The 10 Most Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future 2021

VOL 07 I ISSUE 12 I 2021

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MOST INNOVATIVE

Leadership Redened Enroute to Success

Revamping the Future,

2021

MAZIN AHMED AL GHUNAIM In the Process of Enabling Home Ownership for All

Editor’s Desk Keeping Spirits always High

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nowledge, Perception, and Understanding of every leader are unique. Some are talented in technology, some in communication, and others are just born leaders. While each leader has a specific skill set, he/she is unique according to each job role and company. Depending on their field and roles, some aim to promote business, some to build strong client relationships, some just for profits, and others to expand business globally.

When it comes to the role of CEO, he or she has to wear several hats. A CEO faces challenges each day right from sales to managing clients, marketing operations, finance, and handling the technological infrastructure. The key to a successful journey of a CEO is constant innovation and passion for impacting lives by bringing diversity and inclusion to the organization. To achieve all this, a CEO should stay grounded and be accessible to everyone by listening, learning, and watching as much as he/she can.

This also reflects the understanding of the CEO with an open mind to collaborate, with the industry experts, regulators, and the understanding of the community. As a CEO, embracing new ways of doing things is of the utmost importance in personal and professional life.

Today, CEOs are not afraid to put themselves out there into the industry, to find themselves, and to go beyond the reach of the business dynamics. Finding a place in the industry can navigate them to the right place at the right time. A CEO is prepared to work harder as the competition is fierce.

Thus, learning from people and gather as much knowledge as possible to stay prepared is an important quality for any leader.

Ultimately, all the results speak for themselves. Many industries are filled with such prototype CEOs doing wonders in the organization for the team and the clients.

This is the reason the industry and the world need more of such innovative CEOs to handle the business decisions more accurately and smoothly, and thus, impacting lives on a global level.

Insights Success values the contributions of such innovative CEOs by featuring them in its upcoming edition, The 10 Most Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future 2021.

With many more of such exciting stories being featured in this edition, the cover story represents one such CEO - Mr. Mazin Ahmed Al Ghunaim.

His leadership capability is bringing more than 25 years of professional experience in financial services to facilitate operations, maximize revenue and productivity, and ensure strong future growth.

Moreover, Al Ghunaim comes with an excellent record of achievements in building as well as managing large business portfolios locally, regionally, and internationally.

We feel proud to have these CEOs featured in this magazine as their journeys will inspire many more CEOs to follow in the industry. This will ignite the fire and build a culture of visionary CEOs in the coming times to bring a change in the lives of the people. Let’s reveal more of their stories now.

Have a happy read!

Sourabh More

sourabh@insightssuccess.com

08 Mazin Ahmed Al Ghunaim In the Process of Enabling Home Ownership for All

ARTICLE

CxO

20

Leadership Redefined Enroute to Success

28 Leader’s Viewpoint Franchise or Startup, Which is Better?

contents 16

JOHN CUSHING

Accelerating Decision Making with Data and Technology

LEIGH RUST

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Passionate About Personal Development and Constant Learning

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MIRNA SLEIMAN

Impacting Lives by Bringing Financial Inclusion

PAUL GUENTHER

Leading with Inventiveness

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Editor-in-Chief Hitesh Dhamani Managing Editor Anish Miller

Executive Editor Sourabh More

Visualizer

Art & Design Director

David King

Asha Bange

Assistant Editors Jenny Fernandes

Associate Designer Shubham Dali

Co-designer Kartik Balapurkar

Senior Sales Manager

Business Development Manager

Kshitij S

Peter Collins

Marketing Manager

Sales Executives

John Matthew

David, Martin, Evan

Technical Head

Business Development Executives

Jacob Smile

Steve, Joe, Aidan, Yogesh

Technical Specialist Aditya

Digital Marketing Manager Marry D'Souza

SME-SMO Executive Amol Wadekar

Research Analyst Frank Adams

Database Management Stella Andrew

Circulation Manager Robert Brown

Technology Consultant David Stokes

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MOST INNOVATIVE

Revamping the Future,

2021

Company Name

Featured Person

Brief

Arlin Sorensen CEO

HTG Peer Groups htgpeergroups.com

HTG Peer Groups' vision is to connect leaders by fostering authentic relationships and opportunities for sharing.

David Kelly CEO

KPS kpslife.com

KPS Life gives Sponsors the control they need to execute more efficient, effective and successful clinical trials.

Daniel Wilson CEO

PSL yourpsl.com

Entegra Europe is a margin enhancement business supporting the hospitality and catering industries across Europe.

Jon Winsett CEO

NPI npifinancial.com

NPI is an IT procurement advisory services company that helps enterprises identify and eliminate overspending on IT purchases.

John Cushing CEO

mnAI mnai.tech

mnAI aims to reduce the time it takes investors, companies and individuals to identify, and then understand an industry, business or directors and shareholders from months to minutes.

Leigh Rust CEO

Safetyline Jalousie safetyline jalousie.com.au

Safetyline Jalousie louvre windows are well known for challenging and overcoming the design, safety and security limitations of conventional louvre windows.

Mazin Ahmed Al Ghunaim CEO

Bidaya bidaya.com.sa

Bidaya Home Finance provides several housing finance plans for citizens.

Mirna Sleiman CEO

Fintech Galaxy fintech-galaxy.com

Fintech Galaxy allows B2B connectivity between financial institutions and innovators.

Mike Utting CEO

SpringTide springtide procurement.com

SpringTide Procurement focuses on changing attitudes towards procurement and go beyond cost savings to deliver enduring value across whole organisations.

Paul Guenther CEO

Knowledge Hub Media knowledge hubmedia.com

Knowledge Hub Media helps business professionals by providing useful insight and analysis on the most current topics across the industry.

Mr. Mazin A. Al Ghunaim CEO, Bidaya

The 10 Most Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future, 2021

Mazin Ahmed Al Ghunaim COVER STORY

In the Process of Enabling Home Ownership for All

Innovative leaders are the ones who are well aware that great results come from lot of strategic planning, sufficient preparation, and diligent execution. They cast a shadow over their weakness by playing with their strengths. They diligently grab the opportunities, make them count, and maximize the chances of success. They are conscious of playing their role to the best of their capabilities and making the most of the opportunities in their hand. Their innovativeness helps them to revamp the future in a creative way. They are conscious of serving their customers by leveraging the potential of technology.

You can find all the above-mentioned traits in Mr. Mazin Ahmed Al Ghunaim. Al Ghunaim is the renowned name in

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With the customer at the heart of everything we do, we will enable eachother, our partners, our shareholders and the broader community to support us in promoting home ownership for all.

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he thought, what makes leaders different from others, often strikes in our mind. It is most certainly their quality of making people feel invaluable, not settling for mediocrity, isolating themselves from the herd, challenging the status quo, and building team spirit. It is their journey from inception of the idea to making it a reality that defines them. And, when we talk about innovative leaders, they like to deliver more than expected.

the mortgage industry in Saudi Arabia. Currently, he is serving as the CEO of Saudi-based Bidaya Home Finance.

His leadership capability is bringing more than 25 years of professional experience in the financial services to facilitate operations, maximize revenue and productivity, and ensure strong future growth. He has worked in leading banks and financial institutions such as Saudi Investment Bank, Arab National Bank and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. He is a Retail Banker with wide experience in products development, process improvements, customer service and portfolio management covering Personal Loans, Auto finance and Mortgage. Moreover, Al Ghunaim comes with an excellent record of achievements in building as well as managing large business portfolios locally, regionally, and internationally.

We at Insights Success, caught up with Al Ghunaim to shed light on his entrepreneurial journey, his viewpoint towards the finance industry, and his contribution to the same through Bidaya.

Delivering Something Revolutionary to Mortgage Market The journey of Bidaya began in 2015. Bidaya was setup with a vision to enabling home ownership for all. As a startup, Al Ghunaim mentions the challenges were multifold. Amongst the first things was finding the right team and

with that in place it was about building a strategy that could be executed.

Al Ghunaim recalls the founders of Bidaya saying to him that they need to have 50 branches across the kingdom to get going, and he paused and questioned “How about having no branches and we build a digital platform to serve our customers leveraging technology.” That was the starting point. Al Ghunaim was confident that with a young dynamic team and given his retail experience in leading banks across the region, they will be able to deliver something revolutionary to the mortgage market.

With the customer at the heart of everything Bidaya does, the company believes it will enable its partners, its shareholders and the broader community to support Bidaya in promoting home ownership for all.

Living by Values and Delivering to Society Talking about work culture, Al Ghunaim says that a good organization culture sits at the heart of any successful business. Bidaya leadership team lives the values of Bidaya every day. They keep the team engaged, empowered and most importantly in a positive frame of mind. They love what they do and what they deliver to society.

Responding Unprecedently to Unprecedented Times Al Ghunaim mentions that what happened when COVID-19

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Our customers are at the heart of what we do.

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pandemic hit, was a perfect disruption. The state of the equilibrium is not in balance. In his opinion, only those who got into risk management were able to reduce the impact on their companies.

Financial markets witnessed unprecedented moves, equities, securities one can name it. It was a big mess and on top of that, everyone had to take care of themselves and their loved ones.

In such critical times, Bidaya created a Corona Risk Committee (CRC) with an operating framework that continued to focus on five (5) aspects: Health and safety, business continuity, cash and liquidity, communication and disclosures, and strategy and recovery. With CRC in place, the board of directors and Al Ghunaim had a new navigating tool.

This tool has been Bidaya’s North Star in these challenging times, as it has helped it to align on both short-term and long-term business goals.

Being Competent and Delivering Expected Return on Equity According to Al Ghunaim, looking at the future and developing technologies are empowering to the consumers across markets to access more products and services on demand. He says that businesses on the other hand will need to manage both product volumes and customer experiences in an efficient manner so they can continue to be competitive and deliver expected return on equity.

Establishing an Advisory Service Al Ghunaim is proud that Bidaya Home Finance has so far financed more than 6,500 customers resulting in more than 24,000 Saudi Citizens being housed.

Given the huge market for the First-Home-Buyer segment, Al Ghunaim states that he would like to establish an

advisory service as a contribution to this segment to help and assist them to take the right call when buying their first homes.

Sharpening the Competencies While Bidaya continues to sharpen its competencies around risk-management, it has not lost focus on its aspirations of being the largest mortgage provider in the country, both in size and profitability. To that end, Bidaya Home Finance Board has approved a 5-year strategic plan, the implementation has already started.

Being an Islamic home finance company, Bidaya has won four noteworthy and prestigious awards in Global Finance magazine’s consumer digital banking categories – Best bill payment and presentment, Best digital mortgage bank, Best in social media and marketing services, and best Islamic digital bank.

Influencing Factors Behind Growth When we asked about what people, or books, or life factors have influenced and impacted you Al Ghunaim says that he has been blessed to have had the family who taught him to serve others before self.

“I am grateful for all the challenges that life has thrown at me and some inspiring leaders that I worked with. They all consciously, unconsciously shaped the man I am today”, he asserts.

Recognizing the way to Capture the Opportunities The financial industry landscape is reforming itself as one speaks. There will be many opportunities coming one’s way. Al Ghunaim advises aspiring entrepreneurs that venture private funds are the best way to group up and devolve ideas. He believes that this is the ideal way to capture the opportunities.

COVER STORY

& & 20 The

Most

SUCCESSFUL

BUSINESSWOMEN to Watch, 2020

kimberly Khoury

Paving her Way in Sustainability Development

John Cushing CEO

mnAI

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The 10 Most Innova ve CEOs Revamping the Future, 2021

John Cushing T

echnology has the power to make complicated things more simplified and save the valuable time of businesses. It is possible to gain valuable insights using the statistical data and technology to make calculated business decisions. Technology enthusiasts utilize the data and technology to accelerate the speed of decision making and thereby save their valuable time. John Cushing is one such technology enthusiast who believes that it is vital for businesses to be aligned with newer technological developments to accelerate decision making.

John is CEO at mnAI, a growth stage data and technology company. mnAI believes in a world where technology accelerates decision making. John’s days at the company are incredibly varied - from helping with sales through to product development, his role is to ensure that the strategic aims of the business are achieved.

Enabling Users Targeted Information More Rapidly Like any start-up, the journey of mnAI from inception hasn’t been without its challenges. A good example would the size of the opportunity: it would have been very easy to launch both a consumer and an enterprise product but, given its resources, it needed to focus.

Today, mnAI is a platform for investors, advisors and corporates that provides information, insight, research, and due diligence on all unlisted companies in the UK. It holds 7.5bn+ data points on 7m+ UK companies, applying a wide variety of machine learning algorithms and filters which enable users to access targeted information far more rapidly than is currently possible, often completing what used to take months of work in minutes. As this award testifies, building the enterprise product was definitely the right thing to do!

Adapting to Newer Technology and Platforms The impact of pandemic is generally positive as the pandemic forced a change in people’s perception of how to work. Companies and individuals had to adopt technologies and platforms that enabled home working and gave both easier access to information and better ways of sharing it.

John opines that many Information Technology and

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Services rely on people to deliver, maintain, and upgrade and he can imagine that for some their experience may have been very different to that of companies like Teams or Zoom, which saw user numbers swell as a consequence of the need to be able to work collaboratively.

John believes that technology can enhance and support operations for businesses and their customers through innovation and digitization, improve their insight, accelerate growth, and reduce costs through increased efficiency.

Relentless Focus on Innovation and Excellent Customer Service mnAI provides a single source of unified data that makes deal origination, due diligence, and customer search really easy. It has more data points, a greater level of detail as well as high speed, while its Gender Identification technology is truly unique. mnAI is a comprehensive, easy to use, and an efficient product at a competitive price point which is backed by a relentless focus on innovation and customer service. Every detail matters, as the company puts its customers first and aim to make them happy at all times.

The work culture at mnAI reflects this mantra – being collegial, transparent, listening to each other and always trying to do the right thing. Its customers expect professionalism and integrity and so does the company.

The work is demanding but success is satisfying. mnAI encourages personal and professional development and trust its employees to do the right thing.

Actively Supporting Businesses Across the Country On a personal level, John, and some of the senior team mentor young entrepreneurs through 1-2-1 programs, or, when asked, through visiting lecturer spots at their local college to support Business Studies students. As a business, they work with local Growth Hubs which are actively supporting businesses across the country at a very difficult time. In addition, mnAI’s technology has been adopted and

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With billions of data points, mnAI’s award-winning technology instantly provides and filters uniquely accessible insight and analysis across sectors, companies, geographies and individuals.

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endorsed by a number of leading advocates for female entrepreneurism and it helps all types of companies measure progress against a number of female initiatives including the Rose Review.

A Valuable Note to Aspiring Entrepreneurs John encourages aspiring entrepreneurs to venture into IT industry. He advises them to be prepared to work harder than they ever have before. He tells them to do their due diligence on their chosen market and competitors to avoid wasting money and time. He suggests them to take advice from people more experienced than them and be prepared for set-backs!

Continuing Development of Technology and Scaling Internationally mnAI is constantly looking for ways to improve its technology, sell its product and better serve its clients.

Those have been and continue to be its priorities. As a pure tech business mnAI’s entire infrastructure is cloud based so, despite Covid restrictions, it has been able to continue the development of its technology. Recent examples include Insight, which allows customers to generate their own industry reports, and Gender Analysis – its entire dataset can now be filtered by gender which has helped make compliance with the Rose Review quick and easy. Looking ahead, mnAI is almost at the point where the platform is ready to scale internationally - a huge challenge but one that John has no doubt the team is ready to meet.

Starting any new company, whether in tech or otherwise, is tough. John says that there is already a decent amount of permanent government support through, for example, SEIS, EIS and tech credits but there is no doubt that Covid related support through various loan schemes has been enormously helpful and any extension of those schemes would be helpful.

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Enroute to

Success

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Leadership Redened

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he greatness of a person or leader has to be estimated by his or her ability to thrive even in the most provoking or challenging situations. It is in the tough times that one’s mettle is tested. And it is at the same time one has the opportunity to prove one’s mettle. It is said that patience is bitter, but its fruits are sweet. The more one is able to hold one’s nerves even in the challenging times and continue to fight for success, the more one will be able to crossover even the toughest challenges. Life rewards those who put in sincere hard work and strive for achievements. “As we sow, so shall we reap.”

Success is not the cakewalk, but it is about repeated efforts day in and day out.

There is no free lunch in this business-minded world. One has to be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices for accomplishing something worthwhile in this world, especially in the world of business. One has to accomplish something in this world to earn the trust of people and thereby to be the well-wisher of people. One can contribute a lot to others when he or she has gained worthwhile accomplishments to create his or her credibility. The reliability of leaders increases in great proportion when they deliver results more than expected by others. The reliability or credibility of leaders is directly proportional to the expansion of the businesses.

Morality is the Foundation for Victory Great business leaders are aware that it is important to lead with morality. They consider it is very important to keep the morale of everyone in their organization very high. High morale helps in taking the most courageous decisions. They understand that it is essential to deliver what is expected by clients or even beyond thinking well ahead of the clients.

This is where the innovativeness in leaders plays a big role.

That is the reason they keep it on high priority to be well updated with the latest technologies and they are keen to implement those technologies in their businesses.

Determination, Dedication, and Discipline Determination, Dedication, and Discipline form a big part of success. There is a huge significance of resolute determination to succeed in the world of business. The world is filled with cut-throat competition. To sustain one’s competency in the business world, one has to keep on improving oneself and everyone in the organization to create massive success. The journey sometimes can be filled with a lot of challenges, but if one has a determination to persist then one can achieve one’s goals in due course of time. Dedication gives life to one’s purpose and goals. It is very much synonymous with leading with purposefulness.

The stronger the purpose the greater can be the dedication www.insightssuccess.com

to achieve it. And Discipline is the bridge between success and failure. Without discipline, nothing substantial can ever be accomplished in life. One has to pay the price of resolute determination, absolute dedication, and high discipline to be successful in the world of business.

What Not to Do? As much as it is important to know what to do, it is also equally important to know what not to do. Doing what is favorable for success and avoiding what is harmful for success should be avoided at any cost. For business leaders to succeed in the business world, they should be well aware not to waste their precious resources after bad money or bad deals. They should not throw their good money behind bad money via negative deals. They should be calculative and should take calculative decisions related to where to invest and where not to.

Having a Right Mentor is the Key Having a good mentor goes a long way in making highvalue decisions. One should choose that person as one’s mentor who has demonstrated one’s character and competence in one’s chosen field. Great leaders are not just interested in being great leader themselves only, but they would like to create more great leaders. By choosing a capable leader as one’s mentor, one will be able to attain great heights in life in a short span of time. One good mentor is worth more than all the books in the library.

Books also play a huge role in the lives of great leaders, but the help of a mentor is priceless as one will be able to develop oneself more quickly with the help of a good mentor and avoid the mistakes that previous leaders have done. Great leaders become great because they don’t shy at accepting good mentors in life. They are open to learning from all. They know that they don’t have all the time in the world to commit all mistakes and then learn and then apply.

Therefore, they prefer to avoid mistakes on the journey by having a good mentor in life.

It is a mark of great leaders to do justice to their roles, routines, relationships, and responsibilities. They also build such a type of culture in their fellow teammates and employees and staff in the organization. This helps them to achieve greatness in their business by building an organization with responsible and competent people. They lead by example and with resolute determination and with a goal to deliver more than needed. They thrive on their purpose and necessary actions. They do what needs to be done with due diligence and they set the standards for everyone else to follow and that is the reason they become admirable.

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Leigh Rust CEO, Co-founder and Director

Safetyline Jalousie Louvre Windows

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The 10 Most Innova ve CEOs Revamping the Future, 2021

Leigh Rust Passionate About Personal Development and Constant Learning

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nnovative leaders believe in constant learning. They learn through a variety of ways. They are filled with great insights that allow them to make smart business decisions that count.

One such innovative leader is Leigh Rust, who is passionate about constant learning and someone who likes to take calculated decisions and make them count. Leigh is the Co-founder and Director of Safetyline Jalousie - an Australian louver window manufacturer. Leigh established the company alongside his brother Nathan in 2010 after they spent 10 years working at their father’s manufacturing business Vergola.

One thing that’s always been at the core of the company is a commitment to manufacturing its products locally to keep jobs onshore and help to stimulate the economy.

Safetyline Jalousie is also committed to pursuing greater sustainability in the industry, and it believes that the longterm, environmental impact of a product should always be considered.

The company is currently in the process of establishing a group - Suppliers Declare - to connect those in the manufacturing industry and work towards shared sustainability objectives.

Drawing Inspiration From Great People and Authors

Creating Culture and High Morale

Leigh has certainly drawn a lot of inspiration from his father and uncle over the years. Growing up, having both of these figures in his life be in business certainly had a big impact on him and the path he chose.

Fostering a positive workplace culture is at the heart of Safetyline’s organization, as Leigh thinks it should be for all businesses. Some of Safetyline’s staff have been with it the company since it was first established over 10 years ago, which Leigh thinks is a great testament to the culture that’s interwoven in the company.

Outside his immediate circle, Leigh is also inspired by business leaders including Mark Bouris and Sir Richard Branson. As someone who’s passionate about fitness and mindset, Leigh also draws inspiration from David Goggins and "Jocko'' Willink who are both US Navy SEAL veterans and authors.

Leigh is passionate about personal development and constant learning, so he loves to read. A couple of books he has recently read which he highly recommends are The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park and Man’s Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl.

Safetyline views its staff as family and friends, and when they are bringing new people onto the team, Leigh believes that attitude and work ethic trumps technical skills, as working with people who are motivated and love what they do is great for the morale of a company.

Operating on Schedule Without any Delays Leigh mentions that the pandemic certainly reinforced the importance of local manufacturing with flaws in international supply chains showing and there being a growing need to support the local economy.

Working Towards Shared Objectives In Leigh’s position at Safetyline Jalousie he is involved in overseeing the day-to-day operations of the company, including finding and pursuing new business opportunities and working on new product launches.

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It’s great to now see more companies moving their manufacturing on-shore as a result of the pandemic and Safetyline is proud to be a company that’s supported this from the start. Manufacturing its products locally during the pandemic also meant that Safetyline was able to operate on

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Safetyline Jalousie Louvre Windows are well known for challenging and overcoming the design, safety and security limitations of conventional louvre windows. schedule without any delays, which was great for its business and customers.

Covid also highlighted the importance of being adaptable in business. As you never know what’s going to be thrown at you in business, being able to pivot quickly is so important.

Safetyline was able to come out of last year in a period of growth and expansion which has given it great confidence moving forward.

Leigh is personally very proud seeing Safetyline’s louvre windows being installed in places they haven’t previously, namely because it has surpassed the criteria for these buildings and infrastructures with such great conviction.

Providing Sustainable and Quality Air Solutions Safetyline is passionate about supporting sustainability in the manufacturing industry and is continually working towards this in its business.

If Leigh was to make a change in the industry it would be to have more people consider a product’s long-term environmental impact when they make a purchase, rather than making purchasing decisions based on cost alone.

As a company that’s committed to providing sustainable, quality air solutions for the built environment, Safetyline Jalousie has recently launched a new product which uses a cleaner, low-carbon aluminium that reduces the carbon footprint per kg of aluminium to 4.0 - less than a quarter of the global average.

Choosing Inspiring People and Collaborating Leigh’s advice for anyone looking to pursue a leadership position in manufacturing is to establish a strong network of connections in the industry - something that will allow you to be on the lookout for any opportunities for collaboration.

Meeting and Exceeding Standards Consistently One of the biggest technological advancements of louvre windows has been the development of its SmartAir System.

These sophisticated systems allow buildings to breathe with morning and night purge cycles, creating better indoor environments - with not only better air quality but also the inclusion of more natural light.

The standards Safetyline work within in Australia are some of the highest in the world. Its systems not only meet these, but they also transcend them in nearly every class. By careful scrutinization of test data, carried out by third party authorities, the benchmark for Safetyline is not just meeting key performance metrics, but exceeding them by continually looking to improve what it does.

He says, “When you’re entering a leadership position, backing yourself and your skills is so important, as is surrounding yourself with people who inspire you.

I’d also recommend that you consider what initiatives or groups you can join, either as an individual, or on behalf of the business, which are in line with your values. For instance, we’ve recently joined the Living Future Institute which connects people working in the built environment industry across the country.”

As one last point of advice, he asserts that, “You should make sure you are on the right side of sustainability.”

The product’s incredible sealing capabilities, which remove human interaction, and the efficiency in which it can be installed are facets that add to the already great triple bottom line benefits gained through using Safetyline Jalousie.

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Franchise or Startup, Which is Better?

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f you’re wondering if investing in a franchise is a better option than starting a business from scratch, there really is no clear-cut answer. It really depends on who you are and what you want.

In a way, comparing a franchise to a startup is like comparing oranges to apples. Yes, they both involve business ownership, but that’s where the similarities end. There are a lot of factors that could make either option a more attractive choice for the right type of person.

Don Daszkowski is the founder of the International Franchise Professionals Group (IFPG), a membership-based organization with more than 1,000 Franchisors, Franchise Consultants and Vendor members.

Two of the major differences include the time and effort it takes to open for business and the amount of control you’ll have once you’re up and running.

So, how will you know which one is for you? Here, we ask some questions to help you decide.

HOW MUCH RISK ARE YOU WILLING TO TAKE? One of the main reasons people seek franchise ownership is because it’s less risky than starting a business from scratch. A franchised business has

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Leader’s Viewpoint

already been proven in other markets. As a prospective franchisee, you can do your due diligence to find out what you’re getting into.

You can read the financials, talk to other franchise owners and weigh the pros and cons before you ever get started. And depending on the brand, you can talk to customers or even visit a few locations and experience the business first-hand.

You can taste the food, workout at the gym or use the service. Of course, there is still risk with any franchise investment, but it’s much less. A startup is a new business that no one has ever heard of, been to, or has been proven successful. You can only take an educated guess on how the business might perform. Exciting for sure, but more risky.

tegic planning, and so much more.

These aren’t negatives necessarily, but they do require a focused effort and lots of resources. Some people prefer to put in that extra work to have a business that’s truly unique and in line with their own vision.

But others don’t necessarily have a vision, and simply want to run a solid business.

With franchising, all that work has already been done for you by the franchisor. You walk right into a turnkey business. Of course you have to pay for it with a franchise fee, which can be quite expensive— upwards of $35k or more. But many, many people see the value in that one-time payment.

HOW MUCH WORK ARE YOU WILLING TO PUT IN? With a startup business, there are many more unknowns and things to do before you even open your doors. You will have to start everything from ground zero including the market research, branding, creating the business model, stra-

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“With franchising, all that work has already been done for you by the franchisor. You walk right into a turnkey business.”

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CAN YOU FOLLOW A SYSTEM? Following the franchisor’s system is an essential part of franchise ownership. Noncompliance is the reason many franchisees fail. If you can’t comply, then franchising is simply not for you. Think about it, the franchisor already went through all the hard work, made the mistakes and refined the system.

All you have to do is follow that proven system, so why wouldn’t you? Not only is it foolish to disregard a franchisor’s model, but it could also get you kicked out of the system. Imagine, for example, if a McDonald’s franchisee decided to change the iconic Golden Arches to green or changed the name of the Happy Meal? It simply doesn’t work. Consistency is the key to branding and a franchise system’s success.

Of course, franchisees can make suggestions to franchisors, and often, many of those suggestions come to fruition. But any change has to happen at the franchisor level or the brand is compromised.

DO YOU WANT TO BE PART OF A COMMUNITY OR GO SOLO? 30 | July 2021

IFPG Franchise Consultants help people determine if franchise ownership is the right path.

Being part of a community is one of the best parts of joining a franchise. Franchisees in the same system can call on each other to share best practices and ask for advice. It’s a truly unique relationship. And, all good franchisors offer ongoing support. With a franchise, you get a corporate team behind you who is constantly looking for ways to improve the business model with investments in technology, ongoing training, and support.

During COVID, franchisors helped their franchisees in many ways, including navigating the government’s funding programs and altering their business model to accommodate the new normal. While independent business owners had to go it alone through the pandemic, franchisees had support and guidance from their franchisor’s corporate team.

Everyone is different. To some, the thought of starting a busi-

ness from scratch is terrifying, while others wouldn’t have it any other way. Some folks welcome the support and structure of a franchise system, and others find it limiting. It all depends on who you are. There is no right answer. For some, investing in a franchise is a better option, for others, starting a business from scratch is the best way to go. But one thing is for sure for everyone considering business ownership: it’s a big move either way. Make sure you do your due diligence. If you want to know more about franchise ownership, you can seek the help of a Certified Franchise Consultant who can help you determine which path is best for you. You can also do internet reserch, visit trade shows and keep updated with franchise news platforms like www.franchisewire.com where you can read franchisee success stories, learn about franchise brands and get the latest franchise industry news. www.insightssuccess.com

The 10 Most Innova ve CEOs Revamping the Future, 2021

Mirna Sleiman

Impacting Lives by Bringing Financial Inclusion

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reat business leaders have to adapt to different styles and attributes of leadership based on the different circumstances they face. However, the one aspect of leadership that never changes is the ability to lead from the front by taking responsibility. Today, leaders are driven by innovation and passion to create positive impact through their talents, skills, and abilities. One such innovative and passionate leader is Mirna Sleiman. Mirna is the Founder and CEO of Fintech Galaxy, the MENA region's open finance and innovation platform. She is advising governments and financial institutions on digital transformation programs. She has more than 15 years of experience in innovation programs, government affairs, investor relations, journalism, strategic digital communications, and global partnerships.

financial institutions and fintech companies. From scouting to deployment, Fintech Galaxy aims to build future of financial services across the 22 Arab countries. The Fintech Galaxy Open Banking API sandbox enables development, testing and deployment of fintech solutions, offers a marketplace that connects institutions to thousands of fintechs from across the globe, and delivers matchmaking and crowdsourcing capabilities that solve customer pain points, ultimately spurring disruptive and transformative innovation across the financial services industry.

Delivering Inclusive Financial Services

Facilitating Integration of Financial Institutions and Fintech Companies Fintech Galaxy fuels innovation in financial services, drives ecosystem collaboration and facilitates integration between

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Fintech Galaxy is a regional platform that fuels innovation in financial services, drives ecosystem collaboration and facilitates integration between financial institutions and fintech companies.

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Fintech Galaxy was founded in the United Arab Emirates in 2018 as a regional platform. From day one Mirna’s focus was to use the Fintech Galaxy brand as an enabler of innovation, so she had the dual responsibility of creating a platform and a space for the industry to come together, and the everyday job of building its own brand and developing a scalable business. It was clear to Mirna before she founded Fintech Galaxy that moving the needle on financial inclusion was critical for Arab world. There was also a need to connect global fintechs with a regional open finance platform that includes an API sandbox, a fintech marketplace, and enables cross-border open innovation.

These important objectives, which ultimately are all about creating a future that delivers inclusive financial services, serve as a long-term guide and they underpin much of what Mirna does day-to-day.

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Mirna Sleiman Founder and CEO

Fintech Galaxy

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colleagues. When Mirna hires somebody, she looks for the personality and the attitude, the right skills, and the right outlook: a can-do, passionate, and ambitious individual. She then wants to provide them with the most positive, can-do, enabling environment within which to succeed. She believes in having an open-door policy and a fearless culture that says, ‘never be afraid to ask, to question, or do’.

Embracing New ways of Doing Things

Accelerating Move to Cloud-based Innovation Mirna opines that the pandemic has clearly contributed to the acceleration of digital transformation across every conceivable industry, and the way that organizations interact with consumers. The move to Cloud, which was already well on its way, is expedited, thanks to the emergence of myriad new AI-powered solutions and services. AI is now better understood by more people, thanks to the behavior shifts we have witnessed as a result of the pandemic.

Whereas before Covid-19, many people were aware of AI and its connection to 4IR possibilities, but now market is in a place where businesses – particularly service providers – have been forced through circumstance to understand what it delivers, and in some ways forced to sharply focus on what these technologies are and how they improve what they do.

According to Mirna, the key to sustainability is innovation and passion. She never loses sight of why she founded Fintech Galaxy: to impact lives and bring financial inclusion to the Arab World. To achieve this, she stays grounded and accessible by listening, learning, and watching as much as she talks and does. This reflects having an open mind to collaborate with industry partners, work with regulators, and understand the needs of the startup community. Embracing new ways of doing things is what Mirna preaches, and as leaders it is of utmost importance that we practice it too.

Being Open to Learn In her advice to emerging CEOs, she says, “Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there. Find your voice, build your niche, and get noticed. This is not about ego, but about finding your place within the industry so that you can navigate towards the right people and ideas. In ‘normal’ times, I would work hard to attend panel discussions, speak at forums, and share ideas and experiences with my peers.

That’s incredibly useful because there is always somebody else out there with a new perspective to learn from. The beauty of the digital economy is we can now do all of this – and more frequently – through webinars and other online forums.”

The reality is that cloud-based platforms are a no-brainer in a post pandemic environment. Open finance platforms, in particular, offer a level of connectivity and immediacy that was impossible a few years ago. Businesses can pick up innovations, adapt them, trial new approaches, and launch new products and services faster and with more precision than ever before. Businesses have a duty to engage with new cloud-based innovation platforms fully and competently to futureproof what they do and serve their customers well.

Providing the Enabling Work Environment About work culture, Mirna believes that if businesses don’t have a positive work culture they don’t have positive

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The 10 Most Innovative CEOs Revamping the Future, 2021

Paul Guenther LEADING WITH INVENTIVENESS

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he great entrepreneurs are driven by core confidence and competence. They are not fearful of pressure. They actually crave pressure and thrive under it. They exhibit courage and grace even under pressure. They understand the importance of fairness and always maintain a level playing field. They demonstrate logical and efficient decision making. They think deliberately and act on conclusion of logical thought. They don’t let emotions cloud their judgement or drive their decisions. They are rational and practical in their decisions.

The great leaders demonstrate total accountability and possess an unwillingness to make excuses for their shortcomings. They know how to get job done. They seize opportunities and make them count. They don’t recognize failure. They know there are other ways to achieve their intended result. They find one of those ways with their inventiveness. One such practical and inventive entrepreneur is Paul Guenther. He is the CEO of Knowledge Hub Media, a company that helps business professionals by providing useful insight and analysis on the most current topics within their industry, and across multiple job functions, including IT, marketing, finance, human resources, mobility, operations, sales and more.

Minimizing Mistakes and Maximizing Efficiencies The most of what has always driven Paul comes from a few different things. First, complete financial independence for himself and those who work for him. Second, total accountability. Third, an unwillingness to make or accept excuses.

Paul holds himself and everyone else to the same standard.

He recognizes that nobody is perfect and everyone is going to make mistakes, but the idea is to minimize mistakes and increase overall efficiencies. A lot of this happens naturally when everyone understands a culture of accountability.

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When a question needs to be answered or a problem needs to be fixed. It doesn’t really matter “why.” What matters is to attend it, and that Paul believes in doing that efficiently and effectively.

Delivering Engagement Opportunities for Clients The offerings of Knowledge Hub Media are diverse by their very nature. Its core competencies fall in the areas or demand generation and content syndication. It offers multiple engagement opportunities for its clients to effectively reach their target audience(s) through high impact online advertising, content syndication and demand generation programs. It promotes its clients’ white papers and webinars to generate and deliver highly targeted, highly qualified B2B sales leads. As each of its clients have different products, solutions, and services, they target different segments of people (and companies). Its offerings are customized, fully tailored to target folks within the right job roles – at the right companies – who are typically already in the buying cycle for its clients’ solutions.

Generally speaking, the leads that Knowledge Hub Media generates originate from companies that are, at the very least, currently researching the solutions offered by its clients. In most cases, though, they are in the process of evaluating vendors and getting ready to make a purchase decision. This is where it comes in, where it really shines.

By promoting to very targeted groups of people, it lines its clients up with the perfect buyers, at the perfect time. That is, companies that not only have a need and budget for the products and services that its clients offer, but that are also ready to pull the trigger and make a purchase decision.

Leading from Front Paul mentions that clients of Knowledge Hub Media are all very unique – even if they do generally reside in the B2B technology sector. Each client has a specific solution, or

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Paul Guenther

CEO Knowledge Hub Media

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group of products, that is targeted to a very specific audience. For example, enterprise software solutions used

by IT people, marketers, sales teams, HR professionals or finance professionals. The targeting gets a lot more granular than that, and then not only are the job roles unique, but the types of companies targeted are also unique to each client.

Some might be looking for SMB’s, while others might promote to mid-market companies, or enterprise sized organizations with 5,000+ employees.

Being at the helm is always interesting for Paul as he faces with a new challenge almost every day. Those challenges are not just from a standpoint of sales (managing clients), but also involves marketing (to its userbase), operations, finance and handling its technology infrastructure. There is truly never a dull moment for Paul and the Knowledge Hub Media.

Besides, the readers of Knowledge Hub Media values and trust the suggestions offered by its expert bloggers, trending news articles, and extensive research library to facilitate strategic development, project management and to make intelligent purchasing decisions.

Staying Ahead of the Curve Media industry is inherently based in technology, and as

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“Make money. That’s the name of the game. If you are making money, and your employees are making money, and your clients and vendors are making money as a result of your business process, you are doing a damn nice job." such, it is always changing. For this reason Knowledge Hub Media is changing and innovating. It has experienced annual revenue growth year over year in 11 of its 12 years running, but Paul’s vision of the future is never revenue or sales based. He likes to think that in five years, company will be at least “five years more advanced” than it is now as a company – just as technology advances each and every year. Optimally, though, Paul likes to think that it’ll be closer to 10 years more advanced in five years; staying ahead of the curve, just as it has been since its inception.

Being Realistic Knowledge Hub Media is very proactive about never “overpromising and underdelivering.” It forecasts for lead output and delivery as well as anyone in the industry, and it is usually dead on. Even so, it is typically conservative with the projections that it gives clients. This provides another layer of protection that helps to ensure things go smoothly and it keep its promises in terms of goals.

Not being Affected by Externals Paul sustains his leadership just the way that he has always done things. His leadership approach rarely changes based on wavering circumstances or external forces – including this current era of ever changing, ever improving technology. To be clear, though, external forces or changes can have an impact on company’s strategy, for example, or the products and services that it currently offers. But external forces have very little – if any – effect on Paul’s leadership spirit.

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