The 10 Most Creative CEOs to Watch in 2020

DECEMBER 2020

Robust Networks Accelerator for Digital Transformation

Encourage & Empower Breaking out of the Proverbial Box

Septimus Blake An Epitome of Perseverance, Passion, and Proď€ ciency

The 10 Most Creative CEO's to Watch in 2020

EDITOR’S NOTE Apex CEOs Making the Impact

A

Chief Operating Officer has its own challenges, everything is in his hands, all the weight on his shoulders, and he has to go through all the stuff alone, that can be overwhelming and terrifying at times.

Being a CEO, people are counting on you. You must be doggedly persistent in the pursuit of your goals while being passionately focused on delivering great products and services to your customers.

The traits of a successful CEO are Fearlessness, Persistence, Passion and Humility. A great CEO is always humble and inspires his team to achieve their greatest potential in turn fostering a committed and engaged team who go above and beyond for the customers. Without a great team, a CEO is just a person sitting alone in a board room with his ego for company.

Integrity, Self-Awareness, and Confident humility are key aspects in leading a change. However, it is passion and perseverance to be at the top in the technological business landscape. Together this is rewarding in so many ways, but it’s not easy. Markets, products, and sometimes people disappoint.

An Innovative CEO surrounds himself with great people, establishes a culture of excellence, and leads from the front.

He has a point-of-view which is driven. Finally, he is agile and expect change, because, in businesses, it’s the one thing that you can absolutely count on.

To make the world a better place he believes and maintains a passion in what he is trying to achieve whether it be a service or product. He perseveres, expects and accepts setbacks – sees them as challenges which will improve in redefining leadership. All too often being a CEO he knows can be an

extremely lonely place, so he is stays kind to himself. And when success finally arrives takes time to enjoy it!

Managing and Achieving this certainty in sustaining competency of the businesses, through our edition - The 10 Most Creative CEO’s to Watch in 2020 is Septimus ‘Bob’ Blake, the CEO of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited. His key responsibilities currently include the strategic development of the organization so that the company’s customer experience, employee experience, financial and risk management goals are appropriately set and achieved.

Septimus cultivated a voracious appetite for reading that has never left him to this day. Two books that have influenced his professional life are the oft-referred “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu and “Only the Paranoid Survive” by Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel.

His current favorite is “Hit Refresh”, by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “His story is one of being purpose driven, innovative and empathetic. This is reflected in his leadership of Microsoft and resonates well with me,” says Septimus.

Three leadership lessons from Andy Grove’s book that have guided Septimus’ decisions throughout his career, are encapsulated in the following quotes.

“You are always in danger, you are in danger of competitors, you are in danger of new ways of doing things, but most importantly you have a danger that the way you have conducted your business is going to lose relevance” “You can be the subject of a strategic inflection point, but you can also be the cause of one” and “In technology, whatever can be done will be done”.

Lastly, make sure to go through the in-house editorials drafted by the industry experts and the curated articles written by our editorial team.

Have an exciting read!

Abhishaj Sajeev abhishaj@ciolook.com

COVER STORY

08

Septimus

Blake An Epitome of Perseverance, Passion, and ProďŹ ciency

36 Encourage & Empower Breaking out of the Proverbial Box

ARTICLE

24

Robust Networks Accelerator for Digital Transformation

16

CONTENTS

Jill Button

20

A Exemplary Business Leader Ascending the Peaks of Success

VANTAGE Information Services

28

Integrating Data of Businesses to be Modeled, Visualized and Monetized

Mordecai Rosen A Data Protection Guru Guiding Organizations in Safeguarding their Data Effortlessly

32 NICOLE MARTIN

40

Redefining the Benchmarks of Human Resource Management

Rebecca Burgess Leading a Change, Impacting Lives, and Making the World a Better Place

44 48 Shanaz Ramzi An Epitome of Leadership and Excellence

Rob Leslie Exemplifying Prolific Leadership

Abhishaj Sajeev Editor-in-Chief

CONTENT

Senior Editor Alan Swann Executive Editors Rohit Chaturvedi Alex Spellman

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Senior Sales Manager Kshitij S. Customer Success Manager Jack Ryan Sales Executives John, Kane, Irfan TECHNICAL

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December, 2020

Featuring Person

Company Name

Brief

Jill Button President & CEO

ProcurePro Consulting and ThryvX Consulting procurepro.ca thryvx.com

ProcurePro Consulting is a boutique procurement and project management services firm, helping companies save money.

ThryvX Consulting helps businesses grow and prosper.

John Kogel CEO & Founder

Vantage Information Services Ltd vantageit.co.uk

For nearly 30 years Vantage IT has been providing outsourced IT support to local businesses, schools and charities.

Lyn Ola Founder & CEO

Chimes Consulting chimesconsulting.com

Chimes Consulting's proficiency in both Marketing and Information Technology aims to support entrepreneurs and businesses to rise above their respective industries despite the competitive environment.

Mordecai Rosen CEO

Digital Guardian digitalguardian.com

Digital Guardian’s unique approach to DLP allows for quick deployment and on-demand scalability, while providing full data visibility and no-compromise protection.

NicoleMartin Founder & CEO

HRBoostLLC hrboost.com

HRBoost is Shared Services HR firm specializing in building HR from scratch and implementing practices that add value.

Rebecca Burgess CEO

City to Sea citytosea.org.uk

City to Sea is an environmental organization on a mission to stop plastic pollution.

Rob Leslie Founder & CEO

Sedicii sedicii.com

Sedicii's technogy enables to protect digital identity of customers by ensuring that it is never shared without their express consent.

Ruslan Desyatnikov CEO

QA Mentor qamentor.com

QA Mentor is a global leader in Software Quality Assurance and Testing space.

Septimus Blake CEO

NCB Jamaica Limited jncb.com

National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited is a strong and secure organization committed to serving its customers' financial needs.

Shanaz Ramzi CEO

StarLinks PR starlinks.pk

StarLinks PR constantly endeavours to assist its clients in engaging and strengthening their relationships with their stakeholders and society as a whole.

Sept Blak Septimus Blake, CEO of NCB Jamaica Limited

An Epitome of Perse and ProďŹ ciency

“

“Be bold and decisive.”

timus ke

everance, Passion,

COVERSTORY

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“You are always in danger, you are in danger of competitors, you are in danger of new ways of doing things, but most importantly you have a danger that the way you have conducted your business is going to lose relevance.” – Only the Paranoid Survive, Andy Grove

T

he definition of leadership in a corporate setting, is not one of titles and hierarchies anymore. It has become a lifestyle, ingrained into the consciousness of every aspiring entrepreneur or professional.

A present-day business leader has to ascertain the growth of the organization as well as his team members – especially in times like these, where a global pandemic has drastically changed the way the world functions.

Leaders who have managed to achieve this certainty and sustain the competency of their businesses, are definitely made of a different mettle. Through our edition, The 10 Most Creative CEO's to Watch in 2020, we set out to seek such significant and inspiring business leaders, and one prominent name among them is Septimus 'Bob' Blake, the CEO of National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited.

Let us delve into Septimus' story – one of inspiration, passion, and commitment to success.

Strong foundations Septimus started out with humble origins on a small farm in rural Jamaica. Despite not having all the material comforts of life, his parents invested early in ensuring that he had the right mindset.

“Though intangible, this mindset is the foundation of my life's progress, and I will always be grateful to my parents for that,” says Septimus.

His parents urged him to focus on beating the odds and excelling, in spite of the circumstances. They also instilled in him an appreciation for speed and understanding the value of being a decent and respectful human being.

“They taught me to look at every job as an opportunity to learn, earn and to grow. To this day, these principles have remained the soundtrack of my personal and professional experiences,” he adds.

Septimus joined National Commercial Bank Jamaica Limited in March 2002 as a fixed income trader - a role which involved identifying investment opportunities to increase fees, spread income, pricing, purchase and sale of financial instruments, and to analyze and forecast market conditions and trends in order to manage trading relationships.

A year later, he was promoted to bank treasurer with increased responsibility. This included the management and direction of the bank's asset and liability, liquidity management, investment portfolio management and foreign exchange trading functions. Along with that portfolio, he assumed responsibility for the management of local financial institutions and correspondent banking relationships.

His role expanded again in 2013, as he was asked to manage the bank's card issuing and acquiring business, along with the digital channels. He was recognized for doing transformative work in all those areas, leading to which in 2016, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the bank.

This meant that he was now responsible for providing strategic oversight to the Treasury and Correspondent Banking; Payment Services – (card issuing and acquiring division); Corporate banking; Retail banking and all digital channels. Three years later, he was promoted to the Chief Executive Officer of the bank, responsible for providing strategic leadership to all divisions.

His key responsibilities currently include the strategic development of the organization so that our customer experience, employee experience, financial and risk management goals are appropriately set and achieved.

Drawing inspiration Septimus believes that throughout his life, he has been lucky to have had parents and mentors who constantly challenged him to be great by exposing his gaps and pushing him to close them. “They not only give answers, but also encouraged me to seek them out myself, which allowed me to learn, improve and grow,” he adds.

Septimus cultivated a voracious appetite for reading that has never left him to this day. Two books that have influenced his professional life are the oft-referred “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu and “Only the Paranoid Survive” by Andy Grove, co-founder of Intel.

His current favorite is “Hit Refresh”, by Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft. “His story is one of being purpose

“

“The great thing about the future is that it's ours to invent, so there are no boundaries.”

driven, innovative and empathetic. This is reflected in his leadership of Microsoft and resonates well with me,” says Septimus.

Three leadership lessons from Andy Grove's book that have guided Septimus' decisions throughout his career, are encapsulated in the following quotes.

“You are always in danger, you are in danger of competitors, you are in danger of new ways of doing things, but most importantly you have a danger that the way you have conducted your business is going to lose relevance” “You can be the subject of a strategic inflection point, but you can also be the cause of one” and “In technology, whatever can be done will be done”.

“Not only do you need people who are willing to learn from you, you also need people who are also focused on excellence in areas in which you may be deficient from whom you can learn. Once you have built that dream team you have to invest in creating an environment that allows them to flourish. Without that you'll have a great team that won't be able to achieve great results,” he adds.

Towards new horizons In his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs and business leaders, Septimus says, “Know your customers. The customer is the businesses. Be bold and decisive. Don't be afraid to be the first mover. As the maxim says, 'if you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.' In other words, don't be afraid of collaborating.”

Redefining Excellence Sharing his opinions on what traits an ideal business leader must possess, Septimus says, “Leaders should be audacious. They are called to invent the future.

However, the vision that guides them must be bold, solution-oriented and based on a deep obsession with consumer needs. Despite their grand aspirations though, today's great leaders have to make decisions underpinned by data and execute with accuracy and speed.”

When asked on how he sustains his leadership acumen in this changing technological era, Septimus says that the rapid pace of technological change is a reward for the curious and restless mind. “Remaining in a state of continuous learning allows you to connect more dots that can lead you to your goal. However, no matter the level of one's intellect, a strong team is critical to success,” he explains.

Talking about his foresight for NCB, Septimus says, “The great thing about the future is that it's ours to invent, so there are no boundaries.”

“On the horizon though is a world class, digital bank with exceptional customer experience, and delivering value in exciting new ways. We are doubling down on our efforts to develop a culture of speed, innovation, execution, and resilience that is built around our customers' needs. This will be done with a focus on embracing emerging technologies that give us the flexibility to adapt, evolve and empower our people,” he adds.

As for his own future endeavors, Septimus says he will be focused on learning, growing, and improving his effectiveness as a leader, and providing strategic clarity to the business.

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Jill Button 16

| December 2020 |

leaders themselves and reach new and amazing career heights. I truly feel invested in their success.

A Exemplary Business Leader Ascending the Peaks of

How do you diversify your organization’s services to entice the target audience?

I listen to my customers’ challenges then create solutions to help solve them. Early on, ProcurePro was focused solely on providing procurement related services such as running RFP’s and contract negotiations. A new client was looking for help not just selecting a new Finance System, they also needed help with managing the entire project end to end including implementing the software.

“To pave a path for oneself is certainly rewarding, but to pave a path for others and guiding them through it is nothing less than divine.”

This adage evidently implies on one of the many vital traits of a profound leader. Corporate leadership is no more just a designation received through appraisal or consensus. It has become a way of thinking, a perspective to be precise.

Since then, we have managed several ERP projects from helping the client define their requirements, managing the RFP and contracting process to Project Managing the implementation to final Go Live.

The present corporate world demands all of its residents—irrespective of a hierarchical system—to possess the attitude, mindset, and grit of a leader. A fancy college degree might get you the job without a doubt. But to survive in a cutthroat competitive setting, you need to be, act, and stay a leader.

This year, like many businesses, we were significantly impacted by Covid-19 and all our ERP projects were cancelled or put on hold. We focused on offering online training and interestingly most of our business this year has been helping sales organizations not procurement.

We have developed a new training series focused specifically on helping sales teams; Demystifying Procurement, Understanding The Competitive Bid Process and Negotiate Like a Pro. I am really excited about working with the Sales teams representing an entirely new group of clients.

This edition titled, The 10 Most Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future, seeks such individuals who possess the aforementioned qualities and drive their associated organizations to zeniths of success. And one such epitome of proficient leadership is Jill Button, the President and CEO of ProcurePro Consulting and ThryvX Consulting.

What roadblocks or challenges did you face throughout your career? And how did you overcome them?

With a career spanning over thirty years, there have been many. I have been down-sized, right-sized, northAmericanized, outsourced and even divested. The biggest challenge of my entire career, however, has been overcoming my own fears and self-doubt.

In the following interview with CIO Look, Jill takes us through her professional journey spanning more than 32 years, the hurdles she crossed, the lessons she learned, her current role at ProcurePro, and her vision for the future ahead.

Let us delve into this inspiring story of an equally inspiring leader.

My father passed away not long ago. My sisters and I were cleaning out his things and I found a letter I wrote to him in 1987 when I was just 20 years old. I was shocked he had kept that letter all these years.

Kindly take us through your journey of becoming a proficient business leader.

I have always had a passion to lead. I became a manager at the young age of 22 and thought I knew everything. I made terrible mistakes and had to overcome significant challenges to be taken seriously. I am a voracious reader of leadership and entrepreneur books and have worked for some great leaders throughout my career who I admired and learned from.

In it I described an idea I had about putting movies, tv shows and music on the internet, enabling people to download and enjoy content from their home computer.

It included handwritten diagrams of the user interface and everything. Keep in mind, this was 1987, when people rented movies from Block Buster. This was before the internet and the technology powering iTunes and Netflix did not even exist at that time. As I read that letter, I started laughing and realized I had conceived of Netflix a decade before it was launched.

I talk to my team openly and honestly and ultimately focus on helping propel them to success and reach their greatest potential. I have always felt the greatest sense of professional pride and sincere joy watching my team members learn, step out of their comfort zone, become

It was at that moment I realized how smart that 20-yearold was and what might have been had I just believed in

17

| December 2020 |

myself. My dad always believed in me and I needed to start believing in myself more and not let fear keep me from realizing my dreams of building a successful company. I have not let doubt stop or deter me since. Yes, occasionally, especially this year, fear creeps in, but I have learned to push right through it and just keep moving forward.

worth the time and investment. We do not get caught up in the hype.

According to you, what are the vital traits that every CEO should possess?

Fearlessness, Persistence, Passion and Humility. Being a CEO, people are counting on you. You cannot lead from a position of fear. You must be doggedly persistent in the pursuit of your goals while being passionately focused on delivering great products and services to your customers.

How do you sustain business operations in the current unpredictable markets and cutthroat competition?

Again, you must listen to your customers and be willing to think outside the box and pivot when necessary. With the pandemic, most of our projects were put on hold or cancelled so we doubled down on our marketing efforts and implemented a new ERP solution for our company and the ThryvX Group.

A great CEO must be humble and inspire their team to achieve their greatest potential in turn fostering a committed and engaged team who go above and beyond for your customers. Without a great team, a CEO is just a person sitting alone in a board room with his ego for company.

We have also started offering online training, something I love and never had time to do before. Last, an unexpected benefit is, business is now done virtually so geography is no longer a barrier. Where before we were focused on Canada, we can now deliver our services virtually anywhere across the globe.

How do you sustain your creative leadership spirit in this crucial time?

My team! I am most happy when I am working with my team, brainstorming new ideas and developing new solutions. My team is my greatest source of energy, creativity, and joy. I could not do this without them.

How do you keep up with current technological trends to boost growth?

Tech selection and digital transformation is what we do.

We are methodical in our approach beginning first with understanding the true need and how technology can enable, streamline, and automate. Our motto is “Practical, Applicable and Sustainable”. If it cannot satisfy those three areas, it is just a shiny new object and not

What would be your future endeavours and where do you see yourself in the near future?

I am really excited about my newest venture; ThryvX. Complimenting my ProcurePro services, my ThryvX partners are experts in Marketing and HR. Leveraging our collective expertise, we offer a breadth of back-office services normally reserved for large enterprise that are challenging for small and medium businesses to find and afford.

While many consulting companies help companies create business strategies we help with the execution including, marketing, social media, application development, health and safety training, human resources compliance, recruiting and of course, sourcing, contracting and implementing the right technology solutions to manage and grow their business.

We will be adding more complementary services with plans for national and global expansion coming soon.

Eighty percent of small businesses have been hugely impacted by COVID-19, so it is really timely and critical that we help SME’s not just survive but THRYV.

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About Jill Button Self-described #GenXFempreneur Jill was named one of the “100 Inuential Women in Canadian Supply ChainTM” by Supply Chain Canada, nominated for the “RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award” and featured in “Top 100 Canadian Professionals magazine.” I am so humbled and honoured to be recognized. I am especially grateful for the amazing relationships I have been able to build across Canada, the US and around the world.

Jill is a passionate supporter of girls and women, doing her part to support, inspire and promote future female leaders. As a former Board President of her local chapter of Girls Inc. Durham, the organization is near and dear to her heart. “Girls and women really need encouragement and support so they can achieve their greatest potential.”

Jill is a published author and just released her newest book “How Not To Get Screwed

By Your Suppliers And Save Millions!” available through Amazon.

About ProcurePro

“You must be doggedly persistent in the pursuit of your goals while being passionately focused on delivering great products and services to your customers.”

ProcurePro Consulting is a boutique Procurement and Project Management services rm that specializes in helping small and mid size companies; competitively source, contract and implement IT software, hardware, and services We offer Virtual Procurement, Project Management and exible online and instructor led Training. From 1-hour workshops to 3-day intensive instructor led programs.

To learn more about ProcurePro Consulting visit w w w. p r o c u r e p r o . c a o r e m a i l info@procurepro.ca.

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VANTAGE

Information Services Integrating Data of Businesses to be Modeled, Visualized and Monetized

M

ost analytics companies start with technology, whereas Vantage Information Services Limited starts with the business, specifically what creates ROI, and works back to the technology. Vantage was founded to bring best in class analytics to the business user. It was set up with a mission to build best in class technology that operationalizes data driven decisions and deliver value to organizations through data analytics. It leverages its business experience and uses proven approaches to create value from data and enhance client profitability.

Using proprietary processes for prediction and analytics, the company turns its clientele's raw data into actionable insights on demand.

where Vantage comes into the picture. It envisions creating technology that bridges the substantial gap in the market today that every company struggles with i.e. how to enable teams to make data driven decisions as part of their everyday workflow.

Flagship Technology At the heart of Vantage is its flagship technology, Vantage Point that operationalizes data driven decisions and connects business users with other business users across their company's network of clients and suppliers. The technology enables the communication of value via KPIs that can be set at any level of the organization, autogenerates tasks with ML models at a user level, allows users to understand why that task was generated for them by diving into the data, and measures ROI from completing that task.

Vantage Point modules are plug and play deployments – no code, no long implementation times, and include subject matter such as Sales Analysis, Inventory Analysis, Customer Analytics, HR Analytics, and Financial Analysis.

Enabling Businesses to Make Data-driven Decisions Vantage believes that technology companies have done a great job at building amazing technology for the power user. At this stage, the messaging of these companies to the market is “become a citizen data scientist”. What these technologies are missing, and what Vantage Point solves for, is the fact that these companies have teams of people which are hired to perform very important functions, and not to learn how to code or data model or to become a data scientist.

They don't have time to spend hours searching through dashboards to explore the data. They need answers and recommendations on what to do next, so they can combine these recommendations with their expertise in a seamless manner, and then understand the ROI impact of their decisions. This is how analytics can be driven to every person in every organization and this is

An Inventive Mind The person behind the inception of Vantage Data is its CEO, John Kogel. John has accumulated an enriching experience of 1o years, which was focused on leveraging data analytics to enhance portfolio returns while minimizing risk. In 2014, he began developing his own suite of analytics, generating outsized returns for his investment strategy. On the back of this, he saw an

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| December 2020 |

“

John Kogel CEO & Founder Vantage Information Services Limited

Vantage's core technology, Vantage Point, operationalizes data driven decisions and drives interactivity across an

organization's network.

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| December 2020 |

opportunity to expand these analytics beyond the scope of finance to industries including retail and manufacturing, and started Vantage.

current market opportunities, and it is part of our mission to ensure that we continue to drive avenues where we share our platforms and skills, particularly with previously disadvantaged individuals and communities.”

As CEO and Founder, John drives the strategy and technology vision of the company. He plays an in-depth role in the product development of Vantage's flagship product, Vantage Point, actively works on continually building and developing great customer relationships and a great team. He is focused on making and shaping a culture of efficient, data driven investment decisions based on ROI across his business and clients' companies. Besides, he holds a Bachelors and Masters degree in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering from MIT.

Changing the Way Companies Operate & Communicate Vantage aspires to change the way companies fundamentally operate internally, and how they communicate with each other externally. There is a massive gap and therefore universal inefficiency in how companies operationalize data driven decisions.

Vantage builds technology to bridge and eliminate that gap. Ultimately, it does not only want companies to do this with their own data, but to incorporate their customers and suppliers into their Vantage Point network, thereby driving more seamless cooperation, enhanced ROI for all parties, and data monetization.

Core Values Vantage has experienced significant growth and evolution over the last 5+ years by shaping a fast moving, high performance culture, all of which is underpinned and measured through its values of Collaboration, Agility, Catalyst, Diversity and Innovation. These values all relate to each other to drive success. Diversity is the underlying difference matter though. The company is of the belief that with collaboration and agility, one can drive innovation and change. Diversity however is the fuel that makes the engine run. Without differences in background, thinking, and approach, any company will struggle, and ultimately fail, to create a product that differentiates against today's market.

“

Focused on the business user, Vantage Point starts with ROI, and

works back into the technology, to

Giving Back to the Community

achieve an efficient and data

Speaking about CSR, John asserts, “Corporate Social responsibility is a key focus of our business as the principle of “enabling” is core to who we are at Vantage. We recognise that not everyone has access to the tools, knowledge and technology that will allow them the best foundation for the

driven approach for each business user.

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Accelerator for Digital Transformation 24

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Robust Networks

I

t’s not anymore a mystery how the evolution of technological era has taken place. Technology has revolutionized the perspective of the global population. The imprints of technological advancements can be seen in almost every sector. For example, blockchain technology is creating a digital record that verifies any transaction at a certain time and sequence, and AI is enabling new ways to interact with consumers via chatbots and artificial personal assistants.

The use of internet has brought people from the different corners of the world closer than before, and computers have simplified dataprocessing, analyzing the organization, and communication for individuals as well as businesses.

The one thing that keeps everything connected is Network.

Be it accessing the internet, downloading a file, printing documents or emailing an urgent presentation, a sound network infrastructure is required.

Networking Solutions have become a requirement of almost every individual and more importantly, businesses.

In today’s business world, companies are adopting ecommerce module to reach out to the customers globally and making their shopping experiences simpler.

In order to ensure the smooth running of such business modules, a suitable networking infrastructure is vital as it provides speed, connectivity, and ultimately value to the users as well as businesses, making it a win-win situation for both the parties. We can safely put that comprehensive networked systems are at the very heart of ecommerce.

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It has become crucial for businesses, irrespective of sizes, to have a robust network infrastructure as it is also counted as an essential component to enhance the agility and productivity of organizations.

Network Infrastructure, if developed effectively, enables businesses to maximize productivity, reduce operational costs, and manage complex consolidations. Moreover, managed network services help businesses run the applications that fuel their day-to-day business, enhance their communication and sharing tools, and improves business flexibility and agility.

Addressing Current Crisis If we consider the current pandemic situation, it has changed the way businesses operate and communicate. COVID-19 has enforced businesses to operate remotely. Employees working from multiple locations resulted in a need to inculcate integrated network monitoring solutions, as staying securely connected became a challenge. The chances of security risks and inherent physical limits like latency and bandwidth, which would hamper speed, seemed to occur for businesses.

Companies with sound network monitoring solutions were successfully able to fight against the business effects of COVID-19.

Adopting a network monitoring solution can assist companies in ensuring the smooth running of business networks and processes.It became evident that how secured network solutions can be resourceful in a crisis like situations.

In fact, the research suggests that industrial networking solutions market size is expected to grow to

| December 2020 |

USD 23.84 Billion by 2022, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 21.0% during the forecast period (2017–2022).

Security is Still a Concern Networking along with value-added features also increases the chances of cyber threats, which can make the company’s private data and emails vulnerable. Data being the core aspect of business requires high security. Businesses have immensely become dependent on computers and cloud technology to control large money transfers, store data, or communicate with the communities.

They cannot afford any kind of security breach. Thus, network security is a vital aspect of businesses nowadays.

Regardless of size, industry or nature of businesses, every organization can be a victim of cybercrime and thus, require a degree of network security solutions. Past instances of largescale businesses, who admitted a loss of their sensitive data due to an internal or external security threat, exemplify why network security is of utmost importance. They had to pay a huge amount to recover from a security breach.

Digitization has brought a drastic transformation in human lives as well as in the corporate world. Every business that aims at delivering products or services as per consumers’ demand must keep their network infrastructure secured, to earn the trust of their customers.

Network Security not only protects them from cyberattacks or threats, but it also protects the reputation of businesses.

Some common security threats active on the Internet are: Viruses, worms, and Trojan horses, Spyware

and adware, Hacker attacks, Zeroday attacks, also called zero-hour attacks, denial of service attacks, data interception, and theft, and identity theft. Network security is available in the form of firewall protection, email security, anti-virus and anti-malware software, network segmentation, access control, application security, behavioural analytics, data loss prevention, mobile device security, security information and event management, VPN, Web Security, Wireless Security, etc.

Upcoming Trends Shaping the Future of Networking • Wi-Fi 6 The upcoming development in the field of wireless connectivity is WiFi 6. It is anticipated to change the face of networking solutions in the coming years by increasing the device density that can independently coexist in a single space without impacting the speed on a single device.

• 5G It is the most awaited high-speed networking technology that would be providing blazing fast internet speed. 5G will be competitive in terms of performance, speed and latency with wired connections currently.

• Digitized Spaces An intersection of IoT, sensors, mobile networks, and digitized spaces will make companies datasmart and derive deep customer and business insights by strengthening the networking solutions ecosystem for enterprise uses.

• SD-WAN SD-WAN is a framework that will be agiler, more robust and enable organizations to route a huge amount of network traffic based on

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centralized roles and rules, promoting high-end data security.

These trends are truly shaping the future of networking technology and are optimizing network performance for modern businesses. Harnessing the latest in the field of networking solutions, many network solution providers are developing integrated solutions to deal with the challenges businesses are facing.

Future is Promising With the above mentioned upcoming trends, one can safely assert that the future of networking solution is set to be revolutionized.

It doesn’t come as a surprise how new and emerging technologies have always driven networking best practices and will continue to do so.

For example, it is believed by many tech experts that a combination of machine learning and artificial intelligence will aid network managers to create next-generation networking solutions to achieve high-end security and optimize network performance.

To wrap it up, every size of business would require robust and secured network infrastructure to boost the performance of employees, productivity, and scalability. The current pandemic crisis has highlighted the need for integrated network solutions and how it can ensure the smooth running of businesses. Many network solution providers are walking an extra mile to come up with topnotch network security solutions to address the need of the small, medium as well as large scale enterprises. The pace at which the advancement in networking technology is growing with other evolving technologies and the future of networking solutions from here looks promising.

| December 2020 |

Mordecai Rosen A Data Protection Guru Guiding Organizations in Safeguarding their Data Effortlessly Cybersecurity has been a major problem for businesses around the globe. In the 2019 Microsoft Global Threat Perception Survey, 57 percent of businesses listed cybersecurity as a greater danger than economic instability, brand identity, and disruption. For World Health Organization in April 2020, cyber-attacks against staff and affiliated organizations increased fivefold. It can thus be assumed that Cybersecurity threats continue to be an increasingly pressing concern since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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The 30 Most Creative CEO's to Watch 2020

“Assemble a great team, establish a culture of excellence, set your sights on solving a big problem, and execute, execute, and execute.

That's the ticket!”

L

ooking into the future, such circumstances raise a question; what does all this mean for the leading roles in the security realm? It is important to note that the role has changed since the start of the pandemic pertaining to nationwide lockdowns with people practicing social distancing and working remotely. A business leader who serves this industry must tackle a specific range of security problems by exploring remotely, through threats and improving client technologies to stay competitive.

And to give you an example, we would like to introduce Mordecai Rosen, the CEO of Digital Guardian, a data protection platform.

A Legacy of Excellence

Setting Solid Benchmarks

Mr. Rosen studied Mathematics at University and like most, to pay bills, had to work as an IBM mainframe system programmer. He was great at his job, detecting bugs, and writing operating system code. And he continued on that path while contributing to companies such as Bell Labs and Sun Microsystems and was also involved in the initial commercial development of UNIX and Networking.

Digital Guardian is the first data security tool in the market equipped to deter both internal and external data security threats. The framework works across the business network and conventional endpoints. This underpins the DG Cloud, a large-scale monitoring network that detects and prevents all risks to classified information. It allows data-rich organizations, via their preferred premises, SaaS, or managed service delivery, to secure their most precious resource and has been doing so for over 15 years. Combined with the detection and response to risks, the unique awareness helps organizations to secure data without slowing down the operations.

Somewhere along the journey, forming a mind map of the industry, Mr. Rosen got enamored with building great product organizations and businesses rather than writing software. He still counts it as the motivation factor in leading an organization that builds and brings innovative products to market.

Redefining Leadership

Mr. Rosen cites his parents as a profound influence on him. He asserts, “My father was a concentration camp survivor and worked a blue-collar job for most of his life. My mother was a seamstress. Both believed in education and a better life for their children. They did their darndest to make that a reality.” It was this upbringing, learning from these hardworking people to live their day-to-day lives that taught Mr. Rosen the traits of integrity, arduousness, and perseverance.

When asked about the attributes that an ideal leader should possess, Mr. Rosen believes that integrity, selfawareness, and confident humility are key aspects.

However, he lists passion and perseverance to be at the top in the technological business landscape. “Together, these form a type of resilience or grit, which is that special armor that sees us all through the trials and tribulations of building a company. This business is

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rewarding in so many ways, but it's not easy. Markets, products, and sometimes people will disappoint. Grit and a genuine love of the work are awfully important to see you through,” says Mr. Rosen.

Bequeathing the Keys to Success In the ever-growing cut-throat competition, Mr. Rosen's advantage comes from him being on the technological side from the early days, and the latest innovation and change that drives his creative spirit. He adds, “That's what the technology business is all about. My creative leadership spirit doesn't need much more than that to sustain.”

Guiding aspiring leaders on how to ride the entrepreneurial path, Mr. Rosen asserts, “Surround yourself with great people, establish a culture of excellence, and lead from the front. Have a point-of-view but be data driven.

It's OK to adjust or evolve in real-time. Finally, be agile and expect change, because, in our business, it's the one thing that you can absolutely count on.”

Foreseeing a Secure Future Talking about the future endeavors of Digital Guardian, the CEO highlights the significance of Data as the most valuable asset in the digital world. His mission is to protect data from theft at any costs and believes that with everyday evolution, this mission becomes more relevant.

For Mr. Rosen and Digital Guardian, the vision for the future is quite simple; to deliver a platform to protect the world's most valuable digital assets. “Digital Guardian is my future endeavor. We're on a mission to secure the world's most critical data, and I don't see that changing anytime soon,” concluded Mr. Rosen.

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T

he term human resource management was first coined in the 1960s when the value of labor relations began to garner attention. Notions such as motivation, organizational behavior, and selection assessments began to take shape. In today’s scenario, organizations are often in a need of a Human Resources Management System in order to systematically organize the workforce. In this competitive world there are a few organizations which provide the best Human Resources Management System in the marketplace, and HRBoost LLC is one of them.

Following is Nicole’s story, possessing the potential of inspiring and motivating everyone.

I am Nicole Martin. My vision, and the reason that I left the corporate world to launch HRBoost, was to help businesses to create winning workplaces through our people. We desire to bring joy and purpose to people through their work. HRBoost provides solutions with passion to individuals, groups and businesses alike. We do not operate under the philosophy that one size fits all. Every leader must align their personal values to the organizational values and define success clearly so that every person can connect their role to a transcendent organization purpose. Our mission is to provide value added Human Resource Services that allows each business to do what it does best. When HR is aligned, HR is no longer just a partner; it is a fundamental part of the business helping to drive the human side of profitability.

Emphasizing on the courage to pursue passion, the ability to bring out a change and redefining entrepreneurship, CIO Look brings to you the journey of an avid leader, Nicole Martin, the Founder and CEO of HRBoost LLC.

We have specialized experience in providing values to small and middle sized companies, who, unlike their large-company counterparts, can often lack the time and resources to build infrastructure and processes that are beyond core business objectives. But, every business needs to have a competitive edge in today’s economy. Both small and large companies need to attract, develop and retain the best talent for their organizations while complying with the ever changing maze of state and the federal regulations. All companies need to be concerned with issues related to compensation, benefits, training, employee retention, talent attraction and generational agility. HRBoost has built its reputation on partnering with business leaders to achieve corporate goals while maintaining integrity and delivering outstanding results.

We serve businesses spanning over multiple sectors; these include Professional Services, Non-Profit Organizations, High Tech, Manufacturing, Staffing firms, Hospitality, and Healthcare. Our clients are typically from high growth business with 50-250 employees. Our model is to meet the clients wherever they are, thus we provide full-service embedded HR support, project to project support, culture design and management training, employee programs and assessments, virtual support, and phone support.

‘‘We at HRBoost LLC desire to bring joy and purpose to people through our work.

‘‘

I am honored to lead a high performance team of HR leaders who partners with our business clients to meet them wherever they are on their journey to being a best

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RedeďŹ ning the Benchmarks of Human Resource Management

NICOLE MARTIN 33

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John Tinghitella (CEO of RV Designer) and I with our book. My latest, NO FEAR Negotiation for Women

place to work. We have experienced tremendous growth and proudly nearly every client has been sourced through word of mouth. Our appeal and success is due to our personal dedication for each and every client.

leader, and a futurist skilled in helping organizations to meet their strategic objectives.

In recognition of her complete commitment to professional excellence as well as her community, Nicole has been honored by multiple organizations and most recently as a 2016 Enterprising Women of the Year Champion, by Enterprising Women Magazine, a 2017 Excellence in Business Award winner, and a Mirror Review enlistee of, 20 Impeccable Women in Business recognition in 2017.

The greatest concern I see for today is the Talent Emergency, which I address in detail in my book, “The Talent Emergency”. Generational Agility is utmost important to businesses who want to succeed and grow. It is imperative that companies look within their organizations to ensure that they have a culture which embraces diversity, not only we are speaking to gender, culture, and ethnicity, but also generational diversity.

Creating a team that brings multiple views and experience to a business provides a unique perspective that will elevate the business and ensure continuing success, which in turn will lead them to be a best place to work. Retaining and attracting top talent is a sure way to maximize the human side of profitability and become THE place to work.

As a highly regarded and sought after expert, her knowledge and advice have been featured in newspapers and magazines throughout the country.

Recent publications, in which she has been seen, include Forbes.com, the Daily Herald Business Ledger, and Fast Company.

She is the author of the books, The Talent Emergency, The Human Side of Profitability, and The Power of Joy and Purpose. She is also the author of the chapter “Emotionally Speaking” in the book titled Leading from the Heart. In addition, Nicole is the host of the internet show, HR in the Fast Lane.

A Multifaceted Leader Nicole is an internationally renowned speaker and an author. She is a dynamic and empowering consultative

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| December 2020 |

Breaking out of the Proverbial Box - by Lyn Ola, Founder and CEO, Chimes Consulting

G

IRL

There can be a little cloud of bias hanging over the word girl. Whenever used, the term often comes with a connotation that may make the subject inferior. But I'm here to reclaim the word and tell you what being a girl can mean.

A Gritty, Independent, Radical Leader. A GIRL. GRITTY Being new in the corporate world is quite tricky for most people, much more for women.

When I started with my corporate job, I did the usual nine-to-ďŹ ve. I set my roots and learned whatever I could about the industry, the work, and myself. I got the opportunity to work with top multinational companies. I was ecstatic to achieve my dreams earlier than planned. However, it didn't take very long to realize that this set-up is not the right ďŹ t for me in the long run. The dream of being on the top of the corporate ladder wasn't that too appealing to me as time passes by. I was not impacting anyone, and I was not helping others as I wish I could have. I got a glimpse, and I understood why it was called the corporate jungle.

Most entrepreneurs who started as an employee would understand and maybe have the same reasons they opted to create their businesses. I wanted many things to change, and so I decided to take the other road.

"If you can't change how it is run, change who runs it"- Lyn Ola

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Encourage & Empower

Lyn Ola Founder & CEO Chimes Consulting

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Once you've set your eyes on the prize and realized how you want your time spent (building on your dreams and passions), all the risks and obstacles seem worth facing head-on.

you forward faster, but you need to ensure that you can still make it yourself. Developing high-quality skills is essential. With that, no matter whoever comes or goes out of your life, you have two steady and rooted feet as support.

I'm not saying that it will be easy as many of the best things in life aren't. But that's where grit comes in.

Grit isn't about blind positivity. Not everything you do will be great, and not everything you plan will happen in a snap. Grit is about doing whatever you can, whenever you can, and however you can to make your dreams and goals happen despite all challenges. You push through because you know it's worth it.

RADICAL Breaking out of the proverbial box is vital in making a difference. Being atypical is not bad at all. There are more risks involved for the unprepared, especially if the road less taken, but there are also great rewards to reap.

Changes in the trend and the industry can force us to become radical. A few decades ago, the only distribution channels for most businesses were physical ones and, now, technology and social behavior are continuously pushing companies to go online and reach their customers through digital means.

For me, I've set my eyes on collaboration with businesses and the education of those who share my passion for learning to provide more job opportunities for people. I decided to integrate my love and expertise in Information Technology and Marketing and built Chimes Consulting.

In being radical, entrepreneurs and businesses need to start by being present, significant, and distinct.

INDEPENDENT Being an entrepreneur has its challenges; sometimes, everything is in your hands, all the weight on your shoulders, and you have to go through stuff alone, that can be overwhelming and terrifying at times.

Luckily, being an only child, being independent is not a new concept. Fostering a strong sense of being independent and responsible is a significant value in business and life.

I built my business from the ground up. It was a slow, step by step process with more hardships than I can count. It was not an easy feat, mostly when I was more or less on my own starting it. I needed to learn, grow, and work on my business (and myself) to keep it thriving. Chimes didn't pop up out of nowhere; it came from countless hours of planning, learning, falling, replanning, and adapting.

LEADER. Nearly anyone can be a boss and tell people what, when, or even how to do things, and this can be exhausting. Your people will be robots and end up not respecting you for not trusting them. Choosing the right team is a challenge, but once you find your core, they can help you achieve greatness.

Businesses cannot thrive if the people in it do not succeed with it. I love education, so I choose to be a mentor more than a boss. I get to share my knowledge and my passion with my team. We get to learn from the work that we do, and in return, we can provide our clients the best. We continue to keep getting better. My team and I fit together like IT & Marketing; we're each powerful on our own, but together we're an unstoppable force.

Now, this isn't to say you should never ask for help, collaborate with others, or learn from far more knowledgeable people, but what I'm saying is that you need to keep developing yourself to avoid relying on others. Having others around could drive

So, do you think you have what it takes to be a G.I.R.L.?

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| December 2020 |

Rebecca

Burgess

Leading a Change, Impacting Lives, and Making the World a Better Place

B

y working together, we can shape a future where profit is balanced alongside people and planet, so all life can thrive.

These simple yet powerful words sum up her identity, her work, what it means to her, and to the world as we know it.

Rebecca Burgess. A person with a purpose. A purpose so profound, it is almost like it is etched into her subconscious, making it a second nature for her. With a strong sense of ethics, and experiences in a vast genre of fields that affect lives in its most holistic sense, bettering lives and the environment come naturally to her.

For Rebecca, the journey has been of many hats, including being a journalist, a customer service rep, a PR executive, event organizer, partnerships consultant, and the likes. Two things remained central though: People and purpose.

With age and experience, came clarity. Working in areas as diverse as cancer-care, care for homeless people, caring for the environment by reducing plastics or even helping ailing children, she holds on to her original ideas while being as committed and passionate today, as she was in her first job.

Today, Rebecca is the CEO of City to Sea, a notfor-profit organization and one of the world's pioneers in saving the planet from single-use plastic waste. Her work, quite literally, is out there

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Rebecca Burgess CEO City to Sea

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I think passion is vital in leadership. for everyone to see with single-use plastic littered everywhere.

these times that I draw strength from Natalie Fee, their founder, who continues to represent City to Sea on various platforms about the devastating effect that plastics have on our oceans,” she adds.

The organization's most awarded campaigns have seen them tackling single-use plastics with a mix of practical, solutions-focused initiatives and championing for reuse over single-use. In these, they have involved diverse stakeholders like individuals, communities, employers, and retailers while inspiring and empowering everyone and being their critic and trusted peer.

City to Sea's senior leadership help create an open, caring, and supportive environment at work, made up predominately by women. It makes City to Sea accessible to people at large, quite unlike most businesses and corporate bodies.

Incidentally, the presence of these women and their experiences lead to a campaign for 'plastic-free periods' where the ills of using plastic-backed menstrual products on human health as also on the environment were highlighted quite prominently.

Behind every great cause lie great pains. For Rebecca's City to Sea, that pain is funding – a constant concern.

Like a committed strategist with limited resources, she has sharpened City to Sea's presence and USPs to focus on their impacts. These include innovations like the “Refill Campaign,” the world's first drinking water app, connecting the thirsty to a network of places ready to give them water for free. At present, besides the app going global, it has over 300K downloads and 30K businesses joining them.

Swimming against the tide Rebecca states that a leadership position or the helm remains the one place which gives her an unrestrained view of what lies ahead and considers it as the best place to be in, in times of crisis. She believes that being the holder of the helm, one can plan course changes to set the business safely out of choppy waters.

Shortly, the app will be relaunched (with funding from the Volvo Visionaries Award) to guide people to places for shopping, eating, and drinking – while using much fewer plastics.

With plastics being used by the tons especially by the medical fraternity, not out of choice but of necessity, and the pandemic playing havoc with social distancing, City to Sea's hands may be full with concerns of singleuse plastics, but its feet remain tied down due to frequent lockdowns and much-needed social distancing.

The mark of a leder Rebecca's traits of awareness, trust, and determination are exemplified in collaborations with noteworthy causes like the Break Free from Plastic movement and REPEAT, a reuse task-force of industry experts, scientists, NGOs, Government officials, and retailers to reintroduce reusables back safely into business operations.

However, Rebecca, with assuring confidence, states that no sooner do matters improve, she will be back with a bang to try and eliminate common single-use plastics found polluting our rivers and oceans. To this end, she plans to shine the light and lead the way from single-use to reusables. And in that, all of the world ought to rally behind City to Sea.

Experience has taught Rebecca that trust is a factor of time and honesty where time and being open, help repose people's faith. “The helm can be a lonely place despite all the successes,” Rebecca expresses. “It is in

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Rob Leslie Exemplifying ProliďŹ c Leadership 44

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F

rom having graduated as an electronic engineer from Dublin City University, Ireland (DCU) in the early 1980's to being an avid entrepreneur, Rob Leslie is leading by example. Rob is the Founder & CEO of Sedicii, a leading identity platform which has developed technology that verifies data between two organisations without exposing the underlying data.

Everyone has an identity that needs to be actively managed and looked after. Sedicii is currently working with governments, tier-one financial institutions and public services organisations in its quest to build a global federated identity network that preserves privacy at its core.

Rob believes that once the company has the foundations fully embedded, more and more industry sectors will see the benefits of having privacy preserving technologies incorporated into their workflows that manage customer identity.

A Serial Entrepreneur Rob's journey of becoming an entrepreneur has really been exciting. After completing his graduation, Rob moved to Japan and worked initially for a number of Japanese companies and then for Dell Japan. He was part of the management team that grew the business to almost 300 employees with a turnover of $300m in its first four years. He then left, continuing his journey as an entrepreneur. PTS Japan was his first start up which was sold after five years having achieved a valuation at exit of $33m.

A quote from the Spanish Bank BBVA when Sedicii was awarded the Fintech for the Future award “Sedicii is the start up with the greatest potential to transform the financial sector in the next 10 years”.

Other organisations such as BT, Citi, EIC Digital, EY, PWC and Red Herring Europe have also recognised Sedicii for its innovative work in the digital identity, KYC, KYB and AML sectors.

Shortly after that he returned to Ireland where his entrepreneurial spirit continued. In 2007, he cofounded Kyckr (ASX:KYK) which is now listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. In 2013, while still at Kyckr, he founded Sedicii after realizing the growing challenges of cybercrime-related misrepresentation.

With Sedicii being named a World Economic Forum (WEF) Technology Pioneer, it gave him the opportunity to speak at Davos to the world's leaders on digital identity, cybersecurity and other technology issues affecting the world's economies.

Source of Inspiration Talking about people and books that inspire him, Rob says that he greatly admires former US President Barack Obama. One of his “bucket list” items would be to sit down to dinner with him. According to Rob, he is a charismatic leader, and it would be a great pleasure to understand his ideas on how to lead, how to build trust and to understand his decision-making process.

During his years in Japan, Rob was hugely impressed

by Sony Corporation and how it was run. The book, Made in Japan, by its founder Akio Morita, gave him many of the things he draws on now as he charts a course for his own business.

Preserving Privacy at its Core Sedicii has a mission to create a global federated identity network which has a very strong focus on privacy, enabling real-time identity verification while also complying fully with GDPR and other privacy laws. The network is made up of trusted providers – including governments, financial institutions, utilities, telco's and many other organisations that need to verify who their customers are.

Staying Ahead of the Curve In order to stay ahead of the curve, it is very essential for today's leaders to sustain their creative leadership spirit in this changing technological era.

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working smart is important. Great communication at every turn in our evolution is paramount. Thus, he shares the highs and the lows, sets expectations, encourages feedback, and gives recognition. Rob also passionately believes in perseverance and persistence in getting one's product or service to market.

In his advice to upcoming business leaders, Rob says, “Have belief, maintain a passion in what you are trying to achieve whether it be a service or product. Persevere, expect and accept setbacks – see them as challenges which will improve what you do. All too often being a leader – especially in a start-up – can be an extremely lonely place, so be kind to yourself. And when success finally arrives take the time to enjoy it!”

For Rob, creativity is about learning, challenging the norm and surrounding one's self with a team of people who share a common vision. Sedicii currently employs 16 people who are multi-locational in Ireland, Canary Islands, the UK and Belgium, all passionately believing in its vision.

Rob and his team regularly attend webinars and other (pre-Covid 19) Fintech events. He has been lucky enough to speak at seminars and conferences such as EU Parliament (ESPAS) Conference, the International Economic Forum of the Americas Conference, Montreal, Canada, the Horasis Global Summits and many more besides which helps him learn from the experiences of others and keeps him up-to-date with the latest technologies and trends and allows him to meet with other like-minded creative professionals.

Focused on Making it the Best Rob's short-term and most important objective is to grow the business to scale and making Sedicii a successful, profitable business for its shareholders, employees, and customers. Like any business professional, he is focused on building the company and making it the best it can be for all its stakeholders.

Some Valuable Insights for Aspirers High standards and personal ethics are very essential for Rob and he believes leaders should lead by example. According to him, being honest and truthful, even when it is hard to do, build trust.

Everyone on the Sedicii team knows that there is no work task that he won't take on and roll up his own sleeves in order to get things done. He believes

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“Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision and relentlessly drive it to completion�

- Jack Welch former CEO of General Electric

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| December 2020 |

Shanaz Ramzi An Epitome of Leadership and Excellence

Y

ou couldn't find a better way to define Shanaz's persona than SH Simmons' famed quote “If a young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is – that's advertising. If the young man tells his date she's intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he's saying the right things to the right person and that's marketing. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is – that's PR.”

to building a CSR angle in all their activities by supporting causes by offering services pro bono besides building elements of CSR even in their PR strategy offering to their clients. These besides, they were also instrumental in introducing creative posters and 2-D animations for their client's social media promotions, a trend that has caught on locally.

Their quest to remain distinct today sees their portfolio in PR services resembling a wide canvas which among others includes celebs, corporate sector, educational institutions, hospitals, government organizations, and fashion fraternity to television networks, film production houses, individual clients looking for party or wedding organization to mention some. To this end, they never say no to a client despite the challenging nature of the work which has bestowed upon them a reputation of being the go-to organization for out-ofthe-box projects. Not surprising then, that they have already won five international awards during their brief existence, beginning with the “Startup of the Year”.

She has been there, done it, relished every moment, and does so even now. Be it working as a journalist, heading her own PR firm, or delving in CSR initiatives, her career graph isn't the usual narrow one that people get to see of those starting off as journalists. Her career started off in 1994 as a freelance journalist. HUM, an entertainment television channel came next in 2004 where she joined as the Head of PR. With them for more than a decade, she saw the channel's fast ascent to become the largest entertainment network in the country. Leaving them as GM Public Relations and Publications in October 2015, she started her entrepreneurial journey.

For Shanaz, the present is nothing but a reflection of the past, a past which saw her in the company of a surprisingly large number of strong women like her mother who she says she never saw sitting idle ever!

The same she says of her late high-school teacher Miss

StarLinks PR and Events, came about in the November of 2015 with a clear line of vision. That of doing things with a difference. With this thought in mind, they took

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Shanaz Ramzi CEO StarLinks PR 49

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Fikree of St Joseph's Covent School, her alma matter who taught Shanaz the value of being meticulous to a fault. Of the men in her life, she credits her father for having nurtured the love for writing and a consequent career in journalism. The latter introduced her to her mentor Asif Noorani, an editor at the publication house she regularly wrote for. Meeting him opened avenues in her career right down to the present one. She also mentions her husband, who has been a pillar of support throughout and was instrumental in encouraging her to pursue her career both in journalism and later in the corporate world.

something concrete for the industry, she is in the process of registering a body that would comprise entities in the field of PR, event management, digital and activation. PREDA would be the collective voice of the industry she hopes to spearhead.

With a decade and half of experience behind her, Shanaz knows what it means to be a leader, as also the traits of a good one. In addition to being creative, according to her, the leader should be able to take suggestions and complaints with an open mind. These besides, the person ought to remain hands-on who won't flinch at the thought of getting dirty to get the job done. It's these qualities that inspire confidence not just in the team, but also in the clients and other stakeholders, she says. Another important trait she adds, is to be organized, prepared and meticulous, and demanding the same from the team.

CSR came into her body of work in the year 2000 while interviewing Yasmeen Lari, celebrated architect, and conservationist for a newspaper. Her initiative, the Heritage Foundation resonated with Shanaz.

Irrevocably drawn to it, she has even since been involved with all the CSR projects of the Foundation which in her own words “exposed her to places and opportunities she couldn't have dreamt of, besides a vision of how to lead her life”. Incidentally, her stint with HUM Network too had journalism to thank for when she went to interview the president of the upcoming channel. Destiny intervened and it laid the foundation for her own company!

She attributes success in her career thus far to diligence, consistency, and time management. Of these, she attributes time-management as an essential to maintaining the balance between personal and professional life. Always there for friends and family, she goes on vacations with them, never though at the cost of her professional commitments. The Covid-19 pandemic has been a surprising paradox then, she says which has made it that much easier to take out time for one's personal life, and the books she has been writing, given that a lot of activities and meetings are now virtual.

Managing an overflowing platter of responsibilities, Shanaz nevertheless finds space to do all the right things. She would shortly be setting up an arm of StarLinks PR in the UAE and initiate much-needed diversifications in her portfolio to include talent management among other activities. With her aim to do

Technology she sees as the new paradigm which according to her shall make or break an enterprise, despite its size, heft, and age. What can keep things in place besides bringing much needed growth could be one's knowledge and experience in handling the latest in technology. She credits her zest to learn, even from those much younger as the key to keeping pace with technology.

Life is too short to be ordinary – so put in your creative best at all times! Success is then a matter of time!

For emerging business leaders and entrepreneurs, her advice as a seasoned veteran is to move with the times, adapt, and forge alliances and partnerships. When you help others to grow, you will grow as well, says the veteran entrepreneur in her.

Her approach to business and indeed, to life in general, is that life is too short to be ordinary – so put in your creative best at all times! Success is then a matter of time!

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