This edition features a few innovative business leaders that continually push the boundaries in their company's best interests.
Read More: https://www.insightssuccess.com/the-10-most-innovative-business-leaders-to-follow-in-2022-april2022/
4. Innovative
Leaders,
Innovative
Businesses
nnovation is synonymous with creativity, as free-
Iflowing creativity involves a great deal of risk-taking.
An innovative leader has high-risk tolerance,
considering every possible outcome to make well-
researched bets to do the best for the employees and the
organization. A capable leader has every aspect of the
organization covered in their plan, adapting a 360-degree in
every decision. All the risks are taken based on employee
appetites for pushing their limits and experimenting beyond
the usual areas of interest.
Technology orientation among several industries is
advancing rapidly. With the introduction of the metaverse
and web 3, companies have a surge of technical experts and
employees. It is necessary to have the required domain
expertise to communicate effectively with the team, radiate
a unified vision, and gel the organization into an effective
group. With sound knowledge of the processes, Leaders can
head the company towards a better future.
Innovative leaders go a step further, having an in-depth
understanding of all company departments. Only with the
knowledge of the existing process can leaders think of new
ideas and innovations. Most of the disruptive changes in the
technological world are brought about when a small
problem is identified and fixed. Most of these minor
problems are hard to spot for general employees. It requires
attention to small detail in the eyes of a leader to identify
these minor problems and, more importantly, work on them
in favor of the company. The ability to notice things that
may have gone unaccounted for will help innovative leaders
make accurate assessments and determine the best solution
to a problem.
A recent trend has seen that maximum innovative leaders
have one trait in common- confidence in their team. Once
Editor’s Desk
5. the leader has gained confidence in the team, a free
hand is given to the employees to experiment and try
out new ideas. A leader asserts confidence in the
team so that the team feels encouraged to take risks,
go away from the track and come out with
distinguished results. This confidence may not pay
out every time but will pave the way for trust-
building, and the few jackpots will make it up for
failed attempts. A confident leader, employees, and
teams are the pillars of an innovative environment.
A good result requires good efforts. Leaders are
spending more and more on R&D departments so
that the best facilities are provided to researchers to
make innovative inventions and ground-breaking
processes. An innovative leader knows the value of
an advanced R&D department as much as an
innovative employee and pushes the boundaries in
the company's best interests. With the support of his
staff and machinery, a leader can create the best
innovative products and services.
Thus, Insights Success embarked on a voyage to find
such leaders in this edition of "The 10 Most
Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2022."
While flipping through pages, have a quick rundown
of the articles written by our in-house editorial team.
Happy reading!
Raunak Mhetre
Raunak
raunak.mhetre@insightssuccess.com
7. 16 JOHN CUSHING
Accelerating Decision Making
with Data and Technology
32 MIRNA SLEIMAN
Impacting Lives by
Bringing Financial Inclusion
contents
36
PAUL GUENTHER
Leading with Inventiveness
24
LEIGH RUST
Passionate About Personal
Development and Constant Learning
9. Brief
Company Name
HTG Peer Groups
htgpeergroups.com
Arlin Sorensen
CEO
HTG Peer Groups’ vision is to connect leaders by fostering
authentic relationships and opportunities for sharing.
Leigh Rust
Founder & Director
Safetyline Jalousie
Louvre Windows
safetylinejalousie.com.au
Safetyline Jalousie louvre windows are the most versatile,
highest performing and best value for money single glazed
louvre windows on the market.
Jon Winsett
CEO
NPI
npifinancial.com
NPI is an IT procurement advisory services company.
SpringTide
springtide
procurement.com
Mike Utting
CEO
Springtide focus on changing attitudes towards procurement
and go beyond cost savings to deliver enduring value across
whole organisations.
Mirna Sleiman
CEO
Fintech Galaxy
fintech-galaxy.com
Fintech Galaxy is an Open Finance platform that fuels
innovation and seamless integration in financial services.
David Kelly
CEO
KPS
kpslife.com
KPS deliver functional services through a progressive model -
one that taps the best clinical ops professionals in the industry,
supports them to do their best work, deploys state-of-the-art
technologies, and enables full system integration with
Sponsors.
Daniel Wilson
CEO
Entegra Europe
entegraps.eu
Entegra Europe is a margin enhancement business supporting
the hospitality and catering industries across Europe.
Paul Guenther
CEO
Knowledge Hub Media
knowledge
hubmedia.com
Knowledge Hub Media has been a leader in delivering tech
news, expert opinions, and the newest and most relevant white
papers, webinars and case studies across all industry verticals.
John Cushing
CEO
mnAI aim to reduce the time it takes investors, companies and
individuals to identify, and then understand an industry,
business or directors and shareholders from months to minutes.
mnAI
mnai.tech
Featured Person
Virtuzone
www.vz.ae
Neil Petch
Chairman & Co-founder
Virtuzone provides a one-stop-shop solution for entrepreneurs
who want to start a business in the UAE and for international
companies looking to establish their presence here.
11. Neil Petch
Transforming Businesses with
Trust-Based Leadership
C O V E R S T O R Y
The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2022
If you are an entrepreneur,
you are going to be looking
atyour phone at 3:00 in the
morning. So do something
thatyou love. Focus onwhat
you are really good at.
Neil Petch
Transforming Businesses with
Trust-Based Leadership
12. W
hen entrepreneurs hit the wheel in the
right place and time, they drive
businesses with innovation and
resilience. Starting from incorporating
value-based work culture to inculcating
trust within the workforce, business leaders yield fruitful
results for organizations. One such visionary leader is Neil
Petch, who founded Virtuzone to facilitate company setups
in Dubai and UAE with a vision of transforming businesses
through visionary leadership skills.
Embarking on his entrepreneurial journey, Neil faced
multiple challenges turning every obstacle into a business
opportunity. He launched a radio station, newspaper, and
publishing company called ITP that grew up to 70
magazines and 600 people in his early career. Neil realized
media's potential in driving any business likely to be
profitable. As per Neil, one may be an expert at a given skill
or a phenomenal workflow, but multiple factors are at play,
including the ability to market to people.
Overcoming Challenges
Inspired by his best friend's experience setting up an
outdoor advertising company in Dubai, Neil realized a need
to provide quasi-governmental services to entrepreneurs
willing to establish a business in Dubai and UAE.
Neil shares, "He wanted to set up an outdoor advertising
company but encountered many stumbling blocks along the
way. He couldn't get a hot desk, and it was challenging to
communicate with the free zone he wanted to set up in.
That's when he realized there's an opportunity in this
market and shared this idea with me."
They established Virtuzone with a universal name that
people could easily associate with. He says, "Back then, we
were competing against Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah,
and Fujairah, names that are, to the non-Arab speaker, a
little foreign. We deliberately wanted to be approachable
and modern."
While in Dubai, Neil observed that the decision-makers for
most businesses were based in Europe. It was challenging
to convey to people about the business opportunities
through a remote mode of communication. Another
challenge was building his team. He says, "You need
someone in your team who says 'Yes, we can do it!' and
believes 100% that it's possible, but you also need someone
who thinks about the implications and ramifications."
At Virtuzone, Neil assists businesses with company setups
in Dubai and UAE, taking care of all the red tapes involved
in the UAE free zone and mainland company setup process.
Being 13 years in the business, Virtuzone was able to
compete and maintain a strong position in the market due to
its three essential pillars- brilliant processes, excellent
customer service, and fantastic marketing. Talking about the
company philosophy, Neil notes, "What we seek as an
entrepreneur is an ambitious person with a vision. If we
don't conform to ourselves, we wouldn't understand them.
I'd like to think that Virtuzone is created in the image of our
customers."
On a Mission to Nurture Entrepreneurial Spirit
Neil is committed to enabling entrepreneurs to conduct their
businesses safely, efficiently, and in a conducive
environment to succeed. He puts, "When you're in outer
space looking down on Earth, you don't see borders. You
don't see a point where you have to hand in your passport,
and that is what we want to achieve. Yet at the very center
of that world, we believe that there's an opportunity for the
UAE to be the startup capital of the world."
Neil understands that entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of the
global economy, and Virtuzone's job is to make sure that
anyone who is an entrepreneur will have an effortless
experience setting up their business. With about 60 different
jurisdictions that one can use in the UAE, having its pros
and cons. He asserts, "It falls upon Virtuzone to hold the
hand of the entrepreneur, save them time and money, and
make sure that they get it right the first time because there's
Make mistakes
and learn from
your mistakes.
13. nothing worse than embarking on a journey, going the
wrong way, and having to do a U-turn after six months."
Neil emphasizes solving challenges and providing a safe
passage for businesses willing to set up a company in
Dubai.
Envisioning Future
Neil envisions scouting for the hurdles faced by
entrepreneurs and working to mitigate them. "You want to
keep it as easy as possible for people to set up, to live in the
country, and to have a working company. Which means they
need a bank account. They need a telephone. They need a
business address. It's not just about giving them a license.
It's making sure that they can conduct their business,"
expresses Neil. While businesses grow with fewer hurdles
and high efficiency, Neil is making a significant impact in
facilitating company setup.
Virtuzone has started investing in select startups, such as
Hotdesk. It also joined BY Venture Partners' USD 50
million venture capital fund to support early-stage
technology startups in the MENA region and globally.
Speaking about the future goals for the company, Neil
marks, "We want Virtuzone to be synonymous with
entrepreneurship and startup success. You may have heard
that the UAE is aspiring to be home to 20 unicorns in the
next decade. As we have always aimed to align our goals
with the government's vision, we also seek to enable and
nurture these startups and their founders and help them
achieve regional and global success.”
14. Making an Impact
Being at the helm of transforming businesses through
company setup support service, Neil works with 400 to 500
companies every month.
He mentions, "Virtuzone is just the catalyst. We are the
thing that makes it easier for someone from London or
Canada to run their global business from Dubai. I want us
to champion that, and I'd love to go out there, to the rest of
the world, and tell them why they should be here."
Impactful Leadership
Neil is focused on trust-based leadership with an approach
of a business catalyst. He mentions that one thing that
makes leadership have an impact is trust. Over the years,
Neil has continuously been invested in his people's
professional and personal well-being.
He mentions that, during Covid, the company had to take
care of 110 people with probably 90 families. Every one of
110 staff members viewed that as a common challenge,
rather than being forced to opposite ends of the room being
like managers and employees. That's when Neil learned that
the investment he had made in gaining everyone's trust had
paid off.
Talking about team building, Neil suggests recruiting
people with strength in areas you don't. He adds, "One of
the things about leadership is to be confident and not feel
threatened. If you find a peer who does well and your first
thoughts are that you're happy for them, then I would say
that's a good sign that you can go on to bigger and better
things in the future."
Driving Businesses with a Positive Work-Culture
Neil has focused on establishing trust within his employees
as a team-building effort and expects his workforce to push
themselves beyond their comfort. He puts, "We have come
to a point where we can say to our staff, 'We want you to
make mistakes.' If you're not making mistakes, you're not
pushing yourself hard enough."
Don't take
shortcuts.
15. Being committed to practicing
innovation, Neil feels fortunate for
thousands of supportive customers
that enable him to start pushing at the
envelope. He believes in making the
process more automated to help
something happen a little bit faster,
driving tiny margins to do huge
businesses.
Speeding Up with Technology
Automating company workflows has
become an essential factor since the
pandemic. Neil tries to anticipate his
customers' challenges and develop
corresponding solutions accordingly.
When face-to-face meetings were
restricted during the pandemic, he had
partnered with trusted service
providers who helped him facilitate
remote company setup for his clients.
Neil can even help his clients start
their bank account opening process
online.
Talking about leveraging
technological advancement to make
services resourceful, Neil says, "We
always review and scrutinize our internal processes, adopt
the latest software and systems, and continually increase
our efficiencies and the quality of our customer service. The
better and the faster we can serve our customers, the more
we make entrepreneurship accessible."
A Step towards Kindness
Neil advises budding entrepreneurs, whether they be 18 or
60, it's never too late, and it's never too early. He says,
"First thing is, the best financial decision you can make is
not to jump into something underprepared. Do your
research, speak to your network. Do not be afraid to ask for
help from your family and friends. Ask them to tell you the
truth; ask them to play devil's advocate to your idea."
"If you do that research, then one of the things it is going to
show you is the benefits of starting a company in Dubai.
And when you finally take the leap, make sure that an
organization like Virtuzone can guide you through it and
can help you."
"If you are an entrepreneur, you're going to be looking at
your phone at 3:00 in the morning. So do something that
you love. Focus on what you're good at. And as I say, look
to recruit colleagues in areas where you are weak.
"Finally, stepping outside of what we've been taught
forever. Re-evaluate the rules. Find out which ones work for
you and find out which ones you can rethink and reinvent,"
Neil concludes.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34. Mirna Sleiman
Impacting Lives by Bringing Financial Inclusion
G
reat business leaders have to adapt to different
styles and attributes of leadership based on the
different circumstances they face. However, the
one aspect of leadership that never changes is the ability to
lead from the front by taking responsibility. Today, leaders
are driven by innovation and passion to create positive
impact through their talents, skills, and abilities. One such
innovative and passionate leader is Mirna Sleiman. Mirna
is the Founder and CEO of Fintech Galaxy, the MENA
region's open finance and innovation platform. She is
advising governments and financial institutions on digital
transformation programs. She has more than 15 years of
experience in innovation programs, government affairs,
investor relations, journalism, strategic digital
communications, and global partnerships.
Delivering Inclusive Financial Services
Fintech Galaxy was founded in the United Arab Emirates in
2018 as a regional platform. From day one Mirna’s focus
was to use the Fintech Galaxy brand as an enabler of
innovation, so she had the dual responsibility of creating a
platform and a space for the industry to come together, and
the everyday job of building its own brand and developing a
scalable business. It was clear to Mirna before she founded
Fintech Galaxy that moving the needle on financial
inclusion was critical for Arab world. There was also a need
to connect global fintechs with a regional open finance
platform that includes an API sandbox, a fintech
marketplace, and enables cross-border open innovation.
These important objectives, which ultimately are all about
creating a future that delivers inclusive financial services,
serve as a long-term guide and they underpin much of what
Mirna does day-to-day.
Facilitating Integration of Financial Institutions and
Fintech Companies
Fintech Galaxy fuels innovation in financial services, drives
ecosystem collaboration and facilitates integration between
financial institutions and fintech companies. From scouting
to deployment, Fintech Galaxy aims to build future of
financial services across the 22 Arab countries. The Fintech
Galaxy Open Banking API sandbox enables development,
testing and deployment of fintech solutions, offers a
marketplace that connects institutions to thousands of
fintechs from across the globe, and delivers matchmaking
and crowdsourcing capabilities that solve customer pain
points, ultimately spurring disruptive and transformative
innovation across the financial services industry.
Fintech Galaxy is a regional
platform that fuels innovation in
financial services, drives
ecosystem collaboration and
facilitates integration between
financial institutions and fintech
companies.
‘‘
‘‘
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The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2022
36. colleagues. When Mirna hires somebody, she looks for the
personality and the attitude, the right skills, and the right
outlook: a can-do, passionate, and ambitious individual. She
then wants to provide them with the most positive, can-do,
enabling environment within which to succeed. She
believes in having an open-door policy and a fearless
culture that says, ‘never be afraid to ask, to question, or do’.
Embracing New ways of Doing Things
According to Mirna, the key to sustainability is innovation
and passion. She never loses sight of why she founded
Fintech Galaxy: to impact lives and bring financial
inclusion to the Arab World. To achieve this, she stays
grounded and accessible by listening, learning, and
watching as much as she talks and does. This reflects
having an open mind to collaborate with industry partners,
work with regulators, and understand the needs of the
startup community. Embracing new ways of doing things is
what Mirna preaches, and as leaders it is of utmost
importance that we practice it too.
Being Open to Learn
In her advice to emerging CEOs, she says, “Don’t be afraid
to put yourself out there. Find your voice, build your niche,
and get noticed. This is not about ego, but about finding
your place within the industry so that you can navigate
towards the right people and ideas. In ‘normal’times, I
would work hard to attend panel discussions, speak at
forums, and share ideas and experiences with my peers.
That’s incredibly useful because there is always somebody
else out there with a new perspective to learn from. The
beauty of the digital economy is we can now do all of this –
and more frequently – through webinars and other online
forums.”
Accelerating Move to Cloud-based Innovation
Mirna opines that the pandemic has clearly contributed to
the acceleration of digital transformation across every
conceivable industry, and the way that organizations
interact with consumers. The move to Cloud, which was
already well on its way, is expedited, thanks to the
emergence of myriad new AI-powered solutions and
services. AI is now better understood by more people,
thanks to the behavior shifts we have witnessed as a result
of the pandemic.
Whereas before Covid-19, many people were aware of AI
and its connection to 4IR possibilities, but now market is in
a place where businesses – particularly service providers –
have been forced through circumstance to understand what
it delivers, and in some ways forced to sharply focus on
what these technologies are and how they improve what
they do.
The reality is that cloud-based platforms are a no-brainer in
a post pandemic environment. Open finance platforms, in
particular, offer a level of connectivity and immediacy that
was impossible a few years ago. Businesses can pick up
innovations, adapt them, trial new approaches, and launch
new products and services faster and with more precision
than ever before. Businesses have a duty to engage with
new cloud-based innovation platforms fully and
competently to futureproof what they do and serve their
customers well.
Providing the Enabling Work Environment
About work culture, Mirna believes that if businesses don’t
have a positive work culture they don’t have positive
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April 2022
37.
38. Paul Guenther
LEADING WITH INVENTIVENESS
The great entrepreneurs are driven by core
confidence and competence. They are not fearful of
pressure. They actually crave pressure and thrive
under it. They exhibit courage and grace even under
pressure. They understand the importance of fairness and
always maintain a level playing field. They demonstrate
logical and efficient decision making. They think
deliberately and act on conclusion of logical thought. They
don’t let emotions cloud their judgement or drive their
decisions. They are rational and practical in their decisions.
The great leaders demonstrate total accountability and
possess an unwillingness to make excuses for their
shortcomings. They know how to get job done. They seize
opportunities and make them count. They don’t recognize
failure. They know there are other ways to achieve their
intended result. They find one of those ways with their
inventiveness. One such practical and inventive
entrepreneur is Paul Guenther. He is the CEO of
Knowledge Hub Media, a company that helps business
professionals by providing useful insight and analysis on
the most current topics within their industry, and across
multiple job functions, including IT, marketing, finance,
human resources, mobility, operations, sales and more.
Minimizing Mistakes and Maximizing Efficiencies
The most of what has always driven Paul comes from a few
different things. First, complete financial independence for
himself and those who work for him. Second, total
accountability. Third, an unwillingness to make or accept
excuses.
Paul holds himself and everyone else to the same standard.
He recognizes that nobody is perfect and everyone is going
to make mistakes, but the idea is to minimize mistakes and
increase overall efficiencies. A lot of this happens naturally
when everyone understands a culture of accountability.
When a question needs to be answered or a problem needs
to be fixed. It doesn’t really matter “why.” What matters is
to attend it, and that Paul believes in doing that efficiently
and effectively.
Delivering Engagement Opportunities for Clients
The offerings of Knowledge Hub Media are diverse by their
very nature. Its core competencies fall in the areas or
demand generation and content syndication. It offers
multiple engagement opportunities for its clients to
effectively reach their target audience(s) through high
impact online advertising, content syndication and demand
generation programs. It promotes its clients’ white papers
and webinars to generate and deliver highly targeted, highly
qualified B2B sales leads. As each of its clients have
different products, solutions, and services, they target
different segments of people (and companies). Its offerings
are customized, fully tailored to target folks within the right
job roles – at the right companies – who are typically
already in the buying cycle for its clients’ solutions.
Generally speaking, the leads that Knowledge Hub Media
generates originate from companies that are, at the very
least, currently researching the solutions offered by its
clients. In most cases, though, they are in the process of
evaluating vendors and getting ready to make a purchase
decision. This is where it comes in, where it really shines.
By promoting to very targeted groups of people, it lines its
clients up with the perfect buyers, at the perfect time. That
is, companies that not only have a need and budget for the
products and services that its clients offer, but that are also
ready to pull the trigger and make a purchase decision.
Leading from Front
Paul mentions that clients of Knowledge Hub Media are all
very unique – even if they do generally reside in the B2B
technology sector. Each client has a specific solution, or
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The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders to Follow in 2022
40. group of products, that is targeted to a very specific
audience. For example, enterprise software solutions used
by IT people, marketers, sales teams, HR professionals or
finance professionals. The targeting gets a lot more granular
than that, and then not only are the job roles unique, but the
types of companies targeted are also unique to each client.
Some might be looking for SMB’s, while others might
promote to mid-market companies, or enterprise sized
organizations with 5,000+ employees.
Being at the helm is always interesting for Paul as he faces
with a new challenge almost every day. Those challenges
are not just from a standpoint of sales (managing clients),
but also involves marketing (to its userbase), operations,
finance and handling its technology infrastructure. There is
truly never a dull moment for Paul and the Knowledge Hub
Media.
Besides, the readers of Knowledge Hub Media values and
trust the suggestions offered by its expert bloggers, trending
news articles, and extensive research library to facilitate
strategic development, project management and to make
intelligent purchasing decisions.
Staying Ahead of the Curve
Media industry is inherently based in technology, and as
38 | www.insightssuccess.com
April 2022
41. such, it is always changing. For this reason Knowledge Hub
Media is changing and innovating. It has experienced
annual revenue growth year over year in 11 of its 12 years
running, but Paul’s vision of the future is never revenue or
sales based. He likes to think that in five years, company
will be at least “five years more advanced” than it is now as
a company – just as technology advances each and every
year. Optimally, though, Paul likes to think that it’ll be
closer to 10 years more advanced in five years; staying
ahead of the curve, just as it has been since its inception.
Being Realistic
Knowledge Hub Media is very proactive about never
“overpromising and underdelivering.” It forecasts for lead
output and delivery as well as anyone in the industry, and it
is usually dead on. Even so, it is typically conservative with
the projections that it gives clients. This provides another
layer of protection that helps to ensure things go smoothly
and it keep its promises in terms of goals.
Not being Affected by Externals
Paul sustains his leadership just the way that he has always
done things. His leadership approach rarely changes based
on wavering circumstances or external forces – including
this current era of ever changing, ever improving
technology. To be clear, though, external forces or changes
can have an impact on company’s strategy, for example, or
the products and services that it currently offers. But
external forces have very little – if any – effect on Paul’s
leadership spirit.
“Make money. That’s the
name of the game. If you are
making money, and your
employees are making
money, and your clients and
vendors are making money
as a result of your business
process, you are doing a
damn nice job."
39
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