The 10 most successful shepreneurs to watch in 2019

“As an entrepreneur the journey initially starts with your dreams and ambitions and over a period of time it turns into a collective dream of your team and you. When the vision of your organisation is owned by your leadership team and you, it’s extremely motivating and it pushes you even harder, cause then there is no room for failure.”

Shepreneurship has been recognized as an important untapped source of economic growth. Women entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others and by being different also provide society with different solutions to management, organisation and business problems as well as to the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities.

Shepreneurship is both about women’s position in society and the role of shepreneurship in the same society. Women are faced with specific obstacles (such as family responsibilities) that have to be overcome in order to give them access to the same opportunities as men. Also, in some countries, women may experience obstacles with respect to holding property and entering contracts. Increased participation of women in the labour force is a prerequisite for improving the position of women in society and self-employed women.

EDITOR’S NOTE

Shepreneurs in developing countries

Investing in women and girls is a promising way to develop a global economy. One way to do that is via women’s entrepreneurship in developing nations. A thriving and successful economy and an enlarged consumer base are just some of the benefits of increased female membership in business and leadership positions. Developing nations stand to face the most benefits from the inclusion of women in the business world.

Current women’s economic empowerment interventions are not enough to overcome all obstacles facing female entrepreneurs. The emerging evidence from psychology and experimental economics on agency, mindset, and leadership show that for successful interventions to be transformative, they need to move beyond basic access to financial and human capital and also tackle central psychological, social, and skills constraints on women entrepreneurs. Emerging evidence from recent studies on different capital-based, training-based, and gender-based interventions, using randomized control trials, present promising interventions to support women entrepreneurs.

Providing business skills trainings is a basic step toward empowering women entrepreneurs, but to truly achieve transformative change, training programs need to address deeper psychological and social constraints facing women.

Shepreneurs are driving change in various sectors, businesses, and industries, and rightfully deserve to be celebrated. The day is also a reminder that we need to foster talent and help enable women from all across the globe, from different strata and backgrounds into the arena.

‘In this special issue, we introduce 10 most promising shepreneurs to watch in 2019 in order to assist business to choose the right companies. We have featured shepreneurs as the cover story. It specializes in the use of emerging techniques and practice for developing nation.

We have introduced profiles of Spabreaks, Intengine, Pheiff Group Inc, Connected Living, N-able Plus Co.Ltd, Elemed, WomenInTrucking, gracious, Joelle Group, CEDEM AG.

Our in-house editors have come up with some adroitly written articles such as –Women, entrepreneurship & empowerment through self-actualization, shoutout to the leader of tomorrow, the women who dared to dream, How Can Entrepreneurs Survive a Recession? Handle it like a Woman.

“There is no force more powerful than a women determined to rise”

Pallavi Sabe Editor-in-chief

PallaviSabe

Connected Living

Sarah Hoit CEO

Abi Wrighte Founder

Connie Pheiff. Founder and CEO

Connie Linder Founder

Spabreaks

Connie Pheiff

Intengine

CONTENT

SHOUTOUT TO THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW, THE WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM

Women, entrepreneurship & empowerment through self-actualization

How Can Entrepreneurs Survive a Recession? Handle It Like a Woman

Elemed

WomenInTrucking

Gracious

Joelle Group

CEDEM AG

Elena Kyriacou Founder

Fatima Al Shirawi

EllenVoieCEO

Joelle Mardinian

Rasha Oudeh ceo

Editor-in-Chief

Managing Editor Executive Editor

Asistant Editors

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Art & design Director

Associate Designer

Co-Designer Senior Sales Manager

Visualiser

Pallavi Sabe

Peter Miller

Prachi Patole

Jenny Fernandes, Rahul Bhosale

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Jagruti Budhlani

David Kind

Prathamesh Jarhad

Reena Sharma

Frank Baskin

Database Management

Stella Andrew

Business Developement Manager Marketing Manager

Technical Head Business Developement Executive Technical Specialist

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Sam Mathew

David Collins

Georgette Davey

Steve, Joe, Alan, Ravi

Ankit Khese

Circulation Manager Technology Consultant Robert Brown Ian Finlay-

Research Analyst

Calvin Jones

Sales Executives

Kevin, Mark

SME-SMO Executives

Jacob Smile

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D’Souza -

Connecting Generations and Communities

An inspirational leader needs unfathomable patience, sheer perseverance, unfaltering faith and endless compassion. When a woman holds the scepter of leadership, no boundaries are left uncrossed, no voyages cast adrift, and no doors are left unopened. If you walk a mile in the shoes of a woman at a leadership position, you will learn that the road is arduous and the destination unwelcoming. Yet, we have seen that women have built and shouldered the very foundation of empires, from scratch to exceptional glory.

Sarah Hoit, the CEO and Co-founder of Connected Living, is one such passionate and prolific shepreneur and nothing short of the personification of leadership. She is a social entrepreneur who co-founded Connected Living in 2007 to create a private social network that bridges the ‘digital divide’ for the millions of seniors who have been left out of the conversation that connects their families and communities.

Sarah was previously the Founder and CEO of Explore, Inc., an education company that operated programs which met the academic and social needs of every student through the integration of experiential learning, homework, physical education, and community service. She holds a BA with Honors from Dartmouth College and an MBA from Harvard Business School (HBS), where she was awarded a public service fellowship.

Raised in a family where giving back to others was a part of the fabric, as a social entrepreneur, Sarah has focused her whole career on strategies designed to make a positive impact on the world. While applying to Harvard, she wrote in her application about wanting to use the capital markets for channeling funds to solve problems in both public and private sectors. Even before finishing HBS, Sarah was writing the business plan for AmeriCorps, the domestic Peace Corps; her first large start up! She also served as the Deputy Director in the Corporation for National Service in the Clinton/Gore Administration which has enabled over 1 million youth to serve the country over the last 25 years.

Reforming Human Connectivity

Connected Living has achieved what no other company has by meaningfully connecting an aging population with family and community. It has created a whole new market of products and services designed precisely to focus on connecting and living. The name of the

organization emphasizes respecting and enhancing the life and the voices of seniors, and it also works diligently to combat disrespect and ‘ageism.’

Connected Living provides the most innovative and comprehensive suite of technology to all its constituents, and supports customers both remotely and in-person if and when needed. Its strategy privately connects family members to each other and the community and provides access to support, as well as goods and services such as 24/7 global concierge services, transportation and other essentials.

The organization’s innovative in-house mobile and web development team has built a

Mobile App for IOS and Android and connected ‘voice capabilities’ with the Amazon Alexa device to serve as an additional and very powerful communication tool. Connected Living has a full suite of technology that can reach every constituent in communities including, digital signs, in-room TV, calendar/newsletters, life-long learning content, as well as all the mobile, concierge, transportation and ‘home connect’ packages for the many seniors aging at home.

The organization also believes that finding partners who share its vision is very important, and that they are stronger together in solving national and global problems. It values the strategic partnerships with Companies like Sodexo, Lyft, Circles, Amazon

Alexa Group, Four Winds and others who are on the same journey. Connected Living believes that by finding Partners with a similar vision, the opportunity to diversify and strengthen one’s offering is even stronger.

Having worked for a decade on sharing and bringing to light seniors’ stories, Connected Living is set to release a ‘Time Capsule’ offering that allows the senior to answer essential questions about who they are and what is important to them, and to tell their story. The organization’s primary target audience is the family member who is often the one acquiring the technology or the service and connecting the generations. It has recently rolled out an exciting new ‘Employee Benefit’ offering

for companies in every industry, which are offering the Connected Living app and Concierge Services through global partner circles to employees as a way to support staff and honor work/life balance that is a prime challenge for many employees.

An Enlightening Journey

Sarah expresses her feelings of gratitude and feels that she was blessed to have come from a family which has always supported her and inspired her with a long tradition of service to community and the country. She comes from a long line of strong women who have founded universities, been entrepreneurs, served their country and raised families that stayed close to each other.

Sarah’s father has always let her know she could do anything or be anyone she wanted to. “Both professionally and personally, I have faced significant and unexpected loss. I know profoundly that ‘Every Day Matters’ and you can’t wait for later in life to follow your path or passion,” Sarah says.

Sarah expresses her grief in losing her beloved business partner, Chris McWade, to cancer five years ago in the midst of building their company. “We work every day with many people who are fighting Alzheimer’s, dementia and other conditions that I also face in my own family and it sheds a spotlight on being present here and now. The definition of a good day is a day when people’s lives are better for us being here.”

Defining Roles

Sarah believes that passion, determination and dedication, risk taking, communication skills, and leadership are the most vital attributes that build an entrepreneur’s position and influence over his/her organization and subordinates.

She elucidates these attributes as possessing passion for what one is trying to accomplish and desire to create real change; exhibiting determination and dedication while treading the road which is never straight and being able to take a hit or experiencing failure and getting right back up, or changing course when market shows the way; a willingness to take risks and not following conventional wisdom;

possessing essential communication skills at all levels; and demonstrating efficient leadership by always ‘showing up’ and leading from the front.

The Blueprints of Excellence

are still very low for women CEOs; only 4% in the Fortune 500. While women are 50% of the workforce, only 10% are entrepreneurs. “I think we women have a powerful ability to change our culture and to build organizations that thrive. Together with our male colleagues we can lead organizations that are family friendly and that promote women and men equally with equal pay opportunities,” explains Sarah.

Sarah asserts that Connected Living worries less about what others are doing, since it is forging new territories, and it listens more to what the customers, families, and seniors want. The organization tries to envision a future that is better, more connected, more respectful and engaging. It also focuses on innovation and customer service ahead of marketing so that it truly has the highest quality product in the marketplace. “We think this is the way to stay ahead of competition,” states Sarah.

Connected Living is in a moment of groundbreaking innovation with the ‘voice revolution.’ The program involves integrating Amazon Echo devices with Connected Living’s content management systems so that senior living residents can gain information with just their voices. They will receive inspirations of the day, share music with family, or ask questions such as “what’s for dinner?,” and “what time is yoga?” and much more.

The hub of the smart senior residence is the Amazon Echo Show. With a large screen and powerful speakers, the Show is an assistive device for the vision impaired or hard of hearing. Other voice-controlled smart devices will be installed to provide a completely unique experience. A senior can control the lights, heating and cooling, ambient music and can even view who is at the front door, all with just a voice command. “Every day we increase seniors’ ability to control their lives and connect to the people they love,” Sarah explains.

Advocating for Women Entrepreneurs

While advising fellow Shepreneurs, Sarah states, “We need to keep leading from the front and realize there are still many barriers to break down for women in all fields.”

Sarah understands that today in the US the numbers

“It is difficult to ignore the numbers or odds for women, and yet I never looked at it that way and I am very hopeful that my daughter and her generation will be in a different place from the landscape we had coming into the business world 30 years ago,” she adds, hoping for a gender-bias free future.

Surpassing Adversities

Raising capital and identifying those resources were a critical challenge/decision initially for Sarah. She had significant student loans when she started her first company, so she had to move very quickly in order to keep paying the bills. “It was a very big risk to go from a steady income to a blank piece of paper on which you write your business plan,” Sarah recollects.

“Classic roadblocks are people telling you that you can’t start a new business and that 60% of new businesses fail, and all the friends and colleagues who correctly weigh the risks you face and counsel you to let go of your dream,” adds Sarah with a pinch of nonoffensive sarcasm.

Envisioning a Connected World

Sarah enjoys being with a team that is hardworking, passionate and creating positive change every day. For the near future, she hopes she is fortunate enough to continue to lead this team and help form strategic partnerships that will allow Connected Living to have a national and global impact on the aging crisis and provide families a meaningful place to have ‘peace of mind,’ connect, share stories and access goods and services they need.

Sarah also values enormously the opportunity to be active in the community; she serves on a number of non-profit boards including Dementia Friendly America Board fighting the dreadful epidemic that affects innumerable families all over the world, including her own.

“Always, I value time with my family, parents and amazing children, Wesley and Samantha. No matter

“Innovate! Stay ahead! Provide great customer service,” is Sarah’s mantra to a successful entrepreneurial career.

what I do in life, nothing is more important than being their mother,” says Sarah affectionately.

Bequeathing the Keys to Success

Sarah’s advice to the aspiring lot of entrepreneurs is, “Don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot accomplish your dreams. So many will try to dissuade you, warning you of the risks, the expense, and the slim odds of success, stay strong and believe in yourself.”

Sarah cites a favorite quote of her by Steve Jobs, “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Sarah takes pride in having so many dear friends from the different chapters of her life, and she cherishes her strong

women friends who have walked a similar path, fought similar battles and successfully balanced motherhood and work. “We gain strength and courage from each other.”

As an English Literature major, Sarah cannot help herself in often finding that the quote which most encapsulates her path is from Robert Frost’s, The Road Not Taken, and it says,

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

Abi Wright

Moulding Perceptions and Redefining Wellness

Entrepreneurship in its essence is a responsibility, resting upon the shoulders of those deemed fit to play the roles of a guide, an innovator, a beacon of motivation and a preacher of disruptive ideologies. This responsibility essentially builds up the foundation of an entrepreneurial career and demands ceaseless commitment, unfathomable patience and determination of the size of a mountain. Considering the significance of these traits Insights Success recognizes Abi Wright as the ideal personification of entrepreneurship, and is thus shortlisted as one of the most successful shepreneurs of 2018.

Abi is the Founder and Managing Director of Spabreaks. com. She started her career as a journalist before quickly realising that wasn’t where her skills were. She then moved into PR and marketing. After time contract negotiating in Maritime Security following 9/11, she found a happy home in spa hotels. It was there that she really began to feel there was an opportunity to change the perception of spas, and to work with them to realise their commercial potential.

Abi owned a PR agency for a few years, and then launched Spabreaks.com in 2008 with a team of three, and it has all gone from there. “Today it’s amazing to think that Spabreaks.com is not only an industry leader, particularly concerning spas and cancer, but that it’s also Europe’s largest spa booking agency,” Abi expresses.

An Avid Emphasis on Customer Satisfaction

Showcasing the amazing variety of experiences that are available, is at the heart of what Spabreaks.com is all about. Whether one’s looking for a real health and wellbeing escape to detox and address particular concerns, or fancies a romantic and indulgent mini break with plenty of champagne, Spabreaks.com is possibly the best option.

Abi has a team of really experienced product managers who work with spas to create packages that really showcase each spa’s best qualities and experiences, and through the organization’s website it offers those packages in easily identifiable categories to suit a wide variety of customers. “After all, that’s the thing about health and wellbeing – it’s for everyone,” states Abi.

According to Abi, a major part of building strategies in order to tackle competition is about

knowing the industry and having a very clear vision of what she wants the company to represent, but it’s also about listening to her customers and being willing to evolve. From day one she has read every review and piece of client feedback that has come through – good, bad and indifferent, and from there she has been better able to entirely understand what they feel has been missing from their experiences. For Spabreaks. com it’s all about customer service and experience, and that’s a policy driver for the organization.

Surpassing Adversities

Abi expresses that she feels lucky that she has never experienced any direct discrimination, sexism or misogyny, all of which are appalling and have no place at work or at home. If she takes her own experiences and observations however, she thinks the biggest challenge for women in the workplace is juggling everything. She doesn’t think that we live in a world where we can pretend peoples’ work and home lives are separate any more.

As a mother, Abi has a particular set of challenges. She always remembers being told that “it’s either your work or your kids that lose out, but it’s not, it’s you.” Abi would never let her company or her children suffer because of her schedule. It’s her wellbeing and her time with friends that is sacrificed and she expresses, “We all know that if you don’t balance that out at least some of the time it, is very bad for your wellbeing.”

Abi Wright co-founder

She asserts that she has always tried to treat employees as individuals and make sure she has good relationships with her team, so she knows when someone needs extra support. She tries to facilitate flexibility wherever possible, and in recent years she has been able to enshrine that in an organizational policy a bit more. Abi thinks for everyone, including women, the challenge of having a healthy work/life balance is really tricky, but she thinks her organization is doing something right because, 90% of its senior management executives are women, who have grown through the company and the company has seen them through births, deaths and everything in between.

The ongoing challenge for Abi has been to change the perception that spas are just about beauty and are just for women, and to highlight their importance for wellness as well. Spabreaks.com has done a lot to change that over the years but still continues to be an ongoing

challenge. There are also some age old issues in the spa industry that the organization has been really adamant about changing. In particular the attitude towards anyone with or recovering from cancer has been an industry wide issue that it is working on with other industry leaders – that’s really all about education and understanding. Abi comprehends that the same applies really to any other serious health condition. The team at Spabreaks.com has done a lot of work to open up the spa industry to anyone who has previously felt marginalized, but have also realised that things don’t change overnight.

Setting a Benchmark

Asserting upon the ideal question of what an entrepreneur’s perspective should be, Abi States, “I think it’s a combination of knowing your market, surrounding yourself with good people and trusting your gut.” When Abi first started Spabreaks.com the

Groupon/discount code model was in full swing and her organization was in the middle of recession. “Everyone thought I was mad starting a business that was essentially a luxury product, but I knew the industry, I knew what I envisaged for it and why it was different, and I backed that up by surrounding myself with people who I knew were good at their jobs and who I could really trust. I think it’s probably called a strategic risk,” Abi adds.

Abi aims to continue to develop the way that spas are perceived, to widen people’s understanding that spas can heal, and to dispel the idea that it’s just about beauty. Abi wants to enhance the healing nature of spas in the UK so that they compete on the same level as European spas, educate the UK spa goers about the true European spa experience, and continue to grow Spabreaks.com’s overseas portfolio.

Connie Linder

Outclassing the Standards of Entrepreneurship

The Torchbearer’s Masterpiece

Intengine is positioned to be the leading information source, database and global marketplace for healthier procurement and its name rings true to this. Intengine blends ‘intention’ and ‘engine’, making it the engine for good.

Taking into consideration, the drive to transform the environmental startup ecosystem, formulation of contemporary business strategies, possession of reformative, democratic and compassionate entrepreneurship qualities, and a profound knack for innovation, Connie Linder has been recognized as one of the most successful entrepreneurs in her field.

Connie is the Founder and President of Intengine.com, formerly known as GreenPages Directory, which is the fastestgrowing database and one of a kind business platform for sustainable purchasing. She is also a co-founder of Agora Energy Technologies, an innovative company that is building the world’s first redox flow battery that uses carbon dioxide as feedstock.

Connie knew there was a need for an efficient, pro-business and pro-solutions platform that allowed

people to make healthier informed decisions and she recognized that the changes needed to be made within the marketplace and that’s when the original platform, GreenPages Directory was born.

With Connie’s strong corporate and business background and focused intention for healthier ways of doing business, she became a bridge and leader in the sustainability movement in Canada. For her work, Connie has received numerous awards, including an award from the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Counsel; the Tech Green Award from the Applied Science Technologists and Technicians of BC; the Women of Worth Sustainable Living Award; a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal; the Minerva Leadership Award; the BC Innovation Council’s New Ventures Award; and she was named one of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women as a Trailblazer/ Trendsetter.

Intengine has the world’s most comprehensive and relevant database of responsible businesses for good and the largest database in the world of social and environmental accreditation organizations with certifications and business listings. Intengine’s Directory Listings includes all industry sectors and business listing types that can be filtered for local application with a global reach.

Acting also as an aggregator of in-depth knowledge, Intengine is constantly expanding to deliver meaningful, multisourced information to its users, empowering them to educate themselves and make real changes by providing them with all they need in one place. The organization also makes it possible for listing companies to highlight their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to reflect their social and environmental commitments.

“We are also collaborating with PwC to build baseline tools so businesses can see how they rank with key metric indicators in the industry against their peers,” says Connie. By including quantifiable metrics with products, Intengine helps differentiate and communicate

the social and environmental benefits of products and services offered. The organization believes in collaboration and Intengine seeks to promote others who are also working towards a better Earth.

Surpassing Adversities

“The toughest part of my journey was holding the dream for Intengine, when it was difficult to raise money,” Connie expresses. Years ago, when she realized there is a need for an online aggregator for her sector of expertise, she didn’t have someone to go to who had done it. “I had to attract the right people and that took some time. I worked on other contracts through my sustainable consulting company, Insight Creative Communications, to pay the bills to keep Intengine going,” she adds.

According to Connie the best part of her journey is definitely where she is at right now. “We have great financial partners, a new brand and a Team of dedicated and talented technicians, developers and marketers. They’re augmented by a world class group of advisors who I believe will turn Intengine into the world’s premier resource for sustainable purchasing,” says Connie. Connie comprehends that creating something in sustainability is not just finding a product, address or website and asserts that Intengine is finally able to educate people to make better choices.

“Being the best takes focus and a pragmatic vision. When you aspire to something better, there is added stress because the market will demand more from you. I meditate every day to keep my head clear and focus on next steps so as not to get lost in the clutter of so much to do,” Connie expresses.

Bequeathing Values of Excellence

According to Connie, although it is important for a leader to be able to reflect honestly, it is also important to deal with things and move on. “I have often been treated differently than my male counterparts, especially earlier in my career. It is important not to fall into the trap of being the victim. This will keep you down. Stay true to your values, treat people as you would like to be treated and do your best with an open mind and open heart,” she adds.

“We have an important role as facilitators and educators for the new economy. I am also focused on my work as a co-founder of Agora Energy Technologies to bring this important technology to life. I don’t think I will ever think I am ‘done’. I think I will just keep adding higher visions with bigger goals,” she adds.

Connie promptly comprehends and exhibits gratitude on how contented she is with the way her life is right now. She unfalteringly promises to work incessantly on her dream that Intengine will connect those seeking a healthier way to live with those who have the solutions, so that the world can be a happier, healthier and more stable place to live.

Asserting upon the essentialities which an entrepreneur or a leader should possess, Connie says, “Entrepreneurs need to have vision, strength, patience, focus and perseverance. Compassionate entrepreneurs need to base their vision on a foundation of integrity and an intention for outcomes that benefit people and the environment. Face everything with a strong vision and the resilience to keep going despite challenges.”

Promising the World a Stable Tomorrow

When asked to throw light over her future endeavors, both professional and personal, Connie expresses, “My plans going forward are focused on being a good mother to my daughters who are 17, 23 and 26 and focusing on building Intengine into a global brand that helps transform the marketplace. We will most certainly be the centralized place individuals and businesses will come to, for the new economy.”

Connie Pheiff A Symbol of Exemplary Entrepreneurship

10 Most Successful Shepreneurs

business and transforming into a global business leader. She has many accolades to her name and cumulating of experiences from the school of hard knocks, Connie is an expert in business, leadership, and marketing and making things happen.

Life, is a mere one syllable word, yet is the most volatile entity that ever existed. It encompasses a subtle blend of scintillating moments of joy and a few unbearable gulps of remorse, regrets and heartbreaking circumstances. As humans, to strike a balance between these contradictory emotions is our ultimate test and the ones who excel in this test are those who’ve accurately comprehended the true meaning of life – persistence. One person, who has commendably persisted through thick and thin and has emerged as a beacon of inspiration, is Connie Pheiff.

Connie is the Founder and CEO at Pheiff Group, Inc., and an innovator who is ridiculously

dedicated to helping executives transition from the corporate life to activate their power, become unstoppable, and live their dream as a lifestyle entrepreneur. In 2006, Connie’s life experienced a turmoil when as a CEO, her position was eliminated due to a corporate realignment; at the same time a certain issue regarding her family, compelled her to face her fears of rejection and overwhelming disappointment. But that didn’t break her spirit and today, she is an example of ’what is possible when you shift your mindset and believe in yourself.’

After leaving corporate, Connie spent two years as an extensive seminar addict, learning all she can about building a lifestyle

Connie is a master story-teller, an energy-filled, and award winning speaker on multiple levels with Toastmasters; a producer and award winning host of one of today’s leading podcasts for Entrepreneurial leaders named, the Connie Pheiff Show, and a fivetime author and also a business coach. She is a former executive turned lifestyle entrepreneur and a philanthropist. She has served as the President of the National Speakers Association, Greater Los Angeles Chapter, and Division Director for Toastmasters, District 12. As a Business Woman, entrepreneur, speaker, business coach, author, and an avid Podcaster, she quickly makes an immediate intimate connection with her audience, inspiring them with a practical message for taking control and growing a business comprehensively.

In 2007, Connie founded the Pheiff Group, Inc. and since then she has developed her signature programs, such as the Activate Community, the Leadership Masterclass, and her most popular program, the Business Accelerator Academy. Connie always shares a part of herself with her audience, which includes the instances about a life of spectacularly enlightening failures, or more precisely, lessons.

Connie Pheiff. Founder and CEO

The

to W at ch in 2019

She believes that through all the experiences, her success hasn’t come in spite of her failures, but because of them.

The extensive list of books which Connie has authored, includes –Finding your Passion for Action; The Art of the Ask: Get into your fundraising groove; The Art of the Ask: A collection of fundraising letters & telephone scripts; Marketing Masters: ready, set, grow your market; Business Accelerator: Become a highly paid lifestyle entrepreneur; and The Unstoppable Stories of Connie Pheiff which is set to release coming Spring of 2019.

Building the Leaders of Tomorrow

The enormous recognition Pheiff Group, Inc. has received from the media has been the result of releasing relevant services at the right time. For instance, the Activating the Power of Women release represents all women without a voice, who wish to keep their power and not give it away through a march or protest. The organization’s Activate My Power community represents all lifestyle entrepreneurs who need the tools to survive in the sea of today’s highly talented marketers. “When we learned that most entrepreneurs lack the skills for marketing themselves we designed the PG Speakers Bureau as a unique agency where we are more than a booking agent. We are a publicist, agent, connector, friend and coach all wrapped into one package adding greater value for our clients to shine,” states Connie. Thus, her organization’s community simply provides the tools for entrepreneurs to do it themselves and the bureau

will do the rest of the work. By understanding the clients’ pain, the Pheiff Group’s team was able to target its media outreach accordingly, which results in increasing visibility to a larger network of its perfect client.

Whenever the question of strategizing the business comes up, in the organization’s team meetings, Connie’s first question is how to do it differently. Connie always quotes Steve Jobs, stating, “You can’t look at the competition and say we’re going to do it better. You have to look at the competition and say we’re going to do it differently.”

Defining Benchmarks

When asked to describe her concept of ideal entrepreneurial attributes, Connie provides a list of traits which every entrepreneur or leader should possess.

Following is the list in Connie’s own words:

• An unwavering passion. This is a cliché, ’to find your passion.’ A life of an entrepreneur demands dedication and commitment – this is what I call stick-a-bility.

• Read and Reflect. Hit the ground running doesn’t mean an entrepreneur’s lives a life of chaos and confusion. Rather, highly successful entrepreneurs start their day reflecting in silence.

• Fuel up. Highly successful entrepreneurs eat food that tastes great and which is nutritious. Since work long hours, it is important the food on their plate fuels their body.

• Work hard – Play hard. Highly successful entrepreneurs work hard because they enjoy their work, so work feels more like play.

• Work smart. Successful entrepreneurs work smarter. They set and prioritize goals. Then each day they take steps to achieve those goals.

• Don’t Complain. The life of an entrepreneur if filled with peaks and valleys. They are not immune to bad things happening. Highly successful entrepreneurs learn to stop focusing on the event, and instead, learn from the cause of the event, pivoting and moving forward.

• A exercise routine is part of a successful entrepreneur’s daily To Do list. This not only nourishes the body, but also nourishes the mind. You’re in better shape and have better decision making skills.

• Serving others. Contrary to popular opinion, highly successful entrepreneurs focus on serving and giving because they know it creates value. We all know that Value can lead to financial reward. Successful entrepreneurs focus on creating value and serving others.

• Invest in Yourself. Successful entrepreneurs never stop investing in themselves. They are always eager to increase their wisdom from current events to new technology. They will attend conferences, take classes, hire coaches, and often join a mastermind group. Of all the personal habits of successful entrepreneurs, investing in yourself is by far the most powerful.

• Forward-looking approach. Successful entrepreneurs are always thinking ahead. They set clear goals that will keep them from moving backwards. I recently took an assessment that indicated I am clearly futuristic, always looking to the future, which at

SHOUTOUT TO THE LEADERS OF TOMORROW, THE WOMEN WHO DARED TO DREAM

Starting a business and taking on risks and responsibilities, that come with entrepreneurship is challenging enough for any man and even more so for a woman. A woman entrepreneur is a woman who shows initiative; is perceptive and has a keen eye for opportunities; is willing to take risks, and can generate employment opportunities for others and create wealth with her entrepreneurial skills and innovative thinking. She supports entrepreneurship development in various spheres of life, in particular in business, in small and medium-sized as well as large organizations. Making a decision to start a business is not easy because the first stage of starting a business is the most challenging stage of an entrepreneurial career fraught with typical economic and financial risks. Globally, one in ten women is self-employed and it is estimated that women own and manage up to one third of all businesses in developed countries.

One should consider entrepreneurial motivation from two perspectives: economic and psychological. Entrepreneurial motivation, as a result of the psychological construct of a person, is considered to be the main factor that enhances the ability of individuals to achieve their goals. To evaluate entrepreneurial motivation, which is an attitude formed out of objective and subjective components, it is necessary to determine the needs and their origin on the one hand, and on the other, further characteristics of an entrepreneur such as biographical characteristics, education and training or perception. Moreover, entrepreneurs are generally expected to provide income not only for themselves, but for others as well. In addition to wanting to remove the discouraging factors, women are motivated to undertake entrepreneurial activity primarily by the type of work they wish to engage in. A positive attitude towards controlling one’s own behavior significantly influences the decision to start an entrepreneurial venture. Therefore, it is more likely that people with a high internal locus of control will have a higher tendency towards entrepreneurship than those who attribute their behavior and outcomes of events to fate.

An entrepreneur is defined by his attitude, personality traits, habits, and behavior, as well as motivation. A person’s values will shape his or her strategic decisions and thus indirectly influence his or her attitudes and behavior.

Decision to engage in an entrepreneurial venture:

Motivation is a generic term for all internal factors that combine intellectual and physical energy, initiate and organize individual activities, and direct and channel behavior. Motivational factors are a common thread connecting women entrepreneurs and the driving force that makes them want to conquer the unexplored. Motivations are also the means by which to reconcile the conflicting needs or emphasize one need over the other in such a way that it is given a priority over other needs. Motivation should therefore be considered a woman’s personal matter, but although it is individual, there is a combination of factors, or motivations, which is believed to be typical of women with an entrepreneurial urge. Emphasizes the need for independence as a primary motivation of entrepreneurs.

Main motivations which support the assertion that women are intrinsically motivated are the desire for independence, selfactualization and internal control, challenging assignments, an opportunity to develop skills, and experience and control own destiny. Women engage in entrepreneurship mainly in order to build a successful business career, and that no environmental force drives them as much as their desire to achieve their business goals. Thus, it can be concluded that women become entrepreneurs because they choose to, and not because it happens as the result of circumstances.

Personality traits are key drivers of entrepreneurial behavior and perhaps, as a dominant factor more distinct in entrepreneurs than in other people. Nevertheless, psychological factors and personality traits alone cannot

fully explain a woman’s decision to become an entrepreneur. Such a decision is a result of the economic conditions, cultural context, as well as intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, individual (sociodemographic variables) and environmental factors. Motivation plays an important role in an entrepreneurial venture and can thus be considered as a valuable “resource.

It is time for women to no longer be considered a special group that needs help and support because more and more of them are running large corporations and, despite the powerful men surrounding them, they are managing to survive in a highly competitive environment. They do not deny the existence of the work-family conflict but they are trying to maintain a balance the best they can.

“On my own I will just create, and if works, it works, and if doesn’t, I will create something else. I do not have any limitations on what I think I could do or be”

times is surprising to me because I enjoy antiques and history. As a colleague put it, back to the future for me.

Transcending Adversities

Connie is of the opinion that many of the challenges faced by women occur in corporates or as an entrepreneur. In her personal experience, at one time she believed there was a glass ceiling, and she even taught collegiate programs on this subject. But she believes the view from the ceiling has changed and that today women have opportunities to shatter the glass ceiling and make it theirs. She believes that many of these challenges continue to exist, but the most prominent challenge she sees is women worrying they’re not enough and are becoming obsessed with perfection and thus, failing to perform.

She admits she had the Impostor syndrome. Although, she left a position as a CEO of an organization, she felt unworthy. She expresses that initially her ego led her to believe that anyone would want to work with her. She applied for positions from Maine to Miami and found no positive response. Then her recruiter and husband suggested she complete her college degree. Considering that advice, she went back to school and completed her Bachelor of Science in Business and later went onto earn her Masters of Public Administration.

“The degrees permitted me the confidence to start my own business and here I am starting my twelfth year and never looking back.” Connie expresses.

Advising the future generation of entrepreneurs, disregarding the gender bias, Connie states that “As women if you want to be treated equal then you need to work hard and surround yourself with successful entrepreneurs.” She recommends creating networks, hiring a coach, or joining a mastermind group. “You will be surprised to learn there are many entrepreneurs offering the same programs and products as you. You must begin by identifying your Unique Selling Proposition (USP),” she adds.

She also advises on not trying to be better, but focusing on how you are different and sticking to

it. “Remember Stick-a-bility, the one who sticks to his/her focus longer, wins. Secondly, you can’t do it alone. It does take a team and embracing diversity because, that is the only way you will learn how to play the game of a successful entrepreneur,” Connie asserts.

Beholding the Future

As a smart entrepreneur, Connie has her future designed and has already begun the shift in the business. Her online platform for radio has a greater presence with the Connie Pheiff Show and online TV. She has reduced her speaking engagements in order to increase her coaching and the reason for founding the Activate Community, where she is able to provide today’s lifestyle business leaders, the tools to activate faster; and the PG Speakers Bureau where her team of experts work with clients to build a successful practice.

Connie still enjoys speaking and her success in the spotlight, but she is at a stage in her life where she prefers to serve others and help them find their success. Her five-year goal is going home to the Great Smoky Mountains where she and her husband plan to build a conference and training center for lifestyle entrepreneurs.

Dr. Nithinart Sinthudeacha Telan

Reforming Benchmarks in Management Consultancy Sector

The perquisites of attaining an impeccable vision and an ability to bring out a change reside in every entrepreneur irrespective of gender, race or ethnicity. To exalt a venture, a leader has to possess a keen understanding of drafting statistical plans and an efficient way to process it. Besides, through the courageous step to pursue passion, and redefining ideologies, an entrepreneur can precisely elevate the stature of a venture to greater heights. Acquiring such attributes, ardent entrepreneur, Dr. Nithinart Sinthudeacha Telan, Founder and CEO of N-able Plus Co., Ltd and Founder and Executive Committee Chairlady of Beryl8 Plus Co.,Ltd, is creating a difference in the traditional way of offering management guidance.

A Fervent Leader

Nithinart stepped into her career in a PR agency at Burson-Marstellar in New York after completing her first masters. Her role, in a responsible campaign of the first launch of Acuvue—first disposable contact lens, aided her to learn a lot on answering the controversial questions and conveying constructive messages in challenging circumstances. After completing her PhD, Nithinart entered into establishing a longterm career with Accenture, which played a major part in her development, professionally as well as personally.

Prior leaving Accenture, she was a Partner overlooking Organizational Transformation and Change Management Strategy Offering

for Asia and Pacific. Even though her career was elevating upwards, she had taken a break in order to take care of her ill father. Nevertheless, the firm grit to pursue passion prevailed at last. And she operated as an internal adviser for Thaibev—a large Food and Beverages Conglomerate, for straight two years which acted as a turning point in her entrepreneurial journey.

In 2008, she founded N-able Plus, a niche management consulting firm, specializing in organization & HR transformation, change management, and culture development. In addition,, N-able Plus has attained a reputation of helping its clients on innovation management and recently on digital culture & leadership transformation. Meanwhile, in a partnership with Salesforce, Nithinart co-founded Bery18 in 2009, which currently stands as the largest partner and reseller of Salesforce in the Asia Pacific. As its next move, Beryl8 is planning

for its IPO and Nithinart is now holding the role of Executive Committee Chairlady. With the consistency in the increased growth rate, Nithinart and her team are stretching their expansion to cover ASEAN region especially in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philipines. Besides, the company will be also partnering with Google in order to gain a creative and flexible perspective to meet the demands of clients.

Customer-Driven Success

In order to prevail in business, a firm has to comprehend the needs of the clients and must keep an eye on the competition simultaneously. At N-able Plus, Nithinart and her team have been working with big clients and been helping them with advancements like PTT and CPF. Since sustainability became a strategic issue especially in the resources industry, relying on innovations is the key strategic agenda for the firms. In addition, knowledge management which is a strong offering of her services is also a key infrastructure and enabler for innovations and capabilities development.

Currently, the team of N-able Plus have started a talk on implicating data-driven mindset and culture to support digital transformation. Apart from that, the firm also realizes the existence of a stressed environment in today’s business and offers an “Executive Well Being” program to help C-level and senior executives mentally, personally, and professionally.

Dr. Nithinart Sinthudeacha Telan, Founder & CEO

Glorifying Facets of a Skilled Leader

Nithinart firmly believes that passion is the key ingredient which drives an entrepreneur to achieve the desired goals. And, a work-loving factor also helps an entrepreneur to acquire the energy needed to surpass over the problems and strive for success. Attaining growth attitude and an optimistic behavior also aids a leader to carve a venture effectively. Nithinart also believes that a leader should equip itself with two key facets—knowledge and capability; know how to manage money, and how to manage people.

Future Prospects of the Company

Recently, Nithinart and her team have started a new program under N-able Plus, in conjunction with a large venture capital, known as ‘I2C’— innovation to commercialization. The I2C aims to invest in students, idea-owners and fresh entrepreneurs with less awareness and experiences regarding commercialization. In addition to incubation support, they have also worked with venture capital funds to provide investment for the selected initiatives. The program will be currently focusing on healthcare, environment, and education sectors. Nithinart, herself, along with her associates renown in environmental science supported a research on growing algae to absorb carbon dioxide and turn it to carbon credit.

An Advice to Rely On Women

Entrepreneurship is not a theory anymore, but a real-time scenario. With every slippage of time, the awareness of pursuing entrepreneurship as a career is

remarkably rising in young women. In an interview with Insights Success, Dr. Nithinart shared her insights on women entrepreneur and advised the upcoming generation. Here are some of the highlights:

Have confidence in yourself and don’t think that you are a woman. You are just a person with passion and goal to do business that you love and make it successful. Remember that there is other people following you and they will help make your dream comes true. Take them with you with your heart and care. Never say enough to what you know and never compromise with quality. Be positive, be happy, and be proud that you are a woman.“

Elena Kyriacou

The Millennial Shepreneur

Elena Kyriacou is an award winning headhunter, international speaker, and professional branding coach. Born to a working class family of Greek Cypriot parents, Elena’s humble beginnings created in her that internal burning fire that characterizes an entrepreneur. With nothing more than hard work, determination, and a desire to BE something more, Elena built her first successful business before the age of 30.

Today she is the Founder of Elemed, a niche executive search company in the Medical Device world. She helps

Most Successful Shepreneurs

companies grow exponentially by hiring exceptional talent.

Below are the highlights of the interview between Elena and Insights Success, where she sheds light on her journey:

1. Give a brief overview of your background as an entrepreneur.

Ever since I was young I had what my family would call an entrepreneurial spirit. I have always been unafraid to try new things, make existing things better and do it in a way that benefits others. Ever since I was young, I

Elena Kyriacou Founder Elemed

always created little businesses – it’s how I paid my way through University. My first job in recruitment was also very entrepreneurial. I had to set up a life science brand completely from scratch; almost like building my own company within the confines of a bigger more established one. The brand was successful and I wanted to take that to the next level, so I left and created Elemed.

2. How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal to the target audience?

Recruitment is not as easy as everyone thinks because there are always a lot of moving parts. There are two variables, the candidate and the company and we have to tailor our services to bring together a company’s needs with a candidate’s aspirations. You have to understand each person’s motivators and adapt as a business to help them achieve that. We try to consistently add value and build brand awareness through the creation and sharing of meaningful content for our target audience.

3. Describe some of the vital attributes that every entrepreneur should possess

I think the desire to succeed and resilience are common attributes you find in an entrepreneur but also I think you need to have certain fearlessness and not worry too much about getting it wrong. An eye for continuous improvement and the ability to keep checking yourself to see how you can improve as a business and person is important. Above all working hard is the key. There are no elevators to success; you always have to take the stairs.

4. How do you strategize your game plans to tackle competition in the market?

Although it’s important to be aware of what your competition is doing I don’t let it define me. For me it’s all about being the best I can be. My biggest competition is myself. The key is to know what you’re talking about, follow up and follow through and provide a high quality service that makes people want to come back. We highlight the importance of candidate relationship and candidate experience which means approaching our candidates like customers; not just applicants.

5. What are the frequent challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the workplaces and what are the ways to tackle them?

According to a study I saw on Linkedin, women have a tendency to undersell themselves whilst men tended to oversell in business. I feel that as a women entrepreneur, there is a certain pressure to be better than men and a lot of women I know are inherently perfectionists. Being an entrepreneur is all about execution and getting things out the door but if you let being a perfectionist hold you back then that can mean in the long run you could lose. It’s

important to know; something is better than nothing and things are never going to be perfect. Better to get your product out the door and continuously improve it, than never get it out the door at all.

6. What were the primal challenges and roadblocks you faced during the initial phase of your career as an entrepreneur?

The biggest challenge I faced is the variety of hats you have to wear when starting a business, not only are you CEO but you are operations manager, marketing and HR, the recruiter and the business developer. Whilst wearing all these hats you have to balance and manage your time effectively to ensure you are still able to do business. There are a lot of tasks that don’t necessarily generate revenue but take up a lot of time and that is a challenge in itself.

7. Where do you see yourself in the near future and what are your future goals?

As a business my goal is to make Elemed the best niche medical device recruitment company in the world. At the moment we are really strong in Europe and I want to keep expanding and have offerings in the US and further afield. In the future I want to be in a position where we can deliver and support our candidates and companies as they grow worldwide. It’s an exciting time for Elemed, we are about to launch a rebrand, a new website and 3 new business offerings.

8. What is your advice for budding and emerging Shepreneurs?

Focus 100% of your energy on the 10% that matters. In other words make a list of activities that need to be done, highlight the ones you’re really good at and focus 100% of your time on becoming excellent at them. Hire someone and let them handle the activities you’re not so good at because you can’t be amazing at everything. I learnt this a couple of years into starting my company and perhaps if I had learnt it sooner I could have saved myself a lot of time.

Women, entrepreneurship & empowerment through self-actualization

There is nothing more empowering that a business woman in a high position that would traditionally belong to a male. As time passes by, more and more women entrepreneurs start rising and the opportunities available for all women keep appearing at higher and higher rates.

Role of women in the society has been seeing a paradigm shift ever since women became self-aware. More and more women today are moving out of their comfort zone and trying their hands at things no one ever fathomed they were capable of. More and more women are stepping out of their homes into workplaces. More and more women are getting out there and starting their own entrepreneurial ventures.

However, the need to self-actualize takes grip once the woman decides to step out of her pre-decided role in a patriarchal system. It is this need to realize their highest potential that motivates many women to start up their own ventures. Again not the easiest road but definitely she has chosen for herself. Women can find a work-life balance in their own venture. They can attend to both their family (another need that helps them feel loved and gives them a sense of belonging) and work (something that gives them intellectual and psychological satisfaction) more methodically.

Many educated women today have made a significant mark as entrepreneurs in their chosen fields. However, what has not been recognized is that many uneducated women are also enthusiastically raising family incomes through micro ventures. These women also inspire other women in their localities to pursue their dreams through entrepreneurship at the grassroots level.

The need to contribute towards bettering their quality of life drives these women and without realizing it, they begin to self-actualize. What’s more amazing is that women unlike men tend to motivate other women around them to do better thus creating more options of employment and even start-ups leading to bettering not only their own financial status but helping the economy grow.

This being said there are barriers women in developing countries face- those of social inequality, less financial support for their ventures (eventhough there are schemes to help women start their small businesses), acceptance of their need to venture out and many others.

Women are fighting these barriers and overcoming obstacles to attain their fullest potential. Women are still seen venturing into domains largely untouched by their male counterparts in terms of businesses. There are cultural and societal norms that hinder equal participation of women in ventures that men undertake.

But things are slowly changing. Today women entrepreneurs constitute 10 percent of the total number of entrepreneurs in the country. Not a huge number but definitely encouraging.

More financial institutes are realizing the merits of investing in women entrepreneurs’ ventures. One of the most obvious reasons to invest in women leaders in India is that women control the vast majority of household spending. So unless you are a business that is focused mostly on men, women are more likely to better understand customer perspective.

Another is that women are often better at building long-term relationships. Lasting relationships benefit a business tremendously, as only so much can be achieved without trust… with employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, government, etc.

To conclude self-actualization is synonymous with empowerment in women. It is a wheel that has been set in motion.

“Women are becoming self-aware and command their needs to achieve their highest potential be recognized, acknowledged rewarded and respected.”

Most Successful Shepreneurs

Ellen Voie

Bringing Gender Diversity in the Transportation Sector

Entrepreneurs think prolifically; they create something new, something different that adds value to the world through the development and implementation of their innovative ideas. Ellen Voie, the President, and CEO of Women In Trucking Association is one of the women in the business world who plays an essential role in changing the dynamics and empowering the involvement of women in the transportation sector.

Ellen is an internationally recognized speaker and authority on gender diversity and inclusion for women working in non-traditional careers in transportation. Ellen has always been described as a visionary, so being an entrepreneur was a natural extension to her because of her perception to look into the future and an aspiration to create change.

Initial Learning Experience

Ellen started as the Assistant Traffic Manager in the trucking industry but was later promoted to Traffic Manager. At that point, she was only 20 years old and was responsible for the shipments in and out of three fabricating plants, in addition to a private fleet of three trucks. She shipped in the raw steel from around the country and shipped out the finished material, handling products to customers. She says to have learned a great deal from that job and that it gave her the start of a long career in transportation and supply chain management.

Forming the Association

Ellen built the cornerstone for Women In Trucking Association in March 2007. Her goal was to create a more positive, empowering environment for women employed in the trucking industry. She was working for a large carrier in the Midwest and was charged with trying to better understand b how to attract and retain nontraditional groups as drivers, and this included women. At the time She was working on her private pilot’s license and belonged to an organization called Women in Aviation, International. It occurred to her that there was no similar

organization for women in trucking and that was her impetus in forming the association.

A Comprehensive Organization

Ellen is proud to say that the organization’s membership is comprised of nearly twenty percent men who believe in its mission. This means that the organization is all-inclusive. Many men in the industry support and encourage more women to opt for careers in transportation. She says although the organization is called Women In Trucking, it is not FOR women as much as it is ABOUT women.

Ellen states that Women In Trucking Association has an annual strategic planning session where the board of directors, staff and any interested stakeholders look forward and define the activities and goals for the coming months and years. The combined effort gives the organization a vision into how the organization will address future needs for its members and the industry as a whole.

Being an Instrument of Positive Change

According to Ellen, an entrepreneur needs to see into the future and then determine how to create a positive change. She says an entrepreneur needs to possess a desire to use skills, determination and focus on helping move people and processes to result in the change one is seeking.

Ellen is of the opinion that an entrepreneur should be able to convince others that one’s path is the right one and should generate a support system, which ultimately creates a push in the right direction.

Valuing the skills women bring to

the table

Women are often humble and focus on consensus building while leadership traits are often perceived as assertive and controlled. Ellen says these are the challenges women face, but instead of conforming she speaks of the need to change the culture to value leadership traits which women bring to an organization.

According to Ellen, women are better at engaging their teams, and this has been proven to be a positive employee retention strategy, but she is worried that the characteristics that allow one to be more collaborative are not identified as leadership skills. According to her women bring a different set of skills to the workplace, doesn’t mean these skills are less important to the company. She is of the opinion that these skills should be respected.

Perseverance through Adversities

Starting a nonprofit association in the middle of a recession is not the most desirable way to initiate change in an industry. Ellen lost her position due to the recession while she was responsible for two mortgages and her daughter’s college expenses. She is still not sure how she made it through that difficult time but she persevered and daughter graduated with a Master’s Degree in Economics from Purdue with NO student loans. She appreciates the thought

that timing is everything and sometimes one needs to grab an opportunity despite the external conditions and make it work out.

Ellen is currently looking at leaving behind a thriving association that she let into an industry that recognized the need for change. She plans to retire in about five years, so now she is looking forward to focusing on traveling, writing and spending time with her family.

Determining the Course of Industry and Community

Ellen’s advice for budding entrepreneurs is to truly determine what one can bring to one’s industry, one’s community or one’s social network. She says that one should have something to contribute to empowering others, but one needs to identify what that skill, talent or passion is and stay true to one’s mission. She warns not to get sidetracked by others who want one to accommodate their goals. Ellen also advises staying focused and to stay away from distractions.

Fatima Al Shirawi

Defining Supremacy with Expertise

In an interview with Swiftnlift Media, the Emirati Founder and Entrepreneur of The Gracious F, Fatima Al Shirawi shares her great insight towards organization’s journey and its specialized solutions and services. Also, she broadly discussed about company’s core competencies and about how company is establishing in the market.

Fatima is a BA in Sociology and Marketing from George Washington University, she is also Certified from Polimoda Fashion School in Florence and London College of Fashion as a Certified colour Consultant accredited by The Colour Affects Institute.

Below are the highlights of the interview conducted between Fatima and Insights Success:

How do you diversify your organization’s offerings to appeal to the target audience?

The Gracious F started as an Individual Colour Consultancy firm to support individuals to enhance their day to day through science of colour, might that be in their aesthetics or their emotional balance. Within following years our individual clients had requirements within their corporate, interior and fashion segments to increase their productivity and revenues through support of colour science. Past few years The Gracious F has also been catering to all major segments of business with tools of colour science, and is now also a accredited educational platform that offers trainings within Luxury Retail, Management universities and Government entities. Our diversification has been natural once the knowledge of colour science and its benefits spread within the region.

Describe some of the vital attributes that every entrepreneur should possess.

Apart from Passion, motivation and market adaptability to cater to your audience within your business concept, Research, a lot of Research was vital. Therefore, these would be the Vital

Attributes every entrepreneur should possess.

How do you strategize your game plans to tackle competition in the market?

I strongly believe there is no such thing as direct competition in the colour consulting segment, however all the similar concepts motivate me and my team, to exceed in our performance for every service we offer. All other organizations in the similar business concept compliment somehow our concept, and our first approach is to see how we could collaborate in the future with similar organizations, in order to create and perform more efficient and greater combination of services within the field of colour.

What are the frequent challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in the workplaces and what are the ways to tackle them?

I will not lie, being a women entrepreneur has not been an easy path, especially within the region I started my operations, where women entrepreneurs were only existent and identified in some specific industries, such as interior, Fashion, FMBs and Government Organizations. Women worldwide are sometimes not taken seriously, and constantly put into an intimidating spot, my solution for this has always been, craft and perfect your abilities and show your challengers you are the best within your industry.

What were the primal challenges and roadblocks you faced during the initial phase of your career as an entrepreneur?

My primal challenges were associated to managing my finances, as I had no investment support when I started my journey within this industry but had imagined my company and expansion. My first step was to prioritize my needs, my initial investment was applied to my organizations marketing tools, such as my website and PR in order to offer awareness to my target

audience in understanding the science of colour and its benefits, which by the way will always be consistent. To afford this strategy, I was located at a shared office for a few years and had a virtual PA for support. Yes, it was a one man show and this was not easy. Where do you see yourself in the near future and what are your future goals?

This is my favorite question, there are many things I see myself and The Gracious F doing in the future. However, the most significant goal is to be the leading colour consultancy firm globally. Which will allow me to support individuals and corporations in achieving their goals. The key is to understand that the colour psychology is a personal enhancement technique when it comes to individuals and a revenue generating science when it comes to organizations and firms, not a philosophy.

What is your advice for budding and emerging Shepreneurs?

Have no fear, take the challenges, no business is small or big, it’s your concept and attitude that make you a successful “shepreneur”

Joelle Mardinian

Joelle Mardinian: The Jewel in the Crown of “Joelle Group”

Joelle is prominently known as a Lebanese television host, a make-up artist, and an entrepreneur. She is the proud founder and CEO of a beauty company named Joelle Group. Joelle prides herself for being the host of a makeover TV show “Joelle” which has been airing on MBC, the Middle East’s number one satellite TV channel which attracts more than 120 million viewers per day. She feels privileged enough to feature in one on one interviews with international celebrities and designers including Dolce and Gabbanna, Peter Dubdas, Anna Del Russo, Zuhair Murad, Kim Kardashian, Eva Longoria, Ivanka Trump, and the list goes on.

As a result of her enormous success and accomplishments, she acquired the position of being one of the most influential fashion and makeup experts in the Middle East. She created an amazing reputation for herself by evolving as a renowned TV personality being watched by viewers across the GCC. Due to these remarkable achievements, she was chosen to represent some of the most renowned brands. Joelle was also elected as Regional Creative Director for Max Factor in 2010 and also as the brand ambassador for Pantene, Braun, and most recently for Dyson and Evian.

Flight of Excellence

At the age of 18, Joelle started her career path as a freelancer. After working for a certain period she gave up on the idea of being employed to someone else because she wanted to excel her wings as an entrepreneur.

In 2008, she inaugurated her own company as an aspiring entrepreneur and founded ‘Maison de Joelle’. The passion and conviction of Joelle further led to a successfully grown company with a chain of thirteen salons to date, offering an all-encompassing beauty experience in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain Riyadh, Jeddah, Qatar, Erbil, Kurdistan Tunis, Morroco. Realizing the need of the hour and after analyzing the market, Joelle decided to organize a new venture,

that of a cosmetic clinic, in regards to beauty and wellness. Committed to the cause, Joelle introduced Clinica Joelle, a dedicated cosmetic clinic in Dubai for surgical and non-surgical solutions in collaboration with better doctors, surgeons, slimming experts and beauty consultants. Today there are seven Clinica Joelle.

An Ascending Success Graph of Joelle Group

Joelle Group is a leading beauty business in the Arab world. It is also renowned as successful multiconglomerate in clinical and cosmetic beauty through ventures such as Maison de Joelle, Clinica Joelle, and Joelle Paris. The Joelle Group consists of talented and creative individuals who are devoted to serving customers with the utmost care and service excellence. It transmits pride over their people as a form of potent force behind the success, due to which the group has evolved to become a premier luxury brand in the world of beauty business with a reach across the MENA region. Joelle group has constantly dominated the beauty industry with bringing in innovations and new technologies. This disruption has led Joelle group to collaborate with major brands.

A Personal Touch

Joelle delivers her views on appealing the target audience in a reliable manner. She claims everything has to be personalized with a touch of sensibility and responsibility. She describes that their primary aim is to stand as the ultimate destination that serves every beauty-desire of a woman by facilitating advanced procedures, latest trends and expert advices so it makes them feel beautiful and comfortable in their own skin.

Joelle Group is a devotion to a well-defined business, bringing together positive and inspiring workforce with an attitude of thorough professionalism that is consequently providing more value to the customers.

Indispensable Traits

Joelle asserts that successful entrepreneurs are highly goal oriented. They blend their big-picture strategy with utmost focus and reliability on executing their idea with calculative risks that yield the desired results. She believes that a true entrepreneur should adopt a disciplined and focused approach by prioritizing “what is really important to the business” because visionary entrepreneurs are always looking for the future prosperity and anticipating niche opportunities that may arise as the business thrives.

Facing Adversities

Joelle believes that there hardly any challenges that an empowered woman faces today. According to her, the only challenge she faces is to find the right balance between “Professional and Personal life”. She also expressed that she is unable to see her kids during the weekdays, because of traveling or if she is in Dubai her meetings would stretch until late. Hence, this workload often obstructs her to spend the desired time with family. However, to tackle this scenario, she spends quality time with kids every weekend. She plans her vacations according to every single holiday that her kids are granted. Also in summer she takes complete two months of her work and spends her whole time with family by visiting pleasing destinations so that she could recharge her soul with happiness and come back to work with a refreshing personality.

Fostering Future

After successfully capturing the Middle East, Joelle envisions to be everywhere in Europe that consists of the Arab population. This mission will mainly focus to deliver the cultured services to Arab women and fulfill their undulating needs of beauty and wellness. She further fosters introducing advanced technologies to the world

of “Beauty” that will bring, breathe of ease to this industry.

In her experience, being an entrepreneur is all about the right execution at the right time.

Stop Dreaming and Start Doing

Joelle mentions, if you’re going to take the leap and start your own business it’s going to take a lot of time and energy. The best way to keep yourself motivated through the ups and downs is to do what really matters to you. If you dream of working for yourself, stop dreaming and start doing something about it, otherwise it’s a “Recipe for Disaster”.

How Can Entrepreneurs Survive a Recession? Handle It Like a Woman

It’s time to learn recession-management tips from those equipped to handle it best -- women.

It’s no secret that a recession comes with many new challenges. But are women better poised to deal with them?

Recent findings indicate that women remain unfazed by the impact of recession, in comparison to their male counterparts. Recession influences the business practices of women entrepreneurs, who go on to further develop themselves to survive in the corporate world. The impact is felt by women devising to improve and manage effective strategies for survival in a financial crisis.

What Can We Learn from Women Entrepreneurs?

Here are five key things that we can learn from women entrepreneurs.

Dedication towards Employees

The key to achieving success in business is build a strong base. The workforce of any company plays a major role in strengthening the foundation of a company. In general, women are greatly concerned about their employees and build a good rapport with them. This increases their loyalty, and employees remain dedicated to their organizations even during difficult times.

2. Effective Public Relation Skills

Speaking from a male point of view, women are quite adept in getting their way — for everything. Why? Some may argue that a woman with effective communication skills can easily influence people.

Female business-owners possess unparalleled public relation skills and strong convincing powers. This makes women adept at marketing. During recession, when marketing is usually sidetracked, it is these women

entrepreneurs who take the bull by its horns and emerge victorious.

3. Negotiation Skills

Women are extraordinarily good at negotiating, and often bag the best and most lucrative deals. Unlike their male counterparts, female entrepreneurs leave their egos aside and utilize their polished and refined manners while negotiating. This helps them procure the toughest deals, as (most) do not lose their cool easily.

Carefully Guarded Decision-Making

Women have a natural ability to remain calm and patient during the trickiest situations.

Their decisions are not influenced by rash, impulsive and over-ambitious behaviors. Being naturally adept at decision-making, women entrepreneurs think twice before taking any sort of risk. Women follow the riskaversion technique and refrain from over-extending themselves.

Improved Access to Capital

Many of today’s women entrepreneurs have better access to finance. They have won trust of banks all over the world because of their cautious, well-planned approach towards business. Today if women have improved access to capital and are better funded, it is mainly because of their cautiousness in money matters.

Overall women have become more pragmatic and cautious while investing. They are passionate about their work and organize thorough market research before investing in any business, no matter how lucrative it seems.

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of commitment and excellence, intelligent planning and focused efforts.”

Rasha Oudeh

Power Lies Not Only in the Wallet,Power Lies in Competence

Rasha Oudeh from Jordan was one of the keynote speakers in Berlin’s major economic forum, Global Female Leaders’ Summit 2018, who told her story of becoming a leader in a speech that has received a standing ovation by a crowd of executives, entrepreneurs, prominent academics, and leaders from all over the globe. By watching the video of Rasha’s speech in the summit, one can tell that she is one such proficient and prolific entrepreneur.

When she first started as a trader in 2007, she provided a variety of services in pharmaceutical field to earn money, services that included: pharmaceutical trading (finished and API’s), registration support, market research, assigning agents, writing studies, selling machinery and selling medical equipment’s. It was a journey full of struggle which helped Rasha to gain insights into pharma industry & exceptional experience.

Rasha wondered why there no such service providing companies in Europe these services in MENA and why there is no company with a portfolio that fits the MENA region, the answer was: difficult business culture & environment; regulations differ from country to country, and on top of that: the language.

At the end of 2015, Rasha sold

all of her business to start again by acquiring CEDEM AG whose financials made it look like a startup co., but the spectrum of the clients which CEDEM has built over the last three years utilizing the last 9 years’ experience speaks for itself. To expand further, Rasha has collaborated with four prominent investors/partners; two of them experienced experts in the same field from multinational companies. She built a team of skilled professionals/ consultants in the Middle East who can run the business in Switzerland, Germany, and UK from Amman, Jordan.

Despite difficulties and high expenses, Rasha continued to operate a business from Switzerland, as she believed that all big businesses started with one entrepreneur who had the commitment, dedication and never say die attitude to do business with STYLE. Nevertheless, Rasha shared that she could not have built the brand equity of Cedem that quickly without the people working with her, acknowledging that sometimes she might come off as demanding, still she is giving them in return her whole experience. Rasha expressed her sense of proudness when she sees them achieving and doing well even if they are in other jobs.

Rasha shared her dream of establishing the first sizeable

Swiss-German company that is focused on the MENA region and which can be a partner of choice for big pharmaceutical players in the MENA region, and the idea behind CEDEM comes from this niche.

Her journey has proven that influence in doing business lies not only in the wallet, but in the mastering of business competencies

Exemplary Leadership

Rasha encourages entrepreneurs to follow their own path, she expresses that one should not be afraid to pursue what one believes in. She also advises having sustainable human relations because she believes that it helps one to function adequately. She believes that focus plays the most important part in success. She advises to enjoy giving back one’s experience and competence and whatever one has gained throughout their journey. Rasha believes in non-traditional ideas. She believes that leadership is a learned mindset that can be fostered with education and coaching.

Introducing a New Profession

Today, CEDEM aims at becoming the Middle East’s first private label service provider. Given the fact that this industry represents

less than 1% compared to the rest of the world, with Germany and Switzerland accounting for around 45% and 38%, respectively. With Rasha’s continued efforts and perseverance, she introduced a new profession to the Middle East, namely the private labeling manufacturing through an entire business process cycle. Considering that the region lacks such expertise, Rasha takes pride to have built such a capable team to serve this field. Rasha’s extensive years of expertise were filled with difficulties and pressures, yet she was able to succeed.

Social Responsibility

As a Jordanian living abroad, Rasha is deeply committed to share her insights, expertise, and knowledge with fellow Jordanians, and to keep engaged in Jordan’s economy. Amal, the dead sea project, is aimed to become part of Jordan’s efforts to combat poverty and unemployment, it is a starting point that helps to sustain the living of hard-working women who also utilize their limited resources. While the ‘Training for Employment’ project is a program that is aimed at enabling Jordanian young females to take a step into an international career, by preparing them to operate in a vibrant, ever-changing, international business environment, supporting them in growing to be managers and leaders of tomorrow.