The 20 Best-Performing CEOs To Watch Out For In 2019

www.mirrorreview.com March 2019

Health Insights How the novel on-skin artiďŹ cial pancreas can ease diabetes problems?

Tech Innovations Inside CES 2019: Transformative Gadgets & Future Tech

Luis Villalon: CEO | Target Robotics

Leading The Industry With An Expertise In Automated Industrial Systems With Robots

EDITOR’S LETTER www.mirrorreview.com March 2019

Health Insights How the novel on-skin artificial pancreas can ease diabetes problems?

Tech Innovations Inside CES 2019: Transformative Gadgets & Future Tech

Luis Villalon: CEO | Target Robotics

Leading The Industry With An Expertise In Automated Industrial Systems With Robots

What exactly is the healthy work culture?

Company culture is one of the most crucial parts of a business. It stamps nearly every aspect of a company. From improving employee satisfaction to recruiting new people, it's the backbone of a happy workforce. Without a positive corporate culture, employees will struggle to find the real value in their work and this situation consequently affects the work output. There is a great need for employee assessment to bring a healthy work culture in an organization. In employee assessment, if the management finds dedicated staff members and doesn't take steps towards applying a continual development approach to them, it can lead to a serious employee discouragement. Let me make it simpler—like a normal human mind, a person is ignored by his fellows never tries his best to delight them. The same thing is applied to employees in an organization. Ignoring hard-working employees and focusing on pure profit and future strategies is like pouring water in a bucket full of holes.

Catching this vital fact of building a healthy company culture with employee empowerment, the team of Mirror Review presents the Vol. II of “The 20 Best-Performing CEOs To Watch Out For In 2019” magazine issue, bringing the prominent CEOs who are leading their companies while promoting a positive company environment. We continually strive to assist readers with inspiring business stories that encourage them in their business process.

Therefore, this time, we have specially curated this magazine for our precious audience who want to build up their businesses while promoting a healthy work culture.

Out of the featured leaders, we have chosen Luis Villalon, the CEO of Target Robotics to surface as the Cover Story of this magazine for his extensive contribution towards the development of his company and employees. The true example of his effective leadership umbrella is the company's growth of 50% constantly for 18 years, even in 2009-10's automotive crisis.

Next pages of this magazine will introduce our prestigious readers with expert opinions from Cami Zimmer (Executive VP Business Development & Marketing at Glympse) and Jan van Eck (Co-founder and CEO of Sports Engineers), who have shared their experienced views about two of the trending topics.

Finally, we have added two intuitive articles to delight our readers with comprehensive and interesting topics.

I hope you enjoy reading this power-packed magazine issue.

Happy Reading!

Mayur Shewale Assistant Editor

CREDIT PAGE

Publisher : Archana Ghule

Editor-in-Chief : Vikram Suryawanshi Managing Editor : Anuja Mulmule Assistant Editor : Mayur Shewale Contributory Writers : Bansidhar Tigga Deepali Sarwade

Business Development Manager : Rohan Yadav Project Managers : Vinayak Todchetwar William Taylor Santosh Randive Daniel Lewis Art Director : Vinod Alhat Visualizer : Mark Davis Graphic Designers : Poonam Magdum Sumit Bonage Aniket Diwane Sakshi Bendre Head of Distribution & Production : Aakash Mahajan Head of Operations : Robert Smith Research Analysts : James Adams David Thomas Advertising : Maria Smith

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CONTENTS Luis Villalon: Leading The Industry With An Expertise In Automated Industrial Systems With Robots

10 Cover Story Articles

24 Health Insights How The Novel On-skin Artiď€ cial Pancreas Can Ease Diabetes Problems?

42 Tech Innovations Inside CES 2019: Transformative Gadgets & Future Tech

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22

Afshan Muneer:

Alok Bhatia:

Ameliorating The Human Resource Facilities For Aspirants And Organizations

28 Carlo Izzo:

Creator Of A Tranquil Home For Guests At The Kolbe Hotel Rome

A Pioneering Leader Providing A Pool Of IT Talent

30 Elissa Freiha:

An Angel Investorpreneur, Empowering Businesswomen In The Mena Region

32

38

Eugene Cheng:

Joshua Gould:

Sparkling Brands With Intuitive Presentations At Highspark

Delivering Essential Defense Service Support To Signiď€ cant Players In International Security

40

46

Richard Lacle: Supplying And Integrating Specialized Equipment And Systems To Clients

Robin Lindahl: Boosting Mining And Tunneling Operations With Knowledge And Technology

48

50

Sanjay Poojary:

Sheri Atwood:

Making A Sustainable Impact In The World With Water Management Solutions

A Dynamic Leader Who Fought Back With The Fate

Experts' Views

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52 Cami Zimmer | Glympse

Why Last Mile Delivery Is The New Competitive Vanguard For Retail & Grocery eCommerce

Jan Van Eck | Sports Engineers

How To Gain Control Of Sports Data ?

COVER STORY Luis Villalon CEO | Target Robotics

COVER STORY

Luis Villalon: Leading The Industry With An Expertise In Automated Industrial Systems With Robots

At Target Robotics, we envision making it a company with the best social impact, being recognized at the national and international level as an icon of excellence in manufacturing automation with robots.

COVER STORY

T

he technological breakthroughs have taken the business world a step ahead; shifting from older technologies, each aspect of the industries is changing the way it functions. Though innovations and technological changes allure to some, the majority of business entrepreneurs prefer the traditional machinery. Being one of the early few adaptors in the field of robotics, Luis Villalon has spearheaded the use of industrial applications of robotics. Coming from an Electronics Engineering background, Luis is a tech-savvy personage who has evolved the conventional automation with PLCs into robotics automation by the most explicit way through his accomplishments.

him, in today’s customer-driven business economy, small to medium manufacturing units, with robotic technology, brings a better way to get higher productivity and flexibility that the new market demand.

Producing Solutions that Double the Business Outcomes Based in San Luis Potosí, SLP, México, Target Robotics brings over 18 years of expertise in automated systems integrated with robots. It generates solutions over the concept of “Simple Automation”, based on amazing robot capabilities. Moreover, deploying novel technologies, robots can develop almost all the industrial processes, ranging from the simplest ones to the craziest applications, using advanced functions and complex programs. As a result, the team of leading tech solution provider guarantees to reduce the system cost by a minimum of 50%, while increasing the production capacity by double, at least, when compared to the conventional machinery. With such an advantageous set of solutions, Target Robotics has set its footprint in every industry, and its systems have become the bestselling solutions because of exponential productivity and disruptive concepts.

Having worked for 10 years with a renowned robotics organization as Fanuc, Luis started his own company just by himself in 2001. He starts contracting young engineers by university internship programs and invest in a robotics lab with an aim to train them. Since the first year, his venture, dubbed as Target Robotics’ revenue growth was more than 50% every year constantly for 18 years, even in the 2009-10’s automotive crisis. The reason behind Target Robotics’ revenue generation is its sales policy diversified in the general industry market. Moreover, for Luis, having done so well and not seen a single year of even mediocrity in business growth, is his proudest career achievement.

A Goal to Expand Globally by Leveraging Quality Offerings

Further, Luis believes and has proven that mass production theory is obsolete. Moreover, according to

With a mission to develop innovative technology to optimize industrial processes, based on international

We provide the best solutions, developing turnkey solutions from design engineering and simulation to the whole installation process, star-up and project management.

We are leaders in industry with more than 18 years of expertise in automated industrial systems with robots under the concept of Simple Automation.

standards of design and safety, through automation with robots, Target Robotics guarantees improvement in the life quality of its clients and collaborators, while keeping the environmental sustainability in mind.

Moreover, Target Robotics’ most trusted array of solutions can be applied in almost all type of industries like automotive, food & beverages, electronic, home appliances, intelligent warehouses, plastics, energy, minery, etc. Being the CEO of Target Robotics, Luis considers it as his responsibility to take this venture to international markets, and making a leader in the new production concepts.

Providing Services that Exceed Client Expectations For a business entity to prosper, it is momentous to delight its customers and win them by surpassing their expectations. Target Robotics, with its admirable offerings, provides its clients customized solutions with turnovers less than 1.5 years. Moreover, other benefits like minimal footprint, plug & play concepts, certified international electrical and safety standards, enhance it’s deliverables’ validity. Further, though their robotic Systems have auto recovery functions and are safety rated reliable systems, they offer 24/7 after sales support services with 12 months guarantee policy.

Setting an Example by Seizing Self Values Values are the essence of a company’s identity; they support its vision and shape the culture. At Target Robotics, Luis and his team believe in their values vigorously. With the power of innovation, they work honestly, time boundedly, and fulfill their commitments, which make them a trustworthy team.

Moreover, following the technological trends, they strive to produce and deliver cutting-edge solutions, which they serve with a positive and customer-friendly attitude. Apart from the business orientated activities, the team of Target Robotics never drops a chance to pay back the debts of society by taking the responsibilities as a corporate entity.

Words of Sage for Robotics Aspirants Everything comes with a price, which one has to pay in order to acquire it. In the same way, to aspirants who wish to enter in the field of robotics automation, Luis suggests to learn about the upcoming trends and keep up with the technological advancements. Further, while elaborating the challenges in this field and how to conquer them, Luis asserts, “As the technology is moving in a fast pace, all the design engineers must keep on a permanent evoluptive training program, not only to understand and apply new technologies but also better methods to research and develop.”

COVER STORY

Future of Business World In the coming years, Industry 4.0 will transform the way we produce and distribute goods and services, and this change will be led by the automatization.

Visionary entrepreneurs, who understand the new model to make business based on technology and knowledge, will be the generation of businessmen who will lead the world.

- Luis Villalon CEO | Target Robotics

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Leader

Company Info

Afshan Muneer CEO Solutions Sync LLC.

Since its inception in 2017, Solutions Sync’s main goal is to help and prepare job aspirants for suitable opportunities. www.solutionssync.com

Alok Bhatia Founder & CEO Canvas InfoTech

Incepted in 2006, Canvas Infotech employs an exceptional technology approach to handle consulting services. Mainly, it provides the following four services to its large clientele base. www.canvasinfotech.com

Alvin Chau Chairman Suncity Group

Suncity Group is one of Asia’s leading VIP services and entertainment conglomerates. www.suncity-group.com/en

Carlo Izzo CEO Kolbe Hotel Rome

The Kolbe Hotel Rome is one of the most appreciated and favorite locations in the capital on aninternational level for important events and high-level meetings, a reputation that has been skillfully built in recent years by a careful management to a thousand details. www.kolbehotelrome.com

Elissa Freiha Founder womena®

womena® has become the largest tech network of female entrepreneurs in the MENA region, known as the womena® Bossladies Network. www.womena.com

Eugene Cheng MD HighSpark

HighSpark develops presentations from scratch and offers strategic consulting services to Fortune 500 companies like Mastercard, Dentsu, and many more quality brands. www.highspark.co

John Visentin Vice Chairman & CEO Xerox

Today’s Xerox is transforming into a technology powerhouse, one that is leveraging its deep heritage in innovation to fuel the future of intelligent work. www.xerox.com

Joshua Gould CEO TBW Global

TBW Global is successfully offering services including human intelligence, warfare training, and language services to NATO countries. www.tbwglobal.com

Luis Villalon CEO Target Robotics

Based in San Luis Potosí, SLP, México, Target Robotics brings over 18 years of expertise in automated systems integrated with robots. www.targetrobotics.com

Rajiv Warrier CEO Choithrams

Choitrams is a leading food and non-food retailer and distributor in the Middle East. www.choithramsgroup.com

Leader

Company Info

Richard R. Lacle MD & CEO ASAP Services N.V.

ASAP Services specializes in the Asset Management & Preventive Maintenance of Specialized Equipment as well as has been serving the Air & Sea Port Industry, Customs Authorities and Correctional Institutions in the Caribbean & Central American region. www.asap.aero

Rob Lindley MD Colt Car Company / Mitsubishi Motors in the U.K.

The Colt Car Company Limited is a privately owned business established in 1974 as part of Mitsubishi Motors’ global expansion programme for the purpose of importing and distributing cars and light commercial vehicles in the United Kingdom. www.mitsubishi-cars.co.uk

Robin Lindahl Precident & CEO Normet Oy

Normet is a leading mining and tunneling technology company. www.normet.com

Samie Al-Achrafi CEO Marmalade Fish

Marmalade Fish is a team of global Learning and Leadership experts passionate about the power of responsible business as a force for social good. www.marmaladefish.com

Sanjay Poojary President & CEO Saya life

Since its foundation in 2016, Saya life is focused on submetering, protection of property, and providing real-time control of water systems to monitor flow and prevent damage caused by leaks. www.saya.life

Shawn Sloves CEO Velocity Ledger

Velocity Ledger (VL) is a private blockchain enabled platform operated by Velocity Ledger Technology, Inc. which provides a platform for the generation of tokenized assets, secondary trading and settlement. www.velocityledger.com

Sheri Atwood Founder & CEO SupportPay

SupportPay® is the first-ever automated child support payment platform, specifically designed to transform the complex, time-consuming & stressful financial processes for modern families. www.supportpay.com

Stephen Rue CEO NBN

NBN Co was established in 2009 to design, build and operate Australia’s wholesale broadband access network. www.nbnco.com.au

Tony Hsieh CEO Zappos

Zappos is online shoe and clothing company. www.zappos.com

Yves Guillemot Co-founder & CEO Ubisoft Australia

With the largest in-house game development staff in the world, Ubisoft gathers more than 14,000 team members in more than 40 studios around the world. www.ubisoft.com

Afshan Muneer:

Ameliorating The Human Resource Facilities For Aspirants And Organizations

T

oday’s cutthroat competition demands leadership that has an aggressive approach towards growth.

Building new solutions, disrupting existing scenario, and motivating teams to work relentlessly are a few of the qualities that business leaders nowadays focus on. Delivering growth has become the primary objective of most of the executives. This diverts them away from the other equally important responsibility of leadership—Sustainability. In a pursuit to run faster, business leaders often fail to follow practices that promise sustainability of the growth. Among very few executives, who emphasize both the sides of leadership, is Afshan Muneer, the CEO of Solutions Sync LLC. Afshan has a vast experience of leading various renowned enterprises and is now managing Solution Sync, a company delivering the placement and recruitment services for aspirants as well as providing the right candidates for their client’s business.

A Leader Maximizing Growth and Productivity Presently, Afshan is the Chief Executive Officer at the Solution Sync. Right after getting her master degrees from San Jose International Technological University, Afshan joined an IT company as a SAP counsellor. While working with several organizations, she earned 12 years of experience in the training and recruitment industry. In those 12 years, she played many roles that include Vice President, Project Manager, Quality Team Leader, Product Trainer, Soft Skills Trainer, Accounts Managers, and Expedite Placement Lead in various corporations. In her line of profession, Afshan has directed many businesses and these businesses have seen outstanding growth rate ranging from 5% to 10% consistently every month.

In recent times, Afshan concerted an on-shore offshore model and applied it in her business workflow, which increased their fixed revenue by over 50%. Because of Afshan skills and capability, the businesses she has administrated have thrived well. Nevertheless, what

20

pleased her most is that the growth of the businesses is maintained over the long haul. To improve her understanding of business workflow, she focused on getting fundamental principles right and applied that knowledge in her business.

Solution Sync, Supplying the Right Candidates for Jobs Since its inception in 2017, Solutions Sync’s main goal is to help and prepare job aspirants for suitable opportunities. The California-based company offers services through two key lines of businesses: The first, as a recruitment and placement firm, and second, to operate as a vendor offering IT staffing and solutions. It offers career counselling, placement assistance, placement guidance and free assistance to job seekers. Solutions Sync’s USP is unique and different from their competitors as they provide job assistance as well as counsel the candidates thoroughly which helps them to get hired quickly. It also delivers excellent training and development services in areas such as business analysis, project management, quality analysis, testing tools, and more. Afshan with her placement team continuously serves the SMEs across the US and single-mindedly accomplished outstanding results by helping the IT experts land the jobs of their choice & getting the right candidates for SME enterprises.

Delivering Personalized Results for Client’s Businesses Afshan’s firm can handle the job hunting process proficiently and present excellent results for their clients and job applicants. To speed up their hiring process, the company utilizes their placement services, client networks, and counts on the small-medium sized companies.

Likewise, the placement company delivers custom-made professional development programs, which are available for beginners and experienced professionals. In addition

to this, Afshan’s company offers coaching and mentoring to job applicants for increasing their knowledge and skill.

It also provides H1B and green card sponsorships for the available selected applicants.

Overcoming the Challenges and Becoming Prized Asset in the Industry

According to Afshan, due to the changing demands of customers, businesses need to adopt the latest trends and technologies. While the team members are considered, their understanding and expertise in trends and technologies assist them to sharpen their skillsets, thereby leading the company towards growth and productivity. Today, most of the organizations focus on hiring such aspirants. Therefore, Afshan’s firm polish the job applicants with the provision of expert tutoring and mentoring related to the latest technologies and trends which subsequently make them hiring compatible.

Afshan Muneer

CEO | Solutions Sync LLC

‘‘

We offer IT staffing and placements services while implementing customeroriented and efficient solutions.

‘‘

As the CEO of Solutions Sync, Afshan has many roles and responsibilities towards the company’s growth. Afshan uses her expertise and experience to deliver high-grade business results as well as produce personalized services for their clients, business partners, and candidates.

Furthermore, she is responsible for tactical and innovative strategies that augment the company’s growth. Afshan is very positive that in the upcoming years, the company will become a valuable asset in the recruitment and placement industry.

Future of Business World

Pointers for Aspiring Entrepreneurs A versatile leader, Afshan Muneer, who has many years of experience in the industry, advises young business leaders to foresee and surpass the necessities of the current trends. She shares “Try to become an innovative person and keep up with the latest trends and technologies of your industries, which will guide you towards success. Similarly, enhance your skills and knowledge with the development program”. Afshan further adds, “In this way, regardless of their industries young businesspersons can achieve success as well as run their business effortlessly”.

“We have interesting times ahead of us as digital skills are much in demand. All of us need to keep pace with changing technology landscape and upskill to meet the requirements of the changing times.”

- Afshan Muneer

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Alok Bhatia:

A Pioneering Leader Providing A Pool Of IT Talent

T

he modern staffing industry plays a major role in the US economy and helps to recruit 17 million employees per year. Perspective candidates look at the staffing industry as a bridge between employers and them, while the industry considers the skills and requirements of the candidates and provides them with the right employment. This is the reason why they are accountable for giving salaries, managing employment taxes, reparation insurance, and many other employment rewards. More importantly, these companies understand the requirements of the current environment and accordingly assist clients to get skilled employees.

Today, technology is changing with every passing day which requires employees to possess specific skillsets.

Hence, the inclusion of collaboration with a staffing company has become a prerequisite strategy for the presentday organizations. Understanding these dynamic requirements of clients’, Alok Bhatia established Canvas Infotech Inc. to provide distinctive staffing solutions.

A Leader with Vast Years of Experience in the Industry Alok Bhatia, the CEO and Founder of Canvas InfoTech Inc., holds an engineering degree from one of the prestigious colleges in India, IIT BHU and a Master’s degree from West Virginia University, USA. He has experience in management, international business development, technology consulting, product management, and software engineering understanding for more than 20 years. Alok has worked with some of the renowned firms from the Silicon Valley such as Wells Fargo Bank, Yahoo, Excite@Home, Synopsys, Ernst and Young, and many more.

As the CEO & Founder of a leading staffing company, Alok says that he has a greater responsibility towards his clients, making them his first priority. He acknowledges and fulfills the obligations related to his roles such as motivating team members, refining their capabilities to give their best shot along with increasing revenues, profits, and all-in-one delivery of the company.

For this, Alok keeps a close tab on the market so that he can immediately sense a change in the market and provide

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unique solutions to his clients. Therefore, his remarkable leadership has helped Canvas Infotech to succeed and reach new pinnacles of success. In the coming days, Alok plans to make Canvas a premier staffing company as well as reputed certification training institution in the bay area.

All Round Staffing Solutions by Canvas Infotech Incepted in 2006, Canvas Infotech employs an exceptional technology approach to handle consulting services. Mainly, it provides the following four services to its large clientele base.

First, Canvas supplies consultants to enterprises to get recruited on various positions for a stipulated time frame.

Its team incorporates project managers, quality analysts, business analysts, data analysts, Java developers, and technical writers. Second, the company offers staffing solutions to 50 clients directly for full-time needs. Third, the company renders various certification and training programs to the candidates who wish to outwit the job race of the market and get promotions from their employers. Its associated firm, Sync IT Learning, offers certifications for PMP, ITIL, MS-Project 2013, CBAP, PMI-ACP, CSM, SAFe, and CSPO. Since Canvas Infotech is committed to keeping pace with the latest market trends, it provides advanced certifications and training courses for CBAP (Certified Business Analyst Professional), VB Scripting, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Android Automation Testing etc. And lastly, as Canvas works for a dynamic environment, it gives contingent staff to its clients’.

Impressively, it has managed to get technical as well as functional CTC (Corp to Corp) positions for the upbeat social media platform: Facebook.

Standing Tall in the IT Staffing Arena For Alok, providing the right set of talent as per the clients’ requirements is his central focus. In a market full of cutthroat competitors, Canvas Infotech distinguishes itself from other staffing companies by giving additional facilities such as talent and sponsor visas such as H1B and Green Card. It also identifies the changing needs of the market and incorporates it in the training programs. This is not all.

There are several other factors which set Canvas apart from other staffing firms such as maintaining strong bond with

candidates, offering ample opportunities to their employees, and giving updated training programs according to the market requirements.

Fulfilling Clients’ Expectations with Exceptional Services Having eminent stature in the staffing market, Canvas handles operations of its clients by relieving them from the burden of hiring processes which contains promotion, selection, and verification of qualifications. The firm is also empowering their clients by providing them with excellent employees and helping startups and Fortune 1000 companies to improve their business processes with the help of onshore and offshore involvement.

Futuristic CEO Planning Brighter Future for Tomorrow For every entrepreneur, it is imperative to catch the pulse of the market, stay tuned with it, and plan ahead. Being a successful leader of a prominent firm, Alok takes feedback from his clients and examines the market of staffing industry to create more refined strategies and implementing them more effectively.

Moreover, he feels that this will allow his company to reach and engage prospective clients and in turn, provide better services according to their requirements.

Alok Bhatia

CEO & Founder | Canvas InfoTech Inc.

‘‘

We, at Canvas Infotech, strive to

provide the preferred and trusted

partnership to both our clients and our candidates.

‘‘

Till date, Canvas has provided staffing solutions to renowned firms such as Facebook, Whirlpool Corporation, Procter and Gamble, Hawaii State Federal Credit Union, Epstein, and Touch commerce.

He also aims to increase the depth and breadth of the training program in Big Data and JAVA Development. Undoubtedly, he is confident about the training program and said that this will aid candidates to get contract-based jobs in global organizations. Moreover, Alok sees huge potential in the U.S workforce and wishes to expand Canvas Infotech by strategizing the in-house programs and provide job opportunities for them.

Expert Advice for Wantrepreneurs Alok advises new entrepreneurs to stay updated with the market changes. If they take their business for granted, it will never bear excellent results for them. He further adds that if young venturists familiarize themselves with disruptive technologies, provide steadfast customer services, and possess a passion to fulfill customers’ requirements then these characteristics will set them apart from their rivals in the market.

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Health Insights

How The

Novel On-skin

Artificial Pancreas Can Ease

?

Diabetes Problems

D

iabetes is sixth leading cause of death.

According to WHO’s Global Report on Diabetes, in 2016, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes. The chronic disease caused due to pancreas inefficiency to produce enough insulin is capturing higher number of people every year. The same research explains that the number of people with diabetes has risen from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014, which is a drastic 4 times growth.

The traditional method to treat diabetes via insulin injection not only involves pain, inconvenience, infection and nerve damage, but also is difficult to achieve persistent glycemic control. Therefore, there is a great need for alternative method to manage the insulin doses. An artificial pancreas has the potential to relieve the person with diabetes from some of these key issues with traditional methods by automating detection of blood sugar levels and delivery of insulin in response to those levels and providing optimal blood glucose control with minimal effort and reducing the potential for disease complications.

What is Artificial Pancreas?

Artificial Pancreas is nothing but a system of devices that closely imitates the glucose regulatory functions of healthy pancreas. The glucose management inside the human body is considered as open-loop activity. This technology is consisting of a feedback control instrument that regulates insulin delivery. The Artificial Pancreas device system has got several names like ‘Closed-loop system’, or ’automated insulin delivery system’, or ‘autonomous system for glucose control’ Most of the Artificial Pancreas Device System consists of a continuous glucose monitoring system (CGM) and an insulin infusion pump. A blood glucose devise such as glucose meter is used to calibrate the CGM. Algorithm controlled

24

by a computer is connected to CGM and insulin infusion pump. This provides the continuous communication between two devices. This technology monitors glucose levels in the body as well as automatically adjusts the delivery of insulin to reduce glucose levels preventing hyperglycemia. It will also prevent hypoglycaemia by diminishing the low blood glucose levels.

The various functions of various parts of the system: I) Continuous Glucose Monitor: A CGM is used to provide information of patient’s blood glucose level. The sensor positioned under patient’s skin measures the glucose in the fluid around the cells. This information is sent further to a receiver with the help of a small transmitter. ii) Control Algorithm: It is software embedded in an external processor or controller which receives the information from CGM and performs various mathematical calculations. The controller sends instructions to infusion pumps on the basis of calculations. The control algorithm can be performed by number of devices like computer or cellular phone etc. iii) Insulin Pump: An infusion pump adjusts the insulin delivery to the tissue under the skin as per the instructions sent by the controller. iv) Patient: It is the most important part of the system. The whole system might get affected by the diet and activities and metabolism of the patient.

A successful artificial pancreas will make life changing advancement for many people with type 1 diabetes. Still there are some disadvantages of this technology.

This Artificial Pancreas—aka “closed-loop” delivery systems are either electronics-derived or protein-based, leading to the concerns of electrical failure or immunetoxicity. Therefore, to deliver insulin in a glucose-responsive, painless, convenient, and safe way, scientists have developed an electronics-free, enzymefree smart artificial “on-skin pancreas” Prof. Akira

Matsumoto from Medical and Dental University and the Kanagawa Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, along with his co-workers thoroughly investigated and made a report on stable, long-acting insulin delivery technology called as artificial on-skin pancreas.

Why should diabetes patients go for on-skin artificial pancreas?

The on-skin pancreas is electronics free, enzymes free, a microneedles (MNs) patch fabricated with smart hybrid hydrogel and silk fibroin. Silk fibroin is derived from silkworm cocoons. It is designed in a way that it will deliver insulin in a convenient and safe way. It will be painless and glucose responsive.

The hydrogel is contained in MNs and it allows glucoseresponsive diffusion control of insulin which corresponds to the change in hydration on the gel surface called as ‘skin layer’ formation. The silk fibroin magnifies the mechanical strength of the MNs and facilitates skin penetration.

Working mechanism of on-skin artificial pancreas In this technology Phenylboronic acid (PBA) is assigned with the major role. PBA binds with glucose reversibly and works aptly for glucose sensing and self-regulated insulin delivery purpose. Moreover, it does not have immunetoxicity and denaturing concerns. The semiinterpenetrating network hydrogel is fabricated using PBA derivative. N-isopropylacrylamide and silk fibroin brings in the mechanical robustness. Hybrid hydrogel is put on the tip region of MNs surface for continuous monitoring of the glucose level after insertion. The skin layer that forms on the MNs surface will efficiently block the release of insulin at normoglycemic condition.

Conversely, as the glucose concentration increases the binding of PBA with glucose leads to the hydration of the hybrid MNs and this allows the release of insulin at hyperglycemia condition.

Micro-molding technology Moreover, micro-molding technology enabled the fabrication of two-layer MNs with silk fibroin as the base

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Health Insights

layer and hybrid hydrogel in tip region. Here an insulin reservoir is attached to intensify the amount of loaded insulin.

The MNs patch is effectively penetrated in the skin and released insulin in accordance with the external glucose concentration.

This novel on-skin pancreas has the potential to be the next-generation therapy for diabetes because it is patientfriendly, possible to achieve persistent glycemic control, durable and disposable.

More reasons to accept this innovation According to Dr. Akira Matsumoto, the most remarkable advantage of this technology is that it is remarkably stable, while providing both fast and long-acting glucose-responsive insulin delivery. It can overcome the limitations associated with current technologies such as short duration of action, instability, and possible toxicity.

Reference Paper: 1. Siyuan Chen, Hiroko Matsumoto, Yuki Moro oka, Miyako Tanaka, Yuji Miyahara, Takayoshi Suganami, Akira Matsumoto. 2018. Microneedle Array Patch Fabricated with Enzyme Free Polymeric Components Capable of On Demand Insulin Delivery. [2018 December 09; accessed 2019 Feb 18]. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/adfm.201807369

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Carlo Izzo:

Creator Of A Tranquil Home For Guests At The Kolbe Hotel Rome

T

he Kolbe Hotel in Rome is an eye-catchy amalgamation of ancient architecture, traditions, and modern facilities. Awarded as the ‘Best Luxury Business Hotel - Italy’ in the “2018 Brand of the Year Awards”, its combination of ancient and modern culture makes it a truly luxurious location not only for tourists but also for business meetings.

The Journey of an Ambitious Dream that Came True There are continual efforts and hard work involved behind making this award-winning hotel a charming place. The CEO of The Kolbe Hotel Rome, Carlo Izzo plays the lead role in building the place. Carlo started this ambitious Project on July, 2005 when it was still a Franciscan convent. At that time, there was an ancient building which dated back to 1625. Carlo then decided to restructure the place and convert it into The Kolbe Hotel Rome. He conceptualized everything right from the idea to imagining how the structure will look like.

As a famous saying goes—“There are no rules for a castle built in clouds”, Carlo re-imagined the ancient building and decided to make an out-of-the-box combination of old-modern structure. Preserving the ancient architecture, he selected all the furniture and equipment of the hotel.

Carlo also defined the marketing concepts, organized marketing plans for his project, and chose every single employee personally. He built a plan to restructure the ancient building into a high-class hotel. This was not a child’s play, because the project was highly ambitious and Carlo knew the risks and downfalls associated with it.

However, every passionate and driven leader is known for taking huge risks to bring quality in the end products.

Carlo followed the suit. With the mission to complete his project, he radically restructured and restored the entire building to highlight the beautiful architectural elements of the structure.

Presently, he is the CEO as well as Managing Director responsible for handling the operational as well as financial part.

A Leisure and Business Oriented Hotel Carlo named the hotel after a former resident—St. Maximilian Kolbe, who studied and lived in the building.

But, just naming the hotel was not enough. The facilities, elegant craftsmanship on structure, and the beautiful courtyard gardens required precision and art. Carlo and his team brought this art into reality. That’s why The Kolbe Hotel Rome is included among structures which enjoy a special consideration among the highest diplomatic and political positions in the world. These awards and recognitions are the ultimate results of calmness, classiness, and serenity that The Kolbe Hotel Rome offers.

Offering Top Quality Services The Kolbe Hotel Rome sports a total of 72 rooms, ranging from junior, double, deluxe and family rooms. All of them enable guests to share common amenities and take advantage of comprehensive array of facilities. Likewise, the hotel also brings a 150-seat plenary hall, a Congress Centre with 18 other meeting rooms including 16 breakout rooms from 10 to 30 seats, all equipped with modern technology. The “Unique Al Palatino Garden Restaurant” with the Lounge Bar is another attraction for customers where they can relax while enjoying food and cocktails. In addition to this, the spectacular roof terrace offers the possibility to be in direct contact with the Palatine and the Roman forum. This unrepeatable location is a “Unique Selling Proposition” that no other hotel in Rome can offer.

On this almighty roof top, Carlo and his team have an ambitious project with magnificent terrace which offers a panoramic view, accessible to their customers.

Crafting a Relaxing Attraction for Guests

After a continual renovation which lasted for two and a th half years, the project was opened in December 6 , 2007.

One can say, he was the man—who handled everything.

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Like swarms of bees searching for nectar, packs of paparazzi too travel across Rome in search of the next

buzzworthy shot of popular celebrities. Their search ends at Carlo’s The Kolbe Hotel Rome as well known personalities prefer it when they arrive in Rome. Recently, the hotel has had the pleasure of hosting Bernice Luther King, the daughter of Martin Luther King. Moreover, it was chosen for the fourth consecutive year as the venue for the European Union Day and for the Independence Day celebrations of the Republic of Malta. Similarly, several embassies and delegations of the European Union have chosen The Kolbe Hotel Rome and the “Unique Al Palatino Garden Restaurant” as a base for official meetings. Its discreet and bright frame which expels a particular charm is always ready to welcome guests, thanks to Carlo and his team’s creative and wise design choices for restructuring.

They have preserved some original ancient architectural elements, but also modified internal spaces for best-in-class facilities.

Carlo Izzo

CEO | The Kolbe Hotel Rome Achieving Overwhelming Success with Awards and Recognitions

The numerous awards that the structure has received are the live proof of Carlo’s words. It has been awarded with the World Luxury Hotel Awards for three consecutive years from 2015 to 2017. From 2016, it was awarded with the prestigious Haute Grandeur Hotel Awards (Best Conference Venue Hotel Italy and Most Unique Guest Experience). Several other awards received by The Kolbe Hotel Rome are: Best World Luxury Hotel; Conference Center, Best Scenic Environment, Best Luxury Cultural Hotel (regional), and Best Luxury City Hotel (global). In addition to these prestigious awards, it has also received two awards in Dubai at the Gala ceremony on November, 1st 2018: “Best Historical Hotel” and “Best Italian Cuisine” for its Unique Al Palatino Garden Restaurant.

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A structure should be so built that it will speak of its time and place, but desire for timelessness.

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Today, Carlo proudly says—“The Kolbe Hotel Rome is one of the most appreciated and favorite locations in the capital on an international level for important events and high-level meetings, a reputation that has been skillfully built in recent years by a careful management to a thousand details.”

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Elissa Freiha:

An Angel Investorpreneur, Empowering Businesswomen In The Mena Region

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isted by BBC as one of their “30 women under 30” and named as one of the “Inspiring Business Leaders of the UAE” by Forbes, Elissa Freiha is an angel investor, motivational speaker, and the Founder of womena®. The young entrepreneur and highly accomplished Emirati businesswoman of LebaneseAmerican descent is also a women’s economic activist.

Born and raised in Paris, Elissa spent much of her childhood in Paris, where her father worked for UNESCO. She also returned to the UAE four times a year for holidays and feels fortunate to enjoy the best of both worlds. Elissa experienced the metropolitan historic vibe of Paris as well as the optimism and community feel of the UAE and saw the desert transformed into a buzzing country.

The Entrepreneurial Expedition from Paris to UAE Though previously a baker, when Elissa began angel investing, entrepreneurship stole her hear while solving large-scale issues in collaboration with people. Elissa studied her Bachelor of Arts in Global Communication from the American University of Paris while working at a Parisian bakery shop. After graduating, joined a PR firm called Flash Entertainment in Abu Dhabi. She loved working there, arranging events, and making tens of thousands of people smile.

her business partner, Chantalle Dumonceaux, and started a women-only angel group that started womena®, empowering women by educating and engaging female angel investors to invest in new startups. The company is an award-winning investment platform and initiative that has now grown into a multidimensional media company, accelerator program, and Bossladies community.

Excelling with Continual Investments and Events In the early days of womena® and under the leadership of Elissa and her partners, womena® has invested over 3 million AED in funding to more than 10 startups. During this time, womena® invested more than $500,000 in startup firms, including UAE-based AlemHealth, which digitally connects hospitals in developing countries to more established healthcare providers to help raise the quality of care, as well as online second-hand goods marketplace Melltoo. When the media company with an accelerator and community, womena® successfully conducted more than 20 pitch events, 26 workshops, and numerous awareness events, in partnership with global brands like Elie Saab, which showcased the power of brilliant womenpreneurs in the Middle East region and their unique angel investing story inspired many first time investors.

The Womena Bossladies, Promoting Female Leadership

Nonetheless, Elissa was introduced to angel investing and that was a big inspiration for her to empower startups and women in business. With angel investing, she got a chance to be closely involved with startup companies, provide finances, and consult with her expertise in marketing and PR.

Elissa is proud of such achievements and feels that instead of big challenges and failures, the work she is doing always enables her to do more — transforming her company into all that womena® into who is today: a multi-dimensional media platform that accelerates equality through creative content and entrepreneurial experiences.

Fulfilling the Gender Gaps in the MENA Region Moving ahead with the investment journey, Elissa noticed a big gender gap in the world of finance and investment, especially in the MENA (the Middle East and North Africa) region. In many families, girls are not necessarily educated in the ways that markets operate. It was not a lack of motivation or ability but the absence of a platform. That vital problem encouraged Elissa to establish womena® with

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womena® believes a more inclusive and equal world is a more innovative, peaceful, and prosperous world. Their vision is to encourage diversity in entrepreneurship by showcasing the strength of female leadership while challenging limiting biases and misconceptions through creative storytelling that reveals their powerful roles as changemakers, visionaries, and entrepreneurs. womena® accelerates equality through a multifaceted ecosystem

which includes startup acceleration, multidimensional media, and community development.

In a collective movement, womena® has become the largest tech network of female entrepreneurs in the MENA region, known as the womena® Bossladies Network. The Bossladies Network supports, connects, and promotes female leadership in entrepreneurship by offering members access to virtual programming through their Slack channel and inperson opportunities curated specifically for businesswomen and changemakers. The womena® Bossladies apprecaite various benefits after joining like access to exclusive events and opportunities, connections with Bossladies in the MENA Region and globe, engagement with mentors and experts, opportunities for speaking engagements and media features, and discounts on services, conferences, etc.

Elissa Freiha

Founder | womena®

Womentum and Media Platform, Opening the New Doors for Investors

Womentum leverages womena®’s media platform, to highlight the founders, startups, and program content. At Womentum, the media team of womena® produces creative content and introduces the founders as well as startups by featuring their mission and their product to a global audience along with providing opportunities and media interviews. The Womentum Series documents the unique program which showcases the impact of womena® initiatives on the founders’ lives.

Furthermore, as a Womentum graduate, the members will have access to womena®’s network of investors and ecosystem partners which include corporates, growth-stage accelerators, potential customers and acquirers. Likewise, Elissa and her team arrange an exclusive Demo Day in her home, open only to investors and empowering them to directly invest in topperforming Womentum graduates. As Womentum grows, it offers startups products and hosting credits, and more from partners and collaborators like Microsoft.

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To progress ahead, one must take risks, share in opportunity, and be unabashedly passionate.

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Recently, after years of building an award-winning media company that made over 3 million AED of funding, Elissa and her partners launched an experience-based, early tech accelerator — Womentum, focused on female-led tech startups in the Middle East region. Over four months, the program enabled participants to come together in two major global startup hubs, including Berlin and Dubai.

Today, Elissa is proud of womena®’s success and looks forward to expanding the platform to support women entrepreneurs globally.

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Eugene Cheng:

Sparkling Brands With Intuitive Presentations At Highspark

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n the heat of competition amongst businesses across the world, quality brands are sweating with the lowcost products offered by newly launched firms. These brands are developing strategies to fight with these competitors but don’t want to decrease the quality of their offerings for the sake of providing affordable products. One thing they need to understand that unless they explain the unmatchable quality of their products to people, they won’t get any returns or sales.

A veteran presentation specialist and communication expert, Eugene Cheng and his partner Kai Xin started HighSpark to assist companies and professionals to show their spark and communicate with clients powerfully and differently via outstanding presentations. 5 years back in 2014, Eugene and Kai established HighSpark just after finishing their Diploma program. At that time, the Cofounders saw an opportunity in creating presentations for companies and started learning the art of developing presentations. They studied the works of Nancy Duarte and Garr Reynolds. Understanding the art of presentations, they started uploading their work on SlideShare.net and repeatedly won the honour of “SlideShare Of The Day” out of hundreds of thousands of submissions.

Eugene and Kai, the Founding Backbones of HighSpark Like the saying, “The quality in work always raises the creator,” the presentations by Eugene and Kai attracted the global audience and many leading professionals contacted them for consulting work. Till date, HighSpark has delivered more than 300 presentations. This recognition and efficiency in work also enlightened Eugene and Kai’s Alma mater—Ngee Ann Polytechnic. The college invited them to deliver presentation training to their ex-lecturers and faculty. It was one of the proudest achievements for the duo.

Presently at HighSpark, Eugene is leading the driving wheel of the company as the Managing Director and his partner, Kai is working as a Lead Trainer. Considering their positions, both the leaders never hesitate to come on the floor to assist their team in their difficulties. Kai works

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on creating the curriculum and continues to enhance the training programmes for the clientele across the board whereas Eugene handles the consulting work. Eugene also tries his hands on conducting a number of training as per requirements. Similarly, to ensure a smooth business through digital outlets, Eugene also manages digital marketing efforts.

Empowering Organizations with Effective and Convincing Presentations Initiated with a simple focus to enhance the quality of presentations and transform the way businesses tell their stories, HighSpark today develops presentations from scratch and offers strategic consulting services to Fortune 500 companies like Mastercard, Dentsu and many more quality brands. The company also offers training services to clients and helps them to learn about how HighSpark consistently develops effective and convincing presentations. These training and consultation have assisted the clients in grabbing the sizeable deals and successfully raise millions of dollars in funds.

Therefore, from tech-savvy startup founders to C-level executives trust the company due to its unique streamlining offerings, frameworks for external communications, and customized presentation training. As a third-party investigator, the assurance and consultations from the expert team of HighSpark ensure clients that everything is show-ready and they can move forward. With successful offerings and client-focused approach, HighSpark today evolved as a story-driven company which quenches clients’ demands with exclusive training services on presentation content development and design. This enables company executives to communicate persuasively in organizations.

Serving a Vast Range of Industries Continually excelling the presentation services, the team of HighSpark ensures that the clients get a professional and experienced service which guarantees that their sales pitch, investor pitch or keynote speech is clear and persuasive.

The expert team of HighSpark considers a gamut of a factor

while dealing with clients’ presentations. In addition to serving Fortune 500 companies from various industries, the efforts of the team under the guidance of Eugen and Kai have enabled the company to serve obscure, technically challenging industries like flavor technology, pharmaceutical science, and blockchain. This exposure has greatly helped HighSpark to develop the capability for tackling the complex information with ease.

Upcoming Plans Considering the Challenges and Improvements

Eugene Cheng

Managing Director | HighSpark

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We at HighSpark help brands to find their spark through clear and unique messaging presentations.

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Eugene and Kai are successfully leading the company to walk on a path of consistent and sustainable growth. They are planning to expand its regional presence in South East Asia, mainly in the educational space. Similarly, they are aiming to offer services in verticals like communication collateral and video to provide clients with more holistic offerings. However, there are certain challenges to overcome and the leaders are working on it. The prime challenge is awareness among businesses. In Singapore, which is the home market of HighSpark, clients find it difficult to understand the need for excellent services offered by Eugene and his team.

According to Eugene, the Singapore market is still learning to understand such services. The team has to educate the clients on a large scale about what they do before explaining the exact value. There are times when the clients don’t agree with the pricing and there are instances when HighSpark services so rise with extreme demands that the team has to turn away some projects.

Like any other prominent company, such ups and downs are natural and indicate that the company is progressing at a good pace. The progress not only depends on the team-work but also on an effective strategy of leaders. In the case of HighSpark, Eugene and Kai never demotivate with downfalls and keep moving ahead with new ambitions.

Finally, advising on succeeding a business in the area of presentation development, Eugene inspires, “My advice to anyone keen to get into this area is to really identify your key differentiator. The industry has low barriers to entry and you can find yourself playing a price competition game very quickly if you don’t have any brand equity.”

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Experts’ Views

Why Last Mile Delivery Is The New Competitive Vanguard For

Retail & Grocery eCommerce

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ccording to a 2018 study, the preceding 18 months saw a 50% increase in last mile interactions, largely due to increased demand in B2C eCommerce. Here’s how your business can prepare itself to excel in this new reality.

The eCommerce era has redefined customer expectations The evolution of customer expectations when it comes to home delivery has been discussed frequently in recent years, but in reality it’s more appropriate to say that they have been redefined in the current environment; the term “evolution” doesn’t quite capture just how quickly the standards have changed. For example, in just a short time Amazon went from completely utilizing the major shipping carriers for all of their deliveries to bringing more and more under their umbrella, introducing faster shipping options and giving customers the ability to see where their driver is on the delivery day.

The industry has followed suit, and thankfully you don’t have to have the economies of scale of Amazon (since almost no one does!) in order to incorporate last mile improvements for customers. All you have to do is focus on the opportunities for engagement at every step of the last mile journey.

Consistently excellent last mile service sets you apart In the case of retail delivery, companies are typically competing against other entities that offer similar (or often the same) products at similar prices. This is especially true in the grocery industry, where companies already compete for razor-thin margins and brands are increasingly turning to home delivery as a part of their core CX. On one hand this seems daunting, but it also represents an important opportunity: if your competitors are also offering

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home delivery, you can differentiate yourself by making incremental yet important improvements in your last mile experience. Make a commitment to increase visibility whenever possible. Invest in new technology such as AI that automatically optimizes delivery routes. Provide customers with easy options for returns and follow up with instant feedback opportunities.

Last mile self-service options make sense for consumers and brands The ultimate goal is to make every aspect of the last mile experience as easy as possible for everyone involved—your customers, your delivery drivers, and your customer service team. Self-service functionality is a crucial part of this strategy, and innovative technology is now taking things that were impossible just a couple of years ago and turning them into routine interactions.

Customers can get real-time updates on driver location from any mobile device, and even track the driver’s position in an instant, all without having to call to find out where they are or when they will be there. For customers who do call during the last mile, integrated Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems keep them in the loop nearly as quickly, all without the need for interaction with a live agent. This is an incredible operational savings to brands!

Success in the last mile is built on a foundation of technology and dedication The newest, most user-friendly last mile technology available won’t be very useful unless it’s paired with employees who are willing to execute your CX strategy sale after-sale. And the most dedicated employees in the world won’t be able to save you from falling behind the competition if you don’t provide them with innovative technological tools that make home delivery more convenient and worry-free for consumers.

The new frontier of the last mile for retail and grocery businesses lies at the junction of innovative tech and team members who prioritize the service experience for every customer. Customers expect more from their last mile experience than ever before, but brands also have more affordable tools and feasible strategies at their disposal than ever before. It’s up to you to combine them in a way that delivers sustained value to your buyers each time they click the checkout button on your eCommerce platform.

Sources: Ÿ https://www.retaildive.com/news/solving-for-the-last-

mile-is-retails-next-big-disruption/514577/ Ÿ https://www.oracle.com/webfolder/s/adv/doc1/RT153-SURV-LastMile-Mar-

2018.pdf?elqTrackId=8c00d67d9d684a4891ee085b659ef173&elqaid=63288&elqat=2

About the Author Cami Zimmer is the Executive VP Business Development & Marketing, Glympse. She is currently responsible for creating and implementing strategies to enhance new business opportunities and elevate the company's corporate brand through marketing, communications and public relations. In 2018, she was awarded the Women of IoT/M2M award by Connected World.

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Joshua Gould:

Delivering Essential Defense Service Support To Significant Players In International Security

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orn in a town of the UK, and shifted at a young age to New York, Joshua Gould came to the US to fulfill his teenage dream of working in Wall Street. In 2006, he entered Wall Street but it was not a great timing as the recession was on the verge of destroying businesses. It was a tough time, but the believer in the American dream—Joshua stayed in the US and in the meanwhile, appointed as the CEO of thebigword Inc. In his leadership, the company grew from $6m business into a $100m organization. Moving forward, in partnership with the Chairman of thebigword Inc., Joshua started a new business called TBW Global, a contingent workforce and managed service business in the Defense and Security industry. As the CEO of TBW Global, Joshua has extensively used his prior experience and development strategies which in turn enabled the company to sign deals with the US Armed Forces, the UK’s Ministry of Defense and the DoD, and many NATO Governments.

While presently on the board of thebigword Group, Joshua is proudly uplifting TBW Global as an essential defense partner to the governments of NATO countries with the provision of Promethean, cost-effective, reliable, and contingent workforce and managed service solutions.

Thriving Ahead with Dedicated Team Today, the dedicated management team of TBW assists Joshua in running the day-to-day tasks of the business.

Joshua feels lucky to have such a brilliant management team which strives to reduce his workload and enables him to focus on future growth and innovation of TBW Global.

Appreciating the efforts of his committed team members, Joshua is actively working towards developing the teams of TBW Global. These developments and improvements have greatly assisted the company to gain considerable profits and a loyal client base. To date, TBW Global’s business has been thriving ahead entirely with its profits.

This is a huge achievement for Joshua and team, considering TBW’s level of investments and rapid pace of growth. In coming years, Joshua believes that his company

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may work with outside investors if TBW continues to excel with the current pace. The futuristic CEO has already started discussing such plans with the board which will empower the company to succeed globally.

Excellent Defense Services, Augmenting Clients’ Defense Capabilities Under the visionary leadership of Joshua, TBW Global is successfully offering services including human intelligence, warfare training, and language services to NATO countries. Its comprehensive software automation capabilities to automate workflows and deliver costeffective government solutions are the prime factors behind TBW’s increasing client base. Such utilization of advanced automation approach has immense importance in a space where innovation budgets are usually exclusively reserved for weapon systems development.

The TBW Global software automates most of the recruiting, testing, and briefing workflows which further helps the company to track and communicate globally with its workforce of around 800 people. Many of them work in hostile environments such as Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and other countries.

Furthermore, Joshua and his team are majorly working on big data and workflow automation. They are successfully employing an intuitive algorithm, which specifically identifies the best candidate. Over the last 12 months, they have analyzed over ten million Facebook and LinkedIn profiles with their adverts. Keeping the automation as the top priority, the dedicated team of TBW Global has automated most of the operational processes and is also working towards augmenting and automating other processes. Recently, Joshua and his team have completed the automation of their recruitment process which is designed to ensure the selection of only the best talent.

They are also developing a neurolingual machine translation and interpreting services that can be used by soldiers in real-time to communicate in any language. In addition, TBW is investing in the virtual-reality simulator

products that can be used as an add-on to real-world training.

Expanding Global Presence while Uplifting Service Capabilities

These extensive developments and drive towards building a strong customer base demands some commitments and deep expertise. According to Joshua, astronauts joke about flying to space in rockets made by the components from the cheapest bidders. Commenting ahead, he adds, “This is not completely true but there is a lot of truth to it in the defense space and my advice to anyone starting a business in the defense industry is to bear that in mind.”

Joshua’s words explain the severity of competition and demand in the defense space. The creation of advanced products with an acceptable price-point is the real challenge that most of the companies face. Therefore, Joshua and team not only balance the investments but also deliver high valued solutions at a highly competitive price-point.

Joshua Gould CEO | TBW Global

‘‘

We offer a range of mission-critical services that help defense and

security organizations around the

‘‘

The advanced technology-powered services have enabled TBW Global to mark a global footprint. In addition to offering innovative services to its clients, the company provides a benefit of local in-country management to them.

Unlike other service providers, TBW offers all the benefits of working with a local provider having a global reach.

Over the last 12 months, Joshua and team have expanded TBW reach to regions like Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. The leading company always steps ahead of competitors because many of them are either small businesses with limited cash flow or divisions of large multibillion-dollar companies that lack the focus in the defense space. Comparatively, TBW is a global provider with a prime mission to enhance defense space and uplift its capabilities using impeccable services and solutions. Joshua and his team are heavily investing the profits on developing technology-powered service products that facilitate real-world problems to benefit their loyal customer base.

globe to scale their operations and achieve desired objectives.

Future of Business World “As President Trump says, “it’s going to be Yuge!” The world spent the last 10 years developing technologies that often-made life more complicated; the next 10 years will be about gaining real value from those technologies.”

- Joshua Gould

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Richard Lacle:

Supplying And Integrating Specialized Equipment And Systems To Clients

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ndustrial engineers are multidisciplinary experts seated at the intersection of business and engineering. Their main focus is to eliminate waste of time, money, materials, energy, other resources and increase efficiency. In other words, they’re the administrators of production processes and design optimal systems for all facets of a business such as manufacturing parts, deliveries and plant placements, job performance evaluations, and employee pay. While the term industrial may conjure images of factories and other manufacturing, however, industrial engineers work in many different fields and employment sectors such as healthcare, finance, and risk management.

To deliver such services across the different industries, Aruba- based—ASAP Sales & Services assigns a team of specialists, headed by a Project Manager and Project Coordinator. The expert professional staff consists of engineers, architects, interior designers, draftsmen, mechanics, electricians, logistics supervisors, traffic specialist, and financial advisors.

The Managing Director and CEO—Richard Lacle, is the man behind the success of these services specifically designed for industrial businesses. Similarly, his prior experience and expertise in the sector is the prime driver of his strategies for ASAP Sales & Services.

The Journey of Achieving Expertise and Experience Richard is graduated in Political Science with specializations in Latin American & Caribbean Affairs.

Additionally, he has also completed a minor in Business Administrations from Rollins College. Right after getting his degrees from Rollins College, Richard joined a U.S. based company—Bar Code Systems in Atlanta Georgia.

While working there, he learned various professional skills such as negotiation, business planning, operations management, sales, and strategic planning.

In 1994, seeing his expertise in business management, the management of Bar Code Systems handed a task to Richard to expand the service area of their company. At that time, Richard provided great assistance in opening their first Latin American Office in Mexico City. Afterward, in his

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expedition of excellence, Richard returned to his home country of Aruba where he worked from 1997 to 2008 at the management of the Aruba Ports Authority. In the next year i.e. 2009, Richard joined ASAP Services as GM and worked in the same position for 6 years. Following that in 2014, Richard was appointed as the Managing Director and CEO of ASAP Sales & Services. Presently, under his command, the company successfully registers itself as an ICAO approved supplier and designing for installing and commissioning the first LED Runway in the Caribbean region.

ASAP Sales & Services appearance in Industrial business Since its inception in 2000, ASAP Services specializes in the Asset Management & Preventive Maintenance of Specialized Equipment as well as has been serving the Air & Sea Port Industry, Customs Authorities and Correctional Institutions in the Caribbean & Central American region.

Likewise, the corporation has local and international clients from a huge range of other commercial and industrial sectors like airports, seaports, customs authorities, correctional institutions, and hospitality & medical institutions.

In the preventive maintenance and Custom Asset Management arena, ASAP offers equipment like passenger boarding bridges, X-ray and explosive trace detection equipment, conveyor, and carousels. Additionally, it also provides dedicated products like apron and general AGL lighting, equipment and instrumentation, CCTV, fire detection, and suppression systems. The company gained its reputation by offering its patrons with the highest quality of products and services while gaining appropriate resources securely and continuously developing them to enhance their existing properties.

CEO’s Expert Team of Versatile Performers As the CEO of ASAP Services, Richard is on the mission to guide his fellow team members to do their best whether it is understanding the clients’ needs or developing the

sustainable and efficient solutions for their customer related issues. Along with that, Richard makes sure that his team members are up-to-date with their training and certifications.

Richard’s team consists of 40 highly trained professionals who are engineers with a multiple specializations, they include HVAC technicians, fire alarm technicians, certified x-ray technicians, conveyor & carousel system technicians, pax boarding bridges specialists, and runway/taxiway specialized electricians. Richard with his team members keeps making small changes in their security equipment and related services for better performance which improves their quality of services.

The Secret of Quality and Reliability of ASAP Products

Richard Lacle

Managing Director & CEO | ASAP Sales & Services

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We offer a wide range of high quality industrial products and services, implementing customer-oriented and efficient solutions.

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Richard’s policy is to focus on their quality service since their main task is to maintain the safety and install the facilities efficiently. Following the proper safety standards, ASAP Services offers a wide range of high-quality products and services as well as implements customer-oriented and efficient solutions. Some of the company services in design, sales, installation, service, and maintenance are: chillers & water towers, public announcement systems (PA), automatic doors, gates & sensors, emergency power plant & transfer systems, etc. For the last few years, Richard’s firm has been getting high demands in the X-Ray Security scanning equipment solutions for Customs, Airports, and Port-related applications as well as for Runway lighting also.

Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Many young businesspersons need guidance from the experienced CEO’s which helps them in lots of situations.

Richard Lacle, who has many years of experience in the industry, advises all aspiring entrepreneurs to keep up to date with the industry’s ever-changing trends. Along with that, he also asks entrepreneurs to encourage their team members. This is because, Richard believes that with combine energy, knowledge, and skills of a motivated group of people, one can accomplish anything.

Future of Business World “The exponential growth of computing power, AI and further automation in business and manufacturing, and the way we interact with the above will be critical for continued success in business and life.”

- Richard Lacle

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Tech Innovations

Inside 2019

Transformative Gadgets And Future Tech

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taged by Consumer Technology Association (CTA), Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has been showcasing the consumer technology innovations each year since 1967. Having announced thousands of the products at the yearly show, it has become the largest and most influential technology event on the planet over the years. Like every year, CES 2019 has also been a platform for presenting the latest developments and next-generation innovations in many areas of technology. Around 180,000 attendees have witnessed the future showcased by more than 4,500 exhibitors in the 4-days event.

The CES 2019 covered all the revolutions in several areas including computers, health, and transportation, etc.

grounds. Moreover, the American giant also introduced attendees with its HyperSense concept, where gamers can actually feel every shot, jump, and explosion while playing. Ÿ

Wearables Went to the Next Level Ÿ

Computers proved that Small is the New Big Lifting the bag of overwhelming features, tech giants have shown up with some amazing advancements in the features and experiences of using portable systems. Ÿ

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Dell XPS 13 (2019) At the event, Dell presented XPS 13 (2019) with the biggest change—the repositioned webcam on the top bezel. Moreover, the latest version has also upgraded the machine with faster Intel 8th-gen chips.

Razer’s Blade 15 Advanced Edition It is undoubtedly one of the most powerful gaming laptops announced at CES 2019. Compared to the regular Blade 15, the Advanced Edition has a few remarkable upgrades including NVIDIA’s extremely powerful RTX 2060, 2070, or 2080 discrete graphics, support for up to 64GB of storage, enhanced speakers, and has a webcam that works with Windows Hello signin support. With this clamshell, Razer has broken all the

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Huawei MateBook 13 Along with all the major players in computers, Huawei also came up with an unexpected portable machine with features like a touchscreen and discrete NVIDIA GeForce MX150 graphics, stereo Dolby Almost speakers, and fingerprint reader.

Withings Move ECG In addition to Apple watches, Withings also came up at CES with its Move ECG. The analog smartwatch offers ECG readout to help users keep better tabs on their heart health. Moreover, its price is quite on a lesser side when compared to that of Apple’s.

Virtual Reality with Unrealistic Features Ÿ

Oculus Quest Facebook-owned Oculus showed up its VR headset, the Quest. The gadget promises an unmatched experience, as it comes with no limits of a gaming PC and wires, along with a sleek design and hand-tracking controller technology making it user-friendly.

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HTC Vive Pro Eye HTC presented the Vive Pro Eye, an improved VR headset that is it’s first to come with built-in eyetracking allowing users to navigate menus just by looking at them instead of using motion-based hand wand controllers.

Phenomenal TVs and Displays Ÿ

Samsung 75-inch Micro LED 4K TV At CES 2019, many tech companies have presented an 8K TV of some sort, such as Samsung has come up with a 75-inch Micro LED 4K TV with modular display technology. The modular nature enables the flexibility in screen size, and hence the TV can be positioned across various sizes, resolutions, and aspect ratios as per user’s space.

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LG Signature OLED TV R The LG Signature Series OLED TV R is undoubtedly a highlighting innovation from the event. The 65-inch TV, with just 3mm thick display, rolls up into its aluminum base when not in use.

Transportation Stepped up Ÿ

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Valeo Voyage Valeo, a French global automotive supplier made a test track demonstration of its solution Voyage that enables a person to virtually enter into a vehicle. This concept lets the driver talk and see a passenger who’s actually remote and has connected through a VR headset.

Basically, with a headset put on, the remote passenger is teleported into the car. With this innovation, Valeo has initiated a revolutionary experience.

B-Secur HeartKey Steering Wheel B-Secur’s steering wheel dubbed as HeartKey, takes measurements from a user’s heart and with the unique heartbeat, it enables features like unlocking and starting the car. With added biometric technology, the wheel can detect potentially dangerous changes in the user’s heart rate & rhythm, stress levels, fatigue, respiration, and atrial fibrillation. With such capabilities, HeartKey can be used not only for wellness and fitness tracking but also for continuous, passive user authentication.

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EnergySquare’s Charging Tech EnergySquare’s charging tech was also one of those unexpected presentations at the event. The French startup introduced a universal wireless charger for multiple devices. The solution allows making a charger out of any surface, allowing getting rid of cables.

Placing any device such as mobile, laptop, headphones, power bank, etc. upon it users can leverage a faster charging experience.

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Ledger Nano X A novel offering by Ledger, Nano X is an upgraded version of Nano S cryptocurrency wallet. The Ledger Nano X is a Bluetooth enabled secure device that stores user’s private keys and assures the safety of crypto assets while managing them on the go.

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Lexar 1TB 633x SDXC UHS-I card The 1TB of storage in a stamp-sized SD card is clearly the behemoth of storage capacity. The Lexar offering advantages Class 10 UHS-I (U3, V30) technology for a read transfer speed up to 95MB/s. The card is a wish come true for binge shooters, where they can shoot much of 4K video and can plan to shoot even higher 8K resolution video in the future with facing the hassles of changing storage cards oftentimes.

Having seen the most futuristic innovations at CES 2019, the upcoming yearly event will certainly bring a mouthful of novel elements in front of the world. This year, the 8K displays with customizations, compact computers with revolutionary features stood out in the CES. Therefore, the next exhibition could be about detailed advancements in these fields. Moreover, as a next step to the presented concepts at the tech event, being able to experience them in reality is the most awaited factor.

Innovated to Reinforce Existing Ÿ

Intel Ice Lake One of the biggest announcements of CES 2019 was of Intel’s upcoming Ice Lake CPUs. The revolutionary 10nm processors indicate an opportunity for laptop manufacturers to create more powerful and compact devices in the future.

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Robin Lindahl:

Boosting Mining And Tunneling Operations With Knowledge And Technology

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ince 2016, Robin Lindahl has been scaling up Normet, a leading mining and tunneling technology company as a President and CEO. Robin joined Normet with the target to get the company back on profitable growth track. During his tenure, the business has grown from 190 M€ to 315 M€ and the profit level has increased three folds. Significantly, Robin and his team reduced the Fixed cost from 30% to 23% of Net Sales and Networking Capital (NWC) from 33% to roughly 26%.

Over the last two years, Robin has built a strong management team to ensure a clear direction towards the goal of doubling the company turnover and expanding its worldwide presence by the end of 2022. Presently, the highly experienced CEO and his team are striving to look for opportunities and strengthen their portfolio.

The Journey of Directing Leading Companies to Stay Ahead of the Game Initially, Robin worked for 5 years in investment banking.

By contrast, Robin wanted to move to the technology arena and therefore, joined Nokia in 1993. At Nokia, Robin worked with many experienced leaders and colleagues for huge 18 years. He primarily worked in leadership roles like Finance, Business Operations, and Sales. He remembers his best moments while he was in Sales leadership roles both on Nokia Networks and Nokia Mobile Phones. Those were the days when Robin and his team at Nokia Networks won large network deals with leading operators like T-Mobile, China Mobile and ATT. Later his glorious years at Nokia, Robin joined Outotec as Executive Vice President and excelled as the President of Metals, Energy & Water Business Area.

After the job change, Robin realized that shifting from one industry to another is not so difficult due to similarities of business and leadership. While working with talented metallurgists and Ph.D. holders at Outotec, Robin gained extra knowledge and experience of material science.

Further, with his extensive experience, Robin joined Normet as a President and CEO in 2016. Currently, at Normet, there are over 1200 business professionals with a passion for doing “big” things for the company and for the

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industries which it serves. Normet operates globally with over 40 locations in 28 countries worldwide.

Offering Complete Range of Mining and Tunneling Solutions With the growth in population and urbanization, the Mining, Tunneling, and Underground construction industry is increasing rapidly. However, a mining or tunneling company should take care of some important aspects like safety, sustainability, productivity, and profitability.

Robin and management team considers these aspects as their major growth drivers and utilize technology to provide safe, sustainable and productive Mining and Tunneling customer solutions. Normet covers solutions for underground construction ranging from machines, construction chemicals, ground control, to holistic customer services. Both in tunnels and mines sprayed concrete is essential to build the support and rigidity of the underground tunnel. The sprayed concrete can be complemented with safe rock support systems and construction chemicals. In the area of sprayed concrete technologies and explosives charging, Robin and his team are proud of their solution expertise and capability to do continuous innovation to make the process safer and more productive. Normet not only offers a complete range of equipment and a full range of services but also process expertise in charging and sprayed concrete. Moreover, the company offers a large range of logistics vehicles for underground operations.

Assisting Customers with Complete On-site Support and Hands-on Approach Robin and his team of Normet use their expertise for customer-specific process optimization to offer best lifetime value for its machines and services for customers.

Additionally, such offerings improve clients’ operations in terms of safety and efficiency. The team of Normet spends time with customers to know their exact requirements.

Likewise, Normet’s expert team assists their clients with their advice in design and construction phases from ground treatment approaches, to modern tunnel linings. This helps

in the extension of the safety and service life of structures.

The global presence in 28 countries with over 40 offices complemented with strong global technical support means that customer support is well available and most of the customer challenges have been seen somewhere in the world. They work as a supplement to the existing working team of Normet. These personal utilize their extensive expertise in the field when the current team needs extra support.

Further to continually develop its existing solutions, Robin’s team works closely with customers to gain insights about current needs. Accordingly, Robin and his R&D team generate new ideas and develop new products. Robin believes that customers are the inseparable part of a product development that helps in creating safe, easy to operate, and productive equipment. To establish a new product development (NPD) project, the development process starts with idea creation, filtering, and collecting good ideas. Then the NPD project follows a systematic Stage-Gate process which includes feasibility study, implementation evaluation, modeling and design, prototyping, testing, customer approval, and final launch.

“Businesses must be better at understanding their customer needs…,” says Robin When asked about challenges for today’s businesses, Robin explained the severity in the business environment. He stated that the competition is fierce and businesses must not only focus on present customer needs but also anticipate the future demands. Further, Robin added, we are moving towards manless automated operations underground, self-driving, automated spraying and charging. With such advancements in technology, businesses need to continuously innovate to bring efficiency improvements, safety improvements, and new levels of automation to meet customer requirements.

Robin Lindahl

President & CEO | Normet

‘‘

We offer advanced

underground mining and

‘‘

Utilizing Sustainable Energy for Sustainable Operations Mining and tunneling operations are large consumers of energy and emit CO2 significantly. There is a great need for environmentally sustainable practices which promote the use of clean energy and reduce pollution. In that case, Robin and his team at Normet have developed a wide range of clean technologies through emission and particle control.

They will also launch electric battery-driven machines this year. Likewise, they are focusing on improving the efficiency of their solutions through automation and robotics. Automation and robotics can improve safety significantly, taking human away from the zone of danger.

tunneling solutions backed with automation.

Future of Business World Mining needs to go deeper and deeper to extract the ores, same time the ore grades are depleting.

This all means more rock needs to be processed to get the same output of metals. This means underground mining will grow.

- Robin Lindahl

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Sanjay Poojary:

Making A Sustainable Impact In The World With Water Management Solutions

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he new advanced technologies are helping various industries in their growth and expansion into a new world. The effective utilization of such technologies for solving life critical issues makes a huge impact on the planet and fuels sustainable living.

Similarly, by integrating advanced technologies with the projects like water treatment plants, power plants etc. can help the world ecosystem. One of the issues which greatly affect life on our planet is water. To manage water related problems various companies across the world have already started implementing their solutions.

One of them is California-based Saya Life which for individual residences and multi-unit residential and commercial buildings, deploys an accurate, affordable system to monitor leaks and pipe bursts, and automatically shuts off the water to prevent property damage and insurance claims.

The President and CEO— Sanjay Poojary, is the man who used his experience and expertise in IOT technology to solve some unyielding issues around basic life needs. Likewise, his prior experience and knowledge in the sector and his will to make a difference in the world has been a foundation of Saya Life.

CEO’s Efforts in Bringing Smart Water Management Sanjay Poojary started his career by working in software industry. While working in the software companies, he accumulated lots of experience which led him to become a senior technology leader. He has 20+ years of experience in directing, managing and executing product and solutions release through Product development.

Additionally, he has deep knowledge in the IOT space makes him an expert in the industry.

Sanjay strongly believed in using cutting edge technology into solving real world problems. Metering has been archaic for over 100 years and that is changing now. IOT, big data and machine learning brings a new

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dimension to capturing, managing and predicting relevant events and risks. His goal was to build a solution for all the elements in nature. He established Saya Life which is currently devoted on Smart Water Management.

Advancing with the Latest Technologies to Offer Best Service Since its foundation in 2016, Saya life is focused on submetering, protection of property, and providing real time control of water systems to monitor flow and prevent damage caused by leaks. Furthermore, it is a complete IoT solution in the market designed for submetering, in addition to complete water management for enterprise and home applications. The firm introduces The Saya Smart Management kit contains SAYA Ultrasonic Smart meter with remote shut-off valve, Smart Wireless Gateway, sensors that detects pressure, temperature and flood. The Smart Wireless Gateway evaluates data gathered from sensors and communicates with their SAYAOne cloud platform for processing the data using machine learning (ML).

After processing of data, the platform sends it to the dashboard or mobile device for display. The system can be configured to automatically shuts off the water to prevent damage to critical property in a residential or commercial location. These solutions are also being tested by several Insurance companies who are looking to reduce the ever-increasing cost of insurance claims.

The Saya Smart gateway can connect and communicating at long range with multiple meters which allows smart water management to deploy in large residential and commercial buildings. Importantly, these systems are available and can be installed at residential, commercial and industrial sites. Saya has a modular system and is looking to add water quality monitoring and other features to their platform in 2019.

Sanjay’s Multi-Function Role Aiding in Company Development

Furthermore, in the upcoming years SAYA life looks forward to expand the company significantly while keeping an eye on diversity, inclusion and community impact.

Sanjay Poojary

President & CEO | Saya Life

‘‘

We are committed to provide the best-in-class water management solutions to the Market.

‘‘

Before establishing Saya life, Sanjay worked in large corporations like Cisco Systems and then in a startup company Greenwave system Inc as a Director for Platform Project Management. As the CEO of his start-up company, Sanjay has to fulfill numerous roles as well as mange all the aspect of the business. Under his leadership, Saya Life has rapidly expanded its service area and reached several different customer segments.

Sanjay’s ability to evolve and develop his company has got the firm recognized as the top 10 smart water management providers in 2018 and got his Smart meter certified in the category of a submetering device. Sanjay responsibilities towards the company made them a part of the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator which is rated amongst the top 3 incubators in the world. Saya Life in 2019 is looking to offer a comprehensive solution to monitor, manage and mitigate major risks associated with basic life resources.

Guidance for Young Entrepreneurs According to the Sanjay, one of the biggest challenges faced by young business is to have clear vision and business model. The clear vision of their goals can help them to achieve success. Along with that, implementation of business model which is simple, logical and executable and produces revenue contributes to the development of a company.

Furthermore, he explains that do not lose sight of the small but important aspects that creates a roadmap to a successful business. Spend time to build a product that is a fit for the market segment you are targeting.

Future of Business World “There is a paradigm shift in the technology world now where everyone has to think about building sustainable solutions.

With advancements in smart self-driving electric vehicles, renewable energy, solar and wind power, the world is trying to move away from fossil fuel technology.

This is a great opportunity for startups to innovate and come up with exciting solutions to solve some of the pressing issues that impact the planet.”

-Sanjay Poojary

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Sheri Atwood:

A Dynamic Leader Who Fought Back With The Fate

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heri Atwood, the Founder and CEO of SupportPay is an ideal example of “women fight back”. Fired from her own company which she built from scratch, Sheri decided not to give up and stand with courage before the situation. It was the darkest and hardest time of her life. Being fired from the company where you have worked with dedication and commitment is not easy to digest. Sheri’s absence quickly led to the downfall of SupportPay. In a span of 3 months, the company lost most of the customers and employees.

Soon she found that SupportPay was being liquidated.

Sheri didn’t want that to happen as their loyal customers—the single parents who relied on the firm would no longer have a solution for their critical financial problems. Therefore, the wise womenpreneur Sheri started looking for ways to buy the SupportPay assets.

Further, she took out a personal loan and gathered all her lifetime savings to buy her company back. Finally, the day arrived when Sheri bought SupportPay and since then she is refining the product and winning back the customers efficiently. Today, Sheri is proudly leading SupportPay with 4x more paid customers and 5x active users while focusing on her mission to support millions of parents and children dealing with financial conflicts, thereby helping them to live life easier and happier.

SupportPay, Solving Financial Issues of Separated Families Sheri and her team at SupportPay believe in the technology that makes modern family lives easier.

SupportPay was founded on a simple and powerful idea that families made up of single parents, divorced, multigeneral households or blended families face problems regarding financial expenses as they are no longer in one account. Sheri and team solve the problems of such modern families with high-quality financial applications.

SupportPay® is the first-ever automated child support payment platform, specifically designed to transform the

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complex, time-consuming & stressful financial processes for modern families. This platform provides an easy, neutral, and transparent way for parents and helps them to manage their child support and share expenses, resolve payment disputes, and share and track all documents and receipts related to their shared payments. The efforts of Sheri rebuilding the platform are immense and that’s why this platform seeks to help the nearly 300 million parents worldwide who are exchanging more than $900 billion in child support & child expenses each year. With assistance from SupportPay, modern families can now reduce wasted time on managing and arguing about child support, expenses, alimony, etc. and focus on raising happy and healthy children.

An Independent Entrepreneur and a Single Mother, Setting an Ideal Example Presently, at SupportPay, the highly accomplished and energetic Sheri is handling everything from development to ensuring the delivery of essential solutions that match with parents’ needs, while also leading a team of dedicated employees, fundraising to enable the company to grow faster and promoting the company in order to increase the install base. While managing multiple tasks, Sheri is also raising her daughter as a single mother.

Explaining the essence of independent life, Sheri asserts, “One critical lesson my mom taught me, and that I try to teach my daughter, is to never be financially dependent on another person. The moment you are financially dependent, you are there because you HAVE to be, not because you WANT to be.” Therefore, she always inspires her daughter to be an independent person and wants her to know that even being fired from her own company and lost everything; she never stopped fighting and again bought it back and made it more successful than ever before.

Sheri’s will power and strength to conquer the challenges have made her a successful entrepreneur today. With the

focus on revenue generation and reduce dependency on outside capital, the highly experienced CEO of SupportPay is leading the organization to new success peaks. In addition, Sheri and team are working on ® developing new capabilities on the SupportPay platform that will enable modern families to seamlessly manage finances across households. They have built a feature rd which facilitates parents to directly pay 3 parties so that they won’t need to go through each other for paying shared expenses. In the coming days, the team of SupportPay is planning to build a similar solution that will let siblings take care of their aging parents.

Considering her previous experiences, Sheri cautiously chooses the investors for her organization. It’s a bit of a challenge as financial resources are essential to drive the growth of a company. But she confidently says, “I know we can achieve.” And, adds, “I would rather wait and get the best investors who believe in our mission and focus and grow at a slower pace than be dependent on outside capital to ensure we succeed.”

Looking back at her journey, the trials and tribulations she’s been through, Sheri accepts that she has made mistakes, regretted many decisions and has fallen behind numerous times. But, she rose like a fire in a forest and burnt all the obstacles to the ground. Speaking more about her inspirational journey, Sheri says, “My daughter had to witness what I have been through and I hope this has taught her that, despite everything I have endured, no one can take away my resilience, persistence, grit, and desire to succeed.”

She believes that nothing good in life comes easy and the only way to achieve goals is through hard work and determination as Winston Churchill said it best, “Success is not Final. Failure is not Fatal. It is the Courage to Continue that Counts”.

Sheri Atwood

Founder & CEO | SupportPay

‘‘

I’m stronger because I had to be, I’m smarter because of my

mistakes, happier because of the

‘‘

“Nothing good in life comes easy, it’s hard work that pays off,” says Sheri

sadness I’ve known, and now wiser because I learned.

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Experts’ Views

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