The 2020's Most Influential Women to Watch

2020 | Volume-5 | Issue-1

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THE 2020'S MOST

INFLUENTIAL

TO WATCH

Editor’s Desk 2020 | Volume-5 | Issue-1

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THE 2020'S MOST

INFLUENTIAL

TO WATCH

Today’s Women inuencing Tomorrow

W

hat does it take to be influential? How do you define your existence in this life on a larger scale? The answer to these questions is quite simple, by making a difference.

Whatever you do, may it be in personal life or a professional one, and the way you stand out sets a potential stage for you to showcase what you have.

What you can give to others and contribute positively makes you influential.

An influential person sets an example for others to follow or carves a path for others to walk on their own. Such a person helps in uplifting the ones who are lacking in some way or the other by sharing knowledge, expertise, and experience in the best way possible.

Being influential is a journey on its own. It does not have a singular stretch or a predetermined course of action. It is a process that involves a series of exceptional targets and the efforts put in to achieve them. It can differ from person to person. How one can create and drive value to others in terms of ethics, brands, businesses, and personal choices build the character for becoming influential.

A person can be influential in a lot of areas. But spreading the influence in business is a whole new game.

Functionally, the person who built the business holds the key to it. Its growth, operations, and future prospects are driven by nothing but the efforts made by the person involved. Now the person working not only brings value to the business but also ensures its expansion while paving the way to becoming an influential factor in its overall functional spectrum.

The new-age businesses are driven by exceptional and fierce leaders who are influencing the market trends with their unique ideas and approaches. With all the things considered we cannot rule out the active role played by women in dynamically influencing the business world.

Women in the business are not only taking the stage but creating a whole different platform while raising the bar in terms of creativity and smart work approach.

Businesswomen are taking the leadership status to a whole different level. They are not only contributing to society through entrepreneurship but also enabling opportunities for fellow women to take their stand on any and every issue while supporting them in being more than capable. Women, in general, influence our lives in

various ways. But the business paradigm, with their influence, has seen a brighter and innovative side.

Women influencers are taking the global business spectrum to new heights and motivating the next generation to follow their passion and dreams. They are contributing towards a better tomorrow by working very hard today. We at Insights Success wish to applaud and appreciate their efforts and have decided to showcase the stories of women who have been an inspiration to many.

This edition titled 2020’s Most Influential Women to Watch highlights the tales of a few significant businesswomen who are influencing, inspiring and invigorating others with their zeal to strive for success.

Additionally, this edition also features articles authored by industry experts and our in-house editorial team, which provide valuable insights into different markets.

Bon Appetite!

Darshan Parmar Darshan Parmar

CXO 16

Leader’s Desk

Articles

Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem for Women

24

32

Expert Talks

The Fuss about AI

Expert’s Advice

The Glass Ceiling E ect: Another Perspective on Women and Leadership

Insights’ Special

40

8 Most E ective Leadership Styles for Organizational Success

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o

10

12

18

Ellen Voie

Jerusha Govender Blazing a Trail in the Data Science World

A Communications Expert Driving Growth Solutions

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36

44

An Entrepreneur Breaking Stereotypes

Mona Yousuf Almoayyed

An Entrepreneurial Spirit Illuminating the Family Legacy

Nicole Rodrigues

Transforming the Public Relation Industry with Sedulousness

Lindsey Myers

Stacey Brewer

An Endeavor Entrepreneur with a Humanitarian Approach

n t e n t s

Editor-in-Chief Pooja M. Bansal Senior Editor Anish Miller Managing Editor Darshan Parmar Publishing Control Team Shruti P. Jambhale Quality Assurance Team Abhishaj, Sneha Visualiser David King Art & Design Head Amol Kamble Art & Design Assistant Deepanjali Jena Co-designer Paul Belin Art & Picture Editor Asha Bange Business Development Manager Sherin Rodricks Marketing Manager Sophie Smith Business Development Executives Anna Lee, Karen Holland, Jenny Jordan Sales Executives Kelly, Michael,Sapna Technical Head Jacob Smile Assistant Technical Head Amar Sawant Technical Consultants Pratiksha, Aditya, David Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Prashant Chevale SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Uma, Manoj Research Analyst Eric Smith Circulation Manager Tanaji sales@insightssuccess.com

MAY, 2020 Corporate Ofce Insights Success Media Tech LLC 555 Metro Place North, Suite 100, Dublin, OH 43017, United States Phone - (614)-602-1754 Email: info@insightssuccess.com For Subscription: www.insightssuccess.com

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I

n the quest for gender equality, we can see advancement in most sectors, even in careers still dominated by men. Regardless of the job, most of us can agree that barriers are being removed. In the late sixties and seventies, the scenario was quite different, as many careers were assigned for girls or boys. At that time, girls studied home economics and boys took industrial arts courses.

It was uncommon at the time for a woman to pursue a career that was male-specific according to the social norms. But, Ellen Voie, the Founder and President of the Women In Trucking Association (WIT), has a different story to tell. Since her childhood, Ellen was more interested in learning the hands-on skills the boys were learning. With her mother’s encouragement, she opted to take the shop class instead of home economics.

Ellen

Voie

An Entrepreneur Breaking Stereotypes

Ellen learned woodworking, welding, drafting, and auto mechanics. Title IX of the federal civil rights act had been recently adopted to create an equal level of education for both girls as well as boys. This legislation meant that girls and boys could have a level playing field when it came to school, as well as the opportunity to play in sports.

Ellen likes to relate the story about sharing the family station wagon with her older brother. When she wanted to use the car, she relied on her auto mechanics lessons to make that happen. She would disconnect the distributor cap so the car wouldn’t start for her brother and then replace it when she was ready to use the vehicle.

The Pilot to her Career In 1978, Ellen accepted a position at a steel fabricating plant in central

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Wisconsin. She started out working in the drafting department, designing the material handling equipment such as steel pallets, bins, and racking.

Continuing to break barriers, Ellen accepted a position in the traffic (shipping) department as the Assistant Traffic Manager. Although she wasn’t familiar with the trucking industry, she immediately took the challenge. The company supported her by sending her to school to obtain her training in traffic and transportation management.

She was later promoted to Traffic Manager.

In this role, Ellen was responsible for the inbound shipping of the steel materials as well as the outbound shipping of products as varied as material handling equipment, fireplaces, and jacks. From bringing the raw materials into the plants to shipping the completed products out to the customers, she managed the traffic

“

We represent all women who work in the trucking industry. Our goal is to represent YOU, our members

“

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duties.

The company also had three trucks of their own, and Ellen was in charge of hiring and managing the three drivers.

Because tariffs determined the rates, customers often tried to sway her with the promise of gifts (bribes). Staying true to the company and her own ethics was never an issue for her. But, Ellen doesn't deny that the journey was challenging.

A New Chapter in Ellen’s Life Ellen had started her career at a very young age. Later, in her twenties, she met her husband, who was a professional driver. They started their own small trucking company, and during that time, Ellen and her (then) husband started a family. While raising her children, she obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in communication.

Ellen wrote her Master’s Thesis about “The Complex Identities of Women Married to Professional Drivers.” She was asked to write about the trucking life for numerous magazines, ultimately leading to a book with her most popular articles called, Marriage In the Long Run. In 2000 Ellen was hired as the Executive Director Trucker Buddy International, a pen-pal program for professional drivers. In 2006, she was recruited by a large Midwest carrier as their manager of recruiting and retention programs.

While working at Schneider, Inc., Ellen was completing her pilot’s license and was a member of an organization for female pilots. That is when she realized there wasn’t a similar group for women in the trucking industry.

In 2007 Ellen initiated the formation of

the Women In Trucking Association.

Their goal was, and still is, to support women employed in the trucking industry. She surrounded herself with a strong team that shared her passion.

Ellen never imagined the success the group would experience in the thirteen years since its inception.

Journey with WIT The goal of WIT is simple; to increase the number of women employed in the trucking industry. From driver to board member, diversity was the challenge.

Although women are still a minority in trucking, the association has been creating positive momentum.

The Women In Trucking Image Team was created to showcase professional female drivers, safety managers, recruiters, and trainers to share their stories with p outside of the industry.

In order to monitor the increase in women employed in trucking, the association has created the WIT Index to track the numbers on an annual basis.

Envisioning the Future Ellen’s goal is to listen and then act on the information. Ellen says, We want to hear from our members, and we want to make the association better based on that feedback. An important area of focus is member value. Why do people join? The number one reason people join is for the opportunity to network and to meet other women (and men) who have a similar passion for gender diversity in the transportation industry. One interesting fact... six percent of our members said they joined because ‘Ellen motivated them’ to become a member! Regardless of their reason in joining, the Women In Trucking Association works hard to provide a voice to its members (and potential members.)

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Jerusha Govender Blazing a Trail in the Data Science World

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larissa Pinkola Estés, in her book, ‘Women who run with wolves’ quotes, “A woman must be able to stand in the face of power because ultimately some part of that power will become hers.” And in today’s world, we have witnessed some extraordinary women who have stood and fought in the face of power for what they believe is right and man, did they win? They did more than just winning, they ruled and inspired.

The time has come for the world to embrace the greatness of women leaders. Their boldness, self-confidence, intuition, integrity, compassion, and creativity are now challenging them to question conventional or social norms.

Undeniably, the rise of women leaders in this era has been due to their past pain. This pain has led them to find their purpose and they are using it, as fuel to lead changes. Here is where empathy comes in play. What women leaders do is not just for themselves, but for the minority who can become the majority. The positive legacy that they leave behind is for others to walk- in/on, inspire and take bold actions.

Alike many other women leaders, Jerusha Govender’s climb to the top was fraught with obstacles. However, what she does with her power and influence is incredible. Her journey to the top as the Founder and Managing Director of Data Innovator will teach women to change the game itself.

She believes that waiting around for others to represent your problems is of no point. And hence, when she observed that the industry did not represent or value her skills, she changed it. In spite of having an academic background in health science, Jerusha chose the less traveled road and shattered the stereotypes of women in innovation. Here’s how she did it and why, in her own words.

Redefining The Non-Traditional Career “I qualified with degrees in Biochemistry, Biotechnology and Pharmacology. But after many long and lonely days in a lab, I felt that it was not for me. I needed to do work

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closer to people and wanted to make a different contribution to society.”

“Then after completing a Masters in Public Health, I started my career as a Monitoring and Evaluation intern at a local NGO. I spent my days visiting public health facilities and tracking HIV and AIDS data.”

“I realized I loved working with data and saw the social good in using it in the right way. I continued working with other national and international development organizations for about 8 more years as an M&E professional. I worked in 6 African countries with various NGOs. In between, I experimented with ‘side gigs’ – none successful.”

“During this, I realized there was a gap not in the data but how data was used to understand and improve how organizations worked. I also found an opportunity to creatively experiment with ways of using data differently.”

“While my career progressed, I also became a mother of two children. At the end of my last employment, I was sent a letter which summed up “thank you but we will not be extending your contract” during my maternity leave and found myself unprepared for unemployed parenthood.”

“It is at this point that I chose to start Data Innovator. I used it as an opportunity to build a business that allowed me to be more creative but still work with data, and create a flexible lifestyle.”

I would like the company to be seen as a global leader in social conscious models and creative analytic services.

www.insightssuccess.com

Jerusha Govender

Founder & Managing Director Data Innovator

“ Photo Credit - Miker Turner www.insightssuccess.com

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change such as HIV/AIDS, climate change and other areas.”

“However, as we have observed the investments have barely moved the lever in real changes. This is because there is no appropriate data that documents challenges and has no entry of changes being made or not made. Even if one manages to collect the data, it is complex and hard to use.”

Photo Credit - Jayshree Govender

“Appropriate data allows influence-rs and change-makers to bring a difference. The industry has many great experts who talk technical data but few that can make real sense of it.

This is the gap that we fill at Data Innovator. We consider ourselves ‘infomediaries’, creating a bridge between data, tech and insights.”

Tenacity is the key The proverbial, “Smooth sea never makes skillful sailors” clearly states, how struggles are a part of life, but what matters the most is a never-giving up attitude. Let us hear from Jerusha, how she overcame the initial trepidations and challenges.

Changing the Industrial Dynamics What happens when we have such fierce leaders at the helm of the company? The very foundation of business gets shaken. Jerusha’s actions are resulting in major shifts in the industry and in general.

“In the industry, I am one of the few black females running such a business. It means often meeting new clients is met with unintended bias, but we deliver high quality and help shift these biased mindsets.”

“I have grown the team from a 1-woman show to a core team of 5 staff (all black and majority female) and up to 10 consultants/consultancy partners,” she quotes. It would be enthralling to see what this team of brilliant influencers will do in the future.

“I also faced challenges in finding and retaining good staff.

Few individuals bring both strong technical and creative problem-solving skills which mean that once I find them they are also sought after by other competitors. This challenged me to find new strategies to retain staff for a longer-term.”

When asked about her plans for the future, she replied, “In the future, I aim to grow a team of Data Innovator ambassadors across the globe, who scale the company in other developing countries. We are also building our online learning products to increase our product-focused revenue.”

“Introducing creative approaches such as data visualization in very traditionally technical sectors was not always welcomed. Some of our approaches go against the traditional methods, but it makes more pragmatic sense to the users. Through a lot of sensitization of our target market at conferences and online dissemination, slowly views changed and now the sectors demand creative data collection, analysis, and visualization.”

Against the Tide “Data Innovator helps organizations tell stories with data.

We do this through consultancy services in evaluation, data communication, and analytics and out Data Artistry training programs. Our work is targeted towards the development sector. In these sectors, there is a high investment in social

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Photo Credit - Miker Turner

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ust today I had a young and enthusiastic women call me up asking for advice and maybe some pointers on how to bring her vision to life. During the call I could almost see her deflating while I piled up the list of challenges that came with fundraising, developing tech products and gathering the right team. I know exactly what that feels like because I, myself, have experienced it many times before. The mountain of work that faces an entrepreneur is sheer unfathomable, and that’s probably a good thing: who knows how many companies would still be out there if the founders had known what awaited them!?

That feeling in mind, I did leave the call on an uplifting note (I hope), but what I also did was send her a list of female founder groups as well.

Having a female led and populated ecosystem that can absorb some of the pains any female entrepreneur has to face can be the difference between succeeding and giving up. I choose the words ‘giving up’ on purpose, because we can all fail, but it should be for technicalities all start-ups face, and not because we are lonely, overwhelmed and unsupported women.

From experience I have recognized three sorts of female ecosystems that are important for different challenges within the journey, each adding their own individual value, and I am grateful for each and every one of them: Ÿ

Ÿ

The Community: these groups are more motivational and empowering than having an actual impact on your business. Especially at the beginning of founding a company they are important. You get to meet other women, hear their stories, recognized that it’s not only you and make friends along the way. I think these groups are very important for your mental health, especially when your new company also means a change of lifestyle. You can meet other women and have a tea or a drink without feeling like you should be working because you ARE. Panels with talks, meetups and even workspaces distinguish these groups from strictly social events. My favourite one: Blooming Founders.

The Educators: these groups offer talks, workshops and one-on-one’s with highly successful men and women in the start-up world. Here you need to bring your pen or laptop and stay on top of what is being said because the lecturer/guest speaker will dump large amounts of wisdom on you. Sometimes there are drinks afterwards,

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Ecosystem for

Women but the emphasis is on learning from and networking with the speakers. I have made the best out of them by targeting events with speakers that could be important for my business and that I would otherwise have difficulties accessing. To my greatest sorrow many events are early morning breakfast meetings at 7 or 8, where I pretend that it’s a normal hour to be about for me. My favourite one: SheWorx Ÿ

The Platformers: These groups offer mostly awards and events. While on the surface you often don’t win anything tangible like prize money, the award itself ads huge value because it is highly respected in the field and opens doors. During the events you get to network from a privileged position which is invaluable for companies that are fundraising. It is also one of the few visible social markers that all your hard work, blood, sweat and tears has been acknowledged and rewarded - something you can show to your painfully neglected friends and family. My favourite one: TechWomen100

During the development, the fundraising and the pivot of my digital mental health company with our emotional fitness game, eQuoo, there have been multiple times that these groups were there at the right time and place, offering me support, information and a platform. Women are still vastly underrepresented in the tech world, and while the #MeToo movement has unearthed many of the people abusing their power against women, it can still be a hostile environment if you’re unlucky. And statistically speaking you will be unlucky a few times.

The VC world is slowly starting to understand that a mentally health founder is a productive one and having communities that support us is a vital ingredient to our wellbeing.

It takes a village to raise a child? Well, it takes a city to build a start-up.

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Leader’s Desk

About the Author Silja Litvin is the Psychologist, Founder and CEO of PsycApps Digital Mental Health, a company that uses AI, gamication and psychology to help people help themselves. She is a developer of the multi-award winning eQuoo – the Emotional Fitness Game.

Silja was born in Germany but moved to southern California early in her life. Exposed to many diverse cultures early in life, she developed an insatiable curiosity for the human condition leading to her pursuing a degree in psychology. During her 17 years of international modelling she began her Masters at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, graduating in Clinical Psychology and Systemic Family Therapy in 2013. Alongside her education as a Systemic Family Therapist in 2015, she began her PhD in Clinical Psychology.

A child of the digital generation, Silja was looking for ways to use apps and social media to help people suffering from mental issues. She went on to create a psychological mobile app that helps users identify and self-manage depression. With this idea, she undertook her PhD thesis, thus ensuring it to be evidence based and ethically sound.

Now she is venturing into the world of AI, gamication and chatbots to nd a way to be able to help people help themselves, launching her emotional tness game eQuoo in the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. The game has been featured in major news outlets such as Forbes and TechCrunch and she won multiple prizes with PsycApps such as THE EUROPAS Pitch Awards and Pitch@Palace on Tour.

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Silja Litvin Founder & CEO PsycApps Digital Mental Health

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Myers

‘ ‘

A Communications Expert Driving Growth Solutions

I’m a believer in the law of attraction and I like to make sure that we are putting out those things which we most want to manifest, both for ourselves and for our clients

‘ ‘

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Lindsey L

eadership consists not only of work efficiency but also effective communication and many other factors that enable a job well-done. A leader is recognized when the people operating under his/her guidance, appropriately comprehend the procedures explained, while inculcating the same when it’s time to apply the said instructions, in order to carry out their tasks. So, the important part of being a good leader is to be effective in communicating and relaying information in the most suitable and efficient manner.

Insights Success introduces one such leader, Lindsey Myers – Founder of Concrete Blonde Consulting. She founded the company in November 2016, to pursue her passion for building reputations and revenues through business development marketing strategies. The company has since been named one of the ‘Top 15 PR Agencies in New York’ by The Manifest and one of the ‘Top 10 Best PR Agencies’ by Web Surf Media.

Myers provides profit and growth solutions and thrives as a consultant. A communications expert and entrepreneur, she has over twelve years of experience serving various industries. The portfolio includes consumer products and services, tech, lifestyle, hospitality and nonprofit companies in NYC and the Hamptons

luxury market.

She graduated from Boston University with a BS in Communications and concentration in Public Relations. She began her career at WordHampton Public Relations, a firm headquartered in East Hampton, NY and ranked by Jack O’Dwyer’s as one of the country’s ‘Top 100 Independent PR firms’. In 2013, she was made a partner and was chosen to launch the company’s NYC division.

Recognized as a strategic leader, she has earned a track record for counseling clients, including Fortune 500 companies such as NAPCO Security, Inc., to increase profits, manage brand reputations and gain market share. She’s continually driven by her enterprising spirit and innate understanding of consumer influence.

She takes ownership of the business she supports and partners with clients.

Professional, confident and wellrespected by her peers, Lindsey has also been a guest lecturer at several universities including Hofstra University and Saint Joseph’s University, possessing a presence people often find unforgettable.

Her leadership and expertise have earned her numerous accolades throughout the career including; PRSA Big Apple Award, PRSA Bronze Anvil

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Lindsey Myers

Founder Concrete Blonde Consulting

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Award, eight MarCom awards, nine Fair Media Council Folio Awards, Communicator Award, SABRE Award, and an Excellence in Communications Award.

achievements that I’m the proudest of are the ways we’ve been able to score for our clients. From a game-changing feature in the New York Times for one of our hospitality clients to some of the non-profit counsel, we’ve provided to help make the world a better place.

Lindsey has shared some of her insights with us through a series of question and answers as below: What was your source of motivation? Who is your role model or the person that inspires you the most?

My motivation comes from an innate love for business and an inner drive to want to help entrepreneurs get their message out. I meet so many people who want to start a business and the most common reason they give for not pursuing their passion is a fear that they won’t be able to sell themselves. I want to help people conquer that fear!

Oprah has definitely been a role model for me. Both her ability to grow her brand and really provide value for her audience that too on a spiritual level.

Kindly make us aware of the challenges you faced to withstand the complexities of the industry.

I believe the challenges I’ve faced are not necessarily industry-specific. For me, setting boundaries, not over servicing clients and negotiating contracts have always been the aspects of my business I struggle with the most. I want to help people and balancing that with self-care and ensuring profitability is always an area where I strive to do better.

Kindly describe your company and its services/products.

Concrete Blonde Consulting is a fullservice consulting and marketing firm in NYC. We specialize in providing custom marketing solutions for profit and growth. By examining your business development pipeline, we are

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able to identify new areas for growth, while also creating strategies to amplify current opportunities. In addition, we provide a competitive media analysis, streamline marketing campaigns and build additional sources of revenue. We service various industries including consumer products and services, tech, lifestyle, hospitality, and nonprofit companies.

Brief us about the industry scenario from your perspective.

Communications is a rapidly changing field and our firm is continually transforming to harnesses the powers of both influence and interaction. We offer clients a variety of tools from third-party PR endorsements to social influencer campaigns to reach consumers and drive business.

We believe every client is unique. We partner with them to unearth their core business goals. Then we create bespoke strategic marketing plans with benchmarks to chart our progress and target our methods. We feel a sense of responsibility to our clients and we are responsive not only to their needs but also to the ever-changing world in which they operate.

State some of your company’s achievements under your leadership.

We’ve racked up numerous accolades in the past three years, but the

Kindly share with us a quote that best describes you and your company’s vision.

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou.

I am constantly checking in with myself and my soul to make sure that I am in alignment and that our firm is in alignment.

Enlighten us with your vision of the future as well as the company’s plans in the coming years. Tell us about your future goals.

I believe that the gig economy and the ability to work remotely is going to have a drastic impact on corporate culture. Combine those structural changes with the millennial focus on experiences and work/life balance and I believe the landscape of how we do business and how we work is about to change for the better. I also see more and more entrepreneurs placing importance on sustainability and a rise in conscious capitalism.

Our future goals are to continue to service our clients and also to attract entrepreneurs with similar values so we can build a network of people who utilize our services and who may also be able to service each other. I’d like our company to be an epicenter for entrepreneurs to create strategic partnerships and for us to help foster that community.

www.insightssuccess.com

The Glass Ceiling Effect: Another Perspective on Women and Leadership 24 | MAY 2020

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Expert’s Advice

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he glass ceiling is a barrier so subtle that it is transparent; yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy” ---Ann Morrison, American Author The term “Glass ceiling” can be defined as an unacknowledged upper limit in corporations and other organizations, above which it is difficult or even impossible for women to reach out to the highest ranks.“Glass ceiling” is a popular metaphor widely used for the hard-to-see informal barriers that prevents women from getting promoted or achieving further opportunities in leadership positions. The metaphor of “glass ceiling” has also been used to describe the limits and obstacles faced by racial minority groups.

“The glass ceiling is not simply a barrier for an individual, based on the person’s inability to handle a higher-level job. Rather, the glass ceiling applies to women as a group who are kept from advancing higher because they are women.”

The U.S. Department of Labor’s 1991 definition of glass ceiling is “those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions.” (Report on the Glass Ceiling Initiative.)

Job isolation: Women are offered the same kinds of job roles like staff, public relations or occasionally finance specialties that rarely lead to the more powerful management positions.

Over time, women are eventually excluded from jobs in the mainstream of business, the route taken by CEOs and presidents.

The Elements behind the Glass Ceiling: It is pretty obvious that women are facing a lot of hurdles to break through the glass ceiling and reach to the highest leadership position throughout the ages.

Preventing both women and organizations from reaching their full potential, the invisible “Glass Ceiling” denies us all of the maximal benefits of gender diversity in leadership. Some of the most common barriers are highlighted below:

Famous American actress cum author Ann Morrison defines the concept of the Glass Ceiling as:

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Old-boy Network: There are many instances when men gets the managerial powers in an organization who manages greater numbers of people, enjoys more freedom of hiring and firing, and controls the company’s assets directly while women are deprived of such authorities and powers. It is the “Oldboys” of the organization that makes all the policy; where the women are kept virtually absent.

Sex Discrimination: In a recent survey, working women were asked about the greatest obstacle they had to overcome to achieve success; “simply being a woman” was the most frequent response. In another survey by the Wall Street Journal, women leaders quoted their most serious obstacle in their business careers to be “male chauvinism, attitudes toward a female boss, slow advancement for women, and the simple fact of being a woman.” These instances are enough to prove the prevalence of sex discrimination in the workplace.

Sexual Harassment: Sexual harassment remains one of the biggest barriers for women in managerial roles. A corporate environment that tolerates sexual harassment intimidates and demoralizes women executives. Even after the adoption and enforcement of numerous laws against sexual harassment, women do not feel sufficiently encouraged and empowered to speak out for fear of compromising their work.

Benefits of Women in Leadership: Studies found that inclusion of women in business leadership has significantly improved such factors as firm value, financial performance, economic growth, innovation and social responsiveness and philanthropy.

The additional benefits of women in corporate leadership include stricter monitoring and supervision and fewer legal infractions such as fraud and embezzlement. A better balance among women in leadership positions can create a more diverse team of leaders with different perspectives and a greater ability to contribute new ideas

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and thus enhancing the profitability. The transformational leadership style often used by women tends to be a good option for contemporary organizations, as it encourages employee morale, motivation and performance.

Overcoming the Barriers: Strategies Women’s progress up the corporate ladder is still limited by the “glass ceiling” despite the myriad of Government policies and programs which have been introduced to ensure that their talents and skills are recognized and accepted.

Women can help themselves to overcome this career hurdle by: Acquiring appropriate business skills and know how; Taking up line‐management positions rather than management service roles; Gaining the necessary experience through “apprenticeship” and “acting positions”; Seeking career counseling; Volunteering for leadership and executive positions; And lastly, acquiring the ability to measure their operating effectiveness in the workplace.

An awareness of the emergence of new barriers to their progress is also worth considering. The current socio‐economic situation is creating different “glass ceilings” in the form of the downsizing of organizations, new differentiated and self‐directed career paths, the advent of the contractual worker, and the care of aged parents.

Conclusion: Since the latter half of the 20th century, women have made great paces in increasing their representation in the work force. However, a considerable gap remains in achievement of leadership positions across different fields. Renowned feminist Gloria Steinem stated it best: “Clearly no one knows what leadership has gone undiscovered in women.” It is far past time we strive to find out and finally shatter the glass ceiling.

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An Entrepreneurial Spirit Illuminating the Family Legacy

MONA YOUSUF ALMOAYYED

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Working along with the growth trajectory of Bahrain and contributing to its rapid expansion is a company called Y.K. Almoayyed and Sons. The firm initiated its operations in 1940 when the Founder, Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed opened his first shop at Tijjar Road. A one-man trading outlet in Manana’s main market has now turned out to be a multifaceted organization. Today, the company represents prestigious international brands that include Nissan, Infiniti, Ford, Renault, Toshiba, Sony, Bose, and Kodak, etc. Yousuf Khalil Almoayyed and Sons have big aspirations and continue to prosper and grow exponentially.

The company’s aim is to encourage more Bahrainis to join the organization so that they can prosper and grow together.

Y. K. Almoayyed and Sons are fortunate to have found some impressive young Bahraini nationals through their training program who can add value to the company in the future. Management remains in close touch with employees at all levels. Female rights are supported, and job promotions are made irrespective of background or gender in the firm.

Being a multi-faceted and service-oriented company in the industry, the directors of this mercantile organization ensure that its team works hard to adapt as per the needs and challenges of the 21st century. It allows Y.K. Almoayyed to further develop with commercial vision and integrity. “We have achieved much of what my father wanted over recent years and are proud at having settled this impressive enterprise at the top of everything we have aimed for,” says the Managing Director of the firm Mona Yousuf Almoayyed.

The Story Extraordinaire Mona was born in Manama, Bahrain and went to a government school for education as there were no private schools around that time in the country. The government facilitated free schooling for all the children there which

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proved to be beneficial for her as she liked mixing with different Bahrainis. After completing secondary school, Mona’s father insisted that she finishes her education in England as there were no Universities back then in Bahrain.

She felt lucky enough to go on her own to the boarding school in England because she made a lot of new friends from different nationalities. “I studied Business Administration and graduated in 1974,” shares Mona.

After graduation, she entered the family business as a part of its furniture division. Mona’s frequent visits to furniture shows across Europe and the US enabled her to improve the furniture collection of the company. In the early 90s, she got promoted to the automobile business domain of the company. Her turning point in life was when her father, Yousuf passed away and she had to handle the mantle of the Managing Director.

“

“My father was the biggest influence in my life and in the

Healthy and engaged employees are your top competitive advantage.

Take care of your employees, and they will take care of your business.

It’s as simple as that

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B

ahrain over the past few years has grown due to its liberal economic policies and the clear roadmap which aims to achieve prosperity for the society. Its economy continued the upward growth trajectory in 2018, with a real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimated at 1.8%. The country concluded the year with pronounced accelerations in headline growth, with its Q4 2018 real GDP estimated at 4.6%. This healthy growth pace continued into 2019 and showed no signs of slowing down.

In fact, the Bahraini economy is projected to grow by 2.3% in 2019 and 2.7% in 2020.

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business as well,” reminisces Mona. She was fond of her father’s negotiation skills and liked his character a lot. “At times, he was very tough, but at the same time he was very honest,” she further recalls. Yousuf considered a firm handshake as a binding contract of a signed agreement which inspired Mona a lot. He also used to settle his debts without any delays which helped Mona in realizing the power and responsibility of commitment. Even though her father was a very busy man, he was a loving and caring person. “One of my happiest childhood memories was when my father took us to Lebanon on holiday in 1957 and it was my first trip abroad,” describes Mona joyfully.

From her mother, Mona learned that family values are also an integral part of life. “My mother’s generosity and care for the poor and the needy has taught me my first lesson towards charity work and the society,” states Mona. Her mother was a perfect housewife. She used to cook, clean and stitch Mona and her siblings’ clothes while taking good care of the whole family at the same time.

Business Dynamics It was not easy at the beginning for Mona. “We are talking about women in the 70s. People don’t expect you to rise above basic jobs like operator and accountant,” she informs. It was very hard for her, especially when her

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children were young. She remembers missing a few important meetings during those times but her father and the whole family supported her decisions. They realized and recognized that being a woman, Mona had additional responsibilities. Once the children were old enough to take care of themselves, she placed extra efforts in strengthening the business. She had to work hard in order to gain the confidence of the customers and employees at the automobile division. “In business, there are many obstacles and losses, it is not a smooth ride all the way,” explains Mona.

As the company is approaching the third-generation era, Mona is planning to update the policies and procedures along with bringing in the expertise of professional management. Family members are involved only on the board level. “We have appointed a consultant to meet all members of the 2nd and 3rd generation and come up with corporate governance principles and review our family constitution,” says Mona. She wants to protect the family business and wants to retain it for many generations to come. “We are continuing to improve our business in Bahrain in different sectors and are now concentrating on consolidation,” shares Mona. She has introduced a lot of measures to make the business more efficient.

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The Fuss about AI I

have been a strong advocate of conversational technology (VoiceTech/NLP) and AI and have pitched for it in various conferences, Guest Lectures at leading business institutes and to corporates and I am often being asked what will happen to our jobs? So this is true that Artificial intelligence seems like a big untameable monsters to most, and everyone is little anxious about future.

And that could be true sitting in 2010, but past few years new old research and young progressive companies and devision of enterprises are willing to make it their sole purpose that the infuse digital transformation in their company and provide assistance to others. But, with the prevailing reputation that comes at a cost of educating everyone, really everyone.

They see it as a risk and any have burnt their hands trying to tame novice early stage AI models. But thats fine, thats how we grow. I believe that we are intellectual beings with curious minds, why would we want to do repeatable jobs which machines can do with greater efficiency. We can delegate these chores and teach the machines to help us better and imitate human decision making, innovate at personal level and “Democratise Artificial Intelligence”.

Democratising AI through platforms for like voice technology - Natural Language processing so the technical algorithms can stay with specific user base while use of the AI algorithms can be made as simple as conversing with machines. Thats a sure shot way to upskilling resources for example: Team of Analysts can train dashboards and Business Intelligence tools to map business KPIs and generate Compelling Business Stories and Insights in natural language for everyone in the organisation to benefit from, and then keep building the training over it through machine learning. We are personally running trials with Fortune 50 companies on this, so when I say you need to

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start looking at ways to incorporate new technologies I mean it.

For enterprises there are certain imminent crisis that demand that they change rapidly and market is not at all as forgiving as it was a few decades back, someone is constantly rooting for you to make a mistake.This is leading enterprise to transform under the integrated environment of Digital Transformation.

Voice Technology has lately become a stable AI process and would completely change the way we interact with technology in the future. Visualization will remain at the heart of it however with conversational technology, we can expect a shift to more verbal ads, like radio, but more personalized and actionable, but still to make a decision on which product to buy you would want to see it visually.

Also search will become more specific and hyperlocal, where we will be prompted to give verbal feedbacks, that would amount to popularity of products and places, how it happens with mobile applications today.

Siri, Cortana, Alexa have brought conversation technology to people for some time now. They come bundled up with smart phones and can be used to do basic searches, to look up certain things, cue up songs etc. Speech technology has come much further than that. With its advancement we can now control our oven, tv and other house hold devices, can search complex data from cloud or can make phone calls for ourselves. It can change the way we function in our daily lives, our time with our family, services we receive and the jobs we do. It can eliminate learning curve of devices, repeatable chores, and compiling excel sheets. And it will not happen eventually, it’s happening now.

Developers will innovate to create more audio centric user interface, there will be discovery period for them to find out how to minimally prompt user to give inputs and implement

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Expert Talks

About the Author Preksha Kaparwan is the Co-founder, CMO, V.UX Designer of Realbox.AI .

The versatile IHM Pusa graduate initially served as the chef but got inclined towards technology and business analytics and founded RealBox in 2015.

Within three years of its inception, they have raised $300k for Realbox and, their customers include fortune 50 and big 4 enterprises. As a thought leader she has been part of TEDTalk talk shows. She was awarded 'The sparks 2018' by your story for tech services for her exceptional contribution as a Tech Evangelist.

voice modulated visual commands. We can see speech approaching a point where it would become so reliable that we can just use it, like how we do it with other humans, and not even think about it.

Preksha Kaparwan Co-founder & CMO RealBox Data Analytics Private Limited

I am personally inspired to bring acceptance for conversational technology globally and I believe that the real success for this would not be when big corporations and industries would be using it but when every small and medium business and every household would be using it and help us to get a hold of our receding grip on reality from visually attractive and distracting screens on our tv, on out laptops and our smart phones.

We have seen this kind of a shift with automated technologies and processes which has led to reduced laborious work, efficiency increased and averted accidents. Smart phones brought technologies closer to the end user. So, I took side with Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning technologies, that will aid seamlessly while co-existing in our realities. And impact is not just on us in our personal capacity but for businesses too and professionals who spend endless nights collating data and make pretty ppts to show to the bosses.

I believe that spreading the word on changing technological demography is not our responsibility or our burden. But you know why I make it my purpose??

Because it is a major step in evolution of technology and I know we need to harness it, shape it now, before someone else does it for you.

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Nicole Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of NRPR Group, Inc.

Nicole Rodrigues Transforming the Public Relation Industry with Sedulousness

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WO EN

THE 2020'S MOST

INFLUENTIAL

TO WATCH

s With a ie c y drive to n r ge ve se to pursue a career a e u r in Public Relations s . e av ca nt m h since childhood, she ot e h s be clie tea has made her mark in this industry. Through her NRPR om se w lve ing ible r f Group, Nicole continues to serve t e t cau rs xis oss her clients and help them maintain a n e be ou e t p r positive image in their respective d fi fe try for an bes industries. d is dus ards tive the Her Journey R in d ec g P R e n p in Nicole believes that Public relations was tailor-made N th sta ros ett n for her and meant to be her career. In her junior high and i gh t p e g i high school, Nicole campaigned for and held leadership h an y'r offices.

She participated in and won marketing e w h competitions.

When asked about choosing a career in PR, e w el t Nicole said, “I wanted to find a career that involved public o fe perception development, writing, event planning, and more.

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sustain and thrive in today’s competitive market, every company needs to have a positive image. Thus, organizations across all industries seek out PR (Public Relations) professionals who strive to build and maintain a positive image for the company as a brand. PR professionals focus on building solid relationships with influencers so that they will share information that conveys the right image for the company.

Unfortunately, there are some Public Relations agencies that engage in cookie-cutter pitching to media professionals who do not cover or care about their client or the industry which is being pitched. This doesn’t help the companies to get the exposure they desire and can ruin their brand image in the long term. Hence, Nicole Rodrigues, Founder and CEO of NRPR Group, Inc., sets a high standard for professionalism and quality for agencies and their CEOs. Nicole is transforming the PR industry in order to maintain a reputation of credibility and expertise.

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Thankfully, my college journalism professor saw my interest and potential and encouraged me to check out Public Relations courses. The minute I did I was hooked.”

Nicole’s first professional job was at an enterprise software company. She decided to leave tech to pursue an internship with the Oakland Raiders, which is where she learned consumer, sports and entertainment PR strategy. After that, she worked in a few different roles, including an in-house PR manager role at MOBITV, and Senior PR Manager at Voce Communications until recruited by Demand Media as a Director of consumer marketing. Nicole served as the VP of digital entertainment at Bender/Helper. In 2014, she left Bender/Helper to start NRPR Group.

Her Source of Inspiration Nicole’s mother has always been her biggest source of motivation. She acted as her strongest pillar and inspired Nicole to take charge of her life. “I was born when she was 16, but she never let being a mother get in the way of getting what she wanted. She’s been a business owner since I was young and her go-getter personality is always something I try to emulate. My mother always told me that I could do or have anything I wanted as long as I was willing to work for it. I was the first in the family to graduate college and worked hard in high school to earn

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About NRPR

scholarships. I held three jobs during college to pay for my education,” Nicole asserts.

Triumph over Adversities

NRPR is an award-winning, exclusive Public Relations and Marketing Agency which serves game changers and disruptors around the world.

Headquartered in beautiful Beverly Hills, California, with other team members in the San Francisco Bay Area, New York, and Las Vegas, the agency is staffed by exceptional writers, communicators, thinkers, and doers who understand the value of relationships.

NRPR supports its clients, friends and media who are passionate about their respective mission by creating lasting relationships that produce ongoing buzz and recognition. From startups to Fortune 500 companies within consumer tech, fintech, healthtech, enterprise, mobile, digital entertainment, lifestyle, sports, and consumer products industries, NRPR delivers its state-of-the-art services that positively impact its client’s bottom lines.

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When asked about how she developed the courage to overcome the obstacles in her life, Nicole notes, “The biggest challenge came when I was criticized early in my career for being an upbeat woman who just so happens to dress well and take care of herself. The criticism came primarily from women. Also, early in my career, I was told by men that I was ‘too pretty to be smart.’ These challenges propelled me to bring my A-game to meetings because I wanted to be taken seriously by negative women and sexist men who thought I could not succeed.”

Always Get Back Up Nicole states that Rocky Balboa the movie character has had quite an impact on her entrepreneurial journey. One of the favorite quotes from the movie: “It doesn’t matter how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward... That’s how winning is done.” - Sylvester Stallone (Rocky Balboa), inspired her to keep on moving forward. She says, “It reminds me not to make excuses. Just keep going! As a business leader, things do not always go as expected whether the issue is employee-, client-, budget- or business climate-related, the failure is not in the errors made or the change in circumstance, but lies in the failure of not learning from one’s mistakes or worse yet, dwelling on them, allowing mistakes to make us feel bad about ourselves and our successes. Instead, we need to take the hit, evaluate if anything could have been done differently, and do better next time.”

A Promising Future NRPR continues to set the example for what PR agencies of the future should be. The agency’s newest division, opened in January 2020, NRPR Productions, offers clients a full-service production company, which will be an added benefit for them. Nicole positions her agency as one that develops new tools that will keep the agency ahead of the curve in what it can offer. Under Nicole’s exemplary leadership, the agency will continue to work with clients to extend their visibility and bring their stories to life.

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8

Insights’ Special

Most

E ective

LEADERSHIP ERSHIP Styles for

Organizational

SUCCESS A

n effective leader is the first and foremost condition for a successful business. The hugely successful leaders adopt a combination of multiple leadership styles or just one selective

style.

As a fluid practice, leadership is always changing and improving the way the company grows. There are different types of leadership styles exist in a work environment. The culture and vision of an organization determine which one is the most suitable style.

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8 MOST EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STYLES

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP Inspires the staff through effective communication and collaboration

01

INFO GRAPHIC DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP welcomes views & suggestions from the employees

03

02

LAISSEZ-FAIRE LEADERSHIP allows the employees to make their own decisions

TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP establishes a clear chain of command implementing a carrot & stick approach to management activities

04

AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

05

have significant control over the staff, seldom considers any suggestions from staff

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

06

encourages collective decision-making

07

BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP follows a strict set of rules and policies

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP charms the staff with individual charisma

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08 2020 MAY | 41

TYPES OF LEADERSHIP STYLE 01

TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP

One of the most effective leadership styles is the transformational leadership style.

Transformational leaders inspire their staff through effective communication and collaboration and thus initiating the path to success. They set challenging goals and higher expectation from each employee eventually achieving a greater result.

These individuals are often blue-sky thinkers. For the successful implementation of their strategic visions, the organization might need more detailoriented managers.

03

LAISSEZ-FAIRE LEADERSHIP

The term ‘laissez-faire’ literally means ‘let them do' in French. In leadership, this is typically translated to ‘let it be’. In this leadership style, the leader allows the employees to make decisions. Laissezfaire leaders are known for their hands-off approach which is often criticized for poor role definition for managers.

Such leadership style is effective in creative jobs and workplaces with experienced employees.

However, active monitoring of performance and effective communication regarding the expectation from the leader’s end is must to get the most out of this style of leadership.

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02

DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP

Democratic leadership is another highly effective leadership style. Often known as Participative leadership, in this style the leaders often ask help and collaboration from their subordinates.

This leadership usually reports higher levels of job satisfaction and the company can benefit from individualistic creativity. However, this style involves more than one individual in the decisionmaking process which makes the process slower.

04

TRANSACTIONAL LEADERSHIP

Transactional leadership is basically focused on group organization, establishing a clear chain of command and implementing a carrot-and- stick approach to management activities. According to Boundless.com, transactional leadership includes: clarifying what is expected of followers’ performance; explaining how to meet such expectations; and allocating rewards that are contingent on meeting objectives.

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05

AUTOCRATIC LEADERSHIP As the name suggests, the autocratic leadership style is the extreme version of transactional leadership.

Autocratic or authoritative leaders take control of the staff and rarely accept or consider employees’views or suggestions. Ruling with an iron fist is rarely appreciated by staff, which can lead to high turnover and absenteeism.

Autocratic work environment rarely has any flexibility.

07

BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP

Bureaucratic leadership models are most suitable for highly regulated or administrative environments, where adherence to the rules and a defined hierarchy are important. In this leadership style, the leaders set a strict set of rules, regulations, and policies which they follow precisely, and they expect their teams to follow the line.

06

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

Strategic leadership is a commonly effective leadership style. This leadership style involves a leader who is essentially the highest authority of the organization. Strategic leaders are not, however, limited to the top authority of the company. They include a wider audience at all levels who want to create a high- performance life, team or organization. This is because of this approach this is one of the most desirable styles of leadership.

08

CHARISMATIC LEADERSHIP

A tinge of resemblance is evident in both charismatic and transformational leadership. Both the leadership styles rely heavily on the positive charm and personality of the leader.

However, this style of leadership is seldom considered to be effective because the success of projects and initiatives are closely linked to the presence of the leader

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2020 MAY | 43

WO EN

THE 2020'S MOST

INFLUENTIAL

TO WATCH

Stacey Brewer

Co-founder & CEO SPARK Schools

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Stacey Brewer

An Endeavor Entrepreneur with a Humanitarian Approach

E

ducation plays a vital role in building a nation’s economy. It is of paramount importance that a country makes quality education one of its top priorities. Quality education is not the sole responsibility of the nation. Every individual should proactively engage in obtaining and facilitating at least basic education in order to grow as a responsible citizen.

On an individual level, there are a lot of things that can be done to figure out the lacking points in the education system of a country and take essential steps to countermeasure the limitations and come up with viable solutions. While inculcating valid methods, factors like affordable and voluntarily accessible education also need to be taken into account as the requirement of both is crucial for an economy’s growth. The socio-economic gap in the society of a particular country also determines its strength and stability in terms of literacy and a skill-based workforce.

Hence, again the individual efforts by every person on a micro-level of every stratum of the society narrowed down to a community also count as a successful approach towards education.

One such person working with this approach in the most humanitarian way is Stacey Brewer, Co-founder and CEO of SPARK Schools. She has a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Kinetics, Ergonomics and Organizational Psychology from Rhodes University. She also obtained an MBA in Entrepreneurship cum laude from the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). At GIBS, she channelled her passion for education into her thesis. The thesis was focused on a sustainable financial model for economical private schools in South Africa. This research served as the foundation for the establishment of SPARK Schools.

It is a network of low-cost schools operating in South Africa. “We launched our first school in January 2013 with 160 children and 20 staff members,” says Stacey. Currently,

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it operates 21 schools, educates over 13000 children, and employs more than 1200 staff members altogether. “We aim to continue to open schools across the country,” she further adds.

She is one of the leading supporters of high-impact entrepreneurs around the world. Stacey is recognized and awarded a myriad of accolades. Here are a few of the mentions: 1. ELLE Boss 2015 2. Mail and Guardian Top 200 South Africans in 2014 3. Glamour Business Women of the Year 2019 She is also a Mandela Washington Fellow 2015 (Barack Obama’s Flagship Fellowship) and a Tutu Fellow too.

Tackling the Struggles As an entrepreneur, Stacey’s journey has had many challenges while building the business. To raise angel investment or seed capital in South Africa was quite a challenge for her, as the country is very risk-averse. “In our early stages as a start-up, it took some very progressive angel investors to invest in SPARK Schools,” shares Stacey.

People’s views and opinions on becoming an entrepreneur were not very appreciative or kind. “I often received feedback from people asking if I was starting a company because I could not find a real job,” explains Stacey. Also, looking for a team to join a start-up is a big challenge as per her experience. Most people find it safe to work for the big brands of the corporates rather than joining an organization where it is riskier at the early stages.

As one builds and grows a company, there are a huge amount of challenges and complexities along the way.

There is a large focus on personal development to become a more effective and stronger professional. “This was the hardest, but the best thing that I have ever done, it is

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“

“

As you let your own light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same

essential to work with strong and committed team members as well as have a strong support system at home,” Stacey opines.

To face these challenges head-on, her source of motivation has always been solving big problems and do things that no one else wants to do. “I have a great sense of responsibility in creating a better South Africa and I am currently aimed at doing this in the education sector in South Africa,” adds Stacey.

The country spends most of its budget and GDP on education and yet it is not ranked up to the mark across different competitiveness reports. Still, education in South Africa is in a dire situation. In the most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) assessment, it stated that 78% of the Grade 4 students cannot read for meaning which is very disheartening. “At SPARK, we have an opportunity to change this and ensure that we can provide access to a high-quality education that is affordable to the country,” describes Stacey.

Ode to a Sparkling Future SPARK schools offer to learn from Grade R to Grade 7 and recently opened its first high school, and welcomed its first Grade8 class, in January 2019. Its innovative blended learning model, globally competitive curriculum, and focus on core values along with social-emotional learning traits enable the network to lead the South African education sector. “SPARK scholars are persistent, responsible achievers who seek to better their country through service,” shares Stacey.

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The school was invited to the Skoll World Forum 2013 to present alongside Salman Khan (Khan Academy), Sandy Speicher (IDEO) and Debra Dunn (Stanford University) on the panel, Blended Learning: The Proof and the Promise.

Other awards and accolades received by SPARK Schools are: 1. 2016 All Africa Business Leader Award (AABLA) Innovator of the Year 2. 2017 EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women 3. 2019 Glamour Women of the Year (Business Category) The vision of SPARK Schools is for South Africa to lead Global Education. Its aim is to transform the education sector in South Africa which will provide all children with an opportunity to access high-quality education. The school strives to help South Africa become a leading global player in delivering innovative learning models that facilitates great student achievement and is more cost-effective than a traditional model. “Our next big goal is to open another 28 schools over 5 years starting from 2021. We aim to operate 49 schools by 2024 and will be educating over 30000 children,” concludes Stacey.

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