Colin Brown: Serving Best Vehicle Insurance Against Eventualities
Business is booming and for the first time in two years an Underwriting Agency has made huge advances with many new auto products and services with great ideas, solutions, and technology. The growth in the last 24 months has defied the pandemic restrictions and Colin Brown, CEO & Founder of Stratford Underwriting Agency Inc. shares the same story. There are very few people with as deep an understanding of vehicle insurance as Colin Brown. From emigrating to investing 22 years of his life in a company, Mr. Brown claims to provide services against monopolies in the industry. Please tell us about your educational/professional background. Who inspired you to become a business leader? Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? I emigrated from Ulster in October 1973. I had a degree in Geology and Geography from Queens University Belfast. I started my career as a management trainee at the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) in January 1974 and the Corporation opened for business in March 1974. I worked at ICBC for 22 years and resigned as Chief Underwriter in 1995. During that time, I became a Chartered Insurance Professional, a Chartered Arbitrator, and also received an MA in Liberal Studies from Simon Fraser University. In 1995, following my resignation, I founded Canadian Direct Insurance (CDI). CDI was the first direct writer in Western Canada and sold optional auto insurance coverage by phone and internet in competition with ICBC which is a quasi-monopoly. At the outset, CDI was a wholly-owned subsidiary of HSBC. It turned profitable in its fifth year and 2005 was sold to Canadian Western Bank (CWB) for $25 million, or 1.25 of book value. CWB were great owners and after a change in leadership in 2015, sold CDI to Intact (Canada’s largest insurer) for $200 million, or 2.5 times book value. CDI had additionally previously issued dividends of $35 million to the bank already to protect CDI’s capital ratio. It was a massive success. I was appointed Executive Officer of Intact, but I retired in 2016 at the age of 66. Please brief us in detail about the current scenario of the business. How have the customer preferences changed over the years? The auto insurance business in BC is dominated by ICBC. They have a monopoly on “the basic” which is the minimum cover that you have to buy to put a vehicle on the road. They also sell almost 90% of “optional” which are the add-ons for collision cover, comprehensive, etc. That optional market is worth $2.5 billion in BC. CDI had been the largest seller of optional. Following my retirement, I did a little consulting but was approached several times to start another company. I finally did so in 2018 and founded Stratford Underwriting Agency Inc. We are a Managing General Agency (MGA), essentially a wholesaler of niche products that are otherwise hard to find. Stratford started in 2020 with its own BC auto product (CDI 2.0), underwritten by a major reinsurer that I had worked with for 20 years. Customer preferences have not changed in this regard, they still want a viable option to a government monopoly. A better product, more bells and whistles, and a lower price. We sell through a network of 200 independent brokers. What are the prominent products/services offered by the company? How are they different from your competitors’ offerings? Stratford’s two current products are differentiated in price. Both offer products very similar to our competitors but priced better. Our products have better coverages in key areas that make them more attractive and in addition offer better features. This is achieved through smarter underwriting. Our primary product is designed to save 80% of BC motorists on their purchases. Currently, Stratford offers a full-service BC auto optional product and a replacement cost policy for the loss of value on new cars that may become a total loss. In 2021, we wrote a total of $27 million in premium, had revenue of $7 million, and lost $170,00 in our second year of business. We are very happy with that. We will write about $38 million in 2022 and make $1million+ in profit. We are developing two other non-auto products at this time. They will broaden our scope and spread our risk base. What are the unique challenges your company is currently facing? How have they affected your company? At the time we entered the marketplace, ICBC have declared BC to be a “no-fault” jurisdiction. Essentially cutting out the need for third-party liability cover and reducing the average premium available from $800 a policy to $500 a policy. This was effective May 1st, 2021. Stratford was forced to find a product to replace the lost premium. This was done in short order and a replacement cost policy was added in February 2021 and we sold $10 million worth of policies for the premium product in 2021. Opportunity and agility melded together on that one. What measures do you incorporate to ensure motivation and productivity within the workspace? How do you respond to criticism and disagreements? As a company, our system was designed to be flexible. It is in the cloud and supports working from home. We encourage attendance at the office as needed. Staff who can influence key indicators are incentivized appropriately. All staff is bonused on the corporate performance. We have an open office plan which encourages open discussion and deals with any issues as they arise. We have a complaints officer who responds to any customer complaints. What measures do you undertake to ensure optimum customer satisfaction? How much impact does the customer feedback have on the company’s strategies? We do have a complaints officer who is charged with dealing immediately with any issues that arise. As we sell through independent brokers, there are few complaints directly to us. Most would be claims disputes and there are formal procedures in place for dispute handling. If there is a consistent valid issue, we are quite at ease
Yasaf Burshan: Inspiring and Empowering Creators to Make an Impact
Israel is a very small country – two hours from Tel Aviv you are on the edge of the country. But due to its position as a global innovation powerhouse, investors from major countries are attracted to it. Identified as a hotspot for collaboration, Yasaf, an innovative Israeli entrepreneur helps businesses thrive through effectively integrating technologies in their education businesses. Yasaf Burshan, Founder and CEO of Team Genius, shares his journey of outgrowing and expanding abroad, connecting people with technology. We at Fortunes Crown got into an interview questionnaire to know more about the company and its impact on ed-tech businesses. Please tell us about your educational/professional background. Who inspired you to become a business leader? Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? When it comes to formal education, I’m happy to say that I’ve obtained education in two major fields that I’m very passionate about, Technology and People. I have a BA in business management with a major in Information Technology and I’m a certified project management professional (PMP). Also, I am a certified Clinical NLP master and a graduate of the Tony Robbins platinum partnership program. This combination allowed me to have a very successful career in the traditional IT industry for over 20 years, in which I held multiple senior roles including the head of IT for IKEA in Israel. Please brief us in detail about the current scenario of the business. How have the customer preferences changed over the years? Team Genius’s mission is to inspire and empower creators to make an impact. We work with content and course creators all over the world (majorly in the US, Canada, and Australia) and we help them to unleash their creativity by effectively integrating technology into all areas of their business. Simply put, we keep them in their Zone of Genius, doing what they do best, as we help them create profitable online businesses. As a content creator myself, for my program “Anywhere Boss”, I know first-hand the challenges they are facing, and I’m also inspired by them to become better and better. While I’m still very much in the “tech zone” my ideal customer has changed from the finance/retail/consumer subject matters to the knowledge commerce business. What are the unique challenges your company is currently facing? How have they affected your company? I think that like most other companies these days working remotely and efficiently is a challenge. At the same time, one advantage we have on our side is that Team Genius was founded as a global organization with team members across multiple locations, so this is built right into our DNA. It drives us to be more open in our communications, efficient in the way we do business, and of course, rely on technology, we do for ourselves what we do for our customers. When was Team Genius established? What are the prominent services/solutions offered by the company? Team Genius was established in 2019. We are a certified Thinkific agency partner, certified Zapier experts and a certified Evernote partner. In addition, we have partnerships with other major brands like Microsoft and Monday that gives us a unique ability to look at our customers’ tech needs from a holistic point of view. We help our customers create profitable online courses, products and membership sites and convert sales funnels, but we don’t stop there. We apply automation and make them more efficient and productive in their business. And on a personal level, I also mentor and coach my customers on how to take things to the next level and build a lifestyle that excites them by becoming “Anywhere Bosses”. What measures do you incorporate to ensure motivation and productivity within the workspace? How do you respond to criticism and disagreements? I encourage open and honest communication. It is my responsibility as the leader to make sure that everybody gets heard and to recognize what they have to say. Values and culture are the keys here and it starts with me leading by example, and by choosing Team Members that share the same values. Not the same opinions, the same values. Disagreements are inventible, nor they should be ignored. Every member of the team has the freedom to speak freely. Criticism is fine, as long as it is served as feedback that we can build on and improve. My response is always “bring it on, let’s talk about it so we can get better. What measures do you undertake to ensure optimum customer satisfaction? How much impact does the customer feedback have on the company’s strategies? Communication is the key. Customer satisfaction is very important for us and it plays a major role in our growth and success strategies. Customer dissatisfaction is most likely to come when there is a gap between the customer expectation and the result or deliverable. So we communicate clearly from the first step what is to be expected, what is included in the scope of work, the timeline and the expected cost. Then we monitor expectations and communication throughout the lifecycle of the project and adjust as needed. We are not afraid to say that we don’t have the answer to something, and if such cases arise we see them as an opportunity to learn something new with a promise to come back with an answer in X amount of time. Please tell us about the services/products your company is offering? How are they different from your competitors’ offerings? We are certified Thinkific agency partners, and as such, we offer course creation, site-building and automation services. We also support all Thinkific superpowerups, from general consultation to setup and configuration. As Zapier experts, we effectively integrate technology in all areas of our customer’s business. Keeping them in their “Zone of Genius”, doing what they do best; teaching, empowering, creating, leading, and making sure they have efficient processes that are working for them so they can quickly and effortlessly scale. The successful partnerships we maintain with industry-leading vendors allows
Kelly Bagla: Forging Roadmaps, Building Businesses
Kelly is a bestselling Author, an Inventor, winner of 2020 and 2021 Lawyers of Distinction, winner of 2020 Legal Awards for Best International M&A Law Firm USA and Corporate Attorney of the Year, and winner of many more. She is also the founder and CEO of GoLegalYourself.com an online company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses with the right legal documents. A multi-degree lawyer, Kelly Bagla, Esq. is an international award-winning corporate attorney who practices in San Diego, California. Her passion is to help entrepreneurs achieve their dreams and she lives by her own motto: “Grab the world by the pearls, it’s yours for the taking!” Kelly Bagla, CEO of Bagla Law Firm, is on a mission to empower businesses of all sizes with the best information with the help of the best legal minds in the business. With the mantra “Go Legal Yourself!” and by creating the “4 Legal Lifecycles” of a business, Kelly broke down how to start, grow, establish and exit a business into 4 easy steps that will make any business bulletproof and extremely successful! Please tell us about your educational/professional background. Who inspired you to become a business leader? Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? I graduated from university back in England and made my way to America. The land of the free and the home of the brave! I got here with the hopes to achieve my ‘American Dream’, and I set out to do so. I put myself through Law School in California, and my focus on being the best landed me a career opportunity to work at the largest law firm in the world. I did that for some time and decided that working for someone else wasn’t what the ‘Dream’ I had envisioned. You see… I have ALWAYS wanted to be an Attorney. To use my platform to ‘save the world’ so to speak. But… I watched the “big business legal industry” just ‘nickel and dime’ every entrepreneur trying to get their start. I began to realize that the system set in place was designed to make it damn near impossible for the “little guy” to get their footing and have a fighting chance at success. So that’s when I started Bagla Law Firm, APC., an internationally recognized business law firm with its headquarters in beautiful San Diego, California. Besides my successful Law Firm, I ventured into: Toy invention, Authoring “Go Legal Yourself!” (and a handful more titles in the series), Keynote Public Speaking, Guest Hosting, Pitbull Rescue, Veteran Service, Podcast Hosting…. Sky Diving… LA Fashion Week?! So many things. I try not to limit myself, and always try to continue growing; Both professionally, and individually. When was Bagla Law Firm established? What are the prominent services/solutions offered by the company? I started Bagla Law in 2009. Our business model surrounds the idea of flat-rate fees for services rendered, and a relationship built where you feel comfortable coming back and asking questions should you have any. We offer a customer-service-based Business Law Practice, that puts its top priority on client satisfaction and transparent practices. We are pretty all-encompassing. Starting a business? Of any kind? From anywhere in the world? That’s any size big or small?? Already have a business and want to make sure you are set up in the safest situation available? We take care of all of that. And we do it in a way that is thorough, concise, comprehensive, flat rate fee oriented, and doesn’t require “long billable hours”. The same can be said of the Asset Protection side of the Practice. Do you need: offshore asset protection? Real estate asset protection? Buying or selling a business? We got you. Please tell us about the services/products your company is offering? How are they different from your competitors’ offerings? Bagla Law Firm, APC., is a Business Formation and Asset Protection Law Firm. We help individuals who want to start their own businesses and we help businesses, both domestic and international, who want general corporate counsel, including starting, growing, and selling their business. I am the “Queen of Business Law” for a reason. What I do, I do as an expert. If I don’t feel that I’m at a level of expertise in the current law surrounding the case, I won’t take the client. I have no issues referring out clientele to fellow attorneys that fill the yin to my yang. But I would only send a client to counsel I felt could treat them in the same manner that we treat our clients. Please brief us in detail about the current scenario of the business. How have the customer preferences changed over the years? Our firm has a deep-rooted core value of construct that also, despite conflicting with the money-making drive purpose of all businesses, has a burning desire to HELP. I run my law firm the same way I run my life: I know what we’re worth, I know our limitations, I know our expertise, and I know what we can and will do to help be a part of the solution. I won’t ever promise you the world if I can’t deliver on it. And on the flip side of that… ‘if I promise you the world.’ You can count on it being delivered. There are these unfortunately true stereotypes about lawyers “squeezing blood from a turnip”, and just being downright ‘blah’ people. Here at Bagla Law Firm, APC., we do everything within our power to make sure that our FLAT RATE pricing, and CLEAR, CONCISE, communication, keeps every interaction as pleasant, and as productive as possible. It also takes an entrepreneur to understand the business needs of another entrepreneur, as I run several businesses. I think that’s a huge part of the reason why our clients choose us because we understand them, can relate to them, and they appreciate talking to and working with real business owners – us. What are the unique challenges your company is
Nick Lai: Marketing in the Digital Age, the Present and the Future
The world of digital media is changing at a phenomenal pace. Its constantly evolving technologies, and the way people are using them, are transforming not just how you access your information, but how you interact and communicate with your friends and colleagues on a global scale. It also has changed the way you choose and buy products and services. People are embracing digital technologies to communicate, in ways NickMetrics helping businesses integrate such technologies seamlessly into their everyday needs. Nick Lai, Managing Director at NickMetrics has worked client-side for a wide range of businesses, including start-ups and marketing leading corporations across a range of industries. He has built a large number of successful digital marketing strategies, both nationally and globally, and consulted for companies across the world. Inspiration Behind NickMetrics Nick was born in Malaysia and while growing up he realized that consumers have grown tired of mass media marketing, and are turning instead to the internet. They want more engagement, more interaction. Before his interest as a writer, he already had a successful experience of an online affiliated program back in 2009. Lasting for 2 years, the online venture later ignited an initiation of an online design and development firm in 2012 which enabled him to hit his first million. Nick explained, “I always felt I wanted to do more, so I turned back to writing, and it has been one delightful journey so far.” Continuing his admiration for writing, a leading digital marketing conference grabbed Nick’s attention where he witnessed the vast potential of digital marketing. The event became a turning point and an eye-opener for him to start living and serving businesses online presence. And that’s how Malaysia’s best Digital Marketing Agency, NickMetrics.com born in 2016. The Highway Today, Nick and his team as the generation of digital natives are entering the workplace and are spending like never before. This is the mass market of tomorrow, and for business people and marketers the challenge is to become fluent in this new digital language so that we can talk effectively to our target audience. As the managing director, he has contributed to the significant growth of several businesses in areas including digital marketing, offline marketing, branding, and relationship management. Moreover, to make this small agency effective he sits for sales, design, development, planning, and execution. He is also responsible for recruiting and training the best minds of 48+ employees which is their extraordinary assets. Laying Strong Digital Space Throughout Nick’s career, he has aimed at transforming the brand from a variety of verticals, developing intimate search knowledge and strategy for diverse clients. The agency is inclined for offering the trendiest and new-age digital marketing solutions to brands such as SOP to handle each client’s digital marketing campaign. Nick is responsible for the delivery of NickMetrics’ business plan across marketing which mostly includes Influencer Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Optimization, and Content Marketing. Such an effective package enhances its market leadership position and continues to deliver exceptional growth. NickMetrics Group apart from being industry-centric has another most comprehensive Malaysia’s Online Auto Insurance Comparison Website that has been developing a connection between insurance and consumer. The website helps insure both parties with better-informed decisions and facilitates them to make smart and easier insurance purchases. While offering consumers unbiased comparison for auto insurance, it majorly saves the hassle of consumers from the details and technical processes of auto insurance. World Wide Wild Since its inception, Nick and partners have extensive experience of serving more than 30 medium-to-big sizes clients helping them implement multi-channel brand-marketing strategies. With that, the agency has successfully flagged its location in Malaysia, Hong Kong, and India. The agency has also launched packaged services where users can answer a few questionnaires and pay online. After that, the involving team will start working on it based on its SOP and the reports and results will be displayed on the user’s dashboard. Believing in his power of writing and entrepreneurial journey, Nick says, “there’s so much out there I plan to try out, but it’s all in the plans. Through writing and any entrepreneurial adventure I take on, my goal is to change the world, I plan to become even better, not just professionally but also personally, and writing gave me the voice to reach out to the world.”
Mohammed Mubin Mallick: On the Forefront of Robot Solutions and Services
Please tell us about your educational/professional background. Who inspired you to become a business leader? Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? I, Mohammed Mubin Mallick, am the CEO and Founder of Kiran Smart company in Kuwait, Dubai, and India. I am an innovator of Humanoid Robot Services and the Founder of Mi-Robots Company registered in India. Holding a Master’s Degree MBA from Cardiff University, UK. I have several professional certificates under his name. It was one of the childhood incidents that inspired me to be an Entrepreneur and be a leader to help others not only in business but in their personal life as well. Every journey has good and bad highlights so let me start with bad highlights first because they helped me forge my path to success. During the journey, I lost my father, lost money, was cheated several times, failed myself many times, and sacrificed a lot in my personal life. But I flipped the coin and built trust. People started recognizing me. I excelled in business. I have loyal customers and employees. I am able to expand my business in India and Dubai (UAE). I have bagged many awards for being advanced in the robotics field. Today, I am recognized as one of the Top Influencers in the field of robotics. When was Kiran Smart established? What are the prominent services/solutions offered by the company? Kiran Smart was established in the year 2019. We have IT solutions and services but in the recent year during COVID-19, we have diversified to Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, and Digital Transformation. Headquartered in Dubai, Kiran Smart is always different than its competitors offering because we always introduce advanced new technology and innovative product so that customers can be ahead and up to date with the latest technological solutions and services offered by us. Please brief us in detail about the current scenario of the business. How have the customer preferences changed over the years? The present scenario of business will vary from business to business. So if I share about my business then it is different than others as our core business is robotics services for different industries and the demand is increasing daily. Other than this we are also into IT solutions and services which is the ongoing business for us from past few years. Customer preferences keep changing from time to time as per the latest trends in the market and in terms of advanced technologies as well. So customers always prefer something innovative as well solve the problem. Previously, customers used to focus on resolving the issue but now the preferences have been widened in terms of innovation, technologies, quick services, and 24 hr availability. What are the unique challenges your company is currently facing? How have they affected your company? At present, we have one unique challenge which is Post Covid 19 recovery because this challenge is not only for us but it is for the whole world and it has affected every business. Financial-wise and work-wise it has affected our company but not to a very high extent as we have deployed the advanced technologies, especially robots to overcome these challenges. We were quite successful to overcome these challenges with our robots. What measures do you incorporate to ensure motivation and productivity within the workspace? How do you respond to criticism and disagreements? Our working style is like a family in our working environment. Also, our working times are flexible. We offer employees their preferred time to work where they can have much more productivity. So as a holistic situation it helps to remain motivated and also increases productivity. We always think in a positive way so whatever criticism or disagreement comes from our customers we always take it as tips or lessons for ourselves to improve it and develop it to be better in the future. Because we believe that everyone is not perfect and from mistakes only we can learn to be better and better in our services. What measures do you undertake to ensure optimum customer satisfaction? How much impact does the customer feedback have on the company’s strategies? It is very simple for us. We just listen to our customers carefully so that we can deliver the best solution as per the customer’s problems defined. Customer feedback is very important because it helps us to make a better strategy whether it is related to competition, market trends, customer demand, customer satisfaction, or employees’ services to customers. So for us, the feedback of customers is very important because it helps us to grow and develop. Are you planning to launch any new products/services or advancements to your existing offerings? If so, we would like to know about it. Yes, there are many but all of them are robots for different industries and verticals. We cannot disclose the information due to company policies.
Digital Advertising: A New Era and a Business Necessity
Lauren Oakes spent her formative years in New York working for a digital analytics company, Nudge Analytics, which sparked her interest in the media industry. The broad learning palette in the fast-paced environment helped her keep excited. She needed a role that was constantly evolving and challenging at the same time. And what better industry could she fall for? There can’t be a better way to express yourself especially when you know your Why. Lauren understands the power of this new-age marketing method called Targeted Digital Marketing. No wonder why she celebrates being the CEO of Megaphone Marketing. The Inception and Uncertainty The Megaphone was established 10 years ago by Max Hertan with a mission to change the way traditional workplace functions. She always followed an entrepreneurial lifestyle by combining interests and striking a balance between brand marketing and performance. Though this may appear straightforward, Megaphone was created to help businesses grow while validating its business model. Discussing the current scenario of the media industry, customer preferences have been changing constantly especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. The uncertainties were confining but the Megaphone team reassessed their strategies with a positive outcome. They acted fast, pivoted all of their clients to an e-commerce offering. Their business currently stands with 70% e-commerce brands which are exactly where the stability in the industry has been. Along with this, the Company believes that digital marketing is the only reliable source of marketing amid the pandemic because the huge involvement of customers in businesses became the sudden norm. Propelling Wheels of Motivation Taking a broad view of marketing will benefit, Lauren supervises all four departments at Megaphone, i.e. Acquisitions, Sales, Accounts, and Hiring & Ops. Her focus is across the Sales and Hiring & Ops teams. She admits that hiring has the biggest impact on the growth of the Company because it demands the ability to hire consistent top performers. Like every penny counts, she has been involved in every interview to date. Lauren is proud of being a CEO at the age of 27, and she celebrates this personal achievement by focusing on maintaining the culture of Megaphone which is to continue staff enjoyment and retention. She is responsible for the 100% per year growth rate in 2020 and 2021. It’s magnificent! The devotion pushed her towards receiving Bronze in the global Stevie Awards for the Chief Happiness Officer in 2020. The celebration didn’t stop here when they won the Top Social Media Agency of the year in 2021. Personalization and Transparency Megaphone engages, not just sells. Since customers are the most important part of the process, the Company values individual customer feedback throughout the year. They understand what their clients value which helps them set minimums for delivery across the entire team. Note: Minimums are significantly more than their competitors, i.e. as accounts are analyzed and edited every day. New ads are made each week and each account is looked over by four different experts each month. Even the smallest clients have their head of strategy and head of accounts review them. Megaphone implements personalization correctly which helps it to grow business and assert happy clients. Authenticity matters at Megaphone. It upholds everyone within the company to a very high standard. At a time when customers are more empowered than ever before, being genuine is the only way to win their trust. With its product, Megaphone is inclined towards user-generated content to create a more genuine approach to marketing. People use a product or service based on real reviews which build confidence rather than a TV ad. Similarly, the same formula works for copywriting with genuine reviews and testimonials. Aiming for Future Scaling As Megaphone works on result-based, they are more into Google, Facebook, and Instagram advertisements. Slowly but effectively they are shifting to a constantly-evolving market. For example, after witnessing the growth of TikTok in 2021, it is included in their core offering. It’s clearly known that they will keep testing out new platforms and services as they arise, and put focus on the ones that generate. The more you learn and push yourself in the industry, the more you are going to grow and get out of it.
Winston Weber: Pioneering Organization Restructuring With Expert Consultants
Management refers to the administration of business practices to create the highest level of efficiency possible within an organization. It is concerned with converting materials and labor into goods and services as efficiently as possible to maximize the profit of an organization. So does Winston and his team attempt to balance costs with revenue to achieve the highest net operating profit possible. Winston Weber, Founder and CEO of Winston Weber & Associates (WWA), a leader in management consultancy, creates a framework for managing the effect of new business processes, changes in organizational structure, or cultural changes within an enterprise. We at Fortunes Crown got into conversation with Mr. Weber to know more about the company and how it is helping the businesses and individuals as a whole. Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? I am viewed by many in business as an icon with high expectations and leading-edge thinking. I introduced retailer/supplier partnering, now referred to as collaboration, to the industry in the late 1980s and Category Management to the U.S. in 1990. I introduced the new beyond Category Management business model Shopper-Centric Retailing in 2019 and the new Change Enablement Training in 2022. I love helping companies improve their competitive position in the marketplace, influencing the future of the grocery industry with new, highly productive concepts and upgrading company work environments that encourage open discussion and leading-edge thinking. Our clients view me as one who “says it as he sees it”. While many may think I may lead a life totally involved in business life, I should mention that in 2022 I am celebrating my 56year marriage to my wife Linda. My family is equally important to me. Please tell us about your educational/professional background. How was your life before WWA? After I graduated from Syracuse University in 1962, I spent my first 23 years working with leading consumer products companies including Colgate Palmolive, General Foods, Beechnut Baby Food, Sunshine Biscuits, The Drackett Products Company, Schering Plough and Atari. The first ten years were spent with two major companies, moving up quickly from Retail Salesman to Sales Supervisor, District Manager and Regional Manager Positions. These were excellent corporate experiences that taught me a lot, but I wanted more. I felt too limited and wanted corporate cultures that would enable me to drive change designed to improve the work environment and overall company performance. Leaving General Foods, I obtained my first Vice President Sales position in year eleven and for the next thirteen years, my titles included Vice President, Senior Vice President, Executive Vice President and President of Sales. During this period, I accomplished my objective of having the latitude to make changes designed to improve performance. In the first company I tested and expanded nationally a plan that eliminated expensive Baby Food Company shelf-stocking across the industry. At my next company, where we were losing money, I restructured the sales and distribution organizations from direct store to warehouse delivery. This immediately moved the company from a several million-dollar loss to several million-dollar profits. This move also helped us gain market share. At my next company, I was briefly Vice President Sales before being promoted to President of Sales. I made a number of organizational changes including moving women and black Americans into management positions for the first time. Considering this was 40+ years ago, this was well ahead of when most companies made similar moves. While this was an excellent experience, and I would have stayed longer, I was approached by another company, Atari, with an employment package I could not resist. As Senior Vice President Sales, I was hired to bring in consumer products retail channel experience and to make major changes to the Sales Organization structure and business processes. This was accomplished. My final corporate experience was as President of the Schering Plough Sales Corporation, where similar changes were made. Briefly describe your company and the products or services you are offering. I decided it was now time to leave a single corporation where I could contribute to the growth of many companies and also contribute to driving change throughout the consumer products industry. This led to my decision to start Winston Weber & Associates, Inc. in 1985. My goal was to form a small “boutique” consulting firm with a global perspective that would provide leadership thinking with practical, implementable solutions to grocery retailers and consumer package goods companies. I wanted to employ a controlled growth strategy with an emphasis on providing more value and client return on investment than very large consulting firms staffed mostly by junior consultants, many with minimal business experience. This has been accomplished and maintained during our 36 years. Our senior consultants must have at least 30 years of business experience in general management, retail management, sales management, brand management, or supply chain management in the consumer products industry before joining WWA. I expect them to bring a unique blend of skills, expertise and a “real world” business perspective to each client assignment and are ideally suited to deal with companies trying to leverage leadership positions in the marketplace as well as turnaround situations. Importantly, whatever the situation, we have an in-depth appreciation for the need to focus on running the business while changing the business. This ensures the achievement of near-term performance targets while changing the business. More value and client return on investment mean an uncompromising emphasis on quality and trust, a “say it as we see it” approach and the ability to consistently exceed client expectations. These qualities and our dedication to providing leading-edge thinking with implementable solutions have helped us to achieve our goal…this is our reputation today. Going back to your early career decisions, tell us what factors influenced your decision to be an executive in the grocery industry. During my senior year in college, I spent a considerable amount of time interviewing every company that came on campus. Considering my degree is in the social sciences, I was very
Mohammed Mubin Mallick: On the Forefront of Robot Solutions and Services
Please tell us about your educational/professional background. Who inspired you to become a business leader? Would you like to mention some of the highlights from your journey? I, Mohammed Mubin Mallick, am the CEO and Founder of Kiran Smart company in Kuwait, Dubai, and India. I am an innovator of Humanoid Robot Services and the Founder of Mi-Robots Company registered in India. Holding a Master’s Degree MBA from Cardiff University, UK. I have several professional certificates under his name. It was one of the childhood incidents that inspired me to be an Entrepreneur and be a leader to help others not only in business but in their personal life as well. Every journey has good and bad highlights so let me start with bad highlights first because they helped me forge my path to success. During the journey, I lost my father, lost money, was cheated several times, failed myself many times, and sacrificed a lot in my personal life. But I flipped the coin and built trust. People started recognizing me. I excelled in business. I have loyal customers and employees. I am able to expand my business in India and Dubai (UAE). I have bagged many awards for being advanced in the robotics field. Today, I am recognized as one of the Top Influencers in the field of robotics. When was Kiran Smart established? What are the prominent services/solutions offered by the company? Kiran Smart was established in the year 2019. We have IT solutions and services but in the recent year during COVID-19, we have diversified to Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Fintech, and Digital Transformation. Headquartered in Dubai, Kiran Smart is always different than its competitors offering because we always introduce advanced new technology and innovative product so that customers can be ahead and up to date with the latest technological solutions and services offered by us. Please brief us in detail about the current scenario of the business. How have the customer preferences changed over the years? The present scenario of business will vary from business to business. So if I share about my business then it is different than others as our core business is robotics services for different industries and the demand is increasing daily. Other than this we are also into IT solutions and services which is the ongoing business for us from past few years. Customer preferences keep changing from time to time as per the latest trends in the market and in terms of advanced technologies as well. So customers always prefer something innovative as well solve the problem. Previously, customers used to focus on resolving the issue but now the preferences have been widened in terms of innovation, technologies, quick services, and 24 hr availability. What are the unique challenges your company is currently facing? How have they affected your company? At present, we have one unique challenge which is Post Covid 19 recovery because this challenge is not only for us but it is for the whole world and it has affected every business. Financial-wise and work-wise it has affected our company but not to a very high extent as we have deployed the advanced technologies, especially robots to overcome these challenges. We were quite successful to overcome these challenges with our robots. What measures do you incorporate to ensure motivation and productivity within the workspace? How do you respond to criticism and disagreements? Our working style is like a family in our working environment. Also, our working times are flexible. We offer employees their preferred time to work where they can have much more productivity. So as a holistic situation it helps to remain motivated and also increases productivity. We always think in a positive way so whatever criticism or disagreement comes from our customers we always take it as tips or lessons for ourselves to improve it and develop it to be better in the future. Because we believe that everyone is not perfect and from mistakes only we can learn to be better and better in our services. What measures do you undertake to ensure optimum customer satisfaction? How much impact does the customer feedback have on the company’s strategies? It is very simple for us. We just listen to our customers carefully so that we can deliver the best solution as per the customer’s problems defined. Customer feedback is very important because it helps us to make a better strategy whether it is related to competition, market trends, customer demand, customer satisfaction, or employees’ services to customers. So for us, the feedback of customers is very important because it helps us to grow and develop. Are you planning to launch any new products/services or advancements to your existing offerings? If so, we would like to know about it. Yes, there are many but all of them are robots for different industries and verticals. We cannot disclose the information due to company policies.
Tonya Winders: Regulating Health, Life and Balance
Joseph Rothstein: Passionate About Assisting His Clients In Growing And Scaling Their Businesses
The media industry has been rapidly changing since the dawn of the internet. Over the past couple of years, media platforms are dynamically influencing the business world such as advertising on Instagram. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has driven many businesses towards getting online to step their game up. The prey to this unwelcomed circumstance is the older generation businesses that have been holding off from providing their clients with functional and enjoyable user experiences. The pandemic has forced businesses to go digital; in-person meetings and traditional ways of being seen have been waved earlier for good. Joseph Rothstein, the Founder & CEO of Social Media 55, had sensed it all more than a decade ago. In the age of information, Joseph was a bit skeptical about the old implication methods of marketing. With a vision to be the best provider in the media industry, he began his entrepreneurial journey. In 2014, he founded Social Media 55 with the passion to impart brand exposure and visibility to businesses in need. The Day With Positivity Joseph radiates positivity and true enjoyment of his work. He spends most of the day working alongside VP of Operations Benjamin Ohayon, who has been a driving force for their customer success. Where Joseph as CEO is responsible for strategy and direction functioning closely with the team for successful campaigns, Benjamin is a true leader every CEO requires. Joseph oversees his graphic designers, SEO team, and content developers, and works alongside the web development team. From Wireless to Digital Joseph, after a decade of working in telecommunications and servicing corporate accounts, was fascinated by marketing. He realized that he wasn’t being challenged working in the wireless cellular phone industry, and plunged into digital marketing about 10 years back. He began developing an e-commerce website for a luxury fragrance company “JIVAGO Brands.” Soon the brand started getting great traffic from the new website and mandated him to manage the social media platforms. He enjoyed working in the field so much that he decided to offer the same services to many businesses. Joseph gained enough experience for a startup, Social Media 55, to deliver services like social media management paid and organic, website design & development, SEO, PPC, and everything in between. “I’ve also been known for answering our 1-800 number after hours,” he says. Recognition as Leader Social Media 55 has been recognized as an exemplary leader multiple times. The agency has been awarded over 20+ awards in Social Media Management, SEO, PPC, Digital Marketing, B2B Services, Top Web Design Agency 2019, 2020, and 2021 by GoodFirm, Clutch, Agency Spotter, Upcity, and more. They offer businesses innovative solutions that deliver the right type of audience to clients in the most effective strategies possible. Joseph and the team believe in transparency and hence, everyone plays a key role in making Social Media 55 successful. Such commitment allows them to pay close attention to the client’s feedback and in making sure the client is fully satisfied. The Close Connection Social Media 55 provides solutions that are customized to address the specific needs of the clients. From executives to associates and team members take a personalized approach and spend time working one-on-one with the clients to ensure they are meeting all of their marks. Everyone wants to help each other be successful, thus they ensure close communications with their clients throughout their mandate. They listen to their client’s feedback closely so as to fine-tune their formula and deliver a superior service. Team members continue to evolve, to best meet the needs of clients. Their focus on integrity is at the forefront of what they stand for as a company and an agency. They carry a concrete reputation for providing honest and excellent quality work. They delve their heart and soul into each and every project they take on. The Challenges and the Opportunities No matter how many challenges you overcome, the new ones will find their way. COVID-19 affected the company in many ways but the easiest decision the company made was to keep everyone safe. The quickest agreement was to go remote immediately, which was not difficult for them as they were used to a hybrid work/home balance already. During the initial pandemic, they were busy working on their legacy accounts and noticed website traffic and leads had drastically dropped almost to a halt. After one month of crickets, the phones and the website exploded. The pandemic waves have eaten enough industries and collapsed the GDPs of major economic countries. However, months after businesses got their feet stronger, as they were scrambling to get online, Social Media 55 was working long hours to meet the high demand. There is a difference between surviving and thriving when it comes to adopting new technologies such as 5G. It is no longer hidden that the advent of 5G will revolutionize almost every business in the world. From the Internet of Things (IoT) to science, communications to design, the 5th generation technology projects the next human evolution. For instance, Metaverse from Mark Zuckerberg with the help of 5G will allow users to interact with anything, anyone in the 3D world. The technology will bring exponential growth to social media platforms and marketing more skin-friendly. Our files and needs are getting bigger and used by more and more each day, it’s no question that 5G will help manage all that data. Joseph has plans to elevate its marketing hierarchy by acquiring/developing a digital social media calendar management software that will support all the major platforms. Seek Out What You Desire Joseph’s message to aspiring business leaders is to get a job at almost any position in an agency and learn how the business operates. Pick apart what makes the business tick and find a way to bring added value to that company by taking initiative and improving something. Take that experience and attempt to move up the ranks and locking down a position you feel is more in line with your goals. If you