CIO LOOK has come up with its latest edition of The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Revamping the Future, 2021. Featuring on the Cover is Nigel Green. Read more: https://ciolook.com/the-10-most-innovative-business-leaders-revamping-the-future-2021-march2021/

1. VOL 03 | ISSUE 06 | 2021
NIGEL
GREEN
A CREATOR OF ONE OF THE
WORLD’S LARGEST INDEPENDENT
FINANCIAL AND FINTECH
CONSULTANCIES
OPPORTUNISTIC
APPROACH
Rags to Riches
MOST INNOVATIVE
BUSINESS
LEADERS REVAMPING
THE FUTURE
2021
THE
LEADER’S
VIEWPOINT
The Trucking
Industry in the
21st Century

4. Focus, Improve,
and Innovate
n order to climb the ladder of sound leadership, every business
Ileader has to have a business acumen, entrepreneurial mindset,
and an innovative approach towards everything. Business
leaders are well aware of what they want for themselves. They
work their way up to become the innovative leader and
transforming a small business into a million-dollar business.
The leadership structure has always been about empowering
others. Taking this into consideration, business leaders establish a
great culture in the company where everyone works hard and feels
passionate about what they are doing. They encourage the team to
set their own goals and objectives.
Today, the business environment is changing, and thus, an
innovative approach is the need of the hour for leaders to grow.
The innovative methodology provides 360-degree coverage for
the leaders, enabling them to ensure maximum success. After
realizing the importance of innovative mindset, business leaders
are inculcating it in their day-to-day operations.
Additionally, business leaders have been highly adaptable and
flexible in their approach in handling the unusual situation like
today’s pandemic. Ultimately, they are playing a vital role in their
respective organization and are the most important asset of the
company. They are playing a crucial role in the success of the
company by expanding the business beyond geographical
boundaries.
Innovative leaders by nature are problem-solvers. Instead of
exploring problem, they believe in seeking solution to problems.
They believe in taking risks and learning from every experience. All
their efforts are in the direction to improve the capability to drive
and transform the future of digital transformation.
EDITOR’S NOTE

5. With this insightful perception, CIO Look has come up with its latest edition of The 10 Most Innovative
Business Leaders Revamping the Future, 2021.
Featuring on the Cover is Nigel Green, who is involved in all the major decisions involving deVere Group’s
different entities and provides the vision, the ‘direction of travel’, and the motivation. He believes that
“Knowledge is power-and to be the best you can possibly be, you need to constantly learn even if people think you
are stupid or foolish.”
With this ideology and his insightful perception of the contemporary world, Green has built one of the
world’s largest independent financial advisory and fintech organisations, made up of 97 legal entities
around the world. This fact says a lot about his perseverance and his ‘roll up your sleeves’ leadership style.
He leads from the front and works side-by-side with the teams to achieve the goals of the company. He
believes that if every leader can really maximize their full potential in business by consistently being in a
state of peak performance when it matters most.
Lastly, never stop learning with our CXO standpoints written by the industry experts and the creative
articles by our in-house editorial team which will help to improve your skillset.
Let’s Delve!
Sourabh More

6. Nigel
Green
A Creator of One of the World’s
Largest Independent Financial
and Fintech Consultancies
10
COVER STORY
Leader’s
Viewpoint
The Trucking Industry
in the 21st Century
ARTICLE
42
Opportunistic
approach
Rags to Riches
28
C O N T E N T S

7. Anton
Baranchuk
A Visionary Leader in Data
Visualization Software Business
Kenneth
Kee
Taking Hospital Operations
Processes to the New Heights
Jeff
LoCastro
Embarking on a Quest to Provide
Unique Solutions
Leigh
Rust
An Audacious Business Leader
and Idealistic Thinker
Manzeera
Solutions
Passionate About Empowering
Businesses Through Data
Marne
Martin
An Accomplished Leader
Empowering Women to
Go to the Next Level
Sukhi
Jutla
Taking Jewellery Industry
to the New Heights
Neil
Laughton
Leading Bravely and
by Example
18 22 30
38
34
52
48
44

8. CONTENT
Senior Editor Alan Swann
Executive Editors Rohit Chaturvedi
Alex Spellman
DESIGN
Visualizer Dave Bates
Art & Design Director Kartik Balapurkar
Associate Designer Shubham Dali
SALES
Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S.
Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan
Sales Executives John, Kane, Maneesh
TECHNICAL
Technical Head Aditya K.
Technical Consultant Victor Collins
March, 2021
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11. Brief
Company Name
Nigel J. Green
CEO
Sukhi Jutla
Co-Founder
Kenneth Kee
CEO
Maninder Singh
MD
At Origin Integrated Studios (OIS), the team develops
innovative and creative software solutions for Malaysia and its
regions.
deVere Group is one of the world’s leading independent
financial advisory organisations, with more than $10bn under
advice from over 80,000 clients in 100 countries.
MarketOrders is an award-winning B2B platform that enables
independent retail jewellers to buy gold and diamond jewellery
directly and seamlessly from international suppliers.
Manzeera Solutions are an independent European based
business intelligence consultancy with years of experience
across enterprise data landscapes in numerous industries and
have extensive knowledge of best practice models as well as
the technologies across the field.
Jeff LoCastro
CEO
Nnener Analytics is a leader in computational social science
and the only social media analytics that delivers specific,
individual, risk outcomes in a 100% friction-less environment.
Neener Analytics
neeneranalytics.com
Origin Integrated Studios
originistudios.com
Manzeera Solutions
manzeerasolutions.co.uk
Anton Baranchuk
CEO
Founded in 2003, AnyChart is a global leader in Interactive
Data Visualization. Its solution has helped thousands of
satisfied customers increase revenues, reduce operational costs,
and better serve their customers.
AnyChart
anychart.com
Marne Martin
President
IFS Cloud is a single product that delivers class-leading
solutions across Service Management, Enterprise Resource
Planning and Enterprise Asset Management.
IFS
ifs.com
MarketOrders
marketorders.net
Lee Blasdale
MD
Hanson Lee helps build the teams, organisations and
productivity clients need to meet and exceed expectations.
Hanson Lee
hansonlee.com
deVere Group
devere-group.com
Leigh Rust
Founder
Safetyline Jalousie louvre windows are the most versatile,
highest performing and best value for money single glazed
louvre windows on the market.
Safetyline Jalousie
Louvre Windows
safetylinejalousie.com.au
Neil Laughton
Founder
Laughton & Co helps individuals and company’s create the best
strategies for growth & profitability, improve leadership &
management skills and develop happy & high performing
teams.
Laughton & Co
laughton.co
Featured Person

12. Nigel Green
Founder and CEO
deVere Group

13. Nigel
Green
COVER STORY
Being successful and the best
at what you do, brings both haters
and supporters. Some people appreciate
success, some people don’t.
“
“
Founder and CEO

14. W
ith this ideology and his insightful
perception of the contemporary world,
Green has built one of the world’s largest
independent financial advisory and fintech
organisations, made up of 97 legal entities around the
world. This fact says a lot about his perseverance and
his ‘roll up your sleeves’ leadership style.
A Gap that Led the Inception
After starting London’s financial services sector at a
young age on his father’s advice, Green had the
opportunity to go to Bermuda on a business trip. There,
he discovered that there was a gap in the market to give
sound financial planning advice tailored to the needs of
expatriates and international investors around the
world. This discovery led to the inception of deVere
Group.
Green set-up his first office in Hong Kong in 2002 and
has been growing and developing the company globally
ever since. The company does business in 100 countries
around the world and has more than $12bn under
advisement from some 100,000 clients. It specialises in
cross-border financial planning strategies for
expatriates, international and local mass affluent
investors.
A Hands-on Leader
It’s been said that Green is a very ‘hands-on’ leader,
speaking with people from all levels across the
company. He doesn’t believe in micro-managing as he
thinks that is a mistake. One should have the right
people in the right positions and be able to trust them
to carry out their roles in the best way possible.
However, Green is always available to guide and inspire
his people.
Green is involved in all the major decisions involving
deVere Group’s different entities and provides the
vision, the ‘direction of travel’ and the motivation. He
leads from the front and works side-by-side with the
teams to achieve the goals of the company.
“Knowledge is power-and
to be the best you can
possibly be, you need to
constantly learn even if
people think you are stupid
or foolish,” believes Nigel
Green, the Founder and
CEO of deVere Group.

15. Constantly Adapting and Improving
Every leader faces trying times, both internally and
externally, but the important thing is how he or she
responds to them. It becomes their responsibility to
find and implement solutions.
One of the main challenges Green faced when he
started in the industry was that he was young and
‘competing’ against older guys who had more
experience. However, he knuckled down, worked as
hard as he could, indeed harder than all of them, and
gained all the knowledge and skills in order to become
the most successful manager in the firm he was working
for.

16. Since then, another major challenge for Green has been
how to stay on top. In his experience, the best way to
maintain the industry’s number one - besides hard
work, commitment and expertise - is to consistently
adapt and improve. He mentions that this is a highly
competitive market, which is rapidly evolving in terms
of client expectations and regulatory requirements and
if you want to stay ahead, you’ve got to be constantly
looking at new ways of doing things and getting better
as you do so.
Green believes this is one of deVere’s greatest
strengths as a company.
Securing Long-term Financial Goals of Individuals and
Businesses
deVere’s clients tell the company that it’s its global
presence, strength and resources which feed into
having the industry’s top advisers, offering the widest
range of services - including a suite of fintech apps,
market-leading low-cost financial solutions, innovative
investments with specialist fund managers, insurance,
property, tax consultancy, mortgages and fx, amongst
others – and world-class governance and compliance
procedures.
All of this gives them peace of mind that they are on-
track to secure their long-term financial goals – which
typically include financial security and freedom for
themselves and their loved ones.
Inculcating a Hybrid Work Environment
When the pandemic first hit, deVere adapted quickly
and decisively. The company had a work from home
policy which worked remarkably well as they all pulled
together as a team. For example, teams in Australia
were training and motivating other teams in London,
guys in Geneva were supporting those in Hong Kong,
and vice versa, etc.
Green mentions that his employees managed to work
via Zoom – and still today a lot of its work continues to
be done by video conferencing. It also found that its
clients were more willing than ever to have meetings
via Zoom. Today, they seem to prefer it to face-to-face
meetings. The knock-on effect of this on the company is
that it can speak to more clients every day, helping
them reach their financial objectives, and its
productivity has risen.

17. Zoom and other technologies have helped deVere
enormously and now, wherever it is possible, it offers a
hybrid system where people can either work from its
Covid-secure cutting-edge offices, from home or a
combination of both.
Giving Back to Community
As a company, deVere uses its time, energy, and
resources to work with charities in the jurisdictions in
which it operates globally. The company is also
particularly focused on environmental, social and
governance agendas.
To this end, deVere has committed to providing free,
independent advice to its clients on socially responsible
investing. This is the first of many campaigns it is
planning to launch in 2021, with the aim of positioning
$1bn in environmental, social and governance (ESG)
investments within five years.
Delivering First-of-their-kind FinTech Solutions
According to Green, the financial services industry has
seen drastic technology-led changes over the last few
years. Fintech is reshaping and redefining the way in
which all financial services across the board are
delivered.
Not only was deVere Group the very first international
advisory firm to actively develop and promote fintech –
it remains the biggest and most successful fintech
provider in this space.
Not content to rest on its already impressive track
record in fintech, the company has an ever-growing
suite of innovative wealth tech products and services
that are frequently first-of-their-kind. Put simply, there
is no other firm that can come close to deVere in fintech
development, innovation and implementation – and the
company is only just getting started.
Words of Encouragement
In his advice to upcoming leaders to thrive in the
present-day cutthroat business ecosystem, Green
shares five things.
“First, never stop raising expectations about yourself and
your ambitions.”
“Second, don’t let negative people or criticism hold you
back.”
“Third, work on your communication skills.”
“Fourth, have a laser-like focus and don’t procrastinate.”
“And fifth, never stop learning and improving yourself and
your skillset.”
He believes that if every leader sticks to these
fundamentals, they can really maximise their full
potential in business by consistently being in a state of
peak performance when it matters most.
The most important thing in life is to remain true to your
values and never submit to the pressures and
expectation people place on you.
“
“

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20. AnyChart gives
you the power to
let data speak in
intuitive
visualizations,
driving better
decision making
and faster growth.
| March 2021 |
18
Anton Baranchuk
CEO and Co-founder
AnyChart

21. Anton Baranchuk
A Visionary Leader in Data Visualization Software Business
hat distinguishes visionary entrepreneurs is
Wthat in the end, their aspirations become a
reality. Eighteen years ago, while pursuing a
Ph.D. in Mathematics, Anton Baranchuk came up with
the idea of a universal solution for data visualization. To
develop it, he founded a startup called AnyChart which
was profitable from the very start. Nowadays, the
company leads the global market, counting AT&T, Citi,
Samsung, Volkswagen, Yahoo, and thousands of other
businesses worldwide among its customers.
A Universal Engine for Interactive Data Visualization
It all began with thoughts of making interactive data
visualization easily accessible through a sort of one-size-
fits-all technology to let developers represent any data
in any chart. Why is that important?
Technically, it may seem not too difficult to create
graphs and diagrams as there are various dedicated
tools here and there. In fact, that is only so when you
need to represent some certain data in a certain chart
type within a certain environment. But what if a
situation is not that simple and favorable?
For instance, when it comes to enterprise reporting
systems everything is much less straightforward. There,
you often have to deal with different sources and types
of data, as well as a huge variety of questions the
analysts are looking for answers to. At the same time, it
is critical to always provide a clear, explicit picture in
which data truly speaks revealing obscure trends and
patterns.
Making a “Swiss knife” for data visualization
development was the thrilling challenge AnyChart rose
to address.
A Novel Approach Turned into Inception
The year 2003 when AnyChart emerged was the time
of Adobe Flash — it was everywhere. Aiming to create a
universal charting solution, Anton and his teammates
realized that it was possible to extract data in the XML
format from literally any source and display it in the
form of a Flash chart.
This approach was fulfilled into a dedicated component
that very soon earned first users, from a bunch of small
websites to giants like Oracle, then 3M, Lockheed
Martin, and many others.
After the downfall of Flash as a universally used
environment several years ago, AnyChart added the
SVG support and then completely shifted to HTML5,
the backbone technology of the modern web.
A Powerful Feature-Rich JavaScript Charting Library
In a challenging transition from Flash to HTML5 in the
early 2010s, AnyChart built a JavaScript charting
library as the next versatile, universal data visualization
tool allowing developers to build charts seamlessly in
their stacks, with any kind of technologies and
databases.
Fundamentally, it is a single JS library for creating any
charts, out of any data in terms of source and format,
which are easily embeddable in any web, mobile, or
standalone project. To give each customer exactly what
they need, the company markets it as a family of
smaller, purpose-specific charting products:
Ÿ AnyChart for dozens of basic charts
Ÿ AnyGantt for project data visualizations such as
Gantt, resource, and PERT charts
Ÿ AnyStock for stock, financial, or any time-series
graphs
Ÿ AnyMap for geographic and seat maps
In 2018, AnyChart’s data visualization library was
named the Best Innovation in JavaScript Technology
and received a prestigious DEVIES award at the world’s
largest developer tech awards event at
DeveloperWeek in California.
| March 2021 |
19

22. Top Qlik Extensions
In 2019, AnyChart partnered with Qlik, a globally
leading platform for data analytics and business
intelligence. The alliance allowed AnyChart to engage
with an entirely new category of customers in addition
to web developers and software engineers — end-user
audience of data analysts and BI experts worldwide.
On top of its powerful JavaScript charting library,
AnyChart built intuitive extensions for Qlik Sense that
opened up multiple new charts and features to Qlik
users and therefore quickly became best-selling.
Leading Data Visualization Tools
In 2021, AnyChart is a recognized leader in interactive
data visualization whose solutions are used by
thousands of companies all over the world. From early-
stage startups to established leaders such as AT&T,
Bank of China, Bosch, BP, Citi, ExxonMobil, Ford,
General Electric, JPMorgan, Lockheed Martin, Merck,
Microsoft, Novartis, Reuters, Rolex, Samsung, Tencent,
UBS, Volkswagen, Yahoo, and many more.
In America where the company’s global HQ is located,
over three-fourth of the Fortune 1000 companies have
already chosen AnyChart to operate data visualization
in their apps and products, in this way getting better
insight into their business and improving data-driven
decision making to boost the overall performance.
There are also a number of governmental and
educational organizations among AnyChart’s
customers, including California State University,
Greater Manchester Police, International Business
School Groningen, Oxford e-Research Centre, China’s
Ministry of Land and Resources, Universidade do
Minho, University of Chicago, Utah Department of
Transportation, Women's Health America, WVU School
of Medicine, and many others.
Imparting Wisdom
When we asked Anton Baranchuk about the essential
traits that successful leaders should possess, he
emphasized openness in the widest sense — to
teammates, to customers, to new information, ideas,
and experiences. Then, he said, it is always necessary to
analyze what they have found out and think about how
that could be applied in what they are doing, and not
just for now but also — and maybe most importantly —
for later stages.
In addition, Anton stressed that in order to withstand
the complexities one should analyze the overall market
and think as many steps ahead as possible. He also
believes that a team of enthusiastic professionals is
what matters the most on the path to growing a
thriving business.
| March 2021 |
20

24. Jeff LoCastro
CEO/Founder
Neener Analytics
| March 2021 |
22

25. forever. " Neener Analytics is the leader in
computational social science and the only social media
analytics that delivers specific, individual, risk
outcomes in a 100% friction-less environment. It is the
Human-Data Science Company that delivers Small Data
Results, in a Big Data world.
Jeff’s grandfather was a serial entrepreneur, his father
was a serial entrepreneur, and his friends were serial
entrepreneurs. He often jokes that he never knew
anyone who had a “real” job. His first job was with an
entrepreneur. And he has just always asked “why?” and
“how?’ He never understood the idea of “you can’t do
that.” That notion got him into a lot of trouble as he was
Neener Analytics integrates cutting-edge
behavioral and personality science with
technology to deliver a unique solution to a
really big problem.
‘‘
O
nly innovation breaks the status quo to create
better and unique solutions to solve existing
problems. Some people are seemingly born
with an entrepreneurial sense while some people
acquire it over time. Jeff LoCastro is a serial
entrepreneur that was born to build things; addicted to
creating and building. He doesn’t know from where the
“addiction” came; he thinks that he was just born with it.
He has always been surrounded by people who were
doing that: building and creating. He is the
CEO/Founder of Neener Analytics. Jeff says, "I had no
idea I was being innovative. It just seemed obvious to me.
But what we are doing at Neener Analytics is so game-
changing, it fundamentally alters the analytics paradigm
Jeff LoCastro
Embarking on a Quest to Provide Unique Solutions
| March 2021 |
23

26. growing up! But he was supremely attracted to ideas
where he has been told it can’t be done.
Jeff has built a number of companies. Each one seems
different but, there was always a through-line. And that
through-line is really his story. In an interview with CIO
Look, Jeff LoCastro shares his story and about his
innovative contribution to providing transparent and
quantitative benefits to financial institutions.
Below are the highlights of the interview between CIO
Look and Jeff LoCastro:
Brief our audience on your professional journey, up to
your current leadership position.
I realized long ago that I love building things. And I
especially love shaking-the-frame, creating dots before
they become lines, and engaging in a daily assault on
conventional wisdom; embarking on a quest to
fundamentally rattle an industry, doing something
different, and build teams that share my vision; all in
the name of taking that which was just “okay” and
making it great.
Brief us about your company and its prominent
products/solutions/services that make you a preferred
choice over your competition.
There was always a lot of talk about “Big Data.” And
everybody cheered it. But big data is not a new concept.
It’s been around for a hundred years and it’s pretty
basic stuff. But most people don’t really know what it is.
Essentially, big data are aggregations or bins of
motivations, behaviors, or affinities. And everyone you
think that exhibits those motivations, behaviors, or
affinities get tossed into that bin. But what does it
mean? Well, you’re not really sure so you need more
aggregations and bins to toss people into. Basically, big
data is the practice of, “I don’t know you, but I know
people like you.” What a horrible way to make a
decision or form an opinion about someone!
In fairness, big data is a perfectly acceptable way to
make, for example, marketing decisions. But it is a
terrible way to understand authentic outcomes,
especially financial risk outcomes. Big data by its very
nature creates disparate impact. There had to be a
better way.
| March 2021 |
24

27. Before big data models, how did people make (accurate)
decisions about other individual human beings? How
did my grandfather get his first home loan back in
1940? He just walked into the bank, said he wanted a
home loan, and the banker said, Yes. I know you.” The
keywords are: I. Know. You. But how did he know? The
banker didn’t have a lifetime record of all my
grandfather’s transactions. And he didn’t have a
collection of his complete payment history. But he knew
my grandfather would pay him back. That banker knew
this based on the conversations and communications he
had with him over time. He knew this by having listened
to how my grandfather talked about the things in his
life: his words and his communications. Exactly what
human beings do with other human beings.
This is the innovation, except not using big data. This is
not sentiment analysis or Likes & Friends or Key words
or phrases. We have cracked the code on Small Data.
And Small Data = I know you.
If given a chance, what change would you bring about
in the ecosystem of your respective industry?
Well, I think we are bringing about change.
Fundamental change. If COVID-19 showed us anything
it was the massive weakness of big data models. The
future of decisioning is small data. And we are leading
that worldwide.
What would be your advice for the emerging and
aspiring business leaders?
I’ll give the same advice I always give: find something to
lead and lead it. Leadership can be practiced. Yes, some
people are innate leaders, and some people are just
better at it. But you will never know until you start
practicing it. Form a group, join a club, learn to organize.
Don’t wait for your job to deliver leadership to you. Do
it yourself. And be prepared to make mistakes.
What have you envisioned for yourself and your
company to sustain its market position in the future?
We are really pioneering the idea that the consumer is
their own data. And the consumer as their own source
of data is the future of all consumer engagement. We
are currently in 11 countries and I see us owning
specific market regions in the next 10 years. We’ve
already built out 2 product lines, each delivering 5
decisioning products. We have another line slated for
2021 and are on track for a new line each of the next 5-
years while continuing to expand our decisioning
capabilities.
We’ll have offices globally connecting banks, lenders,
insurance companies, real estate companies and others
with 4 billion currently invisible consumers globally.
| March 2021 |
25

30. RAGS
TO
RICHES
| March 2021 |
28

31. e often hear people saying, follow your heart,
Wbelieve in yourself, and lead from within, as
the outside world and the people of our
society have a lot of expectations from us. But, is it just
about to live up to their expectations or being
courageous enough to think outside the box and find
our own path? This is the real question a person needs
to ask himself/herself.
Few such leaders, who have gone the distance to make
the impossible possible, are Steve Jobs, Howard
Schultz, Larry Ellison, Samuel Walton, and more. What
sets them different from the rest is their gut and
intuition to rise in tough situations. Let’s look at their
leadership journey as they are the trendsetters of this
century.
The Spark Within
Steve Jobs – the greatest mind of modern history
struggled really hard to make ends meet. He did not
love education and was fascinated by computers at a
very young age. After dropping out of college he started
working at Atari – a video game manufacturing
company.
When he realized that it is his time to come up with his
own venture, he ran to investors. Eventually, Intel
agreed and Jobs was worth $1million at the age of 23.
In no time he was the youngest rich person crossing the
$100 million mark.
From Selling Magazines to working at waiting tables in
exchange for meals and milking the family cow –
Samuel Walton made it big from a small grocery shop
to founding the biggest supermarket - Walmart. He had
to do very odd jobs at his time to make financial ends
for himself and the family. He took a loan to fund his
business and within 3 years Walmart grew to $225,
000. Today Walmart holds 11, 500 stores approx., and
revenue of US$548.743 billion.
Similarly, Larry Ellison founded Oracle, even after
having an unsupportive family situation. Howard
Schultz grew up in a poor family as the son of a truck
driver. However, it did not stop him to become the CEO
of the coffee company – Starbucks.
Hence, looking at all their inspiring journeys, we realize
that we forget to look what’s inside us and what we are
capable of. To take advice is okay up to a certain point
but to trust your gut with a strong feeling is everything
that makes a true business leader.
The times are tough, it was tougher back then as well
for these leaders, as we learn that it is not about the
money to enter into entrepreneurship but about
surrounding yourself with confidence and backing your
abilities. Considering the opportunities with the
availability of technological tools the goal of becoming
a successful leader is very much possible today, and the
above inspirational stories will help you to achieve it.
Let’s Delve More into the Leadership Traits
Why only handful of companies make it to the top? The
answer is clear, that every successful company has a
successful leader at every level. Knowing the roles and
responsibilities and having the curiosity to learn helps
in taking those big decisions. Leadership comes along
with problem-solving ability and building a level of
trust, integrity, and reliability are also the key factors.
Business leaders who are open to innovation and
diversity in the culture strengthen the foundation of
any organization. As a leader, he/she has to be dynamic
and flexible in the approach. This helps both the leaders
and the organization to stay together in challenging
times.
Ultimately, it is the employees who play a crucial role in
the part of any company. By creating a culture of
opportunities and growth employees feel passionate
about their work and sets the environment of positivity
in the organization. Having a dynamic culture of
diversity and inclusion brings different strategies and
ideas into the team. Having a team of different
backgrounds shows how innovative you are in terms of
growing together and leading. That’s the quality which
stands out of a leader to lead and grow along with the
team members.
True Words
Every business leader has this inspiration within
him/her to grow at this level. They need to step up by
believing in themselves just like the above examples.
Being a business leader, it is natural to have the ability
to cultivate an understanding of bring the best out of
oneself.
Now that we know about the leadership internally and
externally, the important thing is to respond to it. It is
the main challenge as every leader has a different
approach to stay on top. Besides hard work and
commitment, adapting to the ongoing situation and
improving is expected from today’s business leader, and
of-course looking for new ways of leading and getting
better each day.
Opportunistic Approach
| March 2021 |
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32. Kenneth Kee
CEO
Origin Integrated Studios
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33. Kenneth Kee
Taking Hospital Operations Processes to the New Heights
Healthcare arena has witnessed a drastic
transformation after several innovations have
been taken place in the industry. Behind this
transformation is the contribution of many
organizations, who with their top-notch solutions have
streamlined various processes in the healthcare
industry. One such organization is Origin Integrated
studios, which helps healthcare providers by
transforming their healthcare facilities to be smarter
and more efficient in this digital age.
Origin Integrated Studios was incorporated 6 years ago
by a team of talented software developers with
Kenneth Kee as their CEO taking a role in business
development leading from first hospital customer to
now over twenty hospitals running its mission critical
HIS with EMR 24 x 7, 365 days.
A Proficient Leader
Kenneth started his career as a Business Executive with
a regional ICT company headquartered in Kuala
Lumpur. He brings 18 years of enriching experience to
the table. He has accumulated industry knowledge and
expertise in the field of pre-sales, account management,
sales, marketing and business development for
software solutions and services for Banking,
Healthcare, the Government and some cross industry
applications.
Digitalizing Hospital Operation Processes
Origin Integrated Studios specializes in Hospital
Information System (HIS) and Electronic Medical
Records (EMR). The company offers implementation
services that include business requirement study, data
preparation and migration, installation and setup
configuration, training, user acceptance test and trial
run, and technical support maintenance services after
system go live.
Origin’s goal is to help digitalizing hospital operation
processes by providing a platform for Digital
Transformation. Its business model is based on size of
the hospital in terms of number of beds ranging from
below 100 for small size and single disciplinary to multi-
disciplinary of ordinary setup of above 100 beds to
large setup of over 300 beds. The company is on a
mission to become a household name for EMR in the
Southeast Asia region.
The solution provided by Origin is customisable to
make it available as configuration in the system. With
its continuous R&D enhancement, overtime it has
developfeature rich and comprehensive solution
compared to our competitors where some of them do
not allow customisation or take in any good input of
enhancement requirements from customers.
Origin EMR integrates to major sub-systems available
in the market such as Laboratory Information System
(LIS), Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS),
Mobile Appointment System, Vital Signs monitoring
system, Early Warning Score (EWS) system, Drug
Database Decision Support System, Financial
Information System and many others. The company has
made its system interoperability among all new and
existing hospital systems for harnessing the purpose of
achieving full potential of EMR.
Pandemic Turned out as an Opportunity
As an ICT company supporting Origin’s healthcare
system for healthcare providers, the company has
approval to operate at 30% of its capacity, while the
rest are working from home (WFH) to stay safe. Over
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34. the past one year in the pandemic, Origin has learned to
implement projects both local and overseas using
better project management and communication tools
because most activities such as business requirement
study, data preparation, data migration, training, user
acceptance test can be conducted online. However, for
most GoLive of the system it has assigned resources for
the planned activities.
The pandemic turned as an opportunity for the
company, as more healthcare providers took this period
to change or upgrade their existing obsolete system
and adopt a newer with latest technology that includes
EMR. As compare to other industries, Origin has been
seeing growth in its sales revenue in this trouble times.
An Intent to Disrupt the Healthcare Ecosystem
Kenneth mentions that Origin is working on launching
an enterprise portal for all clinics to refer their patients
to their respective choice of hospitals. As the company
has large numbers of hospitals using its system that it
can integrate and share information, therefore it can
build an alliance within its customer network. At a later
stage, it will add in insurance claim, provide online
consultation as advisor, and all other permitted patient
information into this enterprise health record system.
Kenneth believes this will somehow disrupt the
ecosystem of the industry.
Expanding in Progress
Under the leadership of Kenneth, Origin is recognized
as the leading EMR solution provider with the largest
implemented market share for EMR in Malaysia having
three hospitals using its system in Indonesia. The
company has no doubt of it expanding beyond its home
country to the APAC region that has a market potential
of more than 3000 hospitals, within this decade from
2021 to 2030. There are many existing obsolete
systems that need replacement while there are many
emerging economies such as Vietnam and Philippines
that are prospering will then need the help of
implementing advanced HIS and EMR. Origin is on it.
A Take on Impactful Leadership
In the opinion of Kenneth, running a business is not
about making profit, revenue and immediate success; it
is more than that. Leaders must inculcate honey empire
philosophy, which is about building the business by
doing the right things and being nice to people. It is no
hate towards other people or businesses, and when the
opportunity comes where you can help people out by
doing it. He says, “As a leader, we need to be the figurehead
of the company running the business acting as if like a
media company producing regular ads images and write-up
materials of branding, useful information, knowledge
sharing dissemination, event and activities for blogs and
social media. Storytelling is one of them.”
Kenneth believes that every leader needs to have
patience in almost everything. One should have the
patience to sow the harvest after all the hard work the
company puts into with their strategic goals. It is a job
as a servant leader working for your team, leading with
empathy and weathering storms. He asserts, “What got
you to where you are today won't get you to where you
want to be tomorrow. If you want to continue to be
successful, you need to adopt a growth mindset that means
building a learning and coaching culture that draws upon
expertise from both inside and outside your organisation.”
In his advice to emerging leaders, he says “Don’t lose
focus on your goals you have set as nothing come easy, work
extra one percent harder and persevere until you achieve
your desire outcome and accomplish your goals.”
Set your path,
inching all the
way, because
destiny is in
your hand.
“
“
| March 2021 |
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36. ue to the constant change in business processes the
Dworld has transformed into a small global village;
a village in which there is a huge stream of
contentions and competitions between organizations. In this
scenario the most effective and beneficial practice for any
organization is to create innovative ways in conducting
business. This dissertation deals with the responsibility of
leadership in the phenomena of organizational change and
innovation. Leigh Rust is such an innovative leader who
drives his organization’s success by combining a modern
innovative approach with a visionary attitude.
Leigh Rust is the Co-founder and Director of Safetyline
Jalousie Louvre Windows. The company is the market
leader in producing high-quality performance louvre
window systems. He asserts “Our product is used in
various projects across the country, including classrooms,
multi-residential developments, sporting complexes, social
housing and correctional facilities.” He adds, one thing that
sets them apart from their competitors is that the company’s
products are built to last.
One of the company’s key strengths lies in the short time it
takes from providing a quote to being installed on the
project. “In some cases, we’ve been able to achieve this in
just three weeks,” says Leigh. As a company, Safetyline
Jalousie prides itself on its relationships with government
departments, architects, builders, and design managers. The
services are personalised, and the teams are informative,
accessible, and approachable.
In 2020, Leigh Rust was selected as the Sydney Young
Entrepreneur of the Year ‘Property & Construction’ and
Outstanding Leadership Awards: Finalist Australian Men in
Leadership.
Beginning as a Business Leader
From a young age, Leigh and his brother were exposed to
business, entrepreneurship, and development through their
father’s manufacturing company (Vergola). “I saw what our
dad was able to create and the strong work ethic he put into
everything he did. I knew I wanted that for myself,” says
Leigh.
After becoming a qualified mechanic, Leigh worked his
way up through the ranks at Vergola and after 10 years,
Leigh and his brother made the leap to launch their own
venture - establishing Safetyline Jalousie in 2010. In the
past decade, the company has grown from a small family
operation based in Sydney to a multi-million-dollar
company with offices in Queensland, Victoria and
Malaysia.
As an Australian-based company, Safetyline Jalousie is
proud to support local manufacturing, producing its high-
performance louvre window onshore to stimulate the
economy and create jobs.
Notes on Impactful Leadership
Leigh believes in an open door leadership style, with a flat
management structure. His idea of impactful leadership is
to lead by example and empower others. He established a
great culture at Safetyline Jalousie where everyone works
hard, gets along well and is passionate about what they are
An Audacious Business Leader
and Idealistic Thinker
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37. | March 2021 |
35

38. doing. He opines “I encourage my team to set their own
goals and objectives which they can take ownership of and
are accountable for - knowing that they have my support
along the way.” He adds, fostering this healthy and
collaborative team environment, where the staff feel valued
and comfortable bringing their ideas to the table, has always
been important.
Facing Pandemic Head-to-Head
Like every business owner, Covid posed a whole new level
of challenges that Leigh had not faced before. For the
company, Leigh is always looking to push forward and see
how it can grow, but with a lot that was out of control, it
was difficult to know what specific goals the team could
work to.
According to Leigh, the team knew it was going to be more
important than ever to maintain visibility, so they focused
their efforts on PR and lobbying the government after the
announcement of a $17.6 billion stimulus package designed
to support the construction industry. By meeting with
politicians and government representatives, Leigh made
sure they knew about what Safetyline Jalousie was doing,
allowing it to create mutually beneficial relationships
moving forward.
Needed Changes in the Industry
On industry development, Leigh believes one thing that
should change is to get more people to care about the things
that are not tangible and to want to purchase quality,
Australian-made, sustainable products. He finds that people
can be much more money-driven in his industry than they
are outcome-driven. Decisions are often made based on
what is going to be cheapest at that point in time without
much consideration of the long-term impacts.
In manufacturing, the idea of developing ‘sustainable’
products can often be thrown around as a buzzword;
however, getting more companies to actually care about
this, and work towards lowering emissions is so important.
Learn, Plan and Achieve
Leigh’s advice for the next generation of business leaders is
“work hard, be confident in your abilities and surround
yourself with people who inspire you and want to celebrate
your successes.” From his experience, he has learnt that
quick money does not last, so one needs to roll up their
| March 2021 |
36

39. Work hard, be confident in about your abilities and
surround yourself with people who inspire you and want to
celebrate your successes.
“ “
sleeves and do the hard yards. In the times that are tough
one draw upon resilience - this is something he has
developed through over a decade in entrepreneurship.
Today, in a work environment that is continually changing
it is essential to look for opportunities for learning, growth,
and development. Leigh adds, plan for future, be adaptive
and flexible. Consider long-term goals and write down all
the different tactics that will allow you to achieve them.
| March 2021 |
37

40. Maninder Singh,
Founder,
Manzeera Solutions
| March 2021 |
38

41. Manzeera Solutions
Passionate About Empowering Businesses Through Data
RP systems like SAP and Oracle are a crucial
Ecomponent in business intelligence landscapes.
Although it plays a vital role in an organization’s
data landscape, it is often difficult to extract data from
ERP systems to deliver insights swiftly. To solve these
challenges, Maninder Singh - Managing Director at
Manzeera Solutions bridges the gap between mission-
critical ERP systems & modern BI platforms.
Maninder Singh implements a flat organizational structure
at the company that helps to communicate the goals and
business objectives clearly to all staff members as it
ensures a clear understanding of their role in the delivery
of exceptional service to the clients.
As a Founder, Maninder Singh personally implements a
transformational leadership style. He interacts with all his
employees one-on-one and inspires them through
effective communication & collaboration, initiating the
path to success for the organization.
A Digital Transformational Pioneer
After more than 15 years of experience in the field of
business intelligence and advanced analytics, Maninder
Singh decided to go solo and found Manzeera Solutions, an
independent UK based consultancy focusing on bespoke
customer-orientated solutions & approaches.
Manzeera Solutions was inherently connected to
Maninder’s professional journey and his experiences in the
data and analytics space over numerous years.
Throughout his various roles, Maninder identified the
same problems that needed to be solved: enhanced
modernization and customization in the field of business
intelligence. This was important across the board, at small,
medium, and even large enterprise organizations. In light
of this, Manzeera specifically focuses on the challenges
faced by different organizations at the nexus of data,
business intelligence, and IT with its mission of ensuring
that clients reach their full potential.
An Experienced Consultancy Team
Founded in 2014, Manzeera Solutions is a UK based
consultancy specializing in business intelligence, artificial
intelligence, and advanced analytics. Manzeera Solutions
works on providing real-time analytics, combining ERP
extraction with the integration of unstructured data.
Manzeera’s operations revolve around its best practice
methodology the “ , a flagship model
Pentagon of BI Success”
of the consultancy, generated over many years of project
implementation experience.
This helps to guide clients on the right path to success.
This methodology provides unique 360-degree coverage
for the clients, enabling them to ensure both maximum
ROI and optimum adoption of any initiative.
This, along with other intellectual assets, make Manzeera
unique in the market. Manzeera Solutions is committed to
constantly reviewing the market and partnering with the
most innovative BI platforms & technologies to ensure
they can assist in the selection of the most appropriate
landscapes for their customers, providing best-in-class
solutions.
Solving Issues with Customer-Centric Approach
As a strong business leader, whether it is a small-scale
business or a large established organization, Maninder
Singh would want to change the way some businesses
operate in an unstructured manner and ensure all the
| March 2021 |
39

42. businesses stay customer-centric in their approach,
Customers define the success of any organization –
Manzeera’s success only follows after customer success
and this mantra ensures that it has the right client-centric
approach to all it does.
Furthermore, a holistic approach at Manzeera is what
makes the consultancy truly unique: innovative ERP
Extraction Frameworks such as GYD(Get Your Data)
providing data as a service are combined with customized
project management and business strategy to achieve the
highest ROI & create large-scale positive impact for an
organization. Sustainability, long-term results, and
customization where appropriate remain at the heart of
any service or solution provided by Manzeera.
Leadership Development Initiatives
On Leadership Mr. Singh’s intake is “Business leaders need
to appreciate, acknowledge, and be open to different
disciplines and cultures. This definitely helps any organization
to strengthen its foundations. Secondly, practicing core values
in day-to-day activities that truly reflect the collaborative
culture of the organization and maintain a healthy working
environment is key to success.
Additionally, dynamic business leaders should be highly
adaptable and flexible in their approach. This will help both
the leaders and the organizations in crafting strategy during
unprecedented situations like the covid-19 pandemic.
Finally, employees play a vital role in every organization and
therefore they are the most important asset. They play a
crucial role in determining the success of the business and I
strongly recommend valuing them, listening to them, and
showing compassion at all times”.
Making the Seemingly Impossible Possible
Manzeera Solutions is striving to keep its investments
aligned with changes in the industry & the requirements of
its clients, growing and shifting in line with the market.
Manzeera is creating a strategy to expand the business
geographically in a fast-growing market. The company is
specifically focusing on regions where the demand for
such innovative BI solutions is high, to stay competitive
and reach as many clients as possible to deliver services to
them, help them make better business decisions in this
fast-growing and changing era.
Undertaking Technology & Innovation
As technology is a fast-growing and fast-changing industry
with new solutions & tools emerging each day, one of the
major challenges is to stay focused on constant innovation
for its client-based solutions & to work closely with its
primary and secondary stakeholders throughout the
process. Whilst this is a challenge, this approach also has
its advantages, with it ensuring Manzeera Solutions
remains up to date and ahead of the curve with the latest
emerging technologies & trends.
Focused on Achieving Desired Outcomes
Manzeera Solutions is now focused on maximizing its
success by keeping the core characteristics of the
consultancy – its agility and dynamic nature as well as its
customer-centric approach. The growth of the
consultancy will be vitally linked to keeping up to date
with new & emerging trends and technologies at the same
time as keeping true to its identity and roots that make the
clients return customers through the company’s
approaches, work ethic, and result-driven nature.
Manzeera Solutions is looking forward to very exciting
times ahead, with the path to Manzeera Solutions’ most
fruitful year yet being paved in 2021.
Manzeera Solutions
provides up-to-date
technology while cutting
down deployment time,
optimizing efciency, and
drastically reducing long-
term costs for its clients.
“
“
| March 2021 |
40

44. The Trucking Industry
in the Century
21st
Ellen Voie
| March 2021 |
42

45. What is your initial reaction when you are
driving along a four-lane highway, and
there’s a tractor-trailer next to you? Do you
see smokestacks, diesel engines, and a massive machine
spewing fumes into the air? Are you afraid of sharing
the road with these massive vehicles?
If so, you need to move your perception into the 21st
century. No longer are the tractor-trailers of the past
even similar to what’s coming off the assembly line
today. The trucking industry has embraced technology
faster than many industries, but it’s not just about
efficiency; it’s also about safety.
Step into the cab of a semi-tractor, and you’ll be amazed
at the number of gauges, switches, and knobs. What
you don’t see is an oversized steering wheel and two
shifting gears connected to the floor.
In fact, the interior cab of today’s truck resembles your
car more than you realize. First, the truck has been
designed to be more ergonomically correct for all body
sizes, which means women are now more comfortable
in the driving seat than in the past. Look at the way the
dash slopes to accommodate the view out the
passenger’s side. Check out the pedals that are
adjustable to better accommodate husband and wife
teams when one is much taller than the other.
The creature comforts inside the cab include
refrigerators, microwaves, more closet space, and often
a porta-potty. Lighted cup holders and even 220 outlets
in the sleeper berth make it more like home.
What you might not have realized is how clean today’s
trucks operate. Due to EPA standards, many trucks
actually leave the air cleaner than when it went into the
engine. The addition of DEF, or diesel emission fluid, has
created much cleaner exhaust.
The EPA Smart Way program also provides guidelines
for fuel economy. From low rolling resistance tires to
aerodynamic hood shields, trailer skirts, wheel covers,
and “tails” on the back of the trailer, diesel fuel savings
in the range of ten percent or more can be realized.
Today’s trucks are also safer than your grandfather’s
rig. The opportunities are endless to provide
technology to reduce driver error by relying on these
devices. From personal safety to safety on the road,
there are more opportunities to make our roads safer
for all of us.
Lane departure warning equipment, anti-rollover
devices, side guards, and speed monitors are all
becoming common additions to today’s trucks. Some
carriers are now replacing mirrors with cameras, so the
driver has a better view of the space around the 53-
foot trailer.
Personal safety is also a concern. Instead of
experiencing worker’s comp claims from cranking
dollies or pulling the hood open to inspect the engine,
we now have devices that raise and lower the landing
gear with the push of a button. There is hydraulics that
opens the massive hood and even cameras the show
whether your kingpin has been secured or not.
Add to all these technological advances the promise of
autonomous trucks, and your tractor-trailer no longer
looks like a mass of smoke and diesel fumes.
The technology removes much of the physical strength
needed to operate a tractor-trailer in the past.This
allows us to attract and keep more women as well as
men who prefer a less physically demanding job. Even
the burden of loading and unloading the cargo has been
automated, and the responsibility has typically been
transferred to the shipper and receiver instead of the
driver.
The changes the industry is making will also help
address the need for more drivers. The jobs are
plentiful and offer a decent wage, but a shortage of
qualified professional drivers continues. The
advancements made in the area of technology not only
make the trucks and the roads safer; it makes the job
safer. Removing as much of the physical component
also helps attract a wider range applicants.
The trucking industry has adopted advanced
technology; not only to comply with government
regulations but to reduce its footprint on our ecological
resources as well as make the job much safer.
The next time you see a tractor-trailer alongside of you
on the highway, consider how technology has created a
new era of load delivery. These are not your
grandfather’s trucks today.
Leader’s Viewpoint
| March 2021 |
43

46. Marne
Martin
Effective leadership is all about empowering
others and creating a change for the better. To
lead that change requires courage to take risks,
persistence, and fearlessness. An embodiment of such
leadership is Marne Martin.
Embracing Challenges
Marne has been an exemplary leader, who leads by
example. Her corporate journey started at an early age
being involved in the family’s ranching, farming and real
estate endeavors. During her school years she also was
able to explore different jobs and interests in summer
internships knowing by the time she was 17 that she
wanted to pursue an international career. When she
was 21 coming out of undergraduate, she was looking
for opportunity and accountability, not a “copycat” job
in investment banking, finance or a big company as one
of tens of thousands. She also enjoyed living in London
and traveling, so desired opportunities where she could
see much more of the world.
Fortunately, she went to work for a successful and
entrepreneurial high net worth family that worked
across telecommunication, technology, life sciences,
and several other sectors with a great deal of contacts
in the business and investing space. In the eleven years
that she spent there, the company launched numerous
businesses with successful strategic exits and even an
IPO, and she moved up through the levels to be the
President of that company overseeing the investment
vehicles and operating companies by either being the
President / CEO or managing the overseas or divisional
CEOs of the individual businesses. Often opportunities
came because they were challenging or people didn’t
want to work overseas or accommodate the level of
travel and personal disruption needed.
The ability for her to have those experiences in her 20s
and early 30s was virtually unmatched and she made
the most of it while also getting her MBA. Expanding
and diversifying a long-standing family-owned business
in primarily the telco space, to include an IPO, moving
from operations in three countries to operations in 20,
was a worthy and interesting challenge during her mid-
30s, and took her to additional countries around the
world as part of the global expansion.
In 2013, Marne realized her ambition of being a CEO of
a public company at the age of 38. Often woman get
leadership positions in times of crisis when Boards
don’t have other opportunities. Research has shown
over and over that woman at her level have often above
average leadership skills, and it is when there is a so-
called “glass cliff” that a female leader is put in to save
it. Taking over a company that was already listed but
struggling to make the transition to SaaS and
consumption pricing models, modernize its software
portfolio, including launching a new mobile, artificial
intelligence based and new web portals, without any
significant injection of working capital, and getting it to
grow faster and with more profitability was certainly a
challenge, but a satisfying one to see the success. The 5
years there running a company operating in primarily
ten countries with enterprise grade customers and a
diverse software product portfolio was a successful
| March 2021 |
44

47. “In tech, we are more like coaches of an elite sports team than one might think
given the talent that we hire and cultivate is such a great differentiator to success.
While our touchdowns, goals or baskets are measured in different ways, we are
assembling our dream teams the same way any World Champion coach does, and
also need to manage that dream team to win at a rate ideally greater than the
competition. ”
Marne Mar n,
President
IFS Service Management
| March 2021 |
45

48. testing ground that eventually also resulted in a
successful go private.
By staying in the software industry, Marne joined IFS in
2018 as the President of IFS Service Management
Business Unit. This stride was moving to a larger
company that post a go private was looking to
accelerate growth and gain market share. IFS in 2018
was in a great position to take its focus on service
centric ERP, best of breed FSM and EAM, to accelerate
growth, which it has done following Darren Roos, the
CEO of IFS, joining from SAP.
In her role, and with the fabulous talent cultivated and
recruited in from the competition, IFS’ Service
Management Business Unit has generated significant
momentum, accelerating growth to 50% new license
sales in 2019, and in 2020, by more than 100% despite
COVID. Its leadership and customer peer insight scores
with Gartner continued to showcase IFS as the leader
in the service management space outpacing growth in
both best of breed and platform competitors. The
organization also closed one acquisition in Q4 2019 by
taking a company private from Nasdaq and bought
another market leader from its founder and
shareholders in Q4 2020.
Marne feels very fortunate to have interesting
opportunities in her life at the right time when she
needed them where she could be both successful and
challenged, “Challenges are part of life, they come in big or
little ways, and the only question is how one approaches, or
embraces, and overcomes them” she says.
A Take on Impactful Leadership
Marne’s idea of impactful leadership is built upon
inspiration, trust and respect that employees and
customers can rely on. In her opinion, leaders are by
their nature problem solvers and decisive, but to build
the levels of trust and respect, integrity and reliability
are also key. She believes that the most impactful
leaders are not those that sit back and lead apart from
their teams and the real-life challenges those teams are
facing, but those that are also able to teach and mentor
where needed.
According to Marne, recruiting, retaining and
cultivating talent is a key factor (the #1 factor in her
opinion beyond her own leadership journey) to a
leader’s success, but is also an ongoing challenge to
invest the time in that talent, especially as
organizations become larger. She always says that
genuine caring goes a long way. In her opinion, talent
that knows that their leaders believe in them are much
more productive, the same as positive cultures are
more productive.
Being an Inspiration for Women
Some may say being a woman in business is a challenge
in itself, but Marne has truthfully not found it so, albeit
she recognizes that growing up in a a rural
environment, playing sports, and generally being in
male dominated environments made that common
place long before her professional career. Hard work,
resiliency and courage are of course part of her, but she
has always found ways to differentiate herself and
| March 2021 |
46

49. contribute such that she doesn’t think her career would
have been any different if she was not a woman. That
being said, she cares very much about cultivating more
female leaders and hopefully being an inspiration for
women and girls that are looking for mentors,
motivation or confidence.
She advises aspiring female leaders to work hard, take
chances, learn from every experience, and believe in
their ability to be among the best in relevant or
aspirational roles – and reach out to woman that are
now in the workforce that most typically are very
willing to be mentors.
Embracing Digital Innovation
Moore’s law is as much about economics as it is about
technology. Pertaining to a similar thought, IFS is
looking to change some of the dynamics to drive return
on investment in digital transformation in tangible ways
that match with the bulk of our economic activity
globally being service revenues. IFS cares about
investing and using technology also in ways that drive
sustainability in our businesses, economies and lives as
an added differentiator. The way IFS utilizes economic
trends, puts technology to work to deliver impactful
Moments of Service to its customers and enabling
those Moments of Services to be the vehicle of growth
and retention for their customers, is how the company
positions itself the best.
Besides, Marne believes that investments in digital
transformation, and profiling internal and external
talent for their capability to drive and monetize digital
innovation, will continue to be key factors in the most
successful global companies. She mentions that having
the centricity or focus on IFS’s customer to provide
technology that enables their focus to be on their
customers, people and assets is a differentiator that will
continue to both drive success and innovation here at
IFS.
IFS wants to remove the historical pain points
customers have seen and believes that customers want
technology that enables their business, not that
constrains it. Being able to put technology and data to
work is what will continue to power the business
models that emerge in the future and be what the
digital dream teams deliver, opines Marne.
Diverse Talent is the Key
Diversity is always on the top of mind of Marne. She
asserts, “Our global customers are diverse, and so needs to
be our talent. It is very satisfying to me to get to know
people at all levels in our organization and from all cultures
to seek to be impactful to them. I continue to see and sense
that we are not finding the talent and the innovation
everywhere it could be due to organizational hierarchies,
socio-economic impediments, and also the speed and pace
of global innovation not allowing us to slow down and really
learn at times what matters most to our people – and
sometimes also our customers. Perhaps we need efforts like
Nvidian’s to be churning through innovative and
inspirational ideas that we can then monetize. We have a
lot of liquidity in tech, but it isn’t always deployed I expect
in ways that will be the most impactful when you look out
20 or 50 years. I have seen this myself that great ideas
didn’t become great companies because of a lack of talent
or a lack of capital. Fortunately, here at IFS we have both.”
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50. nnovative and impactful leadership is something
Ithat is hard to define, but you know it when you see
it. If a business leader can create a compelling and
inspirational picture of the future, whatever the
situation or circumstances, then they will be followed.
Neil Laughton’s personal style of leadership involves
trying to deliver on the above but also listening to other
people’s opinions, not asking anyone to do anything
that he would not do himself, and leading from the
front. Neil believes in the Latin Proverb: “Fortis fortuna
Adiavat” (Fortune favors the brave). He is the Founder
of Laughton & Co Ltd. Laughton & Co helps individuals
and companies in creating the best strategies for
growth and profitability, improving leadership and
management skills, and developing happy & high
performing teams.
Helping People to be Adventurous
After an underwhelming time at school, “Neil is trying
very hard but achieving very little” said one school
report. He managed to pass the selection process and
become a Royal Marine Commando Officer aged 19
and went on to serve as a Reservist with the Special Air
Service Regiment (Special Forces). On leaving the
military, he tried various employed jobs but kept failing
so decided to back himself and became a self-employed
salesman for hire. This led eventually him to forming a
commercial interiors business in London which grew
organically. After a 17-years journey, this business had
a T/O of £40 million and after delivering a high profile
£20 million project at Heathrow Airport, he took an
offer from a FTSE100 company and was made
redundant (but this time on his own terms!) Then he
decided to concentrate his efforts on helping people
and organisations be more adventurous and started
Laughton & Co.
.
Creating a Dynamic Team Culture
Laughton & Co. is an experiential training, development
and events business helping individual business leaders
and their people become more adventurous in their
outlook, strategies, and outcomes. It does this through
the principles of Discovery, Teamwork and Adventure.
By continuous learning, creating a dynamic team
culture and being adventurous, the company helps its
clients achieve better outcomes than they could
Neil Laughton
Founder
Laughton & Co Ltd
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51. Neil Laughton
possibly have imagined themselves. Laughton & Co
offers several innovative senior leadership peer group
programs, developmental training courses, and unique
adventurous retreats in inspirational locations both at
home and abroad.
Communicating with All Clients
Being very much an in-person events business, the
current pandemic has greatly impacted Laughton &
Co’s normal activities. Regular group meetings have
had to be cancelled, training courses postponed, and
adventurous business retreats delayed. However, the
company has reverted to even more outdoor events,
kept communicating with all its clients online, and used
the extra time to design new training programs and
initiatives for when the situation improves. An example
would be its brand-new experiential leadership
program called "Commando Culture” - a (Royal Marine)
Commando Methodology for Winning.
Collaborating with Complementary Practitioners
The learning and development / life & business
coaching industry has long been a crowded market and
quite a fragmented one with millions of solo
practitioners. It is pretty hit and miss whether a client
will get value from just one person. There is not a single
program that is run at Laughton & Co that does not
involve at least one leadership associate helping Neil in
the delivery. For example, The Inspiration Programme,
the company’s flagship adventure retreats offering at
inspiring locations around the world is run by three
independent Associates. So, Neil tries to encourage
more independent coaches, trainers and advisors to
collaborate more often for the benefit of their clients.
Encouraging More Inspirational Leaders
Neil firstly advises aspiring business leaders to let them
know that every successful and sustainable
organization must have inspirational leaders at every
level. It is generally no-good relying on just one or a
handful of effective leaders, so Neil encourages aspiring
business leaders to step up! Second suggestion Neil
gives to them is to do their homework. He believes that
not many business leaders can jump into leadership
roles effectively without any formal training, close
mentoring, or on-the-job practical experiences. He
suggests knowing the roles and responsibilities of a
Company Director, to ask lots of questions and not be
afraid to seek advice from an experienced mentor
before making those big decisions.
Working on Principle of Honest Feedback
Laughton & Co works on the principle of honest
feedback at every opportunity in order that the
company can continue to improve its services and to
offer the best training, support and advice. Their clients
are then inspired and encouraged to give referrals - the
most effective and inexpensive form of client
acquisition. With this open, transparent and authentic
approach to their work, the Laughton & Co team can
concentrate of delivering great value, with the freedom
to innovate and to enjoy what they do every day.
Leading Bravely and by Example
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52. Laughton & Co Ltd helps
individuals and businesses
develop their powers of
Discovery, Teamwork and
Adventure to become more
inspirational leaders and
develop high performing
teams.
‘‘
Neil is recognized for his exemplary leadership. Below are the few highlights from that:
2005 - Ness Award for Leadership of Expeditions; The Royal Geographical Society
2009 - You did WHAT? Award for the Skycar Expedition; Wanderlust Travel Awards
2016 - Business Personality of the Year; Brighton & Hove Independent Business Awards
2016 - Entrepreneur of the Year; The Sussex Business Awards
2018 - The Highest Dinner Party, Mt Everest; Guinness World Records
2019 - Top 30 Inspiring UK Entrepreneurs; Business Leader Magazine
2019 - Three Penny Farthing speed / distance records; Guinness World Records
2020 - Most Inspirational Leadership Development Consultancy, England; Global Business Awards
2020 - Best in Leadership Development and Coaching Solutions, UK; Business Elite Awards
Recognized Leadership
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54. Sukhi
Jutla
Taking Jewellery Industry to the New Heights
Sukhi Jutla
COO and Co-founder
MarketOrders
Image Credit- Fold London
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52

55. I
t was a calling to make a valid contribution to the
business world that led Sukhi Jutla to leave her
corporate life and become an entrepreneur.
Upon securing a highly sought out graduate position
with a top US investment bank, within a few weeks
Sukhi Jutla knew it wasn't the place for her. She found
she didn't actually enjoy working for banks. This then
led her into management consulting which she enjoyed
much more and after 5 years she set up her own
financial consultancy company.
After a few years Sukhi decided she wanted to leave
banking altogether and work on something that
allowed her to use more creativity and have a greater
sense of freedom over her lifestyle. She also became
quite disillusioned with the corporate way of life. She
found the 9-5 grind boring and stale. She also
discovered the bigger the organisation, the slower they
are to adapt to changes and make changes and this
frustrated her. She wanted to do more than just wake
up and go work and come home. She actually wanted to
enjoy her work and feel like she was making a valid
contribution.
During her time on the corporate ladder, Sukhi tinkered
around with multiple different business ideas that she
worked on during her lunch breaks, after work and on
the weekends. That's where her entrepreneurial streak
started to show up.
During this time, Sukhi wrote and published three
books (using her lunch breaks to write the first draft!),
re-trained as a life coach and started two other
ventures in the jewellery space before settling onto
MarketOrders; so, it has been a nonlinear journey to
get to where she is today. That is how she came to being
an entrepreneur today as the COO and Co-founder of
MarketOrders.
Besides, Sukhi has been an award-winning
entrepreneur for her proactive approach towards
business. She is named as Top 100 European Digital
Pioneer, Top 100 Woman in Tech, and '35 Women
under 35' to look out for, to name a few.
An Award-winning B2B platform
MarketOrders is an online global marketplace for the
gold and diamond jewellery trade industry using new
technologies to bring transparency, speed and trust to
supply chain processes. The company is developing a
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56. blockchain-based marketplace and provenance chain,
specifically focused on helping retailers source the gold
products they need more efficiently and at better
prices, turning the traditional gold jewellery supply
chain model upside down by digitising every element of
the customer journey.
For the first time, retailers can order, pay and have their
items delivered securely online. Over 90% of small,
independent jewellers have limited or no online
presence and less than 5% of the major suppliers have
online capabilities that allow their customers to order,
purchase and track products. The industry is old
fashioned and lagging.
Most retailers wait for a wholesale salesperson or
distributor to visit them in store, in order to see the
product range and place an order. Digitising every
aspect of this supply chain creates scalable efficiencies
through the entire operational process. MarketOrders
provides an online and seamless end-to-end
transaction process for all retailers, suppliers and
manufacturers.
Leading a New Dawn for the Jewellery Industry
The changes MarketOrders is bringing about in its
industry is helping the jewellery trade to buy the
products they need with trust and confidence online.
The company wants to bring this industry online as it
has been slow to adapt to digital transformation and it
hopes its digital first approach will help to lead to a new
dawn for the industry.
Having a Solution-focused Mindset
Sukhi loves that her every day is a new challenge. She
learns something every day. She finds the tech
development equally exciting and the way her company
is disrupting an outdated industry. The difficult part is
that when running a business there will always be
things one would come across one has not faced before
so he or she needs to be good at making quality
decisions fast and troubleshooting most of the time.
Sukhi is of the opinion that it's vital to have a solution-
focused mindset and this is what will help her company
to sustain and expand its market share in the future.
A Take on Leadership
According to Sukhi, impactful leadership is about being
inclusive and leading from within. She believes good
leaders must practise what they preach and do what
they say. They are the primary example setters in the
company so it must start with being the employee you
want to recruit to your company.
Secondly, leaders should have the ability to cultivate an
understanding that their team are all on different levels
of understanding and motivation so having to really
understand what motivates each employee and being
able to provide that for them. Most people see
leadership as the person standing at the front giving
orders but what Sukhi learnt was that true leadership is
about being at the back and observing and most
importantly, listening.
She advises emerging leaders to lead with their gut and
intuition. She asserts, “Too often we can look outside of us
for advice and mentorship - which is OK up to a certain
point. So, don't be afraid to make tough decisions and to
trust your gut when you have a strong feeling about
something.”
We use technology to bring
transparency, speed and trust
to the jewellery industry,
putting the retailers' interests
at the heart of our business
and vision.
“
Image Credit- Startup Van
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