Game Changers issue 19 by PaulGC

ISSUE #19

THE A TEAM GC speaks exclusively to Abhijit Kulkarni and the Wealth Planet team.

GAME CHANGERS

DIRECTORY O1

Note from the editor

Abhijit Kulkarni

Darren Qian

Jennie Lobanova

Fazril Izwan Nor Azmi

View from the top. 03

Wealth Planet. 04-06

LEAN WORK. 07-08

iFX EXPO. 09-11

XSocio Markets. 12

Blagoja Pazarkoski

Paul Orford

The Trade Academyâ&#x201E;¢. 13-14

Game Changers at the Hong Kong Expo 2019. 15-17

Ahmad Mutammim Fullerton Markets . 18-19

VIEW FROM THE TOP This month has been an incredibly busy month for Game Changers travelling to both the iFX Expo in Hong Kong, along with a fantastic trip to India of which we will report next month. This was our first time at the HK expo and Asian FX expo’s in general, so it was a great experience to meet in person the previous contributors to Game Changers and to discuss future plans. In this month’s edition we have new friends and old paying us a visit, with the usual high level of content that you have become accustomed to. This month’s cover star is Abhijit Kulkarni and the wonderful people of Wealth Planet. The warmth that Abhijit shows to his colleagues is something that may seem odd to some old style CEO’s, however coming back from India this seems to the normal in many forward thinking companies, in a country that has amazing hospitality. Darren Qian the CEO of Asian CRM goliath Leanwork, gave us some of his valuable time, where it was interesting to see his background and also the different ethos of Asian and European businesses. My old friend from many years ago Jennie Lobanova, who if you were at the Hong Kong Expo was directing all the many complex moving parts to make it such a great event. For something as complex as this, she was incredibly cool and keeping everything moving. New entrant to Game Changers Blagoja Pazarkoski the owner of The Trade Academy™ gave an interesting insight into his background

and business. Normally I am pretty reluctant of the plethora of trading teachers, however after a couple of lessons from him, I felt comfortable knowing that he was the real deal. Another new entrant to Game Changers is Fazril Izwan Nor Azmi, the Head of Ops at XSocio Markets gives us an outline of the business practices in his region. Malaysia has always been a fascinating region for FX, with a huge market which only looks to be expanding. Last but in no way least, one of my favourite retail brokerages, Fullerton Markets led by my good friend Mario Singh, helped me grab 5 minutes with his Head of Marketing Ahmad Mutammim. It was great to meet him, and to see that the great ethos that Mario instils not only into his product, but also to his colleagues was well represented by Ahmad. As ever you can PM me suggestions on who to feature, so don’t be a stranger! Have a great month.

Paul ORFORD EDITOR-IN-CHIEF P-3

Wealth Planet ABHIJIT KULKARNI CEO of Wealth Planet.

Q Wealth planet has started a new branch called binary options for its investors which you are the head of. How do you view this, as options have been branded a high risk vehicle by many?

Q Wealth Planet has recently made available its proprietary trading platform aimed at funds. As one of Wealth Planet’s qualified traders, can you tell us your thoughts on trading for Wealth Planet ?

Aniket Kulkarni - When we came to know about binary options from Abhijit (Kulkarni), we tested it for long time. After analysing the data I can say that the binary options is definitely going to be next big thing. Trading on the MT4 platform and trading on binary are somewhat similar, but when it comes to binary you should be more cautious of the trading environment. From an investment point of view, a binary options can be more beneficial for those who want to take additional risk and expect handsome returns from their decisions.

Snehal Shivnekar - I was aware about this field for quite a long time. However I was not able to get any formal education which could teach me how to trade forex.

I agree that binary options is riskier than any other trading, However the upside can also be equally as lucrative. It gives you more returns in a shorter period (If gains are made) of time compared to other investment options. For me, binary options could be target-oriented trading. You have to set your own targets first and just apply it with the help of proper risk management. Q You are working within the technical support department for Wealth Planet. How is the role of IT infrastructure in forex trading field so important to stability ? How well Wealth Planet equipped in this area ? Ram Kulkarni - Forex trading is a vast field and IT is needed for the various sectors. Brokerage is largest among all these sectors whereas Wealth Planet does not deal as a broker. We have well equipped IT infrastructure. For any managed account service or fund manager company or trading platform strong information technology infrastructure is needed. Wealth Planet has two services in IT. First is backend service in which we have VPS connection which provides low latency on trading accounts, and Second is front end services which includes MAM and PAMM (Percentage Allocation Management Module). We have a well equipped IT infrastructure where on a daily basis it is upgraded & updated and giving us cutting edge software to give peak performance.

GAME CHANGERS Issue #19

I was searching for one for quite a long time until I came across Wealth Planet for Career+ program . I immediately joined it and learned forex. This is how I got proprietary trading platform assigned to me, and I have been trading for them for several years. My experience of working with this team is amazing. I learnt so many things from them, and I am thankful of each and everyone in this team. Q One of Wealth Planet’s core offerings is employment-based education. As head of Work from Home employees, do you see that the more employment being created at a global level through this unique program you offer? Nitin Pashte - Being head of the work from home employees department ,I have seen the best results popping-out of the career+ program that we run in India. We have around 100+ aspirants who taken the program, qualified and went on to be hired by Wealth planet. Businesses across the globe increasingly recognize the benefits of hiring and retaining remote workers. Working remotely is expected to grow stronger in future. We’re grateful to be a part of this activity as we planned out for this unique program which has potentially increased employment globally, and we are in the process of taking employment at a later stage. Generating innumerable employment opportunities was a challenging task for us, and I can proudly say that Wealth Planet made it possible through our career+ initiative. Q Wealth Planet has recently made available its proprietary trading platform aimed at funds. As one of Wealth Planet’s qualified traders, can you tell us your thoughts on trading for Wealth Planet ? Shveta Natu - I learnt trading from Abhijit a few years back. His teaching style was very charismatic that

lead me to becoming curious to learn more. I now work with the proprietary platform of Wealth Planet. I Question the term qualified trader, but I strongly feel that I still fit in the category whilst still understanding that I am always learning more about trading. My experience so far with the entire team has been amazing. All of the other team members are helping and incredibly co operative. Being new to the Forex industry I had so many doubts, and they all helped me in resolving these. I would definitely like to thank Abhijit for teaching Me and for keeping the faith in me. He has lot of patience to answer my all sort of doubts. I was very skeptical about getting into this field but he encouraged me. I came from a different educational background, with little affiliation with finance. However, he put in a tremendous amount of effort in teaching me. As far as trading for Wealth Planet is concerned, I am very enjoying it tremendously. The entire team is very supportive and they easily accepted a new member like me which I really appreciated. Everyone of them is technically very much stronger than me, so I do learn a lot from all of them and I can certainly say that I will grow while working with all of them. Q You are trading forex for over 8 years, and based on my knowledge of your local market you are one of the more senior female traders within India. How do you find the work culture in Wealth Planet?

Simon Roberts CEO & Founder of SCP Consultants

Is it hard to go from being employee of Wealth Planet, and working with your husband who is the CEO? Pradnya Kulkarni - The work culture at Wealth Planet is as equally well mannered as our CEO Abhijit. It has a touch of not only discipline but also ethics and principles. This culture makes office environment very positive , jovial and enthusiastic among all employees within Wealth Planet. Moreover, the impact of this is we are always encouraged to deliver our the best results at work. Further to this Abhijit also teaches us the importance of time management as it helps us to achieve our targets in given time. Coming upon your second question, when it comes to work with my husband who is CEO of Wealth Planet, it is very exciting and a challenging experience for me. I feel so proud of him because he knows how to maintain professionalism. Although I am his wife,he treats me as an employee in office, so as a husband and as a CEO he has totally different personalities and this shows his principles,dedication and loyalty towards work. Q What it say is that as the leader, how important is teamwork to making your organisation work efficiently? Abhijit Kulkarni - To be very honest with you, an organisation cannot work or grow without proper teamwork. Being a large organisation, you have to play so many roles than an average person can perform. Especially when it comes

Pradnya Kulkarni and Abhijit Kulkarni

to our field, there are multiple departments and multiple tasks going on simultaneously, so keeping it all synchronised a good team is must. Not only that, but the mutual understanding between the team members is also important. There is a Hindu festival called Dahi Handi in India (you can google about it) and I think this shows the best representation of teamwork. Young boys makes a human pyramid to reach and break the pot located at a large height. To form the pyramid, coordination is needed to reach at the top. Moreover, the leader has to have faith in the team, and the pot represents the goal or target to be achieved. What else is teamwork? The same philosophy we try to follow in Wealth Planet as well. Q Do you think that Asian companies have a different way of working when it comes to teamwork? Abhijit Kulkarni - There are few. Like, among Asian companies, the very first thing and difference I feel is the respect. Asian people have a tendency to give more respect to their team leader. And it makes a lot of difference. Second thing is, I feel Asian countries are so vibrant in culture and that is why people who work in Asian companies always have strong personal connections & bonding which helps them to stay coordinated and productive in work as well. Q As an experienced CEO. What tips would you give to a company that is looking to expand? Abhijit Kulkarni - Every person who is the part of the company should work on his/her growth first. Sounds weird, right? But I genuinely think that is where the growth of a company begins. If each and every employee of a company focuses on their growth, the company will experience growth too. To expand,

Abhijit Kulkarni CEO of Wealth Planet

we need to be ready for every challenge. When we say expansion, I can only imagine one word that is ‘knowledge’. We must have a knowledge before expanding ourselves. We may be entering into new territory, we may face new challenges and many more so if we are well prepared, we can survive. At the same time how strong your business model is also important. If it is universal, then it becomes easier to expand. Though the technology is there but I still think that we should make things as easy as possible so that we can focus on productive growth on a larger scale. Q Can you tell me more about you ‘Literate Investor’ program? Abhijit Kulkarni - This is something about our whole team is passionate at the moment. In today’s world, there are many investment options available and some of them sounds very lucrative as well.Many scams are going on and investors are getting trapped. At the same time there are investors who are making huge profits in international financial markets consistently. Through the ‘Literate Investor’ program, we will try to educate people about various topics like how to avoid common investing mistakes, exactly what type of investment options available for the layman, importance of diversification, how to create the balance between debt and investment, exponential growth, importance of risk reward ratio etc. Our motto is, the investor should get out of the ‘get rich quick’ zone and I think that is where they will survive more than a fifty percent chance where most of the scams are happening in today’s world. In my opinion, money saved from losing is money earned.

LEAN WORK DARREN QIAN CEO of LEAN WORK.

Q Thanks for joining us today at GC Darren, can you tell the readers how you got into FX? Thank you. I really appreciate this opportunity. I have been in FX industry since 2006. Back then, I was still in university, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the training sessions held by CMC. From this it opened my eyes to this industry. After graduation, I joined the wellknown British brokerage, IFX Markets, and thus I began my career in FX industry 12 years ago. Q Lean Work Inc are a well-established brand in Asia, how do you think the business climate differs from Asia? Asia has its unique business climate. One good example is that the Asian society is based on relationships. Therefore, oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s reputation is well defined on their personal relationships and network. This leads to a huge involvement of IBs in the business expansion process in Asia, which is not so popular in EU or US. Asia is also a new market for FX industry. The various countries have different levels of development, with various levels of brokers. Together with the rapidly changing market environment, businesses need to be agile enough to respond to a changing market. Q Is Hong Kong the biggest expo for you? Yes, IFXEXPO is the best expo in the region. It is a great honour for LEAN WORK to participate the expo for consecutively for the last 5 years. I find it a great help as we can get to meet our extensive amount of European clients in person. Q You operate in an incredibly crowded field, how does your product differ from everyone else? That is a correct statement, the technological service sector in FX industry is very competitive. There are only more than 3000 global currency brokerages, but each year at IFXEXPO, you can see hundreds of technology service providers. Even so, I am confident to say that LEAN WORK is an enterprise with core competitiveness. Our core competitiveness is our focus. We are the best of the industry in one specific area. Companies focus on a single area of the industry, and apply multiple times of resource more than its rivals on it. This is a popular strategy in Chinese IT industry, and LEAN WORK has been implementing this strategy. We are a service provider focusing on CRM technology service with our core product Broker Work. We were one of the first in the FX industry, to make CRM as our main product and we also invested a lot of our profits into our infrastructure.

Darren Qian CEO of LEAN WORK

We have a team of nearly 100, including a R&D faction of 40 to 50, in updating and polishing the product continuously. In the past three years, we have updated the hundreds of versions, and our product Broker Work is growing with each version. Although there are lots of technology firms in FX industry, few have the same R&D capability. For those companies with similar capability, they tend to have a wide range of products resulting a lack of focus. This means none of their products are well polished and supported to a level that we can offer. Therefore, solely in CRM service field, our competitors are far behind in relative strength. This year, we have also invested a lot of R&D resources on making our digital marketing platform base on our CRM. Our target is to prepare our future expansion to global brokerage market. Our competitors will no longer be technology firms in FX market, but global leading CRM vendors such as Salesforce and Hubspot. These are the big guys, worth billions of dollars to tens of billions of dollars. However, when comparing our products with theirs, ours is more aligned with the FX industry, and can be said to be the tailored to this industry. As for the big guys, they are reluctant to customize a system for a detail areas. General systems are just like the big brands to provide customers the same style and size of shoes. Although the brands are famous, the products must be expensive and may not so comfortable to wear. In comparison, LEAN WORK can provide fully functional, customized products in less than a third of their price. We will continue to focus on this field, aiming to be the leader of the global brokerage CRM. P-7

iFX EXPO JENNIE LOBANOVA Head of production. iFX Expo.

Q Many thanks for joining GC today. You have come a long way from when we first met at Blackwell 6 years ago. Can you tell the readers how you fell into the marketing industry? Thanks for having me at GC! Indeed, it has been a long and fun journey since then. I have always been interested in marketing and especially events, it has been at the core of my background for over a decade. I graduated from University of the Arts London with a BA (Hons) Advertising, Marketing & Event Management. As you mentioned, I worked at Blackwell Global as a Marketing Coordinator which was a great experience of the retail fintech industry as we worked with many European and Asia Pacific markets. I have a bit of a “can’t sit still” attitude and always look for new side projects and things to learn. That’s how I ended up teaming up with another colleague from Blackwell for a charity project during which we created an island-wide awareness campaign for the Autism Association and ended up raising almost 7K Euros during the fund-raising event. I always liked working with people, am a bit of an organizational nerd (color coding and lists make me very happy!) and seek a new challenge all the time. That’s how last summer I ended up working as a Cruise Manager for one of the biggest river cruise lines across Europe. Life on board was very exciting and I learned a lot about working with people, about myself, and definitely developed some new skills! In the end though, shore life called my name and I was back in time to kick start the preparations for iFX EXPO Asia 2019. Q In case the readers are not aware, you are the person who plays a huge role in getting the main expos of the year together. How did you make the step over from retail FX to being a producer of these huge events?

Jennie Lobanova Head of production. iFX Expo.

team. I truly believe that our strongest asset is the people that make this show happen. We have always had a very family-like atmosphere where all kinds of personalities, ideas, backgrounds, and skills are embraced. The weirder the better! :) From our Management, Sales team, to Finance, Registration, IT, Marketing and Production teams – each and every single person is a crucial, talented part of the show. I have to make a special mention about my predecessor Roy Hen, who was Chief Producer of the show ever since its inception. He was more of a big brother than your standard boss and definitely a visionary that has taught me over and beyond. Over the years I was involved in all aspects of organizing the show, from initial planning and conception, production account management of exhibitors and sponsors, coming up with ideas, drawing up and designing layouts of how the show looked, coordinating other aspects of the show such as the parties and entertainment, and the list goes on.. Q How does each expo begin? Is it just a blank sheet of paper and you go from there?

I don’t think we have ever had a completely blank sheet of paper (thank god!) as we always have ideas on how to grow and improve with each show. Basically, each expo begins with creating I attended the iFX EXPO as an attendee since the first the initial concept, designing a new map with which we always ever show and absolutely loved it, so when a position aim at adding something new and exciting to the floor. Taking opened up to join the Production Team, I jumped at care of arranging it in such a way, that each exhibitor and the opportunity. I joined the company over 4 years ago sponsor benefits from a good spot, exposure and high traffic as an Assistant Producer, later Executive Producer, while the attendees can easily explore the show floor to and recently stepped up to Head of Production. maximise their networking opportunities. Our goal is to provide an environment where companies can showcase their It is important to point out that the biggest and most brand in unique ways and most importantly find lucrative powerful role in the success of iFX EXPO goes to our business networking. With each show, the team comes up with

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new sponsorship types, areas, layouts, and additions in order to keep things fresh and spicy. When I first started, the Exhibitor & Sponsorship Packages were only a few pages long and we had around 60-70 booths. Today, our Packages are what we internally call ‘the bible’, that caters options for 70+ Sponsorship options, almost 200 booths, and we are expecting around 4,000 attendees at our next event. Q What is the most challenging part of the whole process? When creating such a massive, complex and evergrowing expo, you basically face challenges on a daily basis. If I had to pick one, I would say it is “how do we keep growing?”. For example, when we outgrew our initial venue, The Grand Resort, we took the risky decision to move to Spyros Kypriannou Palais des Sport. For those that have not seen the venue when the iFX EXPO is not running, it is basically an Olympic Sports Arena. You can imagine the amount of work that goes into turning it into an exhibition hall where it’s pretty much impossible to imagine that it was once a basketball court! It doesn’t end there, after our first year at the new venue, we still needed more space for additional booths and areas. So what did we do? We built additional decks around the venue and now the show is full on multiple levels. You can expect a bigger than ever iFX EXPO International 2019 this May! Q Do you have a particular favourite event? I love each event for different reasons. With the Asia show in Hong Kong, I love the cultural aspect that comes with it and working with our partners on the other side of the world. iFX EXPO International in Cyprus is definitely a favourite since it’s the biggest and most challenging one.

Seeing it all come together after months of hard work and planning is really something else. I find it truly rewarding when ‘show time’ finally arrives, doors open, exhibitors & sponsors arrive, within minutes the floor is packed with thousands of attendees and all you see is non-stop networking, people enjoying different areas, talking, smiling, creating memories and making new business partners. Every show also feels like a reunion, catching up with old friends that flock to the show from all over the world as well as meeting new people! I love it also because it gives our team a lot of space for creativity! Designing cool public areas like lounges and bars, working with clients to create unique booths to cater to their needs, thinking of different entertainment ideas and basically being on the constant look-out on how to spoil our clients and attendees. We love you guys! Q How do you relax after an event, as it must be a huge adrenalin dump after all that organisation? There is definitely a massive jump from a state of autopilot, caffeine-fuelled, no-sleep adrenaline mode to the show being over state of mind! Always try to get a foot massage! I tracked my steps through my running app during the expo and we basically walk marathons every day of the show! Record being 23km of walking around the expo in one day! Of course we all need a very long sleep after the show but important not to go from one extreme to the other. Once everything is wrapped up, we usually arrange a team day out to just decompress, let our hair down and just relax! Q Have you started planning for the Cyprus event already? Of course, preparations are in full swing! Like I said, you can expect a bigger and better iFX EXPO International 2019, a floorplan that’s bigger than ever with many new areas, highest participation and attendance yet, and of course our legendary evening parties! See you there, don’t forget your business cards!

XSocio Markets FAZRIL IZWAN NOR AZMI Head of Operations at XSocio Markets.

Q Hello Fazril, it was lovely to meet you at the Hong Kong expo. Can you outline to the readers how you found yourself within this industry? Hello Paul, it’s a big pleasure to speak to you and your readers. The Hong Kong expo was a privilege for us at XSocio to engage with peers and share expertise. From the standpoint of the head of operations, iFX Expo Asia was a great opportunity to get the bigger picture of what today’s traders in Asia need and want. Let’s face it, the financial landscape is changing, the traders and investors’ tastes are also becoming more sophisticated, as we see a shift in focus from traditional to more sophisticated, digital products, and above all, transparency. Having always placed our targets high in terms of product offering and quality of service, I can proudly say that XSocio still holds a top place in the market. Our products are the traders’ choice when it comes to fast execution and the availability of options within a diverse range of financial instruments. Besides that, our numerous Introducing Broker packages are in the spotlight of professional traders worldwide. I believe that traders need what we offer: a transparent, digital trading environment designed for the 21° century. Q What did you think of the Hong Kong expo? As always, iFX Expo has been the meeting point of key players in the Asian but also the international financial arena. Every season, all roads lead financiers to a focal point of the industry, this time of year global financial market leaders congregated under the roof of the Hong Kong Convention Centre. It was a unique opportunity for us to engage with technology, payment solutions, bridge and liquidity providers that can help us take our business to the next level. We need to keep up the pace and spearhead the evolution, embrace the change that is now reshaping the whole financial landscape. XSocio has been craving this change. We step into a new era of transparent trading and informed decision-making when it comes to investment. It was about time that financial leaders realised the need for transparent trading. And the Hong Kong expo highlighted exactly that. All in all, it was great to be at the expo and we look forward to the next one. Q Does this play a key part in XSocio’s business plan, or do you have a global client base?

GAME CHANGERS Issue #19

Event presence is crucial for any business I think, not only for XSocio. If you want to be on top of things, you need to know both your ‘friends’ and your ‘enemies’ in the industry, and that’s what these expos are for. The networking opportunities they provide allow all market participants to grasp all the aspects of business, know their clients face-to-face in order to grow market share and increase customer lifetime value. But of course, this is not our only go-to-market strategy. As we continue to hone our product offering, we open our door to traders and investors worldwide. Sooner than later we will attain global expansion. Q Are there different needs between Asian clients from others in different regions? Our main target so far has been the South-East Asian market. Clients’ needs are very diverse, as the dynamics of the trading and investing process gains pace and everything seems to be developing in fastforward mode. Robo or digital investment advisory seems now to de-throne traditional MAM and PAMM solutions. We are exploring different possibilities of diversifying our product range to start offering our clients similar solutions. No decision has yet been made in that regard, we are in an experimentation stage, looking for the best solution out there to meet our and our clients’ goals. Q Are there any plans to open offices in Europe? For the time being, our main focus remains South-East Asia. While we continue to channel our efforts into providing the best of service to our existing clientele, the majority of which is based in the area, we do not exclude the possibility of expanding our operations into Europe. We will take a closer look at what the European market’s demands are, and why not? After all, the sky is the limit. Q What plans do you have for 2019? 2018 has been a very successful year for XSocio, with numerous new customers and IBs joining us. As regards this year, our pipeline is quite full, with new services and product releases coming up. Also, we were planning a few roadshows spread throughout the year. We have quite an exciting journey ahead. Keep an eye on us!

The Trade Academy BLAGOJA PAZARKOSKI Owner of The Trade Academy™.

Q Many thanks for joining Game Changers today, I was really intrigued to learn more about your background and how you got into FX trading? Thank you for the invitation Paul it is a pleasure to be here. You know, my start was unexpected, because back in June 2006 I was searching for a foreign bank for my student account for when I go and study abroad, but what I found was a demo account to trade on the stock exchange. It was Saxo Bank demo account that I opened my very first position on, it was on Google Shares and I have made 1500USD, and from then on I am in this up until now, and I will trade and help traders hopefully long in the future.

Blagoja Pazarkoski Owner of The Trade Academy™.

Q What area is your MSc that you are studying? My MSc studies are in the field of Management, precisely Operations and Supply Chain Management at Liverpool University. I choose this filed because it is the backbone of every business, knowing this it is a lot easier to make assessment on the performance of a particular company and with that have more accurate view of where the shares price will move. Q There are a lot of signals providers and on the market, how does yours differ? The competition out there is strong, and I am happy to compete with my loyal competitors, or say to challenge them to innovate even more. My signals The Herculean Constancy Forex Signals™ are derived from The Theory of Herculean Constancy which I was developing for around 8 years. April 2018 was the time when I made the breakthrough, with combining more than one approach from mathematics and physics I have developed a formula which basically detects the movement of the price between support and resistance in horizontal or diagonal (trend line) position. The signals are purely based on the calculations from the formula and are totally different from the common signals that are derived from traditional indicators, that said the signals are real time, and show what is to be expected in the future, rather give prediction based on an already finished chart pattern. The signals are simple and can be scalable and used on any chart timeframe and on any instrument. Q The academic structure of your course really intrigued me. It seemed like a University course. Can you outline the structure?

The trading course Wolf Trading Strategy™ has been developed from my personal experience on how one trader can be successful and can have sustainable trading strategy. The trading course duration is one year with 2 live online webinars per week, so everyone can access it as soon as it has internet connection and a computer or a smartphone. There are no pre-recorded classes, I am there to teach and help the students directly. After the finishing of the trading course the trader will have knowledge of the risks involved when trading, he will no longer have influence from his greed for more or fear of losing, he has knowledge of technical and fundamental analysis, and proved to be able to develop sustainable trading strategy which suits the individual trading style. It is important traders to know that funds are limited but trading chances are infinite. Q Is there some form of transparency to your service prior to signing up on the signal service? Customers who want to sign up for the Herculean Constancy Forex Signals™ have the opportunity to test them first, so there are always 7 trading signals that customers can test before they actually pay for the service. Q Are you looking to develop any new products for 2019? For new products it is early to say, there are few in R&D at the moment which if shown viable I will make sure to be offered to the public. In 2019 the focus will be on further developing the delivery methods for the signals, such as new android and iOS apps, for smartphones and tablets, and also adding The Trade Academy™ to the signals with parts of free materials on how the customers can have better understanding of how the signals operate and the optimal usage of them. P - 13

Game Changers at the Hong Kong Expo 2019 PAUL ORFORD Editor in Chief. Game Changers Magazine.

This was my first trip to Hong Kong, and after the marathon journey from Cyprus I was more than surprised at the atmosphere here. Having experienced the Cyprus event, which appears to be more of a social event, I was glad that this had more of an Asian mentality of focusing on what needs to be done. We were lucky enough to stay at the Gloucester Kuk Kwok Hotel, which is situated a short walk away from the expo, but more importantly I was really close to the amazing smell and taste of the food stalls of Wan Chai metro station. It was great to meet so many people and get the great feedback on Game Changers, and the excitement that has been generated by the advent of GCTV. Here are some pictures of the eventâ&#x20AC;Śenjoy!

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Fullerton Markets AHMAD MUTAMMIM Head of Marketing, Fullerton Markets.

Q Many thanks for joining Game Changers today. You have the honour of being the first person who used to work for law enforcement. Can you tell the readers about your time in the Singapore Police Force, and the skills you learnt there that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve carried forward? My training stint as an Officer Cadet was a truly great experience. It was during this time that I learnt how to manage peers from diverse backgrounds, as well as how to lead assertively and empathetically. It also helped me understand the workings of a huge organisation and how best to support it with more structured chains of command and workflows. One of the key takeaways from my time as an officer is discipline. This a virtue that has become both a personal value and the building block of the marketing team that I lead. It is also the number one quality that I look out for in potential hires. I strongly believe the cultivation of discipline fuels motivation and helps you perform at your best.

Q You spent quite some time as an account manager. What was it like making the transition over to the marketing department? I was once an online affiliate, dealing with infoproducts and e-commerce. This background in sales proved useful in helping me understand the kinds of content to create for consumers and the ways to market it to effectively boost sales and facilitate business development. As a Marketing major in university, I entered the workforce with a strong foundation in marketing. Consistent learning and keeping updated on the industry have always been a priority and so I make efforts to equip myself with knowledge, be it through simple reading in my free time or by sitting for courses and acquiring digital marketing certifications. I was also fortunate to be given the opportunity to participate in several marketing projects during my previous employments. These experiences ensured that my full transition to the marketing team was a rather smooth one.

Q Do you think that having worked in both sales and marketing has helped you get a more rounded understanding of your role? Most certainly. Having served in various capacities in both departments have equipped me not only with niche skills, but also a more integrated overview of workflows and the alignment of goals of various roles. For example, I now have a deeper understanding of how best to market to qualified leads and also recognise the importance of putting in place relevant lead nurturing programs to ensure that warm leads can be passed on to the sales team for them to bring these consumers further down the buyer’s journey. Having a clear picture of the mechanics and motivations of both departments allows me to manage relationships and set targets more effectively. Q What strategies would you give to a start-up brokerage in becoming visible? There are several factors to consider before working on any strategy, such as the start-up’s business model, its product offerings, and the strengths and experience of its team. A proper understanding of the market that it looks to enter or the consumer base it wants to target is an absolute requirement. To increase its visibility, a start-up brokerage could consider building up a reliable base of active partners and then leveraging their networks to expand their reach. Given the digital age that we live in, being more active on social media and engaging with your audiences on these platforms will also help you connect with an increasingly mobile-led, tech-savvy crowd. Some brokers also turn to personal branding initiatives and strong PR efforts to build their brand and establish a loyal following. Q Do you feel that there is a different way of marketing in Asia to perhaps attract clients from other regions?

Yes, I think marketing efforts targeted at Asian consumers would differ from those targeted at consumers outside the region. Even within Asia, the unique demographics, buyer habits and preferred channels for content consumption in each country mean that businesses are expected to produce tailored, localised campaigns and offerings for each market. Asia’s propensity for emerging technologies and high mobile use, for example, have become important considerations in our own marketing initiatives. Q Having Mr Mario Singh as such a visible personality, how does that help to develop your brand? Our CEO, Mario Singh, has been instrumental in strengthening the Fullerton Markets brand. As a recognised personality and mentor who provides practical industry advice and commentaries through business events, media appearances, and educational resources, Mario offers a personal brand that the company can leverage and continue to build. This has been important in helping us establish credibility and earn the trust of both traders and partners. Q What plans does Fullerton Markets have for this year? 2019 will be a packed year for Fullerton Markets, with several product launches and exciting campaigns lined up. These will bring improved solutions and better experiences for traders and entrepreneurs. We’re also looking at achieving exponential growth through the introduction of innovative offerings, strategic partnerships and growing and grooming a high-performing team. The marketing department, meanwhile, will roll out a more robust, engaging content strategy this year, with a clear focus on consumers in the Asia Pacific region.

ISSUE #19

THE JOURNAL FOR INDUSTRY LEADERS