The 10 Most Inspiring Business Women Making a Difference, 2021, Volume 2

VOL 03 | ISSUE 03 2021

FLEXIBLE ENVIORNMENT Building a Positive Workplace Culture

LYNNE PEYTON LEADERS OF TOMORROW

10 THE

BUILDING THE

MOST INSPIRING

BUSINESS WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE,

2021

EDITOR’S NOTE Women of Dazzling Importance

T

o build the world’s best company, you have to constantly challenge each other and constantly grow as individual, as a service, and as a company. This is where the role of the leaders comes into the picture, as they are the leading lights that help organizations achieve this goal.

For women, wearing the hat of leader comes with plethora of challenges. Upto some extent, women leaders are often silenced with the gender bias they experience in the workplace and in society as a whole. But, today, they are capable to make their own decisions by working independently in all the fields of career. And, the process of increasing the inclusivity of women in leadership roles is increasing as well.

Education plays a very significant role in it. It is only with the knowledge that the women will be able to bridge the gap of development and women empowerment. Thus, spreading the awareness of the importance of education for women becomes equally important, because if they are well-educated nothing can stop them. It helps to build a socially balanced community where opportunities arise for everyone.

There is a dire need to build a society where people come-up to discuss, share stories, personal experiences on gender identities, and understand gender justice, feminism, and inclusivity while highlighting the other gender identity in a safe environment.

Leaders need to come out of their comfort zone and face these real challenges of overall human development. He/she will be considered a good leader only if one brings this change to the community and promotes a solution that lasts in the long-term. It will because of their actions these leaders will set a benchmark for the generations to come.

THE

MOST INSPIRING

BUSINESS WOMEN MAKING A DIFFERENCE, 2021 A lot is written, spoken and read about empowering women; it is about time that we should celebrate the women in our lives who themselves are leaders in their own ways. If we are able to give this support, it will actually make a big difference for women empowerment rather than just waiting for change to happen.

With an attempt to bring such a change, CIOLOOK comes up with its upcoming edition of “The 10 Most Inspiring Business Women Making a Difference, 2021” to celebrate the glorious achievements of some inspiring businesswomen.

Featuring on the cover of this edition is an exemplary leader, Lynne Peyton, who is serving as the Change Management Specialist and Leadership Coach at Lynne Peyton Consultancy.

Lynne has mastered the art of solving organizational challenges, developing strong leadership, and supporting teams to achieve outstanding results. Lynne’s CORE multi-level leadership programme supports organizations in coping with constant change, by improving leadership skills in four key areas: communication skills; the capacity to optimize all of the resources at their disposal including personal time and energy; the development of key relationships; and the capacity to effectively evaluate the impact of everything they do.

Lastly, while you read stories about more such businesswomen, do not forget to read about CXO standpoints by the Industry Experts and the creative articles crafted by the in-house editorial team.

Read away!

COVER STORY

08

Lynne Peyton

Building the Leaders of Tomorrow

C O N T E N T S

ARTICLE

20 Flexible Enviornment Building a Positive Workplace Culture

42

34

Expert’s Insights

Leader’s Viewpoint Why Does Your Company Need More Women in Leadership?

An Exceptional Way of Leading

16 Ahlam Bolooki An Avid Reader and a Successful Implementer

24 Angela Alvarez

A Visionary Leader Transforming the Corporate Finance and the Financial Industry

30 Dania Arayssi

An Epitome of Courage, Commitment, and Compassion

38 Martina Klingvall Changing the Way One Looks at the Mobile Operator Industry

Sumita Sarkar Editor-in-Chief CONTENT

Senior Editor Alan Swann Executive Editors Hitesh Dhamani Alex Spellman

FOLLOW US ON

www.facebook.com/ciolook www.twitter.com/ciolook WE ARE ALSO AVAILABLE ON

DESIGN

Visualizer Dave Bates Art & Design Director Kushagra Gupta Associate Designer Kartik Balapurkar

CONTACT US ON

Email info@ciolook.com

SALES

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

Technical Head Aditya K. Technical Consultant Victor Collins SME-SMO

For Subscription www.ciolook.com Copyright © 2021 CIOLOOK, All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission from CIOLOOK. Reprint rights remain solely with CIOLOOK.

Research Analyst Eric Smith SEO Executive Nikita Khaladkar

sales@ciolook.com

March, 2021

Featuring Person

Company Name

Brief

Ahlam Bolooki Director

Emirates Airline Festival of Literatue emirateslitfest.com

The Emirates Airline Festival of Literature is one of the world’s leading international literary festivals.

Ángela Álvarez Founder & Executive Chairman

Aglaia Capital aglaiacapital.com

Aglaia Capital is an independent Corporate Finance advisory firm matching asset-backed, transactions with investors and financing providers.

Dania Arayssi Founder

Gleam of Hope gleamofhope.org

Gleam of Hope, Inc. is mission based organization rebuilding the lives of the fatherless in Haiti.

Ellen Voie President/CEO

Women In Trucking Association, Inc. womenintrucking.org

Founded in 2007, the Women In Trucking Association is a nonprofit organization with the mission to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments, and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the industry.

Karolina A. Dehnhard Managing Director

Lindabury lindabury.com

Lindabury, McCormick, Estabrook & Cooper, P.C., is a midsized general practice law firm, located in Central New Jersey.

Lauren Sustek President & CEO

BARTKOWSKI bartlsc.com

Bartkowski Life Safety is a full service life safety and specialty contracting company.

Lynne Peyton Change Management Specialist and Leadership Coach

Lynne Peyton Consulting lynnepeyton.com

Experienced Organisational Consultant with a demonstrated history of achieving results for senior managers and their organisations.

Mardly R. Perez-Smith President

Orange Tree Staffing orangetreestaffing.com

Orange Tree Staffing provides talented Speech-Language Pathologists, LPNs, Physical, Occupational, and Assistants who are committed to “Connecting People."

Martina Klingvall Founder & CEO

Telness telness.se

Telness was founded in 2016 with the vision to renew telecom and simplify complexity and create the best possible customer experience without lock-in periods or hidden fees in a Smart, Digital and Affordable way.

Nancy Wu Head of Sales and Support

SkyStem skystem.com

SkyStem strives to bring soul to software by providing intelligent and intuitive solutions that eliminate redundant work, and provide our customers the opportunity to focus on more dynamic and fulfilling work.

COV E R STO RY

Lynne

Peyton

Building the Leaders of Tomorrow

Be kind to yourself and your team and ENCOURAGE everyone to instil SELF-CARE disciplines.

Lynne Peyton, Child Care and Management Consultant, Management Specialist and Leadership Coach

Lynne Peyton Consul ng

Always have a vision for the future and goals that stretch you – be prepared to be lexible. As women we have to juggle so many balls and never more so than during Covid19.

T

“

here is always a way to resolve any situation”, believes Lynne Peyton. By inculcating this proactive approach within herself throughout her professional journey, Lynne has mastered the art of solving organisational challenges, developing strong leadership and supporting teams to achieve outstanding results.

Currently, Lynne is working as a Change Management Specialist and Leadership Coach at her own business, Lynne Peyton Consultancy. If any individual or business is feeling stuck, overwhelmed by the workload and pace of change, frustrated by their results, constantly striving to maintain staff, or is keen to improve professional outcomes, Lynne can help them get to the core of the issue by blasting through the limiting beliefs that hold them back.

Life Changing Events that Shaped her Life Looking back, Lynne believes there were 4 life changing events that contributed to her being blessed to be doing what she loves every single day, guiding leaders in organisations, supporting children and families to get better outcomes, through more effective and focused leadership.

One was a summer job in a holiday camp in England the year she left High School. That incident exposed her to the challenges faced by seasonal workers- poverty, discrimination, potential homelessness and for many an absence of hope for the future. Her previous desire to be a French teacher was shelved and she renegotiated her university course to social studies and subsequently obtained a master’s degree in social work.

Another incident she recalls is joining the Officer Training Corps. That event started her formal leadership development journey and gave her an outlet for her insatiable appetite for trying new things, including driving tanks and jumping out of helicopters!

Third event is when she was working in a family crisis centre in Richmond Virginia in 1980. It made her aware of how small Ireland is in the bigger scheme of things. It whetted her appetite for thinking bigger, more multiculturally and working internationally. Indeed, she bought a second home in Florida in 1990 and has had businesses in both countries since that time. Lynne is also a member of different global masterminds and programmes.

Last incident she recalls is completing her first Tony Robbins, Unleash the Power Within seminar in Geneva – including a fire walk. That life-changing event was instrumental in her making the decision to set up her consultancy company so that she could influence in a different way and impact more people. Having completed all of the Robbins Research ‘mastery’ programmes, Lynne was on faculty as a senior leader at events for more than 10 years.

Initial Hurdles Initially, the biggest challenge for Lynne was getting acknowledgement that managers at all levels needed training and coaching in leadership skills. While some people are intuitively good leaders, for most people leadership skills can be learned and everyone needs coaches and mentors to help them on their leadership journey.

Another challenge is the belief that it is first line managers who need most support, whereas in Lynne’s experience effective change management starts at the top. According to Lynne, the value of the CORE

Exemplifying Proficiency Lynne states that hers is a niche market that includes statutory children’s services, fostering and adoption and mental health organisations who provide assessment and protective services to the most vulnerable in our society.

Although this is a billion-dollar market globally, employing millions of staff, for the most part it is not treated like a business and managers at all levels are not given the leadership and business skills needed to be effective. While they may excel at case management and risk analysis, they often struggle with prioritisation, teambuilding, managing challenging staff and delegation.

Leadership Development programme is that it combines individual coaching and mentoring for senior managers with a series of developmental workshops for the top team as well as experiential sessions and oneto-one coaching for first line managers. This combined programme transforms diverse, separated, and disconnected functions within organisations into one coherent team with a common vision and purpose.

Helping Organizations Cope with Constant Change Lynne mentions that we have to meet people in their model of the world, so she always start with listening to understand the current challenges as they perceive them.

She believes that working to build a common vision and identity within the top team at an early stage is essential as they have to set the culture for the agency.

This challenges them to work collaboratively and corporately at strategic level rather than solely delivering on operational targets in their specific teams.

Lynne’s CORE multi-level leadership programme supports organisations in coping with constant change, by improving leadership skills in four key areas: communication skills; the capacity to optimise all of the resources at their disposal including personal time and energy; the development of key relationships; and the capacity to effectively evaluate the impact of everything they do.

The reason her approach works is because Lynne understands their business. Over 20 years, she held all the jobs from junior to senior management, including operational and strategic management posts in the health and social care sector including multi agency and international roles as well as Director of a not-forprofit agency. The extra added value she brings is from the years of training in NLP and Neuroscience as well as in business and organisational change and culture.

It’s all about maintaining a Positive Mindset While talking about the impact of Covid Lynne recalls the statement by her colleague, ‘while we are all in the same storm, we are each in our own boat’. She asserts that everyone has a unique experience of the challenges for them personally, their team and their families and the interconnection between all of those.

This is particularly true of essential workers like social workers and mental health professionals, who are delivering services at great personal risk, within ever changing lockdown restrictions (Ireland North and South, has operated stringent arrangements for several months) while working remotely. For some this has included the added responsibility of home schooling or caring for vulnerable relatives.

The single most important leadership quality is the capacity to maintain a positive mindset, regardless of the changing circumstances and to set appropriate boundaries around work and home life, learning to say no and recognising the need to treat each member of staff as an individual.

Adding More Value in the Years Ahead At 67, Lynne still has incredible energy, she is still growing and developing herself and her businesses and figuring out how she can add even more value in the years ahead.

The wonderful thing about coaching is the huge number of lives you impact. Lynne has two mantras. One is to always leave people better than she found them and to reconcile that with the fact that when mentoring and coaching we need to give people what they need, rather than what they want. Identifying ways to communicate feedback kindly and relevantly is a daily challenge.

Lynne states that it is wonderful to meet people years after the event and hear from them that the work her team did changed their lives. She is currently exploring a Doctorate in Professional Studies.

As they say what goes round comes around. Lynne and her husband are proud that their three adult sons are

all involved in promoting leadership and education within their respective professions.

Love What you Do and Do What You Love In her advice to emerging entrepreneurs, she says, “Love what you do and do what you love. Get clear on your purpose and how it will translate into realistic outcomes.

Think out of the box when challenged in any aspect of your journey and ask - What am I not seeing? What if there was another way? Who could help me? Who could I learn from?

The internet gives us access to so many inspirational leaders, male and female, but we still need coaches who will hold us accountable for delivering results and for ensuring our business is financially viable. Theory without action is called dreaming.”

Lynne’s passion is the core business of Lynne Peyton Consultancy and that is probably where she spends 70% of her time and energy because it’s where she honestly believes she makes a difference, both to the quality of services for vulnerable children, and to the satisfaction and well-being of the staff and managers dedicated to supporting them.

Wisdom for Female Leaders To upcoming female leaders, she advises, “Be strong, be committed and do it your way.” Lynne recognises she has been lucky as only once or twice in over 40 years did she feel she may have lost out on an opportunity because she was female. She simply never believed that she did not have the same opportunity or chances as her male colleagues. She adds, “Make sure you have great people in your corner. Be coachable and get involved with other high-level thinkers. Get out of your comfort zone, be prepared to stretch yourself. Step into the unknown. The only failure is when you stop trying. As Cheri Tree, founder of BANKCODE technologies says, ‘the best way to predict the future is to create it yourself’.”

CHOOSE OUR SUBSCRIPTION

1 Year 12 Issues $250

6 Months 6 Issues $130

Stay in the known.

Subscribe to CIOLOOK Get CIOLOOK Magazine in print, and digital on www.ciolook.com

3 Months 3 Issues $70

1 Month 1 Issue $25

An Avid Reader and a Successful Implementer

L

Look around you and see if there is anyone who is demonstrating the values you want to stay true to. If you don’t have someone in your organisation, then look further afield. Read books by successful women. Watch TED talks, listen to podcasts and continue feeding your mind.

iterature has been enhancing our lives since dawn of time, and so has reading culture. With a view to promoting the culture of reading and the richness of stories in all their forms, the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature was launched in 2009 with 65 authors. It has grown continually, and in 2020 it hosted 205 authors from countries around the world to entertain and educate tens of thousands of visitors. The artistic vision and its development are taken care by its Director, Ahlam Bolooki. With her love for books, Ahlam has taken this festival to the next level.

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

We know our audience, but to make sure we are on the right track, we ask for their opinion on a continuous basis. As a Foundation, we balance the desires of the audience with the needs of our community, which is how we have arrived where we are today: with the biggest literature Festival in the Middle East, a plethora of competitions, a wide-ranging Education Programme, celebration of and professional development for librarians, and courses, talks, and special initiatives that all build the foundations for a reading society.

In an interview with CIO Look, Ahlam shares a glimpse of her journey and how this festival is captivating its visitors from different corners of the world.

Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey.

Before joining the Festival, I spent many years working with Dubai Tourism, most recently as Head of Regional Campaigns. There is a lot of synergy between the two roles, and I learned a lot that I bring with me to this role.

For the Festival specifically, we have a theme every year, so we always look at how an author and their works fit with our theme. But we are also an organisation full of readers, so we have our own personal wish lists as well as those our community sends us.

I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having a role model. A mentor is even better. Everybody needs someone to learn from no matter how high up the ladder we reach.

Every year we aim to have the perfect combination of well-known and new, best-selling and niche, across

16

| March 2021 |

Áhlam Bolooki Director Emirates Airline Festival of Literatue

17

| March 2021 |

“Aim high, and don’t be afraid of failure. It is only through small failures that you can refine and improve your strategy.”

18

| March 2021 |

non-fiction, fiction, adults and children’s books in both Arabic and English.

businesses, popular genres etc. becomes necessary.

Work life balance has always been a challenge for me, but the more I immersed myself in jobs which give me purpose and become a lifestyle, the more balanced my life has been feeling.

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

We are the biggest and best loved celebration of the written and spoken word in the Middle East. While we don’t rest on our laurels, we do see our biggest challenge as pulling in those who don’t see themselves as readers. Those are the people we need to convert, so in a sense we are competing with cinemas, restaurants, and every other activity available at that time.

Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment?

Championing gender equality is a core value at Emirates Literature Foundation. This is apparent in our team culture, as well as our Festival Programme. Each year, we welcome some of the most powerful female voices from around the world.

To address this, we use creative and often surprising programming and marketing, which has worked well in the past.

Within our organization, we offer flexibility to all our employees because we know this allows us access to a wider candidate pool of talented, experienced people, including working mothers. We believe in the importance of healthy family life and appreciate the vital roles of women within their families. We see worklife balance as a necessity for a hopeful future for our society. In our experience, this flexibility and work-life balance allows women to contribute more effectively and wholeheartedly to their roles.

What, according to you, are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess?

Our CEO and founder, Isobel Abuhoul OBE, is someone I look up to in business. She leads by example, treating each member of staff and the community with the same level of respect regardless of gender, age, or nationality.

Thirteen years ago, she saw a gap in the market and set out to create the festival to fill it. She could see the tremendous impact reading for pleasure has on individuals, and on society as a whole. She knew that if she could bring to Dubai a celebration of literature that was fun and would engage a wider section of the community than the regular readers, it would take hold and have a real and lasting impact.

How do you cope up with capricious technological trends to boost your personal growth?

My favourite tools for personal growth are books, audio books, and podcasts. The most important technological trends are talked and written about, and the publishing process has the quality control and review process in place to ensure that the information you receive is verified.

She then did what any entrepreneur does: put in a lot of incredibly hard work. There are no shortcuts. Success takes grit and determination.

What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

What roadblocks or challenges were faced by you in a corporate business? And how did you overcome them?

My objective and ambition are always to connect as many people as possible with books and authors. We know reading creates empathy, and that is what we need most of all in the world today. Empathy and empathetic action towards others, towards our planet and to ourselves.

I think in our role, pleasing so many different audiences in Dubai's remarkably diverse community is always a challenge, but one that I enjoy very much. Always keeping on top of the local and global conversation when it comes to trends, behaviours, interests, politics,

19

| March 2021 |

Building a Positive

WORKPLACE Culture

O

ne of the best examples of flexibility and otherwise is that of a stream and stones therein. While it may seem like it’s the water which gives way, bends and changes, in reality it’s the rocks that change. Over time, they are worn down to minute sand particles. As for the water, it takes with it a few chemicals but for most parts, remains the same.

it has even changed the way customer expectations are to be mapped and technologies brought to fore that help its customers. It’s because of its innate flexibility like the vines of a predatory plant that it continues to enwrap and awe its clients. In the end, if there is one thing that stands firm and unyielding for entities like Amazon, it is the latter’s avowed dedication to its clients at all times. Had it been inflexible at any stage of its growth, we would probably not have heard the last of it. And done so a long time in the past.

No prizes for guessing who in the ultimate analysis changed. Of course, the inflexible rocks! This is precisely the situation that workplaces too encounter in the face of constant inflexibility, be it with people, products, processes or policies!

The Flexible Is Strong and Can Take Shocks Better Than the Rigid Workplaces that remain positive yet flexible in their culture and outlook, be it with respect to office environment, employees (to the extent of including even the old, infirm, LGBTQI, severely deformed and so on) and essential policies are better placed to weather a storm. The best example today is that of the postpandemic order. Those that remained rigid with ideas and ideologies have nowhere to go, be it with respect to growth, newer clients or business in general. This was the one time when every idea under the concept of a Corporate Entity was tested to its limits. You couldn’t remain fixed with offices and had to operate from homes. You couldn’t dictate terms with whom to employ. Business being so low, anyone who showed promise, irrespective of gender and orientation, ideologies etc. had to be employed. Those that remained inflexible could soon be on their way out.

Those that accommodated could see a sunrise industry where everyone contributes on the basis of their abilities and not extraneous considerations.

Flexibility is thus a trait of immense importance in most circumstances but in the case of enterprise and workplaces, it’s an absolute necessity which if not adhered to, can effectively slow down and destroy the best and biggest organization. Conversely, the biggest organization by their very design (and destiny in no small measures) are also some of the most flexiblereason enough to have brought them to their current size and shape!

Today we tell you why and how a flexible workplace culture leads to some of the most flexible of workplace environments leading to growth and diversity!

The Flexible Grow & Evolve The best example of flexibility in the context of corporate growth is that of Amazon. It’s everywhere doing everything that keeps it close to the hearts of its clients. Be it in the present or in the foreseeable future, using a mix of technology, it has brought its services almost in sync with its user’s thoughts! With more data that could be accommodated in the universe, it is poised to turn the concept of customer relations on its head. Not only has it defined and refined e-commerce,

The Flexible Like a Bow String Can Propel Initiative Over Longer Distances The best example of positivity & flexibility in workplace culture bringing changes in the long-term is of

20

| March 2021 |

Flexible Enviornment

businesses that moved to the cloud. In fact, it is also of the cloud-service providers who have introduced such flexibility to most services that irrespective of any physical blockages, their services could very well prosper. By taking away the need for physical infrastructure and reducing it to a minimum, cloud architecture by design, has made the workplace entirely flexible without the need for most things that we call an office. That said, the cloud has also brought a degree of flexibility and positivity in workplace culture.

Now a days, offices can be anyplace the entrepreneur wants, at home, in share spaces or in designated industrial areas. With flexibility, the stiffness of a 9 to 5 has been done away with, and employees are more effective and efficient while working from places of their liking and choice- while using time and money the way they want to.

The Flexible Are Inclusionists Who Bring Diverse Strengths to Organizations The best organizations in the world today resemble a chain. And the chain is the ultimate when it is about flexibility while providing strength to a system.

Workplaces of today too are like a chain where one’s work dovetails and complements that of others and goes on to serve the interests of the organization as a whole. For the sake of growth, a positive flexible and inclusionist work culture is the need of the hour which has the ability to attract the best talent from all over its area of influence. In fact, the best example of flexibility positively affecting workplace culture can be seen in most MNCs given that they work in more than one country and use the talent and resources of all the

21

| March 2021 |

places where they operate. The exact opposite of these are organizations that while trying to expand, do so while using employees and associates from a single geographical location, religion or thought process. The latter does not breed new ideas and limits exposure to newer cultural traits and is the reason small organizations fail in newer markets.

with the workplace culture are also the ones which take decisive steps and decisions when the need so arises. In contract, the smallest organizations are the ones which in the absence of diversity in their workplace culture remain perennially suspicious of newer thoughts and ideas. This hampers their growth and sustainability given that they find comfort in familial and other simpler connections that have little to do with talent and more to do with a certain familiarity. Amazon, as a prime example uses the resources of the world and has a very flexible and positive workplace culture that promotes growth-based results. Contrast this with organizations that do the same thing within a select geographical area. The latter’s growth is hampered due to rigidity in their workplace culture which stops them from looking outward for growth.

The Flexible Allow Taking Up Newer and Sometimes Completely Unrelated Activities Which Help With Survival An organization like GE despite predominantly being from North America is one of the best examples of an organization with the ability to take up newer and completely unrelated activities that have not only helped it survive but also grow exponentially. According to authoritative sources, its activities include aviation, healthcare, power, renewable energy, digital industry, additive manufacturing and venture capital and finance.

You couldn’t find more diversity than this under one roof anywhere in the world. Present in 130 countries worldwide GE and its likes use the diverse pool of talent in all the countries where it is present and has the ability to grow horizontally and vertically, organically or otherwise. It’s web-like structure means that in 2020, it was ranked the 33rd largest firm in the US by gross revenue in the Fortune 500 list. Do you think it could possibly have come to this level without diversity and flexibility. Highly unlikely!

The Flexible Keep Goals Intact But Vary in The Approach to Achieve Them To an Amazon or GE, results and goals matter, not always the path. That being their overarching objective, their workplace culture remains flexible to allow and entertain different means to reach an objective. They recruit from the world, and use technologies that are the best in class for one simple reason. Their ultimate goal. This is right in contrast to inflexibility in workplace cultures that remain ever focussed on archaic processes and policies with much lesser focus on a common goal. In fact, because the focus is too much on the route, most inflexible organizations have little vision of the future or what awaits them then.

The Flexible Remain Decisive and Decision Makers Adding to the above, organizations that are flexible

22

| March 2021 |

ngela lvarez A Visionary Leader Transforming the Corporate Finance and the Financial Industry

T

he following conversation with Ángela Álvarez, the CEO and Founder of Aglaia Capital, highlights what it means to have a vision in a professional journey, teaches how to serve clients and the industry, demonstrates the value of being surrounded by like-minded people, and ultimately, by being an exemplary example, paves the path for women empowerment.

my personal and professional journey, together with that inner impulse of doing better every day, and of making an impact to make a better world.

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

Aglaia Capital surge as an expression of my vision on the industry where I have been developed my professional career, Corporate Finance, M&A, Investment Banking, and Financial Services, combined with new technologies businesses, anticipating the needs of the clients and the industry itself.

Below are the highlights of the interview: Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a proficient leader.

There are some traits that come to the surface in childhood but that stay latent until something triggers them, and they appear again stronger enriched by all the discoveries learned along the path.

Aglaia Capital lies in two main areas. One, focus on advisory Corporate Finance, M&A and Private Equity, focused on selected niche funds and investors, off-market deals, mainly in Europe, selectively in other geographies, specialized in Financing structures, Hotels, Real Estate, and Fintech, Blockchain, and Digital Assets.

The challenges and situations that I have had to face in my life, having my own vision and opinions, people that have influenced me and people that I’ve influenced, have shaped my vital growth without losing my essence.

Financing structures for Real Estate and Corporates, as well as off-market portfolio movements on Hotels, or Real Estate and Distressed Assets have been our core, which we are continually adapting according to the situations and the demands of investors and sponsors.

I think that a good dose of authenticity, passion, ambition, honesty, courage, generosity, resilience, curiosity, appetite for knowledge, and vision have been good companions on

24

| March 2021 |

Ángela Álvarez CEO & Founder Aglaia Capital

25

| March 2021 |

“Dream it, wish it, do it” 26

| March 2021 |

New Technologies and digitalization are shaping the evolution of the financial sector, also transforming our industry, and I have incorporated digital assets into our offerings.

What roadblocks or challenges do you face in a corporate setting? And how did you overcome them?

I have faced many challenges that I have seen as a part of my growth process. Following my instincts, vision and purpose have been the main tools to overcome them. Keep the passion, resilience, patience, flexibility, and being surrounded by allied and partners, with the same mission, values, and objectives than us, have made this entrepreneurship trip easier to travel.

The second, focused on a Venture Capital business for early-stage Fintech Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) projects, empowering the foundations of a new generation of the financial infrastructure that we consider being the engine for the natural evolvement of the Financial Industry and Capital Markets.

Have you in any ways contributed towards the cause of women empowerment?

Diversity and sustainability are at the core of our ethos at Aglaia Capital. Diversity is needed for a better understanding of this complex world and will be a competitive advantage for any business in the short term.

The investment thesis is oriented to digital securities infrastructure, enterprise DLT, and decentralised finance.

Besides, we offer Aglaia Capital Club, an Investment Club with services for Investors.

I have grown and succeeded in a professional career that is typically dominated by men, and have done so without thinking about gender, but on the business itself. The achievements and the influence that I may have had in others may be also one contribution to women's empowerment. I usually focus all the energy not on fighting the old but on building the new. Leading by example can be a powerful way for all of us to contribute to women's empowerment.

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

Regarding our lines of business, on Corporate Finance, we have extensive experience in transactions, applying traditional investment banking discipline and knowledge, going from plain situations to the most complex, from low size to big sizes deals.

We have a dynamic deal flow focus on off-market opportunities and usually work with investors for every type of assets and type of transactions, that we are continuing nourishing as well as the deal flow.

What kind of support was required and gained by you while emerging as a business forerunner?

Aglaia Capital has evolved quite naturally, being feed with former and new clients, and allies and partners sharing our vision.

Our main advantage is the agility, based on our knowledge on the industry, the investors, and clients, as well as the independence and confidentiality, acting as the traditional big firms but with the advantages of a personalised approach. Clients find this particularly valuable, and that we do not have usually conflicts of interest, so we focus on the interest of our clients and closing.

The old and new are mixing, having a separate part, and a role in the business. I feel fortunate of the interest that I and my company have attracted and grateful for being awarded and featured frequently in my industry since its inception, which also has driven me in further continuing developing my vision.

On Venture Capital, we have a unique offering, being specialized Fintech Blockchain fund managers with a deal flow of selective opportunities. We also offer other alternative investments in other sectors we consider as a trend, with specialized fund managers, such as Financing and Pharma.

What are your future endeavours/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

Future objectives are the consolidation of Aglaia Capital and continuing growing our core Corporate Finance business and making new developments for digital assets.

We are also on a process of fund-raising for our Fintech Blockchain Venture Capital fund which we would like to have it ready as soon as possible.

I usually participate in economic, industry, and mastermind forum, which nourish my global vision and creativity in the business world.

I see myself in the future thriving, continuing developing Aglaia Capital and our businesses, and continuing contributing to transforming the financial industry.

What are the vital traits that every businesswoman should possess?

Vital traits such as Resilience, Passion, Vision, Courage, Creativity, knowledge-seeking, curiosity, flexibility, character, and determination seem to be good drivers for any businessperson.

27

| March 2021 |

Dania Arayssi An Epitome of Courage, Commitment, and Compassion 30

| March 2021 |

D

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.” – John Quincy Adams

The aforementioned quote stands true to this exemplary personality that we take pride in introducing to our readers. This young lady has gone bounds and leaps towards all her social causes and her own personal ambitions.

This young woman named Dania Arayssi, strives towards remolding our society into an all-inclusive, unbiased, and empowering one. We at CIO Look, take pride in bringing you her story, her journey, and her aspirations.

Dania is a Lebanese activist, currently living in Denver, Colorado, where she is pursuing her second master's at the University of Denver, majoring in Public Policy. Dania says she chose this career because believes that government policies and principles play a significant role in building safe, inclusive, prosperous, and equal communities for everyone to live and contribute. She is also a researcher on women, gender, and sexual rights.

Dania is the founder of Gleam of Hope, a campaign that she established in the Summer of August 2018. Dania and her team of volunteers incepted this campaign to support women who needed mental health support, access to essential services such as food and medical care treatment.

Dania and her team also helped them build their resume and connected them with possible recruiters for possible job opportunities to empower women to be in charge of themselves and contribute to the community where they are.

In the following conversation with Dania, we receive more insights into her professional journey, her perspectives about equality, inclusivity, and public policies.

Kindly take us through your journey on becoming a young and proficient leader: I was raised in a beautiful family, from a strong, independent, and educated mother, and a dad who is willing to sacrifice everything he had, to make his daughters successful and happy.

Being an activist and a leader in Lebanon started when I was eighteen years old, when I became fully aware of my community challenges, difficulties, and the many stories of many women silenced by our community norms, traditions, and values.

They are silenced to express the kinds of abuses and violations they are experiencing, and they are the victims for their sexual and reproductive rights, their dignity, and their principles through domestic violence, sexual harassment, early child marriage, poverty, and unable to access and complete their education and be financially independent and active in their community. Especially, that I am from a society where the masculinity culture dominates the aura of the social system.

I started to listen to many stories of women in my neighborhood and then in my community, but I had no power or enough knowledge and the know-how to offer any kind of help; I was the listener for the pains.

However, those stories were the power that mobilized me to advocate for a Student Leaders Program funded by the U.S. Department of State and organized by them to receive a fully-funded scholarship to explore the full meaning,

31

| March 2021 |

imperative to highlight the role of adopting a feminist methodology in structuring the social relationship in the community.

“We need government policies and regulations that strengthen the individual responsibility to contribute and protect the community.”

Unfortunately, in different global economies, especially third-world countries, and due to the lack of feminist education and persistence of traditional culture and mindset, we lack understanding of what a feminist theory implies when increasing women's inclusivity in a leadership position.

In the end, we, as community members and policy advisors, are looking to build long-term stable, inclusive relationships between community members through drafting, and issuing laws and regulation that allows for every community member to participate in decisionmaking without any discrimination based on gender, sex, or skin color.

strategies, and approach related to being a true leader in your community. The program was life-changing for me because I got to learn skills related to negotiation, proposal writing, advocacy, diplomacy, communication skills, and much more.

Through this program, I met peers and learned more about organization promoting change and advocating for a better system for everyone at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. During this trip, I identified girls and women as my primary focal point, which I want to help them speak louder for their rights and face their fears.

Do you think that the current quality of education being provided on gender quality and inclusivity is enough? What needs to be improved or scraped?

The US' education public policy is missing some vital consideration when providing an inclusive, safe, comprehensive understanding and application for gender equality, gender justice, linking them with the feminist theory lens.

Therefore, when I graduated from Georgetown University on Summer 2018, I came back to Lebanon, and I established the Gleam of Hope group where we were working with youth, women, and girls from different backgrounds, nationalities to build the needed skills, receive the necessary treatment and care, and make sure no one needs food in their community in parallel with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

The missing areas in the education policy start from the early stages of education, mainly in the elementary, high school, and then in college. We need to provide students with spaces to discuss, share their stories, their personal experience, gender identities, and understanding of gender justice, feminism, and inclusivity while highlighting their knowledge to the other gender identity in a safe environment, including LGBTQ+.

Then, I decided to leave Lebanon and settle in the U.S. Denver, Colorado, to prepare for my second master's in Public Policy at Josef Korbel School of International Relations, University of Denver.

Here, I want to ensure the critical role of building a safe learning environment free from school-related violence. Violence can be physical, psychological, or sexual; it can occur on school grounds, in transit, or cyberspace; and it may include bullying, corporal punishment, verbal and emotional abuse, intimidation, sexual harassment and assault, gang activity, and the presence of weapons among students.

As a social activist, a public speaker, and a positive impact influencer, what is your opinion on the necessity of increasing the inclusion women in leadership positions?

The process of increasing the inclusivity of women in a leadership position is necessary to build a socially balance community relationship with less segregation and hierarchical gender uneven approach between men and women. However, the process requires a progressive and incremental change in the mindset of the community members and the local regulations and rules to create opportunities and spaces for women to participate in decision-making and being protected from violence, threats, and discriminations. It is also

It is often perpetrated as a result of gender norms and stereotypes and enforced by unequal power dynamics.

We need to draft laws and regulations that criminalize and prohibit those kinds of violence while encouraging local public and private schools to promote activities and spaces for students to share and increase their participation and understanding of those concepts.

32

| March 2021 |

If given a chance, what is the one thing that you would change about the society or the world in general?

If I had the chance to promote one change in the world community, I would draft laws for youth representation in the economy's political life. By youth, I mean women, and men between the age of 25 to 40, should be represented in the political parliament or the government by a minimum of 30% from the total political representation, regardless of their sexuality, gender, or skin color.

In this 30%, 15% are men, and 15% are women to ensure equal political representation beyond any gender discrimination. The reason I insist on youth because they have the fresh ideas, strategies, power, and knowledge that can promote the sustainability and development of the entire socio-economic system in a secular approach, where I insist on building a secular political government where religion doesn't interfere in political representation or decision.

What according to you are the essential traits that an aspiring leader should possess?

A leader who is looking to promote a profound or a long-term change in the community should be a patient, resistant, listener, educative, subversive, social, communicative, and curious to explore and dive in the community issues and people stories to find the root causes of the problems and promote a solution that lasts in the long-term.

He/she is a leader who doesn't have a geographical or mental limitation and a person who can continue working outside of the comfort zone. When I started my journey, many individuals

comfort zone. When I started my journey, many individuals criticized me, and attacked me, and refused to listen to me, and they were saying, you are not going to succeed, and you will fail, and your ideas don't fit the narrative, but I continued because you need to resist the outside negativities and stick with your goal.

What are your future endeavors/objectives and where do you see yourself in the near future?

I see myself as a professional researcher, senior professor, and policy advisor in the field of public policy for several local and international organizations and governments in helping them designing policies and regulations that can help their communities face the current millennium challenges while increasing their human development and prosperity for the best for the societies while mitigating the possible externalities or trade-off.

We need government policies and regulations that strengthen the individual responsibility to contribute and protect the community where he/she is located. The result of bolstering the individual responsibility will lead to establishing the collective responsibility of the entire community members to protect and contribute to the social system where he/she is located.

33

| March 2021 |

“The closer that America comes to fully employing the talents of all its citizens, the greater the output of goods and services will be.”

- Warren Buffett

T

he Women In Trucking mission includes encourage the employment of women working in the trucking industry. We understand that there is a need for professional drivers, and women are underrepresented in this area, but what about women in management?

You should strive for more women in your leadership roles. Not because it’s the right thing to do, but because it affects your bottom line. Pepperdine University found a correlation between high-level female executives and business success. The Harvard Business Review reported firms with the best records for promoting women outperform industry medians with overall profits thirty four percent higher.

WHY DOES

YOUR

COMPANY NEED MORE

WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP?

34

Ellen Voie Founder, President and CEO of Women In Trucking Association | March 2021 |

Leader’s Viewpoint

Catalyst research found that companies with the highest representation of women leaders financially outperform, on average, companies with the lowest.

According to the department of labor, women only comprise fourteen percent of management roles in transportation. Consider that women make up nearly half the labor force, more than half of all bachelor’s degrees, and over fifty percent of management roles on average, why is the trucking industry lagging in diversity?

Blame it on testosterone if you wish, but women don’t like promoting themselves, even when they want more responsibility and greater leadership. Women feel that their bosses should be able to identify talent and a woman’s contribution and promote her based on her accomplishments.

There are many reasons that can be attributed to the scarcity of women in the C-Suite, but here are a few things to consider when hiring and promoting women at your company.

Apparently we do have some inherent bias toward the way women should act. Yale Psychologist, Victoria Brescoll found that male executives who spoke more often than their peers were rates ten percent higher in competence, while female executives were rated fourteen percent lower in competence, by both men and women!

First, remember that women don’t need “fixing.” What does that mean? Don’t expect women to act like men.

Often diversity is about making minorities feel comfortable with the norm. Picture a female airline pilot in a man’s suit and tie and you’ll understand what this means.

A famous study at Harvard Business School gave students a case study of a female entrepreneur, Heidi Roizen. Half of the students received the same study with the name Howard instead of Heidi. While both groups found Heidi/Howard to be competent, Heidi was viewed as “selfish” and “not the person you would like to work for” by both male and female students.

Many women feel as if they need to act like men to get ahead. In a study by the British telecommunications firm, 02, twenty five percent of women felt this to be true, and wore slacks instead of skirts so they would be treated seriously. The same study found that half of the women were afraid to show their true emotions at work, and one quarter of the women felt they needed to be ruthless to get respect.

How can your company ensure greater diversity and avoid some of these limiting practices? Value women’s contributions (team building, collaboration) and reconsider what characteristics you are looking for in a leader. Create a gender-neutral environment, and identify and promote more women into management roles. Make your current CEO team accountable for promoting women and set targets for future hires and promotions.

Women avoid power structures and hierarchy, according to Deborah Tannen, in “Talking 9 to 5: Women and Men at Work.” Tannen found that women do not enjoy self-promotion. In fact, a Princeton University Press article states that women do not negotiate salaries or benefits as often as men.

A Proctor & Gamble study found that men typically oversell their abilities while women undersell theirs.

Or, as Wittenberg-Cox and Maintland state in, “Why Women Mean Business,” men who want power push for it, while women often need to be coaxed.

When possible, offer networking and mentoring opportunities for the women in your current and future management team. Make sure your current female leaders are visible as well.

Research by Hewlett Packard found that men would apply for a position when they feel they meet sixty percent of the requirements, while women wait to apply when they believe they meet 100 percent of the criteria.

You know that creating a more diverse leadership team is the right thing to do and you know that it can increase your company’s profits as well. Let’s see if we can move beyond fourteen percent in the coming year and change the image of the trucking industry into one more welcoming for women.

35

| March 2021 |

38

| March 2021 |

Changing the Way One Looks at the Mobile Operator Industry

The desire to make a difference requires passion, perseverance, and an ability to go forth and conquer. With these attributes, Martina Klingvall is transforming the Telecom Industry through her company Telness.

Martina started her career after graduation from university with a management trainee program at Telenor, one of the leading telecom operators in the Nordics. In the management program, she had the opportunity to work with and shadow a proficient leader at CxO level, learning rapidly by participating in everything from management meetings to personal one-onones. It was a rear experience for her to observe without her own agenda and reflect upon how she wanted to lead herself. Ever since, she has had a huge interest in leadership and is continuously trying to improve her capabilities and skills in different roles.

Martina

Klingvall 39

| March 2021 |

Simple, Digital and Affordable Solutions Being the Founder and CEO of Telness, Martina, along with her team has taken the company to the new heights.

“If you think you are too small to make a diference, try sleeping with a mosquito in your bedroom.”

The telecom industry in Sweden has an unusually low customer satisfaction and there has long been a lack of modern and customer-focused alternatives to the major operators. Telness, being driven by simplifying complexity, is delivering services that are specially developed for the new business community.

Telness was formed with a vision to bring simple, digital, and affordable mobile operating solutions for entrepreneurs. Sticking to its goal, the company has been able to create transparent and problem-free solutions for entrepreneurs.

active initiative and is proactive and on it toes constantly to develop and become even better.

Martina is of the firm belief that all leaders in today’s business environment need to be curious and always renew and improve both themselves and their businesses.

Always a Customer-centric Approach Telness’ customers always have full control and can handle the company’s mobile telephony themselves smoothly. In other words, with Telness, no paperwork, queuing in stores or telemarketers is needed. It is the obsession of the company for its customers that enables it to diversify its offerings in order to entice its target audience.

Achieving Gender Equality Since the inception of Telness, Martina has actively worked along with her team to achieve gender equality, and thereby lead a start-up by example, through building a company with 50/50% women/men both in the board of directors, management, and rest of organization. She is proud of this as it’s a challenge for companies in general, maybe even more so in the telecom industry and tech environment.

In order to stay ahead of the curve, the company continuously delivers enriching experiences to its customers and smartly responds to changing needs and demands. “No one knows what the future will look like, so we ensure a way of working to never lock ourselves in technical or “internal political” legacy. This enables us to always be curious and quickly adapt to changing market demands,” states Martina.

Martina asserts, “I love running a company where everyone really cares about each other, about our customers and about the company’s joint success. This means that we constantly challenge each other and constantly grow both as individuals, as a service and as a company - and have fun along the way.”

Overcoming Adversities Telness was founded with a mission to change the standards and perception of mobile operators.

Changing the standard means challenging the traditional telecom and mobile providers and setting new standards in terms of technology, innovation, and customer experience. Doing all this, was not the easy way out for Martina. She undertook this challenge and performed bravely with the right team, culture, ambition and backing.

Being a woman founder and CEO of a telecom company, the story of Martina and Telness has truly been an inspiration for other aspiring women entrepreneurs. She mentions that it was because of people who believed in her and gave her opportunities and learning experiences outside her comfort zone, she could emerge as a business forerunner.

Future Aspirations Martina aims to build the world’s best company, making a statement of how to run business both in terms of customer focus, equality, and culture. Both in the near and long term future, she will be on the way to achieving that objective with Telness.

Telness challenges how one looks at a mobile operator and shows that it does not have to be complicated at all. By continuously challenging itself and developing, it believes it can deliver world-class services to its customers. The company dares to try new things, to fail, and to question, all to build a better future. It takes

40

| March 2021 |

41

| March 2021 |

Expert’s Insights

An Exceptional Way of

Leading H

working teams may look differently than what was done traditionally. Instead of weekly full hour meetings, it may be multiple “check-ins” throughout the week. In addition to formal conference calls, it could be short individual email or text updates. Communication style can be adjusted based on each team’s preferences. But when an employee assumes a leadership role in managing his/her own communication, the entire team benefits by being able to stay abreast of status updates, get wind of upcoming problems, and minimize surprises and bottlenecks.

aving leadership qualities is a must in today’s ever-changing workplace. Whether or not you run a business, lead a team, or have an important job title, these are irrelevant factors as the modern work economy is becoming less hierarchical and more project based. Greater value is placed upon producing results and less value is placed upon workplace tenure.

All this to say that the modern professional must take increased ownership over his or her own career and workplace development. The pandemic has also shaped the workplace to become more amorphous and ambiguous, which threatens the traditional working habits to which many of us are accustomed. With new working environments come the need to establish new working styles. Areas with biggest potential impact comes in demonstrating personal leadership in the following ways:

Take the Lead in Setting Boundaries For the better part of a year now, many of us have been facing a dilemma in that “Work” and “Life” are merging.

With the myriad of communication apps and juggling more flexible schedules, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to delineate between working time and personal time. Each employee needs to define those boundaries in order to maintain job satisfaction and avoid burnout.

Take the Lead in Communication It is easy to fall into the mentality where, as employees, we wait for our marching orders from our superiors.

The old adage “no news is good news” can be the kiss of death for the modern workforce -- remote teams that span multiple geographies, time zones and work schedules. Without the benefit of close physical proximity, communication is more important than ever.

And that communication shouldn’t always be top-down.

An employee should take the lead in regularly communicating upwards -- alerting team members and superiors of work progress, providing his/her own perspectives on decisions, signaling potential problems, clarifying work requests, etc. Communication in today’s

This is an area where team leaders and team members must work together, but each person should take the lead in helping his or her team define those boundaries.

The most basic boundary would relate to working hours -- when an employee is and is not expected to be available for work. Another boundary can relate to how emergency requests should be handled and prioritized.

Boundaries can also relate to the technology that the team will use primarily, as it may not be realistic to be monitoring all emails, Microsoft Team pings, Skype, Slack and text at all times.

42

| March 2021 |

Nancy Wu Head of Sales and Support If employees are proficient in providing timely updates to their team, boundary setting becomes much easier.

Boundary setting tends to fail when it compromises important deadlines for the organization, or when unanticipated challenges arise. So in defining our personal and professional boundaries, we should also take care in making sure we are meeting deadlines and delivering upon our assigned work.

take classes, acquire knowledge, learn new technology, whether or not your organization expressly offers the opportunity to do so.

Take the Lead in Adopting New Technologies This can be around examining ways to make the current environment more efficient and communication friendly, such as leveraging software dashboards, email alerts, and such so that communication around certain processes gets done via software automatically.

According to a recent Gartner survey1, 66% of CFOs expect to spend more in implementing workflow automation technology in Finance in 2021. So rest assured that this mindset is shared with upper management.

Take the Lead in Learning and Exploration The world is changing so fast. Hard skills that were “cutting edge” even three to five years ago are now commonplace and can even be on track to become obsolete. Each employee should aim to continually learn new things so that new skills can be added to the career toolbox. In any transformation environment, a top challenge executive consistently face is the need to upgrade talent. While some may automatically interpret this as bringing in new employees, the reality is that hiring from the outside is always more time consuming, more expensive, and riskier than investing in existing employees. So do not forgo opportunities to

An organization’s most valuable assets are its employees. When employees take the lead in communication, setting boundaries and exploring new knowledge, it ensures that the organization continues to evolve with the times without being left in the dust to trail after its competitors.

43

| March 2021 |