO, or your HR representation. Everyone is tired and resilience is being tested. Everyone everywhere is getting through this and the future of work has not only changed, but we must accept it is also evolving. It is all happening so fast in real time. I have an 11-year-old child that is on Zoom two times (2x) weekly with a one-on-one instructor based in Mumbai, India. For many of us, it is beyond comprehension. In fact, the way many adults worked a year ago has altered in such a way; they are still wrapping their minds around it.
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Mona Jalota Founder Krypton Global Investments
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The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2021
Mona Jalota
A Real Estate Professional
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still sometimes need to pinch myself to believe that I'm an entrepreneur, I had, very early in my career slotted myself as a job person; someone who is more comfortable with structure, timings, fixed salary etc. Hence no was surprised, as much as myself, when I decided to become an entrepreneur in early 2018,” says Mona Jalota. She is the Founder of Krypton Global Investments and leading the organization with an extensive experience in all verticals pertaining to Local and International residential Real estate, gained from the last 8 years. By 2018 , Mona had a decade of senior management experience with her, and when she thought of her next steps, the idea of starting Krypton Global Investments, a specialized boutique firm agency providing clients with end-to-end services which include buying and selling of international real estate, sourcing of international investment opportunities, assistance in legal consultations, tax consultations and last but not the least Citizenship and PR options, came so easily and naturally, that perhaps it was already being manifested subconsciously for a long time. Offering Multiple Options While Real Estate continues to be Mona's firms main focus, the company has ventured into related services in International markets to give an end to end solution for its customers looking to diversify globally. The company helps its customers by connecting them to the relevant professionals for Tax Advisory, Legal Consultants and helps them with all the facilities required for a smooth transaction. It tries to understand all the benefits associated with an investment and ensure that the client get maximum value form the money invested.
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Krypton Global Investments understands that the Indian market is a large and complex market, and even though it is abundant with opportunities. International developers often burn their hands and money with agencies/ agents/ marketing companies that have little or no knowledge on the complexities of diversification for Indian customers. Hence it is firm's philosophy to provide the developers with transparent , sustainable and consistent services and advisory that helps them nurture this large market for their benefit. Mona says the company's tag line for them is “We help you to connect with Indian audiences intelligently”. Krypton Global Investments encourages channel partners from various cities to begin their journey of selling International Properties with it. As part of the Krypton Network, channel partners who sign up with it, get to take their business global. Krypton Network's unique platform allows their channel partners to get access to worldwide listings, attractive commissions and allows them to start another revenue stream which is totally independent of their current business. Getting Better is the Best Policy Mona's strategy and game plan has always been how to better her own organization. How to make her sales staff into advisors who can actually consult a client rather than push product? How to keep updating knowledge? So that the client finds value every time they speak with her. She asserts “Competition is always how to do better today than what we did yesterday.” A Massage for Emerging Woman Leaders According to Mona, every business woman should have grit, determination, courage of conviction to follow the path she has chosen. She adds, have a pragmatic approach June 2021 | 41
“
“I've lived a life that's full; I travelled each and every highway but more, much more than this I did it my way”
towards the challenges that will come every single day on this journey and embrace the humility of asking for work and adapting to changing circumstances. Businesses are made not only with the promoters but also the team that stays with them for the journey hence compassion for the team, an approach with a healthy mix of understanding and discipline will help everyone progress together. Managing through Roadblocks and Challenges Over roadblocks and challenges Mona says that on her journey the major challenges were the complete lack of government support for women entrepreneurs, lack of advisory for startups, tax compliances, retention of resources and many others. Mona managed to overcome them by always maintaining a sense of “cest la vie”, optimism and belief that eventually she would work it all out. Assisting for Women Empowerment On empowering women Mona says, throughout her professional journey of over 12 years, she has tried to assist the cause as much as she can. She adds whether it was being an integral part of the Vishakha committee, choosing to work with women in her team , being a mentor to junior women or to stand by her colleagues and peers as much as she could. Last year, Mona was commended for all of these efforts by her peers, when she won the “6th World Women Leadership Congress & Awards”. She opines “this award is purely given to people nominated by their colleagues and peers. I hope to continue influencing women and contributing towards their empowerment as long as possible.” On Myth of Meritocracy Meritocracy expects for individuals to be successful based purely on an individual's merit and regardless of their social status. Currently even though this seems like utopia, Startups are the hope that will challenge this status quo. In today's business arena, startups provide equal opportunities, hone unique marketing skills and encourage the entrepreneur to capitalize and monetize their ideas. Using Advancements as a Support By keeping aware of the trends and never losing objective that technology is used to make the business easy. Mona asserts “by accepting that where you have limitations, you will have the relevant technical support.” Visioning to Get Ahead For Mona her future objective is to include many more diversified luxury products as a part of the Krypton Portfolio.
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A Prominent Personality in the Venture Capital and Private Equity Industry
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The 10 Most Innova ve Business Leaders to Follow in the 2021
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techno geek and a proficient fund manager, Nin Desai has significantly contributed to Venture Capital and Private Equity industry through her venture, NIN Ventures LLC (or NIN.VC). NIN.VC is a first of its kind technology venture capital fund to be raised via world wide web. Venture capital provides financing to early-stage emerging companies with high growth potential in exchange for equity / an ownership stake. The risks VCs take investing in disruptive technologies or business models yield higher returns their limited partners (or investors) require. Since beginning of the 20th century, venture capital has been the domain of wealthy individuals and families. A typical LP based in a venture fund would be institutions, pension funds, endowments, family offices, etc. However, the 2008 Financial Meltdown led to a liquidity crises for entrepreneurs, companies, LPs, & VCs. Fewer IPOs in the market means no exits for VCs, no returns for LPs, and as a result venture funds were on a decline. No new funds mean less startup funding, low employment, and slow economic growth. Thus, on April 5, 2012 The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (the JOBS Act) was introduced which enables crowdfunding for all Americans and that's how NIN Ventures (or NIN.VC) came into existence. Impact of COVID 19 Crowdfunding is a practice of funding a project or venture by raising contributions from a large number of people, typically via the Internet. Since 2014 the crowdfunding industry has grown from $16 billion to an estimated $34 billion in 2015 and is doubling or more every year, and according to the World Bank estimates, crowdfunding will have a global market of $96 billion by 2025 - 1.8 times today’s global venture capital industry.
NIN.VC is a unique and rst of its kind attempt to bring venture capital retail and give people the freedom to directly invest in a fund with an amount of their choice, which also leads to a better nancial reward system.
changed are longer pitch and review process time, less favorable terms, more time spent on managing the existing portfolio companies, etc. Venture Capital investing is normally subject to great deal of uncertainty about the future. Thus, VC practices have evolved to manage these sources of uncertainty. The arrival of the COVID 19 pandemic made it a necessity to collaborate virtually on meetings, documents, and projects and it is expected to penetrate into other aspects of the finance industry, which has traditionally been a solo consumer experience. However, the team at NIN.VC has been futuristic about it and operate its business mainly with the help of world wide web. A First of its Kind
In the opinion of Nin, currently, the COVID 19 pandemic is changing industries around the world, however one sector that still continues to be promising is Venture Capital. The year of pandemic turned out to be the second biggest year for Venture Capital in history, with funds deploying $141.9 billion in investments in 2020. Few things that have
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NIN Ventures is a unique and first of its kind crowdfunded technology venture capital fund to be marketed, raised, managed, and reported online. The General Solicitation and general advertising, under the JOBS act and rule 506 (c) of the US Securities Act made it possible for the company to
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raise this fund. This rule came into effect Sep 23, 2013 and NIN.VC was the first one to go live with a website and videos about its fund. NIN Ventures also became the first venture fund to be seen on a billboard, which was followed by in taxi ads and other social media facilitated marketing. A Hybrid Model NIN.VC has the best of both worlds. It is a hybrid between a traditional venture capital fund and a crowdfunding portal. There is a major flaw with crowdfunding in general and that is what NIN.VC is solving. Nin comes from an entrepreneurial family so she can speak on their behalf. Entrepreneurs are brave and courageous bunch that are determined to change the way an existing industry functions. On that journey they need lot more than just financing. They need guidance or domain expertise, help with PR/marketing, recruiting, viable exit strategy, more often follow up financing, etc., which crowdfunding portals are not able to support. On the other hand, crowdfunding exposed investors to a whole new asset class, which the normal population never had the knowledge or expertise to invest in. About 99% of
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startups fail, on top of that low minimum investments like $1,000 does not give them a say or a board seat, putting investors at high degree of risk. At NIN.VC, it solved all of those issues. NIN.VC provides diversification, takes board seat on all its investments, and lends the necessary support that an entrepreneur needs to build a business, like they would get at a traditional venture capital fund. And, the venture is also in a position to gauge and be a part of the valuation process when it comes to addressing dilution and follow up financing rounds. However, the most IMPORTANT part that investors cares about is the ability to direct invest and enjoy direct returns, which is not the case with a traditional venture capital fund. Investing in Disruptive Technologies NIN Ventures Technology (QP) Fund is currently available to "accredited" individuals / firms for a minimum amount of $100,000 using multiple investment options like selfdirected IRAs, defined benefit plan, or a regular checking / savings account. NIN Ventures invests in series A & B rounds of 3D printing, the 4th industrial revolution, cloud computing, fin tech, education software, and other disruptive technology companies.
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