The Pimalai Resort & Spa: Incredible Location. Amazing Hospitality

Thailand has long been on the list of travelers and sea lovers. The pristine beaches and bounties of nature in the form of forests, caves and more are always inviting and tempting for people who want to take a break from city life and spend some time to heal in the lap of nature.

The Krabi province, on the west coast of southern Thailand, is one such attractive tourist spot. Overlooking the blue waters of the Andaman Sea and offering exclusive accommodation on this part of the island is the luxurious and elegant Pimalai Resort & Spa, Koh Lanta, Krabi. Offering personalized service, the spacious and sprawling property provides complimentary round-trip transfer from Krabi Airport to the resort.

The Foundation

The land that Pimalai is sitting on was intended to be just a retirement home. The founder of Pimalai and the owner of the land discovered this little paradise and fell in love with the land. The land was perfect for touring his dreamed sailboat, perfect sand quality and he thought that the land has the perfect Feng Shui: water in the front and mountain at the back. However, he wanted to preserve the land full of nature as much as possible so he decided to build a high-end environment-friendly resort instead so that he can still keep the land and preserve the environment. As a result, operating in a sustainable way is Pimalai’s guide in everything that it does even today.

Serene View

The setting of Pimalai and its friendly staff is what makes it unique. Out of 1.1 km Ba Kan Tiang Beach, which is one of the most beautiful beaches on Koh Lanta, Pimalai covers 900 meters already. So, the guests can always feel that they are on a private beach. Pimalai has 121 units of accommodation that are spread over 100 acres of land in the beautiful landscape that allows almost all of the suites and villas to have a clear ocean view. Nestled in a lush tropical forest, rooms at Pimalai offer a private balcony that overlooks the beautiful surroundings. Decorated with rich Thai fabrics and rattan curtains, rooms are air-conditioned and feature a polished teak wood floor.  And because they treat the staff like family members and because many of them have been with the resort for a long time, the services that they provide to the guests are genuine. The staff are happy, content, and proud to always go and deliver the extra mile.

The guest experience is always unique. Pimalai is large enough to cater to all markets (couples, honeymooners, celebrations, families, and groups). They have their own boats for transfer and for island excursions which allows them to offer tours in Lanta National Marine Park during the off-peak time and avoid other tourists. Koh Lanta National Park has one of the most beautiful snorkel and scuba diving spots in Thailand and this is the place that ocean lovers cannot miss. Easier tours such as sightseeing cruises and visiting Old Town Lanta can also be arranged. Adventure seekers can enjoy hiking and waterfall on Koh Lanta.

Embracing Technology

The Resort has worked on Pimalai mobile application where guests can always communicate with the administration in their own language and the app can automatically translate it to English or Thai for the staff. Guests can order their services through the app and receive all information on what’s going on at the resort. They can even pre-order their food (either room service or at Pimalai’s restaurant) and the food will be ready for them when they arrive. A lot of technology that they use is to automate many processes on the backend so that they can free the people from manual work to give better services to the guests.

A Holistic Destination

The Pimalai resort is organically a holistic destination by itself. The setting that one feels like living in a jungle with a white sandy beach in front of them is serene. The scents of the ocean and the mountain allow the guests to be connected with nature all the time. The award-winning spa can help the guests to fully relax and de-stress. As one travels to learn new experiences, so the resort offers Southern Thai cuisine at its Spice N’ Rice Restaurant and different classes to learn new skills including Thai cooking, massage class, exercise classes such as yoga, aerial yoga, TRX, and Muay Thai. The resort offers several leisure facilities. Guests are able to lounge by the infinity-edge pool while enjoying the sea breeze and a cool drink or play a game of tennis at the courts available. It also has a fully equipped fitness center and library, as well as activities that include cycling and sea sports. The resort features 3 restaurants to satisfy guests’ appetites. Signature Thai dishes are served at Rak Talay and Spice and Rice, while Western cuisines can be sampled at Seven Seas.

Since 2001, Pimalai Resort has received many awards and recognitions. The major ones are the recognition by Trip Advisor as the top 1% of the world’s best hotels every year since 2015 and these were based on real user reviews. They are part of the Considerate Collection by SLH with a quality score of 98%.

In the years to come, The Pimalai Resort and Spa see itself putting more focus on sustainability not just in term of the environment but also in term of its stakeholders (staff, business partners, shareholders) and also the community. Because of the distinct climate change, people are well aware that they need to do something to protect the environment and many attempts are trying to fix what was destroyed, which is extremely difficult. The administration wants to work on preserving and preventing problems from happening and support National Park and conservationist on various projects to preserve nature as well as educate locals and tourists to travel sustainably. And not only that they look after the well-being of the guests, but they also have to look at the well-being of the staff too. Their living conditions (most live in the resort’s dormitory), their food and drinks are well taken care of, and lastly, their training programs so that they can always improve themselves.

Santanu Paul: An Entrepreneur and Technocrat Striving to Bridge the Global Skill Gap

Who is a leader? What makes a good leader? The answers to these questions are perceptive ones. If you go around asking people, you are bound to come up with virtues one deems essential to make a good leader. Accordingly, leaders too, have a perception about what would make them a good one and adopt a style that suits them. If you read the classic leadership book titled Good to Great by Jim Collins, there is this metaphor that a good leader is a driver who obsesses more about ensuring the right people are on the bus, and less about where the bus is scheduled to go. This is a philosophy Santanu Paul subscribes to wholeheartedly.

Santanu is a part of several esteemed organizations. Many of these organizations are run by competent professionals and management teams, and he often plays the role of a board member or a company adviser, with a commitment of 10-15 active-duty days a year. He is a huge believer in the power of high-performance teams, and therefore a lot of his attention goes into interacting with very smart people who are running these organizations and helping them think through their ideas, challenges, and choices. He deeply dislikes micromanagement of any kind. Working at a conceptual level with intelligent people who know how to get things done on the ground is a great source of joy for him.

His Pathway to Entrepreneurship

Right after he finished graduate school at the University of Michigan, Santanu began his professional journey as a software research scientist at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in New York. After a few years, he was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and co-founded a B2B tech company named Viveca backed by venture capital. Viveca ran into difficulties during the dotcom bust but they were fortunate to be acquired by OpenPages, where he was inducted as the CTO. As the youngest member of the senior management team, it was a terrific learning experience. After few years, Santanu decided to relocate to India to scale up the India offshore development centre of Virtusa Corporation, and the company eventually went public on NASDAQ. Later he went back to being an entrepreneur again and co-founded TalentSprint as an edtech firm.

TalentSprint was born from a truly revolutionary idea to address the widening gap between skills required in the industry and those provided by the traditional education system. Professionals lacked skill and training in new-age technologies, leaving a huge gap in demand and supply. Therefore, it has kept its focus on creating a highly skilled niche industry-ready talent pool.

As a global edtech company, TalentSprint provides transformational bootcamps and cutting-edge learning programs to modern-day professionals who aspire to future-proof themselves with deep expertise. Its partners in this journey are top-tier academic institutions and big-tech global corporations. TalentSprint’s patent-pending AI-powered platform seamlessly blends world-class academic rigour with industry-leading practitioner experience. They continue to deliver exceptional learner engagement rates and high customer delight.

Keeping the Ship Steady in Turbulent Times

A volatile market that changes with every technological disruption, economic stress or political turmoil takes a toll on everyone directly or indirectly. Most leaders get stressed handling turbulent situations. It has been said that wisdom is about driving change in a world mired in continuity while preserving continuity in a world caught up in change. Santanu is blessed to a great extent that he doesn’t enjoy social media very much, so has plenty of time left over to indulge in reading books across many genres and listening to amazing podcasts. In fact, these habits not only feed him with a constant stream of new ideas, but they also act as excellent stress busters. “In a sense, I am a believer in what Cal Newport writes about in his book Deep Work, which raises legitimate questions about the true nature of productivity,” he says.

In his book The Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz says that the most difficult challenge faced by startup CEOs is how to preserve their own sanity. Running a startup is fraught with stress, risks, and constant encounters with unknowns. Behind every ounce of glory that a CEO enjoys, there is a gallon of grief. There have been a couple of times in TalentSprint’s journey where Santanu felt that all was lost and there was no way to recover from the setbacks at that time. And yet they did. “What I learned from those episodes is that when everything looks bleak, you have to reduce your horizon to take things one single day at a time, one small step in front of another. If you can do that long enough, it is quite likely you will successfully emerge from darkness into broad daylight. It is the same thing Matt Damon says and does in The Martian,” he says.

We asked for his views on the recent turmoil in financial institutions such as FTX and SVB and what impact can it have. To this, Santanu feels that the failure should not negatively affect the public interest in blockchain and fintech. It is widely accepted that these two firms represent serious regulatory failures, not technology failures. The growth potential of both the fintech and blockchain sectors vastly exceeds any hiccups faced by a few companies. “Entrepreneurs should, in my opinion, double down on these sectors, not retreat from them. Even if short-term funding is a challenge, the medium and long outlook is extremely positive,” he says.

Drawing Strength to Traverse the Difficult Path to Success

Two quotes that Santanu loves are indirectly related: “Most overnight successes take a hell of a long time,” said Steve Jobs, and it perfectly nails the idea that there are no shortcuts on the road to success. “Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm,” said Winston Churchill, and it is easy to see how this quote essentially underlines the same idea that adversity is usually our greatest teacher on that long road to ‘overnight’ success. In an age of instant gratification, it is important to take a long view of life, work, and what ultimately constitutes success.

On the same note, he advises budding entrepreneurs saying:

“Pick a difficult problem and address it. Do not sell yourself short just to make money. Start your company to solve an important and hairy problem and develop an impactful and elegant solution that makes the world a better place. Such an approach can not only bring you financial success eventually, but it can also bring you a tremendous sense of inner accomplishment and earn you the respect of the world at large.”

Awards and Accolades

Santanu feels that awards and accolades are a testament to the tripod of values on which his company culture rests: customers must come first, quality is indeed everything, and innovation must lead to scale. TalentSprint won the Education Excellence Award at the Indian Achievers Award in 2022. In 2023, they bagged the EdTech Leader of The Year and Digital Learning Company of The Year at the Indian Education and EdTech Awards. These were followed by the titles of the Best Edtech Company of The Year and Best Edtech Solution of The Year at the 2nd World Education and EdTech Awards. Most recently, they won the Most Breakthrough Product of the Year 2023 at the Education Innovation Summit and Awards by Entrepreneur India; for its WE and TechWise bootcamp programs in the DEI space. Both these programs are offered in partnership with Google.

Miles to Go

Today, TalentSprint has carved a niche by bringing forth deeptech programs ahead of their time, preparing early career and experienced professionals for breakthrough futuristic technologies and upcoming career opportunities, thus developing the workforce of the future and bridging the demand and supply gap.

The company’s focus will be to continue to register responsible and positive growth YoY. They have 50+ programs and 15+ partnerships that foray into new domains, new target segments and emerging business models. They will continue to invest in tried and tested business models that drive business profitability and significantly impact the learning outcomes of learners. They are designing and developing new programs in the DEI space to transform careers at a larger scale.

iPearl.ai, their AI-powered learning management system is a true example of platform innovation. “We will continue to innovate to make it more robust and scalable. Parallelly, we are expanding further by launching hyper-niche industry-relevant programs and delivering them through innovative business models that cater to diversified segments of the audience. We are committed to delivering value for every penny invested by learners through the career transformation of professionals,” concludes Santanu.

Ryan K. Foncannon: Pioneering Advanced Tax Strategies for the Modern Investor

What makes entrepreneurs special is the fact that when they see a problem, they also see an opportunity. Problems that people see and ignore or endure, tickle the problem-solving attitude of entrepreneurs. They don’t rest until they have found a solution so that no one endures the problem anymore.  

Ryan K. Foncannon started out working in the senior citizen space providing Medicare, life insurance, annuities, and long-term care insurance. While providing his services, he noticed his high-wage W-2 earner and successful business owner clients not getting much help in the tax strategy space. They didn’t have bad accountants. They were good at tax preparation and recording what happened in the past. They were just not great at being more holistic and proactive. He also saw this with other advisors on the wealth side. The advisors wouldn’t talk about anything that was not part of the stock market. There’s a lot more planning available out there for clients, especially in the alternative space. 

The problem-solver that Ryan was, he set out to learn the strategies that the billionaires were using to pay little or no tax. He wanted to bring the strategies from Wall Street to Main Street America. This was the start of his company, S.W.A.N. VFO. This has paid off for his clients not just on the advanced tax side, but across the board. Ryan and his team bring all of these strategies to fruition. He lists a lot of the specialists he works with on his website, but not all. He has access to over 80+ specialists on his VFO (Virtual Family Office) team. He also works with over 30+ tax offices to bring these strategies and options to their clients. The tax professionals like using his back-office support or VFO to not only educate clients but also implement the strategies. 

Tax Planning – The Profitable Way

Ryan felt the high net worth, high wage W-2 earner, and business owner markets were severely underserved by the transactional advisors that they use. His team wanted to create a one-stop-shop for these types of clients. They wanted to bring together the best-in-class specialists from across the country on an as-needed basis. They wanted to create a team-based or web-based group of advanced specialists that work in unison to bring together the best options for the client. That would produce the best outcomes for the client and not the advisor. That is exactly what they have done. 

Ryan’s team at S.W.A.N. VFO can bring very sophisticated planning across the disciplines of financing, business advisory, legal, insurance, private wealth management, and advanced tax planning. They separate themselves from all their competitors with the advanced tax planning they do, especially with the strategies they bring to the table. 

“It does not matter if a client is a business owner or high wage W-2 earner, we have impact strategies for both. This ties into the other disciplines in an advanced way, which can create an overlap with this type of higher-level planning when you understand how everything works together. We also feel that the high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth clients are not getting the best planning to help them opt out of having to pay large Estate Taxes after they pass away. We feel this market is highly underserved. There are too many examples to list of estates of famous people that got severely taxed when they did not have to be with proper advanced planning,” shares Ryan.

Strategizing it Right

When approaching advanced tax planning for high-wage earners Ryan and his team look at the total picture. How much is the total household income or AGI? How much is the net worth of the family? Are there any real estate properties? What is their current Federal tax liability? These questions and more help them formulate what they can do. 

“AGI or total household income qualifies folks for a lot of strategies we use. A high-wage earner on the granular level that does not have net worth, real estate, and/or a spouse that has a business needs to make: Single: $400,000+ or Joint: $500k+ as AGI or total household income. The reason for this is the standard deduction. Most strategies need to be higher than the standard deduction for it to do anything to the tax return,” explains Ryan.

Sharing examples, he says, “I had to call out a financial advisor last year for putting clients into strategies that did NOT put them over this hump but told them it would save them in taxes. It didn’t. The clients put in $11,000 and their deduction was higher than that of an individual. So, it didn’t do anything, and it underperformed. If we just focused on what one person made, we would miss out on a ton of other options. We had a doctor last year for whom we used 3 strategies and saved about 91% on their taxes between Federal and State. Some of those strategies had a cash flow to them too. He is now taking the next step with us to do the total picture planning or what we call ‘smoker planning’. It takes longer, but it will cover all the bases. Our largest client we saved them over 8 figures in taxes and that did not count the amount of estate taxes that we are saving them, which is in the $100+ million range.”

The 6 Pillars of Advanced Planning 

The 6 Pillars of Advanced Planning at S.W.A.N. VFO have a lot of overlap in the strategies that it offers. The six pillars are Financing, Business Advisory, Advanced Legal, Advanced Insurance Concepts, Private Wealth Management, and Advanced Tax Planning. 

Other than regular planning, their knack for understanding, educating, and implementing the different advanced strategies sets them apart. There can be overlap in advanced strategies that can bring much better outcomes to the client versus being transactional on each need. 

“By looking at the whole picture, strategies that create better outcomes overall reveal themselves to us. As an example, there was a medium-sized trucking company we worked with. They had issues with insurance costs, rising labor & non-labor costs, cash flow issues, the need for better benefits to keep employees, and the owner wanted to put more away for retirement.  We implemented 3 high-impact strategies that significantly lowered insurance costs, labor & non-labor costs, and increased cash flow significantly. This allowed them to add more pre- and after-tax benefits. This also allowed the owner to put away over $500,000 in advanced qualified plans for retirement. On his 1040 return, we used 3 high-impact strategies to lower his taxes by over 90% or said another way, we saved him over $700k in federal taxes alone,” shares Ryan as he explains.

Readying for Everyday Challenges 

Ryan takes a few steps back and looks at the total picture for the client. The client may have a large capital gains event and that is their focus, but by looking at the bigger picture, Ryan can bring better strategies to the table that act like a Swiss army knife to cover other bases that are of concern too. 

Since S.W.A.N. VFO is an independent firm, it can adjust and pivot very quickly. Other firms that are more ‘corporate’ are harder to adjust to new challenges. They can not only change quickly, but can also pivot to a new way of doing things to maximize the outcome for the client. 

Their biggest challenge, however, came from a different quarter. The company rebranded to be a Virtual Family Office (VFO) about 6 months before the pandemic. A lot of people were very leery of the idea of a ‘virtual’ company. “Everyone needs a little luck in business. The pandemic happened to be the best thing to ever happen to us. Potential clients of all ages were hopping on Zoom calls and Facetime on their phones and computers. What was a huge challenge for us really turned the corner,” says Ryan.

Emerging Trends

Ryan observes that the laws are always changing. Some strategies will sunset and new ones will create new opportunities. A lot of different laws are set to sunset in 2026. That will create a great opportunity for those who can pivot to the new strategies or know the current strategies that are back on the table. 

Ryan predicts that revenue sharing and ecosystem merging to be an integral part of doing business in the years to come. This is different from the traditional referral model. This is more of having a true partnership and not a handoff. This is about adding more value than you take.

“Via our VFO, we have numerous ecosystem mergers with tax practices, law practices, and even other financial advisors. The ones that can participate in the revenue sharing, really love it. They are not only involved, but they are the stars of the show. We feel that this on top of what we are already doing will totally disrupt the financial, insurance, and tax industries,” says Ryan.

To stay updated on ever-evolving tax laws and regulations, S.W.A.N. has an extensive network of specialists. They help the company stay on top of things, including staying on top of sunsetting tax strategies and recognizing opportunities to pivot to for the clients. Ryan does extensive training in continuing education, webinars, whitepapers, etc. to stay on top of what is happening next. He is on the tax board for the National Small Business Association, who appreciate his input and keeps him abreast of any potential or actual law changes. 

“If you know a law change is going to happen before it happens, it allows you time to plan. We are also on the Leadership Board with NSBA (National Small Business Association) dealing with tax policy. This also helps us stay on top of what is coming down the road and how we can pivot to other strategies via the tax code,” he says.

Summing up his future endeavors, Ryan concludes, “Our goal is to disrupt the tax and financial sectors in a major way. You can expect that from us and what has already been said. We also see us helping people achieve their money, time, and magic. We will be actualizers to other tax, legal, and financial professionals to help them achieve the more they are seeking in their lives.” 

Quote: “Do what is right, no matter what the cost. –Scott Foncannon”

Quote: “My mission is to help business owners and high-income earners build wealth.”

Quote: “I am passionate about delivering a wide range of state-of-the-art expertise, by structuring cohesive teams of specialists for each client, and driving down costs for both myself and my clients.”

Patricia Stoeckel: An Entrepreneur, Passionate about Business and People

Business and entrepreneurship have no gender. True, but hard to believe? A humane enterprise is defined as one that demonstrates innovation, and sustainability, and fosters a corporate culture centred on humans, empowerment and engagement. No rule in the business book says anything about business being done by men alone. The rules of the game are the same for everyone. 

However, due to the traditionally patriarchal system that has been prevalent in society for ages, it is tough for many of us to trust women-led businesses. And although there are some traditionally male or female businesses, stereotypes are now fading as more examples emerge of inspirational women leaders, especially in tech and service industries. Interestingly, the biases start from home where kids see and unknowingly slip into gender-based roles. These notions then get carried forward to their professional life.

Raised in a family of entrepreneurs, with a majority of women, Patricia Stoeckel experienced gender-neutral parenting even before it became a trending term. Her parents treated their children exactly the same, without any differences between her brother and her sisters and herself. They had/have still the same level of expectations. No stereotypes. “I am not keen on the “woman entrepreneurship” approach; I don’t agree with gender separation in business. Probably my upbringing helped me in my personality because it is first also a question of education and values. I dare to work, I dare to create, I dare to try, I dare to fail, I dare to succeed, I dare to say no …. I have never been facing a barrier in my life because I am a woman and I share this with great pleasure, because probably men around me gave me the chance, the trust and the energy to progress,” asserts Patricia. 

Entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology are unique, feels Patricia as they are not judged by being started by gender X. They are and must be evaluated by innovation brought to market, the team with a good background (their talent, experience, passion, adaptability), return on investment, competitive advantage and many other things that define a good business. “So whatever gender you are, it will be all about uniqueness when it comes to developing a business. That is why entrepreneurship has no gender. It is also about a great balance between your personal life and your professional life. And for this, we need to be able to disconnect, we need to be well organized and to have good people around us. And finally, I must say that practising sport is ideal to let off steam and to get re-energized,” she explains. 

The Professional Journey

Patricia is a Digital, Business-oriented and data-driven Executive leader (C level) combining strategy and operational execution with +20 years of experience in (e)commerce area (cross channels and online/pure player), both at the global and country level.

Coming from a family of entrepreneurs it would have seemed to be the obvious choice to continue in her family’s footsteps and work within the business. However, she decided to trace her professional path externally and through multiple experiences. Patricia began her career in consulting at KPMG as a Consultant and then as a Retail Manager. Consulting experience in one of the highly regarded companies offered her valuable experience, with crash courses in how a company or an industry works, in what are the best-in-class processes. She spent 6 years, learning a lot from company to company and travelling a lot. Then, from listed companies (Saint Gobain) to family-owned groups (Louis Delhaize), she held various management positions in Strategy and Transformation. Adept in agile organizations, she joined the Veepee group in 2015, the largest European digital outlet e-commerce company, where she integrated the Executive Committee and created the Transformation and Innovation department. She led a large-scale transformation program, fostering organization & business performance and supporting profitable growth development through digital business, data, technology and agility, product management and innovation. Since 2019, she is the CEO of Veepee.ch (ex-eboutic.ch) in charge of the development of the Swiss and Liechtenstein market. She is also a Foreign Trade Advisor and Board member of the International French ICC & Board member of the Swiss-French ICC.

A Passionate Leader

Patricia is passionate about (e)commerce; has developed an appetite for new technologies and loves to explore the mysteries of (e)commerce with customer satisfaction as her spearhead. Putting the customer first and creating a positive, seamless and ‘woah’ experience is her mission. To her, providing a positive and one-of-a-kind customer experience allows a company to stand out from others, leading to acquiring and retaining more customers. A customer is no longer just a number or a name on a receipt. Instead, customers are empowered, connected, and engaged consumers who have a voice in the company’s strategy and management.

Patricia has seen the Retail industry evolve for more than 20 years. Retail is unique, she feels, perhaps more than any other industry, retail is ubiquitous, complex and ripe for disruption. It is a world defined by trends — both internal and external and therefore is a highly competitive and leading innovative market that forces you to keep the leadership and always be at the forefront of innovation – therefore digital combined with technologies are driving the development while always putting people at the heart. 

Growing up in an atmosphere where working hard and solidarity were cardinal values, Values and Culture have turned into the pillars of her working style. Patricia is convinced that a company that aims at leading the market by growing higher and faster than its competitors, needs to focus on 

  • Culture and people
  • Agility and innovation

“All is about people” and as Peter Drucker said “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” – this is exactly the way she is managing her team and developing her business.

First with democratic and participative leadership, she wants her team to participate and to be part of the journey. She established a low power distance because she trusts her team. “Trust is key in collective work. By sharing the responsibilities, I allow the team to be creative and performant, always being solutions and results-oriented. The How Yes is much more important to me than the Why Not,” she explains.

Patricia also has a strong value of belief: “Everything Will Be OK in the End. If It’s not OK it’s not the end” and of course of empathy: “If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own. You should not judge; you should understand.”

She embraces the change every day and encourages her team to do so. Because nothing is granted, and nothing is as permanent as change. She prefers transformation and movement to inaction. She is convinced that opportunities are part of the development and improvement of people and the company. For this, being kind but demanding and allowing risks, thanks to boldness and determination is her mindset.

Makings of a Diverse Organizational Culture

Patricia believes that diversity and inclusions are core values and we absolutely need to champion them in our organization and culture. Fostering a culture of diversity and inclusion of people from different backgrounds, lifestyles and perspectives is exactly what today’s businesses must do to compete on the global stage. She values the diversity of ideas and people. True excellence requires that each individual be able to work and learn in an atmosphere of respect, dignity, and acceptance.

“It is about promoting ‘cognitive diversity’ because people who think differently blend perspectives for stronger collaboration, problem-solving and innovation. Furthermore, diversity and inclusion increase talent retention. I strongly believe that diversity and difference make us stronger. I respect and seek out inclusion of differences, as a cultural priority, allowing open conversations and walking the walk, she says.

Dealing with Challenges

Life is full of challenges. But it is the steps you take to overcome, move around, or transform them into opportunities that give you strength. We learn a lot every time we fail and we should never view our challenges as a disadvantage. Patricia feels it’s important to understand that our experience facing and overcoming adversity is actually one of our biggest advantages because she strongly believes that we succeed in times of adversity. Resilience is key and she supports her team in the right to make mistakes.

We are constantly faced with the challenge of leading change within our organizations and questioning ourselves. It’s a complex task that requires strategic thinking, effective communication, and thoughtful actions. To bring a concrete example, when she came to Switzerland, taking over a new team, in a new country, with a new language, and a new culture was for sure a big challenge for her: big but interesting because it was a great time for questioning and adapting, for getting the hang of the way of working, for listening and involving the teams. Communication as well as the ability to understand and not judge, to adapt and not copy, to listen and not impose was key to overcoming the challenge.

Metaverse and Marketing Strategies 

Innovation is key and technology is at the heart of retail business. Consumers are more and more tech-savvy and hyper-connected – on the other side, the retail sector is booming in terms of innovative and valuable start-ups that are created each year. 

The retail industry has seen a fast-paced change from bricks and mortar retail to online shopping experiences and we continue to see brands explore innovations.

Talking about Metaverse, Patricia concurs that as we move further into a digital world, it’s important for brands to focus on creating emotionally appealing retail immersive experiences for customers. In the metaverse, this means using sight and sound to create a space that feels as real as possible. With the metaverse, retailers can provide their audience with a similar experience to a real-world mall, where customers can converse, play, exchange content, discover, engage with brands and make purchases virtually. Your business becomes an always-on journey that shoppers can engage with in bigger and more immersive ways that can truly expand the customer experience.

“Metaverse enables to bridge the gap between physical and digital retail experiences, with a lot of benefits for brands as well as for customers. So, for sure we will need to adapt our marketing strategy to integrate this new world. Metaverse is a goldmine for growth marketers because it is purely data-driven. The virtual world is built around data, which makes a lot of room for growth marketing. And this will help us leverage engagement and retention, but also to reach a much larger audience,” she explains.

Current Challenges of the Industry 

The market is witnessing an extraordinary digital transformation led by major technological innovation but also driven by constantly improving and demanding expectations of customers. Patricia suggests we can focus here on 3 major challenges among many others (pricing, supply chain, data, cybersecurity, …):

  1. Enhancement of the customer experience: the pandemic has transformed the way we live, work and – of course – shop.
  • We need to take an omnichannel approach: Whether online or in-store, we need to offer seamless customer experiences by creating seamless engagement no matter where you interact with customers. We have to activate customer data for effective personalization because customers today expect personalized experiences and interactions. This is true across generations, but it’s especially crucial for younger shoppers (Gen Z). The challenge is unifying customer data across channels and sources to create complete customer profiles with behaviours, preferences, and predictive attributes.
  • Generative AI is a real game changer in the retail industry: it can generate new and original content such as images, videos, audio, text, and music. Personalized product recommendation, supply chain optimization or even price optimization are concrete examples of how AI will leverage retail operations. 

A Sustainable Business

Sustainability becomes the thread that weaves through every business. It is a “mandatory” change with the new and rising expectations of consumers, investors and regulators. Patricia and her team have to be committed to responsible practices and concerned about environmental, social and societal issues such as promoting second-life products and a circular economy, managing their environmental impact and promoting their inclusive business model

  • Offer: whether it is local production, eco-designed, recycled or second-hand products 
  • Packaging: more eco-friendly, more adapted in terms of size
  • Transportation: optimize full charges, boost click and collect, and adapt deliveries schemes without pushing on a same-day delivery that is really costly in terms of carbon footprint
  • Social commitment: good quality of life at work, inclusion and diversity,  

Living Without Regrets

Patricia loves her job. She has no regret about what she has done in the past, even no regret about tough decisions she had to make or even mistakes she made – because this is part of her learnings. “We all learn from mistakes. Each time I was thinking that I could have done better, I always adapted the path very quickly. To me, there are no benefits to having just regret. Instead, we need to be resilient, rechallenge and adapt as often as required. I fear stagnation, I embrace changes.”

Patricia has two favourite quotes that drive her life:

“Carpe Diem” because life is short, so we need to seize all the opportunities every day with love and kindness.

“Whatever you want to do or dream, you can do. Begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it” – anything is possible and a great team can achieve great things with large and open diversity of thinking. We need to dream big!

Message for budding entrepreneurs:

First, a big Bravo to all our budding entrepreneurs because it’s not an easy path. Not easy but so exciting!! Our economy and our society need great entrepreneurship to build the future. I am an active Foreign Trade Advisor and Board member of the International French ICC & Board member of the Swiss-French ICC. And therefore, I am promoting the start-up ecosystem as well as I am supporting the scaling up companies.

Being an entrepreneur is first a mindset. To put it in a nutshell, the 5 most important things for an entrepreneur are :

  • Be ready to speak up and be bold
  • Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging. Bring humanity into the conversation
  • Be curious and keen to learn – show humility and empathy and be creative
  • Don t give up, build resilience, it will pay back
  • Create the opportunities – this a great way to step up and show the difference you can make 

Quote: “Everyone Should Work Retail Once in Their Lives because Retail surrounds us in all of our lives – It’s an emotional, demanding environment where innovation is key”

Rahul S Jayawant: Results-driven Entrepreneur Passionate about Innovation

As of today, July 2023, there are 7.33 billion mobile phone users in the world which translates into nearly 91% of the world’s population. Of which, 6.8 billion people are smartphone users and the tribe is expected to grow to 7.1 billion by the end of 2024.

For a marketeer reading this, the numbers translate into opportunities to reach out to those 6.8 billion people. Mobile phones represent an opportunity for companies to customize their offerings for the targeted users through engaging creatives that can hook them and convert them into customers.

However, the problem is, how do you engage a customer whose mobile is full of apps, probably of rivals, and whose attention span is less than 6 seconds?

For Rahul Jayawant-led Eureka Mobile Advertising, this isn’t a problem, but an opportunity to which they have patented solutions!

The Company

Eureka Mobile is a ‘last mile’ solution to deliver content on the mobile. It is an experience-led Customer Engagement Platform. The company is based in the UK and provides elevating engaging experiences on the mobile. ​The underlying digital technology is patented.

Eureka delivers content directly to the mobile’s idle screen, ensuring a guaranteed view. Viewers can choose to tap to see more, save for later, mark it as a favorite, or swipe to dismiss. This is how it helps businesses:

  • As per Google’s research, less than 50% of the content on the mobile is ever viewed. Eureka’s Technology ensures 100% Viewability. 
  • The mobile screen is cluttered with dozens of apps and the content will get lost in the forest of apps on the subscriber’s home screen. Eureka’s Solution ensures the Brand’s content stands out and an unmissable copy of the content is served ‘out of app’ – timed and targeted – to the target audience/subscriber resulting in an elevating engaging experience. 
  • As per experts, page loading times could vary from 3s – 11s.  Eureka’s solution ensures the content is served instantly (no latency). Video is the most popular format on the mobile. Buffering is a spoiler. Eureka’s Technology ensures Zero Buffering. 

The Start of it All

In the early nineties, a young Rahul kicked off his professional journey after his Bachelor in Technology in Manufacturing on the Foundry Shop floor as a Management Trainee in Kolkata in India. He had a great time dabbling in production, quality control, operations, and blue-collar workforce management (which was very demanding and a completely different kettle of fish). However, he soon got bored by the monotony of factory life and decided to move to the much-romanticized Sales arena. 

He then moved on to selling Castolin’s cutting-edge industrial consumables for sustainability. It gave him a unique ringside view of the technological landscape across a myriad of Industries including – Automobiles; Steel; Chemicals; Paper & Pulp;  Ship Repairs; Cement; Mining amongst others. It gave him an opportunity to create numerous innovative applications which were globally useful for the Company. Work took him to Singapore and the time spent was fantastic in terms of opportunities, entrepreneurial DNA of the Nation, and positive work culture. 

Then Y2K happened! The world was taken over by the doomsday scenarios of ‘what if’ the computer software tripped as the millennial clock went past midnight into the 21st Century. Rahul too was swept away by the euphoria and was pulled into the fascinating world of the possible – Software Technology. He was handpicked by the Chairman (of Larsen & Toubro Group) to move to the UK to lead the S.I. business for the company. The next decade was spent working in various Business Development roles for leading System Integrators including Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Accenture, and HCL amongst others based out of London. 

A chance meeting with one of the greatest Techno marketers of the 21st Century changed Rahul’s trajectory of life, forever. He met John Sculley at the London Hilton in 2008. Across the breakfast table, literally at the back of the paper napkin, he shared his vision of ‘customer engagement’ on the mobile. John instantly liked it and told him that he thought it was innovative and pioneering. 

Rahul reflects, “Looking back, I think John inspired my entrepreneurial zest. The entrepreneurial journey has been exhilarating, to say the least. The countless meetings with investors, the ecstasy of the patents being granted, and above all the ‘EUREKA’ moment of the customer, once they experience the elevating engagement power of the platform. A game changer for their business!” 

Out-of-the-box Thinker and Leader

As the Founder and CEO of a startup with patents to its credit, Rahul has been setting the pace at the company with his big-picture-driven attitude. He leads from the front and ensures that his vision is shared and understood by everyone in the company. 

Rahul is adept at leveraging emerging technologies to drive innovation and stay ahead of a competitive market. He is skilled in building and nurturing high-performing teams, fostering a culture of collaboration, and delivering exceptional results. He excels at establishing network connections and has a reputation for forging strategic partnerships and securing lucrative business opportunities. He has an aptitude for maintaining corporate governance standards while ensuring regulatory compliance, and driving sustainable organizational growth. 

Rahul believes the Post Pandemic World represents an opportunity for the sophisticated use of technology solutions for changing business models. Through Eureka, he is enabling businesses to communicate with their customer or employee directly in a meaningful and personalized way as a powerful route to increasing engagement  and in turn improving productivity. Back of their customer engagement platform on the go, they are creating pioneering businesses across Media & Entertainment: eCommerce and Future of Work amongst others for:

  • Fan engagement and monetization of fan-base
  • Off-Peak Breaks to recharge the workforce
  • The digitalization of the High Street towards achieving sustainability and carbon reduction goals in the local community

Innovation is the bedrock of all of Eureka’s businesses. Their ‘last mile’ mobility patent underpins their Customer Engagement Platform on the go. Every use case of their business is unique and pioneering anywhere in the world.

The company believes in diversity and makes a conscious effort to support diversity and inclusion in every business activity both within and across its partnerships. “Our focus is on the attitude of the individual. We are looking for out-of-the-box thinkers with high integrity working at speed and above all a positive mindset,” says Rahul.

Overcoming Challenges

Rahul believes, variety is the spice of life and that time is the most precious commodity, a perishable to be used wisely. Speed and Mundanity have been the biggest challenges in his career. Initially, he tried to move across business verticals in search of variety, including Manufacturing, Application Sales, System Integration Services, and Digital. In search of speed, he moved from Mumbai to Singapore to London. 

“Then the ‘penny dropped’ and I realized I was shackled by corporate bureaucracy and yearned for the freedom to perform. Thus began my journey into the world of entrepreneurship. It has been exhilarating, liberating and above all fulfilling!”, he confesses.

As for the industry, Rahul feels that the current challenges include Climate Change, Cybersecurity, IP theft, and Talent War (exacerbated by the rapidly changing technological landscape). He feels that these four major challenges need to be addressed jointly by the FORTUNE 100 companies as an existential challenge across the world.

Getting Future-Ready

As an inventor, Rahul is passionate about innovation and the art of possibly leveraging technology for good. Metaverse feels Rahul, is a game-changer and that marketing strategy will never be the same again. As it matures and proliferates it will be more persuasive, purposeful, and personalized ensuring a significant ROI to the Brand.

At Eureka, his team will keep striving to create unique ‘Customer Engagement’ solutions across diverse businesses including Fan Engagement; eCommerce; Future of Work, and OTT (Streaming Services) in the coming years.

Message for the Budding Entrepreneurs:

“It’s an exciting and fast-moving world full of opportunities. Should you want to make a difference, entrepreneurship is the best vehicle to achieve it. Have a purpose and be passionate about your venture. Entrepreneurship is  a journey enjoy it!

The sense of achievement is unique and incomparable to anything else. However, it is not for the faint-hearted. Be prepared for the marathon – mentally, physically, and financially. Look for experienced mentors and ensure the team is focused, sharp, and honest. Go for it!” concludes Rahul.

Quote:  ‘Variety is the Spice of Life!’

Najib Khatib: Driving Transformation and Sustainable Success

Khatib & Alami (K&A) is an International Multidisciplinary Consultancy comprising of Architects, Engineers, Planners, Project Managers, Technologists, and other specialists. We employ over 7000 people across 30+ locations in the Middle East, GCC Region, North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central and Southeast Asia. Its work covers a broad spectrum of sectors and disciplines, including Architecture & Urban Planning, Transportation & Urban Mobility, Water & Environment, Energy, Project Management services, and Digital services. The company offers deep expertise, combined with a broad understanding of delivering complex major projects within agreed time frames and budgets.

A Transformative Leader

Najib Khatib, the CEO, started his professional career with K&A in 1996 in Lebanon after returning from the US where he had spent 10 years at university completing his studies starting as a freshman and finally earning a Ph. D in Civil & Environmental Engineering in 1995. He spent the initial few years performing multiple design projects within his specialty which is transport planning and traffic engineering using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Later, he was transferred to the United Arab Emirates and assigned to supervision of construction for several years on a wide variety of projects.

Najib was then asked to assist in promoting K&A’s services in Saudi Arabia, and for the next 17 years, he continued to work on preparing and conducting presentations to potential clients, working on proposals, leading design teams, establishing various legal forms or cooperation with American and European firms to participate in very large projects in several countries. In 2011, the Board of Directors (BOD) which he had joined several years earlier voted him as the CEO of K&A, primarily because of the rapid and successful expansion the company achieved while providing the clients with quality work. In 2016, the BOD voted him as the Chairman of the Board of K&A in addition to maintaining his CEO position. In 2018 Najib established the Executive Office in Dubai which enabled him to transfer and hire the most qualified seniors to work with him on continuing to expand and advance the services, technologies, and territories where the firm operates.

“I remain heavily involved to the extent feasible with the operations side of the firm to ensure that it remains among the top International Multidisciplinary Consultancies, as well as work on transferring my experience to the upcoming generations that have reached a certain level of seniority,” says Najib.

A Pioneering Vision

K&A upholds its uniqueness in the market by placing creativity and imagination at the core of its approach. It prioritizes delivering comprehensive solutions that enhance user experiences. Our approach includes value engineering, optimization, and efficient project execution. Sustainability is at the core, considering economic, social, and environmental impacts. We align with clients’ visions, meeting their needs and expectations. Continuous learning and improvement drive us to achieve ambitious goals.”

Najib’s vision for K&A is to remain an early adopter of new technologies that add value to their clients. The vision is flexible, and evolving as the team prioritizes ideas that consistently enhance K&A’s services. He believes that leaders must embrace risk when championing novel concepts, avoiding ego-driven resistance to proven ideas. “Attention to detail and active engagement at all levels are essential for realizing any worthwhile vision. Narcissistic, ego-driven approaches hinder progress and create barriers,” feels Najib.

As the CEO, Najib continuously attempts to figure out the best and fastest way to catch up with the obligations he has set for himself.  He believes that CEOs should thrive and be grateful for the continuous number of new challenges and unfamiliar tasks they continuously face. They should also acknowledge others’ contributions and avoid pretending to have all the solutions. These opportunities help bring up a fresh perspective, build trust, and also help assess individuals’ readiness for higher responsibilities. “As the CEO, it is my duty to facilitate the progress of individuals who work hard on improving their abilities and capabilities,” he says.

Guided by Innovation

In a multidisciplinary consultancy, clients hire you and appreciate the service you provide because they believe that you consistently provide their target objectives with the most innovative solutions that match their set of beliefs and importance. 

Najib believes that currently, innovation focuses on primarily two subjects. The first is the move towards digital economies which is transforming the built environment sector. Smart solutions have rapidly evolved from simple ad hoc projects to truly smart cities, with digital technologies trustfully embedded into the infrastructure and daily experiences of city life. K&A’s teams have been dedicated to developing innovative solutions tailored to address the specific challenge each community faces. They are driven by the larger purpose of improving the lives of people and making a positive impact on communities. These are transformative technologies that are reshaping how we approach various aspects of design, planning, and construction processes. Its consistent commitment to technology innovation and its unwavering focus on providing high-quality services is aimed at exceeding the client’s expectations and maintaining its position as a leader in the industry.  

The other current focus of innovation points out Najib, is to help create a sustainable future.  Sustainability is at the heart of K&A’s business philosophy. It extends beyond the confines of codes, standards, and best practices toward the shift required to build a better future for humanity.  The company adopts comprehensive sustainability in all its projects which utilizes innovative strategies in sustainable engineering design, materials, energy management, and independent commissioning solutions. Sustainable design not only helps support the environment and improve wellness but also makes long-term business sense by significantly reducing operational costs by making projects easier to market. 

“Our specialist teams develop strategies and programs that meet international certifications such as LEED which embrace the latest tools, research, material, and smart technologies to further enhance energy efficiency and waste management, improve housing and healthcare, optimize traffic flow and safety, detect air quality and improve water and sanitation systems. The combination of both, technology and sustainability are at the core of our practical contribution to innovation, without which, companies in this industry will be unable to sustain their business over the medium to long term,” shares Najib.

Embracing the Trends

Several trends are emerging which will most likely impact the direction that the A/E/P industry may look like within the next 5 years. The most obvious is the exponential acceleration of technology and its embeddedness in the ever-increasing sub-specialties that make up the A/E/P industry.  With the world population increasing, more focus and budget will likely go to entertainment and culture facilities to provide leisure venues. Technological advancements in robotics and AI will create more free time, but it’s important to address potential socio-economic difficulties for those displaced by these advances. Many nations have already increased their budgets to take advantage of this trend, and others are likely to follow suit in the coming years.

Another trend is modular construction using pre-engineered structures and ready-to-install materials which is directly influencing the speed of construction with an ever-increasing level of quality and is expected to continue increasing its share of the built environment, especially as technology continues to improve.  “Man-made materials that replace natural materials continue to become faster, cheaper, and cleaner to produce will also improve sustainability and allow the construction of facilities to continue being more economical and less timely to produce. This trend is highly likely to continue and impact the A/E/P and construction industries,” predicts Najib.

All such examples share know-how as the main common ingredient amongst them, and as  A/E/P consultancies’ main product is knowledge and know-how, owners of A/E/P consultancies need to expand their levels of know-how application into adjacent sectors to the current basic A/E/P know-how, and some should succeed in their expansion of know-how and its application, and our company is likely to be one such successful A/E/P firm as it is taking the necessary steps in certain aspects of the adjacent know-how.

Sustainable Development Goals

In line with the global target of achieving Sustainable Development Goals laid down by the United Nations by the year 2030, sustainability at K&A has been formalized and is led by a sustainability committee from various disciplines who work both independently and collectively. They pursue an agenda to allow K&A to remain at the forefront of achieving world sustainability to the maximum extent possible before 2030.  This committee meets and presents its continuous achievement through reporting and holding dedicated full-day presentations, discussions, advancements, budgets, resources, etc. by meeting twice a year with the BOD of K&A to ensure they have a viable corporate sustainability strategy that can positively, consistently and substantially contribute to all defined sustainability goals to the extent feasible.  At K&A, this committee is made up of five groups, and each group is made up of four specialists that rotate every one to three years to both enable the company to address the multitude of goals while simultaneously increasing its number of staff who both learn and contribute to improving world sustainability over time.

While K&A’s sustainability goals may seem at first glance to be partly different from the UN “17 Sustainable Development Goals” (SDG) by 2030, they are not different from the UN SDG, however, the approach they use may be different as a private sector company. The goals that are the most active currently begin with Climate Change Adaptation, Green Building Design and Construction Consultancy, Energy Management, GHG/CO2 Inventory and Management, Sustainability Supply Chain Management, Sustainability Life Cycle and Costing Analysis, Sustainability Digital Interfacing, Sustainability Water Management, Sustainability Land Use Optimization Management, Sustainable Quality Education Facilities, Sustainable Quality Healthcare facilities, Sustainable availability of Public Transportation facilities, Sustainable Recycling and Hazardous Waste Management, Sustainable Planning, Design and Supervision of Construction of Public and Private facilities within the Built Environment that maximize the  ability of mentally or physically handicapped people to access such facilities with minimum efforts, support funding for projects that provide basic infrastructure which remains scarce in a large number of developing nations, allocate yearly budgets for Corporate and Social Responsibility Efforts, Sustainability Capacity Building for K&A staff through increasing their Qualifications, Credential and Certifications such as LEEDS, GSAS (Service Provider License – Design & Build A/E, CEM, CMVP, ASHRAE, BCxP (Building Community Certified, CPMP, PQP (Pearl Qualified Professional) Estidama, PEER Professional, GRI  (Empowering Sustainable Decisions) Certified Sustainability Practitioners (GRI-G4) and other such qualifications and certifications.

What Lies Ahead

The next big goals for Najib are to continue expanding his level of know-how and enable the company to reach the necessary economies of scale to remain a leading consultancy hopefully for several generations to come.

“Everything we do must have a purpose in the future besides enabling the company to maintain its financial freedom.  Such goals require a high level of experience and an up-to-date knowledge of all things related to this industry.  Success is possible for those willing to take the risks associated with implementing more trends and be willing to put in the correct structure and efforts to overcome the many challenges that are likely to accompany reaching and materializing such big goals,” concludes Najib.

The following sections need to be designed:

Wisdom Nuggets:

On Finding Work-Life Balance:

I do not believe that any CEO has figured out this persistent issue. As CEOs get promoted, their expectations increase. They need to decide how much stress and pressure they are willing to handle. Being in senior management of a company is in itself a time and energy-consuming job, and being an active CEO with ambitions, one must realize that there will be a price to pay. Balancing work and personal life is challenging, but it’s essential to avoid wasted time and make time for family, health, and hobbies, without which any person will end up paying a heavy price.

For Aspiring Entrepreneurs:

I believe that any aspiring entrepreneur surely has a set of skills that the market appreciates and is willing to pay for. However, at the same time, most aspiring entrepreneurs are relatively young and lack the full set of skills to enable them to get a company off the ground and still be in business after 3 or 4 years. My advice is for them to be honest with themselves and develop the ability to identify their strengths as well as their weaknesses. Make use of every available resource to improve weaker skills and gain experience in those areas. Patience is key to honing skills and minimizing any remaining gaps.

Quote: “Let your work focus on ensuring that your company remains relevant in the marketplace for another 10 years.”

Quote: “We strive to deliver fully-fledged solutions to embrace and enhance the user’s experience.

Quote: “We Value engineer and optimize with a focus on creating outstanding projects as efficiently as possible.”

Also Read: Exclusive interview with Khalid Motik

Phoebe Casey: Helping People Lead Happier, Healthier Lives

Our career paths are often defined by not just our minds and what we should do, but also by our hearts and what we want to do. For someone making big strides in the management alleys, Phoebe Casey knew all along that her heart lay with healthcare and not with the Digital Agencies she was working with. Coming from a humble background with immigrant parents who wanted the best for their children in the new life and understanding the necessity of her family, a young Phoebe had opted for a business degree instead of medical studies.

She embarked on a career as a Management Consultant at Price Waterhouse, one of the leading Big-6 accounting firms at the time, and further went on to work with the likes of PwC, Deloitte, Oracle, and Publicis/Sapient. As a Management Consultant, she gained a wealth of experience working across various industries, helping Fortune 100 companies reduce costs, boost revenues, and prepare for exponential growth. Her career was successful, providing financial security, yet she still felt something was missing.

Around the same time, something transformative began to take shape within her personal life, rekindling the dormant flame of her healthcare aspirations. In 2014, she married Dr. Philip Golinsky, a Chiropractor and advocate for natural healthcare. She and her kids had been experiencing health issues, including asthma, allergies, headaches, and migraines. Phoebe became increasingly uncomfortable with relying on medications with potential long-term side effects. As she delved deeper into natural healing through Dr. Golinsky and online research, they gradually transitioned to regular chiropractic adjustments and dietary changes, eventually eliminating prescribed medications and regaining their optimal health naturally.

“As I observed the healthcare crisis and the rampant opioid epidemic, I felt a calling to become a catalyst for healthcare education. My personal experience with natural healing was too compelling not to share. In 2018, I made the life-changing decision to resign from a role that no longer aligned with my values. I shared with Phil that we’re going to join forces in our mission—to help as many people as possible lead healthier, happier lives naturally,” reminisces Phoebe.

The couple leveraged their combined strengths in healthcare and business to establish best-in-class natural wellness clinics throughout the DMV area, providing exceptional experiences to their patients. Thus, RxWellness Spine & Health was brought to life to provide drug-free, non-surgical alternative solutions for patients suffering from back pains, or joint pains or who want to increase their daily performance and/or increase function.

Defining The Path to Wellness

RxWellness clinics are meticulously designed and established with a clear mission: to be the ultimate destination for natural care, where the patients can consistently expect and receive the highest level of care they both need and deserve. They want to inspire, educate, and help as many people as possible on their path to wellness. They take immense pride in the exceptional patient experience they offer, which is reflected in the countless patient reviews and accolades. Their commitment to excellence has earned them the reputation of being the “Ritz Carlton” of healthcare centers.

RxWellness’s state-of-the-art clinics feature technologically advanced equipment, soothing therapeutic themes, and a calming color palette. They boast a team of the top 5% skilled doctors, complemented by Nurse Practitioners, Massage Therapists, Practice Managers, and Patient Care Specialists, all rigorously trained to prioritize patient care. Their approach centers on providing customized treatments that cater to the unique needs of each patient.

The doctors and specialists offer an array of services, including chiropractic care, massage therapy, soft tissue therapy, dry needling, cupping, acupuncture, Active Release Technique, Applied Kinesiology, Taping, Functional Medicine, Regenerative Medicine, and more. The clientele spans a diverse spectrum, including corporate professionals, frequent travelers, athletes, sports enthusiasts, auto-accident survivors, the aging population, pregnant mothers, families, and children in need of pain care or seeking to enhance their daily performance and range of motion.

As a company, RxWellness is relatively young, having been in operation for approximately five years. They are an enterprising team, always staying current and receptive to innovations and healthcare services that can enhance their patients’ treatment options. They recognize that every patient is unique, and the breadth of alternative care services they provide allows them to tailor treatments to individual needs.

“As we continue to expand and grow, the impact of our work multiplies and strengthens. In addition to assisting our patients, RxWellness has contributed to the local economy by providing job opportunities for doctors, nurses, patient care specialists, massage therapists, business associates, and students. I am immensely proud that everyone in our company and community can share our voice, promoting the benefits of natural healthcare as a viable alternative,” says Phoebe.

A Multi-Faceted Leader

Phoebe is living her purpose by applying her business knowledge to build RxWellness Spine & Health. She juggles multiple roles in her current position serving as the Chief Strategist, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer, and Chief Information Officer. The role which allows her to have the most significant impact is that of the company’s Information Officer. This position enables her to further the company’s mission on a broader scale.

Phoebe’s leadership style is that of a steward leader and her primary focus is to support each member of her team in achieving success in their respective roles. This involves not only guiding them along the way but also removing any obstacles when they require assistance. She firmly believes in investing in both the financial and emotional well-being of her team. She genuinely cares about the lives and well-being of her staff, both inside and outside the office.

“I maintain an open-door policy, ensuring that any employee can directly contact me through my phone number to seek assistance or even just to have a casual coffee chat. My approach is grounded in being an attentive listener first, followed by assuming the roles of facilitator and peacemaker as needed.

Leading a large team with diverse personalities and working styles inevitably brings about both synergies and conflicts. In these situations, I strive to help my team members recognize the strengths in each other and work collaboratively towards common goals,” shares Phoebe.

Bringing Natural Healthcare to Light

RxWellness ‘s overarching mission is to “help as many people as possible live healthier, happier lives, naturally.” In line with this mission, they promote natural methods of healing as a first resort before turning to pharmaceuticals or surgery. RxWellness is responding to the growing desire for a return to a more natural way of life, which has become increasingly evident in recent times. Several factors contribute to the rising popularity of natural healthcare in recent years:

Prevention and Holistic Health: Natural healthcare prioritizes prevention over merely treating diseases. It places a strong emphasis on holistic well-being, recognizing the interrelation of an individual’s physical, mental, and emotional health as integral components of overall wellness.

Discontent with Conventional Medicine: A subset of individuals expresses dissatisfaction with the healthcare system, perceiving it as impersonal and overly focused on symptom management. They are in pursuit of more personalized care and frequently turn to natural therapies that prioritize addressing underlying causes and implementing natural interventions.

Advancements in Research: Scientific studies are progressively delving into the effectiveness of natural treatments. So, individuals are increasingly open to integrating these methods into their healthcare regimens.

Personal Empowerment: Natural healthcare frequently empowers individuals to assume control of their own health. It promotes self-care practices, physical medicine like chiropractic care, healthy eating, and regular exercise, enabling people to actively engage in the maintenance of their well-being.

Awareness and Education: The internet and social media have facilitated easy access to information about natural remedies and alternative therapies. This has led to increased awareness of the potential side effects associated with pharmaceutical drugs, prompting individuals to explore natural alternatives.

“This is the era of independent thinkers, where people are actively exploring and gaining knowledge about various options for maintaining their health. Those individuals who wish to explore conservative, natural, and alternative methods of care before turning to pharmaceuticals or surgery can find the care they seek at our RxWellness clinics,” asserts Phoebe. 

In Tune with Technology and Industry Trends

In her 25 years of consulting across various industries, Phoebe has observed that Healthcare typically lags in the adoption of technology. When she embarked on starting this company, she had to grapple with this challenge. There were very few software solutions available in this sector, and among the ones that existed, the Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems were often outdated and rudimentary. Many processes in her husband’s small, single practice were largely manual, and his website functioned more like a basic business card on the internet.

Upon entering the picture, Phoebe initiated the implementation of a comprehensive technology stack that covers everything from the front end (marketing) to the back end (financial and accounting), and even an analytics dashboard. This allows RxWellness to effectively monitor and manage operations across multiple offices and providers. Technology has become an integral part of every major process within the business. Automation has brought about increased efficiency and standardized operations across all their offices.

The couple regularly attends national healthcare conferences every quarter to stay updated on the latest innovations and advancements in the field. Additionally, they actively engage with various national healthcare groups and associations, fostering collaborations with practitioners and practices across the country.

Phil Golinsky, plays a pivotal role within the Virginia and Maryland Board Associations, actively contributing to their healthcare missions. In recognition of his exceptional contributions, he was honored with the title of Virginia Chiropractor of the Year for 2023, underscoring the profound impact he has had on the association. Phoebe, on the other hand, is a member of the Women’s President Organization and Inc 5000. These affiliations provide numerous opportunities to learn and collaborate with fellow business owners, further facilitating the company’s continuous growth as it scales.

Staying Fit

Phoebe and Phil, both in their 50s, are acutely aware of the physical changes that come with aging. To counteract these effects, they diligently follow healthy habits every day. Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for both mental and physical well-being as we age. Approximately 75% of your overall wellness is influenced by what you eat and drink. The quality of the nutrients your body absorbs is directly determined by your dietary choices. In Phoebe’s case, she focuses on moderation in everything she consumes. They have an integrated weekly exercise routine wherein the regimen encompasses a variety of activities. To enhance blood circulation, nutrient absorption, and overall well-being, they also prioritize weekly massages and chiropractic adjustments.

Practicing Diversity

Phoebe is a dedicated advocate for diversity in the workplace. She firmly believes that the blend of different backgrounds and experiences in the teams fosters synergies and enriches the company. “We thrive on high energy, diverse ideas, and collective growth through inclusion. What propels our organization forward are complementary skill sets, and I make it a point to seek them out during the interview and recruitment process,” she says.

When evaluating candidates for positions, she goes beyond examining their experience and past performance and conducts a “fit” assessment to determine if an applicant can fill any knowledge or skills gaps within a team. Furthermore, she is a strong advocate for women and mothers in the workplace. As a working mom herself, she wholeheartedly believes that motherhood should not limit one’s career and that a satisfying balance can be achieved. “We have implemented flexible scheduling and remote work options to accommodate the demands of working moms, ensuring they can effectively manage both their professional and personal responsibilities,” she shares.

Geared Up for the New Year

First and foremost, Phoebe expects that her team remains steadfast in advancing their mission: “to help as many people as possible lead healthier, happier lives.” She wants her team to approach their daily activities with a sense of purpose, fully recognizing that they are here to assist, educate, and provide the best possible care and patient experience.

“I expect my team to embody our mission both within and beyond the office. They are being cultivated to identify opportunities to extend their assistance to people in all aspects of their lives, sharing how we can help not only our patients but also their friends, families, and extended networks to achieve wellness naturally. As we continue to expand and open additional locations, we aim to make our healthcare services even more accessible to our communities,” concludes Phoebe.

Quote: “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass. It’s about learning how to dance in the rain.”- Vivian Greene.

Quote: “The mind is a powerful source of inspiration. The will is the want to make things happen.”

Quote: “We firmly believe in the restorative power of natural approaches, offering an alternative care model to the conventional medical system.”

Quote: “As a natural healthcare advocate, it is my duty to deliver accessible, timely, accurate, and reliable information to our community, through our online presence as well as our centers.

Quote: “Our recognition by Inc. 5000 and the Fastest 50 Women’s President Organization in 2023 serves as a testament to the increasing popularity of natural healthcare, reflecting the current trends of our times.”

Ramesh Swamy: Providing Constructive Skills to The Youth for A Developed And Progressive Society

As adults, society expects us to earn a living and support not just ourselves but our families as well. However, getting employment is subject to many conditions. One of them being employability skills. These skills or attributes enable young people to perform well in their chosen occupations and adapt to changing work environments. They include communication, teamwork, problem-solving, digital literacy, and self-management skills. These skills are necessary for youth to succeed in the 21st-century economy, where they face rapid technological changes, increased competition, and diverse opportunities. These skills are essential for youth to achieve their personal and professional goals, and contribute to the social and economic development of their communities and countries.

India, the land of opportunities has nearly 50% of its population below the age of 25. However, these young people in the most populous country in the world are struggling with employment. The problem India faces on account of employability and the rapidly evolving job market, the demands for new skill sets, and meeting aspiration levels is quite scary. Most of them lack the necessary skills and education to secure stable employment.

Working amongst youth at grass root level, Mr I A Padmanabhan alias Ramesh Swamy realized that only when we can bring a change in the lives of the underprivileged, there will be progress and overall societal development. This passion drove him to found SGBS Trust together with a few other like-minded people. Under the aegis of this trust, he established Unnati which helps economically challenged youth find meaningful employment in just 35 days.

“Our focus solely lies in the realm of employability, providing comprehensive training, and ensuring a guaranteed job placement at the end of the program for unemployed and unemployable youth, both with and without an educational background,” says Ramesh Swamy, Lead Trustee of SGBS Trust, Director of SGBS Unnati Foundation and the CEO of the Swamy Group Of Companies.

The Inception

After completing graduation and garnering his Bachelor’s degree in BE (Mech) from MACT, Regional Engineering College, Bhopal, Ramesh Swamy joined his father in business. He also handled the logistics management for companies across Karnataka.

Ramesh always had a deep-rooted involvement with Indian Culture and was passionate about helping to bring about a change in the lives of the underprivileged. This passion drove him to establish SGBS Trust. He organized several events to promote art and culture constantly scouted for young talent and provided them with a platform that will help launch their careers. Soon he became a source of inspiration and support among many young artists.

Then in a small way, he started providing educational support to the underprivileged school children every year, under the Trust’s program Shiksha. Then they started providing help to the public at the time of bereavement through Samasta which continues even today. 

Next came Unnati, his brainchild to help youth find meaningful employment. His ingenious strategy to mobilize the entire art lover community in Bangalore to rally for a cause has made Unnati a sustainable social impact program and a case study in the NGO sector. Unnati is now more than just a proof of concept.

Their journey embarked on a transformative path in the academic year 2017-18 when they initiated the UNXT program for the final year students in the Government and ITI colleges. And later started the program SUGAM which is designed to support aspiring entrepreneurs by offering guidance and mentorship.

“With an extensive history spanning over 20 years, our programs, UNNATI UNXT, and SUGAM have successfully empowered more than 85,000 youths, over 30 centers across the country, over 200 Govt colleges, and over 300 companies coming for campus placements, Unnati has become a fully sustainable employment ecosystem,” says Ramesh.

Recently, Unnati achieved a historic milestone by registering on the Social Stock Exchange at BSE and NSE, garnering approvals from both esteemed exchanges. Notably, Unnati proudly stands as the pioneering organization to list a Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) instrument on the Social Stock Exchange (SSE).

The Foundation

SGBS Unnati Foundation is a distinguished non-profit organization, established in 2011, dedicated to empowering less educated, underprivileged, and unemployed youth by providing them with the necessary skills to secure gainful employment. “Unnati”, through a comprehensive 35-day training program encompassing 300 hours, participants are equipped with spoken English language skills, life skills, values, basic computer knowledge, and vocational training. Unnati ensures a guaranteed placement in a corporate setting with social security.

The foundation’s primary objective is to assist the youth of the nation, aged between 18-25 years, in realizing their ambitions and enabling them to contribute positively to society, regardless of their challenging backgrounds. Unnati Foundation acknowledges the importance of nurturing individuals from their respective communities and strives to uplift them.

In addition to its core training program, the Unnati Foundation hosts various initiatives for youth development. “UNXT” caters specifically to youth residing in rural areas, providing them with valuable opportunities and resources. “SUGAM” is designed to support aspiring entrepreneurs by offering guidance and mentorship. What sets Unnati Foundation apart is its unique selling proposition (USP) of guaranteed job placements for the youth, thus ensuring a secure future for them. By playing a pivotal role in empowering the youth, the Unnati Foundation endeavors to uplift an entire generation and help them rise above the poverty line.

“Our success which needs to be seen and realised is about the transformation a youth goes through during the program. For us giving the youth a job is measurable but the impact is about transformation. It’s about a value-based citizen who realizes his/her responsibility in the society. It’s about lifelong empowerment of the youth,” says Ramesh.

Leading with A Vision

Ramesh serves as the Managing Trustee in SGBS Trust and Director at SGBS Unnati Foundation on a pro bono basis and is involved in the day-to-day operations at Unnati. As the leader, he has to undertake several critical decisions that can significantly impact the organization’s success, effectiveness, and overall mission, Program Development and Evaluation, Partnerships and Collaborations, Fundraising and Financial Management, Staffing, and Team Management.

He leads Unnati with a vision to train & place 1 million underprivileged youth across the nation. In his unwavering pursuit of the Trust’s mission and vision, his sole goal is to work towards the upliftment of the underprivileged and the bright future of young aspirants across the nation. Throughout his career, Ramesh has been guided by the principles of continuous learning, integrity, and commitment towards delivering the needs of the community. He aims to contribute significantly to the organizational growth, with open communication, teamwork, and a proactive mindset. 

“Great work never goes unnoticed. Unnati today has been recognized for its work across various national and international forums. Since 2003, we, in our small way, continue to work for this ’cause’, to make society a happier and better place. By addressing this issue head-on, we can empower these young individuals to become productive contributors to society. Government partnership also plays a pivotal role in skill development supporting our program UNXT across various states,” shares Ramesh.

Through Highs and Lows

Promotion of Education, Gender Equality & Women Empowerment, Employment, Enhancing Vocational Skills, Livelihood program and Workforce Development are SGBS’s thematic areas of work.

The program has multiple stakeholders – the beneficiaries (18-25 underprivileged youths), the community and their families, the CSR partners and donors, the recruitment agencies, and in some cases partnering NGOs. Ramesh and his team do not work with the government or engage in any government schemes.

Their journey involves extensive hard work, grit, determination, and perseverance. Securing donors to navigate through diverse opinions, each step demanded dedication. The multifaceted process of opening training centers across locations was a challenge until they had Axis Bank, who supported us in a big way. Moreover, forging connections with placement partners (especially local placement) was crucial for the program’s success.

Another set of challenges came from the benefactors themselves. Youths do not distinguish between two similar programs. For them, it is all the same. The mindset of certificates, degrees, etc needs to change and they must realize that vocational training is the approach for the future.

The youth think that success can come easily and they resist understanding the need for self-discipline.

The parents are overprotective and do not allow girls to take up jobs outside their areas hence limiting the youth’s growth. The focus unfortunately is on training and not on getting the youths a job. The curriculum many times is not connected to the market needs.

“Through continuous efforts and collaborations, we not only surmounted many obstacles but also learned invaluable lessons. The experience taught me the significance of adaptability, resilience, and the power of a unified vision. Today, Unnati stands as a testament to the collective efforts and commitment of everyone involved,” says Ramesh.

Technology for Better Reach and Growth

Technology plays a crucial role in the growth and survival of any organization, including Unnati.                     Unnati understands the importance of leveraging technology to scale, save time and money, and simplify processes. Unlike other organizations, Unnati has embraced technology right from its inception, making it an integral part.

They have a very good MIS Reporting system – Cloud Platform MIS Sixer Class. Their data collection is via a tech-based platform that also provides access to an e-learning app with over 600 videos and questions to the youth who attend our program.

Unnati adopts a blended learning model, combining e-learning with classroom instruction. This

approach accommodates diverse learning styles, ensuring that all participants receive effective education and support. Youth trained and completed their training under their programs are issued Digital Certificates across all centers.

They have also developed an in-house portal Udhyogam. In order to bridge the gap between the Unnati-trained talent pool and companies seeking freshers, it has created a platform called UDHYOGAM. This platform allows companies to filter their requirements and shortlist candidates based on video resumes that the organization has asked them to upload. Unnati has also implemented a robust Financial system that ensures accountability across all its centers.

Miles to Go

By striving to reach its milestone, Unnati aims to create a significant impact and leave a lasting legacy in the field of skill development and youth empowerment. Unnati is the first to get registered on a social stock exchange, that’s another significant milestone and achievement. Being listed on a social stock exchange is a relatively new development in the philanthropic and nonprofit sectors.

The organization is rapidly growing, it is driven by people who are extremely passionate and whose only intent is to help the youth of this country and also help the nation move forward. “ Unnati’s vision is to train & place 1 million underprivileged youth across the nation. Our journey continues. We want our team to be positive, meaningfully associated, take responsibility, and be able to contribute to the implementation of our program and make a difference in the lives of the youth of this country and take the joy and the credit, especially our Volunteers who play a pivotal role in making a difference,” concludes Ramesh.

Quote: “A generation raises above the poverty line in just 35 days”

Quote: “I feel great about what I am today with passion to serve this nation.  I want more strength and support to explore the work we are doing today, and more and more youth get benefit.”

Quote: “The SGBS Unnati Foundation was born in 2011 and our goal stood for “Training and employment of 1 million youth across the nation ”

Quote: “With unyielding belief that inclusive societal growth is the only means to achieve overall development in the country, led to the dream of replicating our Unnati Model across India.”

Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala: A Strategic and Visionary Leader in Healthcare

The Healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift owing to the recent pandemic and the rise of digital technology. The pandemic served as a reminder that the industry and participating organizations need to be more resilient, agile, and innovative. They need to be digitally enabled and innovative to enhance their reach and address the health challenges of the coming years. 

As the CEO at Wadia Hospitals, Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala considers innovation as a continuous process that assists them in their long-term vision to make Healthcare available, accessible, and affordable to all without compromising on the quality of care. It also serves their short-term goals which are more focused on increasing the scope of services for their patients, so everything is available under one roof. 

Though she strongly believes that innovation is key to overcoming most of the challenges in healthcare, she also believes that excessive innovation can lead to many struggles as well. “The idea is to manage innovation in a balanced amount and learn from best practices and experiences of healthcare providers across the industry. Thus, we could say that innovation is an organizational approach and not an individual approach as many forces would drive the need for innovation in an organization,” says Dr. Minnie.

A Creditable Leader

With over 35 years of demonstrated experience in Change Management, Crisis Management, and Growth of organizations in the fields of Healthcare, Manufacturing, Retail, Law, Real Estate, Public Health, and Non-Profit & Trust Organizations across India, Dr. Minnie is an inspiration for many and a strong advocate of women empowerment.

She serves as the CEO of Wadia Hospitals in Mumbai, which comprises century-old renowned hospitals in the field of Women & Child Health; Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital (400 beds) & Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children (525 beds). She is also a Board of Director at Bombay Dyeing Mfg. & Co. Ltd, National Peroxide Ltd, and the Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation, Ltd. and also the advisor to the Chairman of Wadia Group for CSR activities, advisor to Impact India Foundation, and advisor to the Modern Education Society in Mumbai and Pune, Advisor for Britannia Nutrition Foundation & Sir Ness Wadia Foundation. As a director, she has chaired and been part of several key committees- Audit Committee, Health & Safety Committee, Stakeholders Committee, CSR Committee, Risk Management Committee, Crisis Management Committee, Strategic Committee, etc.

Dr. Minnie is also a Principal Assessor with National Accreditation Board for Hospital & Healthcare Providers (NABH), an Internal Auditor for Joint Commission International (JCI), and an internationally recognized auditor for ISO 9001:2015. She is Lead Clinical Surveyor for American Accreditation Commission International (AACI). She also holds a certification of ISQua Expert from 2020.

As a director, overlooking Bombay Dyeing; Dr. Minnie has expertly streamlined operations and cash flows for the Real Estate & Retail Segment of Bombay Dyeing during a crisis and helped turn around the company which is one of the oldest companies in India established in the year 1879 and has a market cap of INR 2,200 crores.

As a Trustee of the Modern Education Society, which operates 7 renowned colleges in Mumbai and Pune, Dr. Minnie solely was responsible for establishing governance and revitalizing the colleges from a crisis mode with her strategic vision and planning.  

Heralding Change

As the CEO, Dr. Minnie’s role is focused on strategizing and achieving the objectives and striving harder toward the vision and mission of the organization. She also dedicates a lot of time to positive change management and team building across all the departments. She is an individual who is striving for impact and is focused on results while always believing in a realistic approach for the everyday challenges she faces which helps her achieve the most difficult tasks with precision.

She says, “As a leader, I have always focused on engaging with all employees of the workforce and developing a culture of motivation for them, we are constantly innovating and coming up with new services to help our patients receive affordable care. I am a visionary leader with both a democratic and a transformational approach, depending on what the situation demands.”

Minnie has played an instrumental role in bringing a positive transformation at Wadia Hospitals and has shown compassion towards the underprivileged Women and Children of our Nation. With her dedication, excellence, innovation, and sustainable vision Wadia Hospitals being a charitable semi-government organization are providing quality, safe and affordable healthcare to the underprivileged Women and Children of our community. She has contributed in a strong way to the development of Public Health Pan-India by leading projects through various foundations. She is also working closely with UNICEF Maharashtra and established the State Centre of Excellence to tackle Malnutrition at the Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Minnie took over as the CEO of Wadia Hospital in 2012 and introduced many positive changes under her leadership. During this journey, she has traveled from strength to strength, adding several feathers to the cap- for the hospitals some of her key achievements are: –

  • Centers of excellence for Paediatric Cardiology, Paediatric Neurology, Paediatric Neurosurgery, Paediatric Surgery, Nephrology, Hemat-Oncology, Bone Marrow Transplant, Human Milk Bank, IVF, and many more.
  • One of the largest NICUs in the world with 155 beds.
  • Our Children’s Hospital is a nodal center for Club Foot treatment in Maharashtra, India, and also the only center in Western India that provides zero-day dialysis for newborns. In partnership with UNICEF, BJWHC is the State Centre of Excellence for Nutrition Rehabilitation Centre for children with Severe Acute Malnutrition.
  • BJWHC is First Hospital in India to have achieved accreditation from the American Accreditation Commission International (AACI). The hospitals have received NABH Accreditation, Nursing Excellence Certificate from NABH, NABL, and Accreditation for institutional ethics committee from NABH.
  • Strategic planning and innovation have helped in several key areas like process improvement, methods of service delivery, ways of communication, customer relations, healthcare products, organizational framework, etc. 

She also played a major role in the relief and rehabilitation programs during the Covid-19 pandemic situation, this included setting up a 100-bedded COVID-19 ward at the Children’s and Maternity hospital with all the supporting critical care equipment and providing hot meals and grocery hampers to the families in need, around 2 crore food hampers and 35 million food servings were arranged in a short span of 8 weeks.

Being a Woman Leader

Dr. Minnie has always believed in building systems and implementing them to achieve the desired results. Understanding problems and being creative in solving them is something that has impacted the way she works and helped her achieve success in whatever she does. “I could only attribute my success to the team I work with and of course my family without the support of the prior and understanding of the latter I won’t be as successful as I am today,” she says.

Even if she has proved herself over and over again, she keeps facing gender discrimination and related challenges even today. It is just that she has become better at accepting those challenges. “The male-dominated industry as we call it, is not able to see the strengths of an individual. It is not about whether someone is a male or a female. One should leave that aside and consider the core qualities and strengths of a person without pointing out gender. There is a need for change in people’s perceptions, attitudes, and mentality. I think to evaluate someone purely based on his or her gender is wrong. Even when I joined this present hospital, people were apprehensive about whether a woman would be able to handle the responsibilities of the hospital. At every step in my journey, I could sense the doubt in people’s minds, but I managed to prove them wrong. I think there is indeed a lot more potential for women to come forward in entrepreneurship given the opportunity,” she says.

Bringing Women to the Top

Dr. Minnie believes that more women executives at the top will help businesses by creating gender diversity and benefit employees at all levels of the organization by creating an environment that is beneficial to all. It further gives a sense of confidence to all employees that the organization promotes an inclusive approach and further motivates all employees in achieving individual success for the organization. A progressive approach to corporate governance further helps organizations attract and retain talent and help reduce attrition.

Dr. Minnie is a strong supporter and promoter of women’s empowerment and draws inspiration from one such great leader after which Wadia Group’s Children’s Hospital is named, she is Bai Jerbai Wadia. What inspires Dr. Minnie the most about her is her simplicity and great vision for society especially the women and children at a time when they were ignored the most in the early 19th Century. “It is simply because of the timely vision of women like her that we are here today. I draw great inspiration from her and strive hard for long sustained meaningful and impactful work,” she says.

She adds, “One must focus on adding sustainable value to the healthcare delivery system. More than exceptional growth, women should look forward to sharing more stories of operational success and its impact on the community at large. One should closely work with market-led functions to ensure sharing of best practices, expeditious resource deployment, and reporting consistency. I am very positive and hopeful that together we can envisage a great future for the healthcare services in our country as we re-imagine and transform healthcare together.”

Maintaining her Work-Life Balance

Dr. Minnie looks at health in a very holistic manner. For her, both physical and mental health is very important! She makes it a point to have at least 30 minutes of walking every day, supported by a well-balanced diet each day. She also likes doing yoga, cooking, and traveling frequently for work or leisure for a change of environment and to keep herself happy. “Spending quality time with family also gives me the boost and motivation to stay healthy! My advice to others is to take time out for yourself and plan activities and changes in lifestyle to live a healthy life! It is important to lead a healthy lifestyle as we are seeing in the current situation wherein people with chronic conditions related to lifestyle are at much higher risk as compared to the others,” she advises.

Greeting the Future

Continuing with the current executive journey in Healthcare, Dr. Minnie is looking forward to more leadership roles in Entrepreneurship. She is also looking forward to being a mentor and helping inspire and empower many women. 

For the organization, DR. Minnie and her team are looking forward to continuing their journey of excellence in patient care, research publications, and accreditations. They are also focusing on increasing the scope of their services with an improved focus on organ transplantation and Oncology treatments. “We are also undergoing a complete transformation of our Maternity hospital with added new scope of services that will be started by the end of 2023. We are also increasing our International outreach to promote medical tourism. As a mission we will keep trying to excel in every front and achieve the maximum for our stakeholders and the community at large in the years to come,’ concludes Dr. Minnie.

Key Achievements 

  • Featured in India Forbes March 2019 as a “Globally Recognized Indian Business Leaders” 
  • Rated amongst the top 25 Living legends of Healthcare in the country.
  • Winner of more than 100 national & international awards in Healthcare Industry
  • Certificate for Women on Boards by Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
  • Certification Record of Achievement for COVID-19 by World Health Organization (WHO)

Stan Samole: Making A Tangible Difference in Peoples’ Life

As human beings, we are wired to work to fend for ourselves. We might work as a professional in a corporate or state setup or be at home providing for ourselves and the family in one way or the other. But yes, we all work. And with salaried work comes the additional task of paying taxes. The working class knows that they have to pay taxes. However, do they really understand the taxes?

More often than not, tax systems are complex and people need the assistance of specialized tax assistants to file them.  People are often so focussed on paying off their taxes that they forget to take a pause and understand if there could be another way round. In a recent survey from NORC at the University of Chicago, 32% of taxpayers in the US were unsure whether they’ll be getting a refund or owe money to the state for the current financial year. Not just in the US, most people across the globe face similar anxiety.

About a decade ago, Stan Samole’s friend asked him if he ever got his taxes reviewed. His answer was a No and that he was unaware if this is legit and viable. So his friend processed it for him and after 3-4 weeks, Stan received a handsome amount as a refund. The immediate thought that struck Stan was the possibility this process offered to people who knew nothing about it! This incident led to the foundation of his firm, Family Tax Recovery.

The Entrepreneurial Start

Stan was working for his brothers in the late 70s and early 80’s when he came off the road working as a musician. They were manufacturing consumer electronics including electronic games like chess and bridge, with 1,200 employees in Miami, Fl. This was before video games became mainstream. Their distributor in Canada was Coleco (Cabbage Patch Dolls, etc.). When Coleco’s fortunes waned, his brothers offered Stan the Canadian distributorship.  He was 33 then. Starting with their products he added other lines. Eventually, Stan added Nintendo and grew a joint venture with Nintendo of Canada. They became the exclusive importer of many of the videogame releases from 3rd party publishers. That company was sold to Standard Broadcasting when sales were approaching $50 million. But Stan had been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug by then.

After the refund incident, he realized that there are many CRA (Canada Refund Agency) benefits available to Canadian Taxpayers that are often overlooked. The reason is that it usually takes too much time and money to find out if one qualifies for the refunds. At Family Tax Recovery, Stan and his team have simplified the process. They have created their Refund Tax Engine to instantly perform all the tedious calculations for each refund opportunity and uncovers unused grants, credits, positive law changes, and accounting errors resulting in taxpayers being owed a refund from the CRA.

A Unique Service

Family Tax Recovery provides a unique service. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) allows personal taxpayers up to 10 years to amend tax filings. They review 10 years of their clients’ filings for refund purposes. If an accountant was to charge for this time-consuming service it would be quite expensive, and of course, there’s no guarantee a refund will be forthcoming.

Family Tax Recovery offers the service on a contingency basis, meaning if there’s no refund, then there’s no fee. Because of that, all taxpayers can now afford to have their personal taxes reviewed for refund purposes. “I’m pleased to say that more than half of the refunds so far, have gone to Canada’s less privileged, lower-income earners,” shares Stan.

Family Tax Recovery was named in 2019, 2020, and 2021 in the Globe & Mail list of Canada’s fastest-growing companies; the Profit Magazine Award for Canada’s fastest growing start-ups 2019; and the 2021 Welp Magazine’s list of Toronto’s top accounting firms.
 
Other corporate awards include the Profit Magazine Award for Canada’s fastest growing companies 1990, 1991, 1992, 2007;  the Source Innovation Award 2008 and Consumers Digest Best Buy Award 2008; Dedicated chapter in the book ‘Secrets of Success from Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies’ by Rick Spence, Feature story in The Financial Times Magazine (1995).

The Views of a Leader

Integrity, commitment, and gratitude are three qualities as per Stan that are crucial for a Leader in making. We also asked how he handles moments of confusion during business decisions, to which he said, “ Good counsel is crucial. I regularly seek the advice of my genius business partner, Rob Sheinbein, and all our managers, who in turn seek advice from their counsel, and peers. A good team, working effectively and with a common goal – stands a much better chance at getting things unstuck, rather than trying to figure things out by oneself.”

Speaking about micromanagement, which many leaders prefer, he says, “I started this business at the age of 65. Now, at 72, I have no interest in micro-managing anybody. It also is comforting to have a great hands-on partner and two sons in the business. Where I get directly involved is when I see anomalies, poor results, questionable logic, and the like.”

He shares his advice for young entrepreneurs saying, “Take accounting 101. Not understanding the balance sheet, the accounts, cash flow, and such, greatly increases the chances of failure. Relying on an accountant to understand the numbers, likely won’t help fix the problems. Stay honest, positive, and thankful for the opportunities.”

The Way Forward

The pandemic meant growth for the business as people needed cash more than ever. While the business grew, unfortunately, Canada’s lower-income earners were the hardest hit financially during the pandemic. “We suffered higher bad debt, but understandable,” shares Stan. But now, with the economy under better control, optimism is on the rise.

“I’m pleased to say no other companies are providing our service. The only small competitors we have are ex-employees and ex-licensees who thought they’d do better on their own,” says Stan.  The company has found more than $60-million in refunds and amendments for over 25,000 taxpayers (including licensees). “It’s far and away from the most rewarding business I’ve ever had. We are making a real, tangible difference in people’s lives. This is a business where we’re helping people because everybody needs or wants more cash,” concludes Stan.