The 10 Most Disruptive Companies of 2020 by Prime View

EDITOR’S NOTE

The phase of amendment has propelled the organizations to become a lot of agile to stay relevant, whereas not compromising on their offerings' quality. On the contrary, the imperative, nonetheless tough duty has lead outsourcing business to be a winning strategy for organizations. Despite of the worldwide recession that gulped down several businesses, the market grew leaps and bounds and it's claimed that outsourcing are weighed around $875 billion with 15 % overall growth by 2014. The expansion is attributed to the quickest growing sectors, covering multiple business domains. Thus, it goes without expression that the outsourcing business presents a range of advantages to the businesses but value, information security, timely delivery and quality are still issues the method, which may build the choice of right outsourcing partner a risky and difficult task for an organization. To decrypt this Gardian knot and facilitate individuals to handily opt for the right professionals, Prime view identifies “The 10 Most Disruptive Companies of 2020”. A distinguished panel of the industry’s top CIOs, CEOs, VCs and business consultants including Prime View’s editorial board scrutinized the list of corporations in several business touch points. The thorough analysis delved into business practices, services, compared them against business standards to make sure that the work is of best in class quality and at last led Prime view to come up with best corporations in several various industries, whereas this essential archive intends to facilitate such corporations, it also puts forward a simple and hassle-free platform for individuals to partner with the best who in turn become an alter-ego for his or her clients by streamlining their businesses in a very cost-efficient way, whereas serving to them to facilitate a high quality expertise to their patrons. Every story is an inspiring read and is a source of motivation for every aspiring business mind. Flip the pages and enjoy reading! Prime View Magazine

The 10 Most Disruptive Companies of 2020

SONAL K

STEVE R DAVID S

PRATIK T. , JOHNSON J.

SAM K.

RICHARD D.

SAM D. , ALEN A.

Visit: https://primeview.co Email: editor@primeview.co

Cover Story

Unified Office Ray Pasquale CEO & Founder

ScaleX, Inc

ulatus Shilpa Mittal CEO

Chad Burmeister CEO

Articles

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COVID-19: Burden or Boon for Financial Inclusion

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Reversal of Fortune: Five Ways Biden’s Win Will Boost Impact Investing in Emerging Markets

C O N T E N T S

Cover Story

Unified Office A VANGUARD, UNLEASHING GROWTH OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESSES

Ray Pasquale CEO & Founder

Leveraging communications technology and cloud-based infrastructure to enhance SMB workforce productivity Incorporated in 2011, Unified Office, an innovative and leading-edge managed services provider is the brainchild of Ray Pasquale, CEO & Founder. The firm provides reliable, hybrid cloud-based business communications services, Internet of Things (IoT) services and real-time data analytics. Unified Office helps Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMB) adapt to an always-changing consumer and business marketplace.

THE MAN BEHIND UNIFIED OFFICE AND ITS JOURNEY Since its inception, Ray Pasquale has been leading Unified Office on a robust growth path, scaling the business, and forging alliances. Ray’s deep domain expertise and rich experience is rooted in serving some of the telecom industry’s giants including Cascade Communications, Ascend Communications, Lucent Technologies and Sonus Networks.

THE ROLLER COASTER RIDE Ray Pasquale started Unified Office because he saw that companies were becoming increasingly virtualized. Geographic distance had to become irrelevant. The only way to accomplish this was to first make Voice over the Internet (VoIP) work reliably without the need for expensive legacy techniques like T1 phone circuits. Once this was achieved it was time to make their VoIP service go to work for small and medium-sized businesses. Many VoIP/UC companies came into being in the early 2000s largely by disrupting the pricing of the legacy PBX phone market while offering little to no innovation. This came primarily from centralizing a PBX in the cloud that would handle hundreds of subscribers independent of location via a VoIP desk phone. Because the Internet was not built for real-time applications like voice communications, there was an inherent lack of quality and reliability – and a missed, garbled or dropped call is a missed business opportunity. Unified Office transformed this market much in the same way Steve Jobs transformed the music player market back in 2001 with the introduction of the iPod and later the iPhone. Unified Office’s unique architecture is the result of the team’s collective 150 years of experience in both the telecommunications service provider and large enterprise data networking industries. Their executive team has designed protocols, built scalable products, and integrated, deployed, and supported carrier-grade equipment in many of the largest converged networks around the world.

Leveraging communications technology and cloud-based infrastructure to take SMB workforce productivity to the next level.

EMERGING AS A DIFFERENTIATOR Here are the key points that make Unified Office stand out: • Unified Office offers the highest quality, most reliable VoIP service on the market.

• It is the only company that can provide high quality, reliable VoIP service without the need for expensive legacy T1 or MPLS circuits.

• No other company offers the range of customized features and vertical market applications that Unified Office does.

• Unified Office ensures that no business is lost due to a loss of phone calls, particularly at peak call times. • Their highly customizable and configurable services are based on open source systems that constantly evolve. As a result, their services will never be obsolete.

• The team focuses on developing pragmatic solutions and products that will positively impact their customer’s operations and more importantly their top and bottom lines. They help them adapt and change at the speed of the market.

• They help improve operational excellence through Real-Time Data Analytics, IoT and Artificial Intelligence (AI) products and services.

• Unified Office offers all of this within the context of a managed service that allows their customers to focus on running their businesses.

• Unified Office is renowned for offering the highest level of business continuity and reliability, avoiding

downtime and resultant revenue losses by implementing multiple levels of network resilience for their TM customers. Their patented High Quality Rounting Protocol HQRP provides rapid problem isolation, repair and dynamic rerouting to create an always available communications network. Techniques include LTE broadband backup and PSTN failover.

SPEARHEADING CUTTING-EDGE SOLUTIONS Unified Office’s business communications suite of offerings includes: SM

• Total Connect NowSM, (TCN ) business quality VoIP and UC services, built for companies who can’t afford to miss calls.

• Visual Performance SuiteTM advanced business analytics.

• TCNOPS (Total Connect Now Operations Performance SuiteTM), an IoT service layer designed to help TM

improve operations and performance levels, for example monitoring and reporting on refrigeration equipment for restaurant customers.

• TCNIQTM, an AI solution that enables users to detect customer sentiment in recorded calls, a big time saver over having to listen to each call one by one.

• Virtual Communications ConsoleSM, a virtual operator console that integrates with practice management software and other vertical market CRM solutions.

• Visual Call Flow BuilderTM , a simple, visual graphical user interface that enables customers and resellers with the capability to build, design and manage their own call flows.

• TCNOMS (Total Connect Now Operations Management Suite ) an easy to use portal enabling TM

customers to manage and configure their services themselves anywhere they happen to be.

HURDLES ALONG THE WAY “We have faced all of the challenges that confront any rapidly growing company. Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the strengths of our platform. For example, we were able to help our customers quickly transition to a remote working environment and also developed a contactless pickup and delivery service product for our restaurant customers,” said Ray Pasquale.

MAJOR CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES We live in a real-time, hyper-connected, push-button world today, which is evident in the ubiquitous adoption of smart phones, on demand taxi and rideshare services, near real-time product delivery and ever-increasing broadband speeds. People expect an immediate response when shopping for things thanks to companies like Amazon, for example. Unified Office came into being to help businesses adapt to an ever-changing market. There has been a lot of talk in the marketplace about digital transformation. According to Unified Office Founder and CEO, Ray Pasquale, “It is only through industry specific innovation, customization and market differentiation that you can help your customers achieve the best top and bottom-line results. Yes, digital transformation is important, but it must achieve meaningful results for people or else it doesn’t matter.”

THE DRIVING FORCE Unified Office’s core mission is to help businesses of all types monetize their communications services and solve problems that are unique to them. In this way they help companies adapt to an always changing consumer and business marketplace. They do this first by being relentless innovators providing their customers with reliable, high quality voice communications. They then make VoIP go to work for their customers by developing simple, elegant, easy-to-use value-added services and products that improve the effectiveness of their business operations and respond to the needs of their customers at the speed of the market.

“ Quality, dependability, innovation, and support are core to our values.”- Ray Pasquale MOTIVATING CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN THE WORKSPACE Ray Pasquale shared, “We pride ourselves in providing a safe and nourishing work environment that values and welcomes open communication and close collaboration across teams, encourages employees to think outside of the box, fosters creativity and new ideas, and empowers our employees to make their own decisions. We strive to appreciate our employees’ uniqueness, diversity and individual skills and to encourage personal growth.”

BUILDING LONG TERM CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS The Unified Office team creates long-term customer relationships by delivering on what they promise and by providing products that are meaningful to their customers, while also giving them the very best customer service. They go above and beyond by proactively watching over them twenty-four hours a day seven days a week.

AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS

Unified Office has received two patents for its Highest Quality Routing Protocol™ (HQRP™) transmission network. The HQRP™ network platform introduces an entirely new way of transmitting highly reliable, high quality, real-time business class voice communications over broadband networks that is radically different from any other offerings on the marketplace. Moreover, the company has been honoured with numerous awards for innovation from Light Reading, TMCnet, Computer Reseller News, ChannelVision Magazine, the NH Business Review, Compass Intelligence, MD Tech Review, Insight Success, Silicon 70, and CEO Views, among others.

ROAD AHEAD Looking ahead, Unified Office will continue to evolve and transform the communications marketplace and to help businesses of all types adapt to the speed of market changes that occur at a pace that is historically unprecedented. There has never been a better time for a company like Unified Office.

Expediting The Sales Process Through Innovative Solutions

Chad Burmeister Chad Burmeister CEOFounder & CEO

Founded in 2017, ScaleX is a leading firm that resolves the sales pipelines issues by leveraging artificial intelligence and sales automation. It offers an entire suite of services to fill your pipeline each month, guaranteed. With swift growth in mind for businesses, the venture helps sales professionals increase revenue by focusing on the only two things that matter in sales – increasing frequency and competency. Chad Burmeister, Founder & CEO started this firm when he saw that the sales software as a service market was getting over-crowded by new entrants. But to be successful, experience in sales and marketing operations and deep domain expertise in tools and technology were required. In early March of 2020, when the world had to deal with the Coronavirus for the first time, work from home became the only way to sell, and ScaleX.ai became more important to B2B companies than ever before More about the Visionary Chad Burmeister is not only the CEO of ScaleX, but he’s also ScaleX’s biggest client! He has a successful career in building high-velocity sales teams at companies including Cisco-WebEx, Riverbed Technology, ON24, ConnectAndSell, and RingCentral. He was the Founding Chapter President of the AA-ISP Silicon Valley Chapter which was voted two years in a row as “Chapter of the Year”, Director of AA-ISP Frontline Friday, and Colorado Chapter President to help advance the profession of inside sales to the next level of professionalism and performance. Chad is currently on the team who launched the Denver Enterprise Sales Forum. Chad has been voted Top 25 Most Influential Inside Sales Professional by the AA-ISP 10 years in a row (2010 – 2019) and continues to be at the forefront of inside sales and high-velocity selling strategy & execution. ScaleX has used it’s own solutions to more than 2X sales each year for the past 3 years. Chad is committed to the inside sales profession – and has earned the title of Top 25 Inside Sales Leader for the past 10 years by the American Association of Inside Sales Professionals. Chad also recently launched SalesClass.ai, the first and only “Netflix for sales” platform that delivers relevant sales training content through live and on-demand training.

Message from the CEO “Make sure to check out SalesClass.ai. When you sign up for a subscription, your first month is just $1! We hope to see you there.”

Advanced Solutions ScaleX offers three core solutions – ScaleX Social, ScaleX Pipeline as a Service and ScaleX Introductions. ScaleX Social enables sales and business professionals to connect with hundreds (or even thousands) of their best prospects on LinkedIn, passively. ScaleX Pipeline as a Service delivers data + digital outreach + dials and regularly delivers 3 years of outbound in 3 months for clients. ScaleX Introductions leverages powerful artificial intelligence to determine the best influencers to reach out in order to ask for their help in making introductions to a target list of prospects. A recent client landed a meeting with the CMO of Microsoft as a result of this solution. Awards & Recognitions Not only has Chad has earned the coveted Top 25 Inside Sales Leader for 10 years in a row, his company ScaleX.ai was voted Top 10 AI for Sales Solution in 2019, was ranked a Vendor Neutral Top 100 technology company and ranked in the top 5% of growth companies in SaaS for 2019 by Nathan Latka. Point Of View on Current Market Although 2020 has had a lot of very deep seeded challenges, out of every challenge comes opportunity. We’ve seen that as people move from working at an office to work from home, the skills and technologies that have been mainstream for inside sales professionals are now getting adopted by remote field sellers everywhere. Technology like Zoom Video is obvious, but also Social Selling Technology like ScaleX and other AI-related prospecting technology is now becoming mainstream too. Hurdles on the Way The biggest challenge at ScaleX was in March 2019 when company revenues went from $100,000/month to $30,000/month. When a company doesn’t have investors, that’s a big dip. The positive outcome from that experience – they learned to double down on “ScaleX powered by ScaleX” where they use their own technology to drive pipeline more than they did previously. Contributing Factors behind Success “You are the five people you hang out with” is a phrase I’ve heard Jourdan DuFort on our sales team use before. In 2019, Gerhard Gschwandtner challenged a group of 25-30 leaders to find mentors. So I did. Robert White is an expert in organizational design and mindset, Townsend Wardlaw, CRO is a mindset expert and incredible CRO. Rich Blakeman is the former SVP from Miller Heiman, the biggest sales training organization in the world. All of these individuals and more are now part of my daily interactions. These strategic thinkers help us drive the company strategy and pivot as required.

Creativity And Innovation in The Workspace “Recently, the sales pipeline was down. Rather than call a meeting and punch people in the mouth, I held a meeting with a blank screen and asked the team to strategize on a way forward. The solutions were amazing – far better than if I would have beat the team-up that day”, Chad Burmeister shared. Customer Relationship “Client Success is the lifeblood of ScaleX. Many of the processes and technologies that we role out are true “magic”. They can enable a sales team to 10X the number of sales touches, at higher quality, and drive 3-5X in the pipeline. Getting the rocket off the launch pad is important since launches can be delayed at times. So we recently deployed Monday.com for client onboarding. So now we provide the best technology, the best dashboards (from ClicData) and the best onboarding experience in the industry”, stated Chad. Road Ahead ScaleX will continue to innovate and bring to market technologies and solutions that are highly unique and different designed to outpace cheaper and less effective solutions. As we scale from $337k to $1.2M to $2M+ in 2020, we’re looking at M&A opportunities to bring the best-of-breed players under one brand.

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COVID-19: Burden or Boon for Financial Inclusion

When the Alliance for Financial Inclusion outlined our “Five Key Financial Inclusion Policy Trends for 2020” on January 17 of this year, the spread of the novel coronavirus was still in its infancy, with little sign of what was to come. The previous week, officials had just confirmed the first death from the virus in China, the first case outside of China (in Thailand), and the potential for human-to-human transmission. It would be another 25 days until the World Health Organization officially named the new virus, along with the disease it causes, and a full 54 days before it declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. So it’s little wonder that our trends assessment mentioned neither the public health nor the economic and financial impact of the virus. Since then, the virus has wreaked havoc on the global economy, leading to at least a 5% contraction in global gross domestic product and a six-year reversal in human development. It has also threatened the livelihoods of an estimated 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy. Yet despite this destruction to lives and livelihoods, the emergence of COVID-19 on the global stage does not mean we must entirely dismiss the trends we’d predicted at the year’s onset. Instead, we must view them through a new prism. In doing so, it becomes clear that the pandemic presents a major risk of reversing the financial inclusion gains the world has steadily accumulated over the last decade. Yet it also presents us with opportunities – if policy momentum can be sustained in spite of the adverse circumstances.

YOUTH’S UNCERTAIN FUTURE In January, the first trend we highlighted was an increasing focus by policymakers in developing countries on the financial and economic inclusion of their youth populations. While youth may be more resilient to the direct health impacts of the virus, they will not be spared from its economic impact. More than half of all young people working in developing countries are in the informal sector, and therefore at higher risk of loss of employment and income. In March, some 86% of young entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region reported that COVID-19 had already negatively impacted their businesses. And young entrepreneurs around the world also face challenges in accessing government support schemes, if they do not already have existing relationships with financial institutions. Furthermore, the closure of schools and universities may exacerbate education inequalities by disadvantaging those without access to e-learning. And studies have shown that youth leaving school or graduating during a recession face lifelong disadvantages and loss of earnings.

INCLUSIVE GREEN OPPORTUNITIES Another trend we highlighted was that 2020 would be a critical year for cementing the nexus of climate action and financial sector policymaking. Though public health responses to COVID-19 have provided evidence of the speed with which harmful emissions can drop when behaviors shift and economic activities grind to a halt, these benefits are not likely to be long-lasting. Instead there is a real risk that dealing with the pandemic could set back progress on climate action, both by eliminating the fiscal space countries need to invest in the transition to a green economy, and because attempts to keep the virus in check are exhausting policy bandwidth – the postponement of COP-26 to 2021 being one prominent example. Yet despite these risks, as attention shifts towards economic recovery from COVID-19, policymakers will have an unprecedented opportunity to link the greening of the economy to job creation and inclusive growth. Research has highlighted that, to date, only 4% of G20 countries’ fiscal stimulus can be classified as “green” – i.e.: with the potential to reduce long-term greenhouse gas emissions. As called for by International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva, now is the time for policymakers to design inclusive green stimulus packages ready for post-crisis deployment. 23

TARGETED POLICIES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED PERSONS As we mentioned in our trends assessment in January, the almost 80 million forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) around the world require targeted policies and interventions as part of a holistic financial inclusion strategy. The COVID-19 crisis has undoubtedly made their lives even more precarious. As the recent catastrophe in Lesbos, Greece has shown starkly, many FDPs are confined to camps, the conditions in which make social distancing and regular hand washing impossible, leaving them highly vulnerable to infection from the virus. To make matters worse, there are signs that host communities’ attitudes and hospitality to FDPs may harden in response to the pandemic. Indeed, in some cases, FDPs in transit have been turned away from their intended destinations, with COVID-19 movement restrictions cited as a justification. In a context in which “an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere,” it’s essential to include FDPs in economic and financial – as well as public health – responses to the pandemic. As David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee put it, “this is a disease of the connected world and we must address it as a connected world.”

INCLUSIVE DIGITAL ONBOARDING Turning to technological trends, the shift towards digital identification and verification that we highlighted in January has been further catalyzed by the closure of physical premises. Countries such as India, Peru and Thailand, which have invested in national digital identity programs and other digital infrastructure such as interoperable payment systems, have been able to utilize this infrastructure to deliver targeted large-scale fiscal support packages – including to informal sector workers and vulnerable populations. The president of the Financial Action Task Force, Xianming Liu, gave further impetus in this direction by calling for countries to explore digital identity to manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks posed by the crisis. He also urged them to make use of financial technology, regulatory technology and supervisory technology “to the fullest extent possible.” This trend towards digital onboarding, if sustained beyond the pandemic, could be particularly important for the financial inclusion of women who, research shows, are disproportionately impacted by traditional Know Your Customer norms.

REGULATION AND VIRTUAL ASSETS We also projected that 2020 would be a year of increased regulation and growing use cases for virtual assets. This still seems likely to be the case, judging from examples such as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s announcement in March of a regulatory sandbox for cryptocurrency companies. The Financial Action Task Force has warned that countries need to remain vigilant with regard to the “increased misuse of … virtual assets to move and conceal illicit funds” in light of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the impact of the crisis in nudging consumers and businesses to digital payment channels, coupled with unprecedented monetary policy responses by central banks globally, could also serve to increase the attractiveness of virtual assets as investments. The pandemic also presents an opportunity for various “stablecoin” projects to demonstrate their potential role in financial inclusion, by helping to disburse emergency funds to the most vulnerable populations quickly and efficiently. Meanwhile, with the exception of China, many countries had pressed the pause button on using central bank digital currencies in the emergency phase of their crisis response. But the pandemic highlights the importance of reliable, secure and interoperable digital payments systems as an essential service. So coupled with the declining popularity of cash, we are now already seeing such projects picking up speed again as we enter the recovery phase. 24

Due to the ongoing pandemic, the fact is that profitability for many businesses have been hit. . As we slowly start to recover, there is certainly the need to take stock of things and prepare for the new normal. While growth has been hard to come by for many this year, it can also be seen as an opportunity to make smart investments to make the most of the improving conditions. Translation is one such investment that is highly recommended and through this article, we will discuss why many businesses look at it as a very plausible option for growth:

Shilpa Mittal CEO

1) Quickest way to grow your potential Market If you are aiming to expand your business beyond the boundaries of your country, the simplest & fastest way to do this is by translating your website & all relevant content into the native language of the target audience. For instance, a customer in Spain will 26

always prefer to read the product information in Spanish than English. Once your content is translated in Spanish, your business right away gains access to 100s of millions of potential customers in numerous countries and regions that speak Spanish.

2) Cost-effective and efficient Many businesses look toward research and development to innovate new aspects to their products and services in the hope of upselling and increasing usage. As compared to that, translation is affordable and you can have your website and marketing materials localized in a matter of days. Handling incoming business from new geographies can also be planned based on demand which can be controlled.

3) Marketing efficiency From a marketing perspective, especially for online businesses, forecasting demand and competition is fairly easy with appropriate translation. Keywords can be looked up in the local language to estimate demand and cost of competition. Translating emails are also an underrated method to increase sales. From our experience, translated emails get more than twice as much opens and engagement than non-localized emails.

4) Higher ROI Businesses that are already in multiple geographies will testify that customer acquisition costs can vastly differ from region to region. Through carefully planned translated ads, outreach and landing pages, you can estimate acquisition costs before entering a region. Through organized optimization and gathered data, you can reduce your overall acquisition costs and significantly improve ROIs. Of course, trying to acquire more business with new countries does have its operational and legal requisites that you might have to take care of before you begin. However, considering the upsides, the next time youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re looking for that idea to meet your revenue goals, we suggest you strongly consider localization.

Reversal of Fortune: Five Ways Bidenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Win Will Boost Impact Investing in Emerging Markets

However it turned out, everyone knew that the U.S. election results would bring significant change to America. In the world of finance, the markets have already responded positively to the news of President-elect Joe Biden. Biden’s victory will impact different industries in different ways, but one particular economic sector that will get a major boost is impact investing. Under the isolationist policies of the Trump administration, it became much more difficult for impact investors to operate in emerging markets. Travel/visa restrictions, inconsistent federal investment in emerging market economies, vacancies at embassies, and a general retraction of U.S. policies intended to help emerging countries all made impact investing work more difficult in these markets. That was a stark difference from what was happening when I was a science and technology advisor for President Obama, who had a robust policy for global development initiatives that helped U.S. companies grow in emerging markets. During that time, impact investors were one of the groups benefiting tremendously from good relations with countries worldwide, and from the Obama administration’s efforts to:

• “Alleviate poverty, and advance global commitments to the basic welfare and dignity of all humankind.” • Create policies and funding “focused on sustainable development outcomes that places a premium on broad-based economic growth, democratic governance, game-changing innovations, and sustainable systems for meeting basic human needs.” • “Increase […] investments and engagement in development-focused innovation by seeking and scaling up potential game-changing development technologies such as vaccines for neglected diseases, weather-resistant seed varieties, and clean energy technologies.” Over the last four years, the Trump Administration’s chaotic approach to international trade policy, threats to gut international economic development budgets and lack of leadership on helping emerging economies hurt the impact investment community. All of the values the sector holds dear – from economic justice and community-based decision-making, to governance, green infrastructure and safe food systems – were eroded if not wholly devalued. Plus, the U.S. government’s shift toward isolationist policies, defunding of many green infrastructure programs, and failure to deal with the pandemic dampened impact investors’ ability to expand their work in these emerging markets. As we look toward the incoming Biden administration, we can expect that it will reverse course on this isolationism. But I believe the Biden administration will give the sector’s work in emerging markets an even more significant boost. Below, I’ll discuss five key reasons why.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE FINANCIAL FUTURE Under a Biden presidency, impact investors will be able to see their investment dollars go further within their portfolios of green infrastructure-related companies. Biden has already announced a $2 trillion plan to develop the green economy, which will provide a significant boost to renewable energy. And this impact will extend beyond just solar and wind to other green technologies like green chemistry, geothermal, bioenergy, hydrokinetic energy production, energy storage, green transportation, green building and many more. These are the emerging technologies that startup companies have a hard time investing in on their own. History has proven that federally funded research from a wide range of agencies (Defense, Energy, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc.) is an economic driver for change and innovation. Biden will bring the might of this type of economy-driving research that has, in the past, created innovations like the Internet, GPS and smartphone technology. Once we rejoin the international community in the Paris Agreement and beyond, our commitments will be matched and met by many other countries. As a result of this, doors will open to impact investors who work in emerging economies. 31

For example, I’m confident that the impact investment support work done by Jumpscale (where I work as a General Partner) in Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya and beyond is going to experience a renaissance of growth in impact as a result of Biden’s agenda.

STABILITY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS The first lesson in investing is to reduce risk. The destabilization of government institutions, knee-jerk reactions among political leaders and policy chaos are risky: They cause markets to wildly fluctuate and tend to scare off investors. Throughout Biden’s campaign and even during his first speech as President-Elect, he has projected an image of stability, empathy and thoughtfulness that has been missing for the past four years. Biden also has decades of experience working across the aisle in the legislative and executive branches of government, which will help him bring more stability to American society and the global economy. Consistency, predictability and stability are the hallmarks of good business.

IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OPENS DOORS IN EMERGING MARKETS We’ve already seen world leaders congratulate Joe Biden, as cities around the world celebrate his election in gestures of support that we’ve rarely witnessed before. The re-establishment of strong diplomatic and financial relations with our allies worldwide will help impact investors tremendously. Sound policies will help to reinforce both positive investments and positive outcomes in those countries. Cooperation with our allies will help to stabilize emerging economies around the world, which will reduce the risk of working in those countries. It will become easier to find and invest in the innovative impact companies that exist around the planet, yielding global solutions for local (and international) problems.

RE-EMERGENCE OF SCIENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING RESTORES CONFIDENCE The past four years have seen an erosion of trust in the scientific institutions and processes that help guide future innovations for the planet and our society. Conversely, during my time with the Obama administration, I saw the rebuilding of science-based inquiry and research which was gutted by the Bush administration, with R&D sponsored by the federal government leading to innovations that were shared with the private sector. Biden has always been a big proponent of science-based decision making and research. Regardless of which party controls the Senate, we’re about to see a massive new federal investment in scientific and technological innovation that will rival the incredible leaps we’ve achieved in the past.

EFFECTIVE PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT WILL ALLOW INDUSTRIES TO RESUME BUSINESS PRACTICES It is not possible to overstate how much damage has been done to America’s people and economy due to the Trump administration’s lack of leadership in marshalling an effective federal response to the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Entire industries have been economically devastated, and private equity investors have had to deploy capital to try to save their existing investments, which reduced their ability to make new investments. Additionally, investors’ inability to travel meant they were unable to strengthen relationships or conduct due diligence in foreign markets, leading to a slow-down of innovation. In many emerging markets, a handshake and looking somebody in the eye are essential parts of the process. I expect that within the first six months of the Biden administration, we will see a more rational, science-based and empathetic response to the pandemic. It will lead to a clearer path towards rebuilding our economy, while moving societal norms in a much more positive direction. 32