The 10 Most Influential Business Women Revamping The Future

www.primeview.co | June 2021

The

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Most Influential

Women Revamping the Future

Yogita Tulsiani Yogita Tulsiani iXceed Solutions (DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER)

EDITOR’S NOTE

Women are Paving the way for a New Style of Leadership With the constant development in the startup ecosystem, more and more women are chasing the entrepreneurial dream and succeeding in their ventures. Women leadership in todays world has been on a rising graph in the recent years. In this day and age, we can proudly say that women leadership is not an obscure concept any longer.

Women are in the news every day, ruling all segments of industry and all facets of life. Successful women leaders and subject matter experts who have created a very strong knowledge pool are helping innovators to shape ideas into reality.

With a set of strengths and professional code of conduct that women are very well suited for, organizations are actively seeking women for leadership roles and female entrepreneurs are starting businesses at a faster rate than any other time in the past. Several organizations too are enabling women to grow and flourish in both their professional and personal lives, enabling them to thrive on their own path, based on their own professional and personal priorities. Their expertise and thought leadership are fueling organizations' impressive success. In a country like India where most of the women aren't encouraged to think big, there are some who have soared higher than one would expect from a constrictive setup.

These wonder women are inspiring other ladies to venture on the path of startups through the stories of their personal struggles and challenges. Our current edition speaks of such inspiring stories of women entrepreneurs who are disabling the think-leader-think-male norm and touching the sky. The number of female founders shining in our country will only rise, and we could not be prouder of our women.

Do share your thoughts with us.

Prime View Magazine editor@primeview.co

The 10 Most Influential Business Women Revamping the Future

SONAL K

STEVE R DAVID S

DNYANESH K , JOHNSON J.

SAM K.

RICHARD D.

Alex S. , ANJALI G.

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YOGITA TULSIANI iXceed Solutions DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER

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CONTENTS

PROFILES

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20 Manju Mastakar

May Yap

Armstrong capital & Financial Services Founder & MD

LHT Holdings CEO and Managing Director

28 Marina Tognetti mYngle CEO

Ana Aldea Datasocial Founder

ARTICLES

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36 Shilpa Mittal Ulatus CEO

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DIRECTOR & CO-FOUNDER

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Passionate, innovative, intelligent, and self-made business leader, Yogita Tulsiani has navigated through an enriching journey in business development and consulting across various industries in the UK, USA, Europe, and APAC. Her repertoire includes clientele in the Financial Services, Telecom, Retail, Information Technology, and Learning industries like Genpact Headstrong and HP. An alumna of the prestigious Indian School of Business (ISB, Hyderabad), Yogita did her MBA from here and pursued engineering from the Delhi Institute of Technology, (now called NSIT). Marked by her single-minded quest for success and achievement, she is successfully leading IXCEED as the Director and taking it to the higher latitude.

A GLIMPSE OF IXCEED SOLUTIONS iXceed Solution is a well-established end–to–end Talent, Enterprise Services and Digital solutions provider to fortune 500 companies globally. The company has reinforced its position as a European Talent Solutions provider in the Digital Transformation space. Their primary focus is providing end to end Talent, Digital and Enterprise Solutions in Technology, IT Consulting, Engineering Consulting domains across a variety of industries. Some of the major services they offer: • Talent Services • End to end recruitment solutions • Managed Talent Solutions • Digital • Enterprise Services

iXceed invests in digital technologies such as AI ( Sniper AI : Sniper AI – Recruitment Smart) , ML, Chatbots, and so on.

WHAT INSPIRED YOGITA TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR? Yogita always wanted to work for herself

They also offer scalable and comprehensive • She likes creativity, freedom and wants to explore RPO solutions to their clients new things.

Ixceed’s clientele includes Oracle, TATA consultancy Services, Asentech, HCL, Infosys, NIIT, Rolta, Shuttl, ITC Limited, L&T Infotech to name a few. Customer centricity is at the core of the business here. They understand customer’s requirements/pain areas/gain areas thoroughly and tweak solutions as per their needs. They are highly responsive and deliver services with completely transparency & integrity.

• Love challenges that come with entrepreneurship and the joy of success is much more.

• Create value to the ecosystem, generate employment and touch people’s lives positively.

She chose entrepreneurship because she always wanted to make an impact. She has always been intrigued by entrepreneurship and read the success stories of lot of successful entrepreneurs.

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HICCUPS ON THE WAY Every company has to face numerous challenges while building its reputation. Similarly, IXCEED has been confronting challenges such as managing global delivery and operations in different geographies in different time zones. The company has to stay ahead of other competitors and focus on adapting the latest technology to gain a competitive edge. Moreover, no organization has been left untouched by the impact of Covid-19 today.

Not only the organization, but the industry sectors have also been badly hit. Businesses are facing the wrath of the pandemic, and HR cannot stay unaffected as in an organizational ecosystem, everything is interconnected and interdependent. Maintaining the culture of the organization, acquiring and retaining talent, engaging a remote workforce, rising work from home culture, to name a few, have become pain points for HR professionals today.

JOURNEY TO BECOMING A DYNAMIC LEADER Wanted to create value for the Human ecosystem, generate employment and touch people live positively!

One challenge Yogita encountered was the fact that she did not really have a background in the recruitment industry nor did she know the business dynamics but she still chose this path as she wanted to make a difference in society.

She started her journey in this industry because of the gaps and issues she observed. She realized that technology is reshaping the economy since major players in every industry bank heavily on technology, for not only automation, but also to introduce process efficiencies and create innovations. There was a massive gap in the technology skill market. People were not getting the right jobs as per their skillset and ability. Witnessing such a state of affairs, she decided to create valuable relationships for clients and candidates by providing efficient talent solutions.

She draws a lot of inspiration from Indira Nooyi as she is her role model. Also, Her mother has been her greatest source of inspiration. Her mother had faced a lot of hardships in life in bringing them up due to the circumstances they were in. She always motivated her to be strong, believe in herself ourselves and her hard work and leave the rest to God. She taught Yogita to work relentlessly towards her goals.

A DAY IN YOGITA’S LIFE “I get up at 6 am. I work out for an hour 6.30-7.30 am. Post that I help kids get ready for school. Work starts at 8 am. The entire day is generally jampacked with calls, meetings and other activities. The office closes at 5.30 PM. I try to wind up my work by 8 pm to spend time with the kids. We eat dinner together around 7.30 pm and sleep by 10 pm. In between either I try to play with my kids, discuss their school or sometimes work stretches so I do that. Sometimes I work after my kids sleep (post 9.30 pm) for a few more hours,” shared Yogita.

“A little introspection goes a long way. At the end of every day, I spend to spend a little time reflecting on the day, how it went? Every Friday, I have a movie night with my little daughter in our home cinema where we watch one of her favourite movies. I try to keep work off on weekends, though sometimes I have to work on weekends. I try to catch up with friends & family as much as possible. I love doing Painting, Sewing patterns & designs on cloth, playing badminton, reading a specific genre of books”, she further added.

FUTURE OUTLOOK While talking about future plans, Yogita shared, “For the next 2 years, we have ambitious plans for IXCEED. We plan to expand in new geographies – the Middle East and the US as well as to enhance the growth of new service lines around Identity & Access Management , SAP Services, Data Analytics. Furthermore , expand the already established footpints in APAC–

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a) They are also focusing on creating a better ecosystem for employees to boost their growth and add value to them. b) There has been a steady revenue growth of 40% YOY and they aspire to become the employer of choice across Europe, India and other parts of APAC. To conclude, it intends to grow its global customer base. c) Expand footprints in the US , Middle East & expand more in the Asia Pacific. They recently started working in South-East Asian and Middle East markets as well

AWARDS AND MILESTONES • iXceed’s Director was awarded the ‘Outstanding Achievement Award’ amongst the ‘Top Finalist Super Women of 2021’ in DIGILIVE Women’s Award show 2021.

• iXceed featured amongst the - Top 5 HR Tech startups empowering talent recruitment with the help of technology- by Silicon India.

• iXceed ranked no. 1 amongst the leading 5 HR Tech Startups empowering talent recruitment with the help of technology, featured by - India Today.

• The Director was awarded -The Black Swan award for Women Empowerment - by Asia One- in Dec 2020.

• The Co-Founder was awarded the - Top 100 Digital Influencers 2020 globally’ by ‘Yourstory Media’.

• iXceed was recognized as – The Greatest Brands & Leaders Asia & GCC -2020 -2021 by AsiaOne.

• iXceed won – The Top 10 Most Trusted HR Solution Provider 2020 by Business Connect

WORD OF ADVICE FOR FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS There is no age to be an entrepreneur. You are never no too old or no too young to pursue your dreams. All you have to believe in your dreams and do whatever it takes to make it happen. Believing in yourself, when everybody thinks otherwise is the most important thing. This is what exactly Yogita believes in.

• Try to manage time effectively, plan, and make realistic schedules for the day. Try to achieve as much as you can from that daily target to avoid carrying it over to the next day.

• Delegate responsibilities and trust people’s capabilities Learn not to be a perfectionist because that’s not possible.

Don’t try to do everything to perfection because it will end up burning you out.

• It’s ok not to know things; life is a constant learning journey.

• Spend time with and on yourself – planning, skillbuilding, introspection

FAVOURITE BOOKS Inspirational book: Be Excellent at Anything – Tony Schwarz & Jean Gomes Others – - Only Love is Real – Dr Brain Weiss - Through Time Into Healing – Dr Brian Weiss

• The Director was recognized as – one of the 10 Most Innovative Entrepreneurs of the World in 2020, by ‘The Leaders Globe’ • The Co-Founder was awarded the – HR Consultant of the year 2020 - by InspireZones and was featured on the cover of their magazine.

• iXceed was recognized as one of the top 25 Global brands to watch in 2020- By Business Connect • iXceed was recognized as – The Most Disruptive Companiesat the Forefront of Innovation 2020by Business Sight

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A Visionary Entrepreneur, May Yap is Taking Timber Industry to New Heights

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ay Yap, Chairwoman, CEO and Managing Director at LHT Holdings,is a visionary with strong business acumen and entrepreneurship skills. Before this venture, May Yap worked in various roles as admin clerk, Executive Director, Sales Director and Managing Director.

In academics, May holds a Diploma in Sales and Marketing from the Marketing Institute of Singapore and has successfully completed the Operation Management Innovation (OMNI) programmer conducted by A*Star in 2011. She is also a member of the Singapore Institute of Director.

LHT Holdings Limited has been in the timber industry for more than 20 years. Established in 1977, LHT has grown to be a leader in the industry with an annual turnover of more than S$30,000,000 and is also one of the largest manufacturing companies of high-quality wooden pallets, boxes and crates in Singapore.

As part of its ongoing efforts to reduce waste and to protect the precious timber resources of the earth, LHT has established Singapore's first wood wastes recycling plant equipped with a highly automated system from Germany to produce a series of Technical Wood products. With the high technology involved, the products have the advantage of being consistent in colour, texture and high density. Wood cracks, mould and insect attacks are prevented through a strict process of treatment and drying. The products are therefore ideal for furniture, building material and heavy-duty industrial usage.

Products & Services A. Technical Wood, an engineered compressed wood made of original tropical hardwood fibres that undergo a high-pressure and high-temperature steaming process.

A “new wood” that substitutes natural wood that is made from wood waste material.

B. The Innovative Process Product Conversion (IPPC) Pallets series is fast gaining a strong foothold in the arena of green products that are designed and produced to reduce carbon footprints. The pest-free pallets provide innovative packaging solutions that help customers reduce waste, thereby contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions

C. ECR Leasing Pallet; the "Efficient Consumer Response or ECR is a strategy to improve consumer choice, satisfaction and service and at the same, reduce total costs, inventories and physical assets. ECR requires distributors and suppliers to focus jointly on the efficiency of the total grocery chain, rather than the efficiency of individual components". A four-way 1M by 1.2M standard size conformed to the international standard ISO 6780 “General Purpose Flat Pallets for Through Transit of Goods Principle Dimensions & Tolerances” D. Industrial Packing; by providing services and solutions to customer with large machinery, unique design shape that requires special care and the packaging that starts from a commercial sales point and arrives at the consumer as a sales unit, that is used to deliver goods from producer to consumer.

"We are always conscious of our role in the conservation of natural resources" E. RFID Technology; As a pioneer in RFID technology since 2006, the RFID pallets were mainly used on RFID ASRS warehouses and our own ECR pallet leasing. RFID is a technology tool and it’s not meant to eliminate or replace “anyone”. It creates a convenient and better job environment. It enhances your productivity by eliminating all unnecessary manpower wastage on information retrieval for customers’ verification documentation, providing accuracy, control and efficiency for your business.

Enhance efficiency for right goods delivery to the right location, right condition, right customers and the right time.

F. Our green journey in recycling wood waste to “Technical Wood” and waste management.

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a. Technical Wood is the raw material and bio-products that used to make into furniture component for Greenflo Doors (fire-rated) and flooring strip

sustainability provided our associates, customers, partners, stakeholders, shareholders and friends recognized the team efforts, its goal and the company stability. Overtime, the project staff involved learned and applied on the digital transformation journey.

G. Wood Plastic composite (WPC) is our new area in R&D that uses wood wastes and plastic wastes in Inspiration in Life combination to form or develop more greener products.

Daily Routine & Hobbies “I usually wake up at 6.00am to go for a neighbourhood breeze walk for an hour, after that I start my daily routine talking and playing with my two lovely pets. On week day I sleep early at about 12.00am, if it is weekend I sleep around 1 to 2 am. My hobbies are keeping pets, and gardening. I also love browsing YouTube to view certain positive thinking topics and brainstorming human behavior”, said May Yap.

May Yap shared, “My mum was my role model. She is the only person who influenced me was my mother, even though she had little education or none. She was the only person who looked after eight children. She can single-handedly build a chicken and duck farm, and a vegetable farm. She was a tough woman, even the weather was never her corcern.

She spoke little but her actions were great which reminded me of the statement “Action speaks louder than words”. She was perseverant, determined, with a never-say-never attitude. My mother works better than any man does, and the money she earned from the farming was used to pay for our siblings’ school fees and our daily needs.

With her influence I believed I would be able to make it except I need self discipline and do everything that needs very determination and perseverance with a never dead attitude.”

"Recycling is one of many efforts that reflect our commitment towards mitigating climate change and deforestation"

Clientele & Hurdles on the Way The 500 fortune companies or organisations in the Petrol Chemical, Pharmaceutical , Logistic /Supply Chain Management, warehouses, Electronics and Clean Tech sector are the key customers.

As a traditional wood pallet manufacturer, May Yap saw little changes in the timber industry over the years. But today the world has changed to Digital Technology Transformation where “pen & rulers”will be phasing out.

At LHT, they face many challenges. Besides innovative products, they are facing new generation gaps where it is hard to find workers and staff entering timber trade.

Fortunately, the government provides funds to cope with digital transformation. They took the opportunities to collaborate with A’STAR since 2009 - The Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) is a catalyst, enabler and convenor of significant research initiatives among the research community in Singapore and beyond.

The collaborated projects with ASTAR results proved of concept ensure the business ability towards long term

Awards and Milestones LHT was the first company in Singapore to have developed EPCIS (Electronic Product Code Information Service), and led the way in the use of UHF RFID Gen 2 pallets, which are essential for automation especially in RFID ASRS (automated storage and retrieval system) warehouses.

Additionally, in 1999 the firm established Singapore’s first wood waste recycling plant, which allowed timber industrial waste to be turned into a product known as “technical wood”. This is a compressed engineered wood that can be substituted for natural wood. As a result, LHT re-engineered its

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products that transformed the market using a lower carbon footprint processed wood that was made from waste wood materials.

In 2018, LHT was awarded Climate Action Champion and EcoFriend Awards by NEA. The use of this technology lowers waste disposal cost by a few hundred thousand dollars, saves 4,500 trees.

Corporate Social Responsibility May Yap said, “We are always conscious of our role in the conservation of natural resources. Recycling is one of many efforts that reflect our commitment towards mitigating climate change and deforestation” LHT was established in 1977 and since then it has grown to be a leader in the industry. May Yap is the Chairwoman, CEO and Managing Director of the company and is taking it towards success.

"Our use of recycling technology lowers waste disposal cost by f ew hundred thousand dollars, and saves 4,500 trees been cut annually"

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If you are disappointed with where you stand today, remember to reflect on how far you have come! Manju Mastakar is leading by example as an inspirational women leader and the brain behind the renowned investment management firm, Armstrong Capital & financial services Pvt. Ltd. Founder of the incredible business in her own right, Manju navigated her brainchild brand’s success story from a small team of financers to an expert in financial affairs, offering unparalleled services. She started working very early in life, at the age of 19 she took up an internship at a CA firm where she was allowed to do audits of stockbrokers & stock traders. That's how the leading lady got introduced to the stock markets. Later in early 2000, she worked with reputed stockbrokers as a dealer and advisor recommending stocks to HNI clients. In 2007 she moved to Bangalore from Mumbai and worked with a multinational bank and a wealth management firm. Due to the recession followed by the sub-prime crisis in late 2008, she was laid off, and then she decided to start on her own. That's how Manju’s Entrepreneurial Journey began.

Further, Manju Mastakar apprised, “The clients that I worked with were left without any Advisor. They became my first clients and encouraged me to stick on.

I had a small set up of a home office, I would do my calls and execute market trades. I had very few clients.

I was also carrying at that time so motherhood and entrepreneurship both started at the same time. In 2010 I met up with an Investment banker who gave me the idea that he would fund me and that I should start more professionally.

I had 10 years of corporate experience working at various levels in a Securities firm but entrepreneurship in the initial day was different, it was all about - do it yourself and at the minimum cost. Later from 2014, the organisation grew rapidly, we had a good client base and I had more employees to delegate work. After that, I never looked back, all the stories of hardship that I went through summed up into 1 word that’s called struggle.”

A Glimpse of the Armstrong The innovative seed of Armstrong was sown in 2010 with a passion for research, a devotion for transparency, and the promise to put the client’s interest first in everything it does. This is Financial planning and a Wealth Management company that brings a comprehensive Investment solution to Individuals and Corporates. Here, the primary focus is on capital preservation while still aiming to provide the clients with a reasonable rate of return to grow capital over the long term.

Armstrong provides goal-based financial planning, portfolio management service, wealth management service, retirement planning for individuals. For corporate institutions, it provides cash flow management and currency hedging services Financial Planning – Mutual Fund Advisory – Wealth management - these are the Key offerings.

The key differentiator is their Financial Plans, they are comprehensive, and they are the backbone for their Advisory. They keep referring back to their plans and then Advice.

Clientele & Unbreakable Faith The clientele includes various age groups young couples, mid-age couples with teenage kids, and clients who have come to the far end of their earning years.

Every relationship starts with a financial plan. Manju Mastakar and her team listen to them, they understand their needs, then they draft a financial plan and advice on various corrective steps to be taken. It's just liked all Doctors check you with their stethoscope, the interpretation and the prescription make the difference. So similarly, investment management has to be experienced to feel the difference. It is a business where one needs to invest a lot of time in earning Faith and Trust.

Major Hiccups on the Way “I was born and brought up in Mumbai and I worked there for almost 10 years, I had a comfortable job. When I got married and relocated to Bangalore– I had no job, I didn’t know the city, the language and most importantly the kind of derivative trading in which I specialized, Bangalore was not a market for that.

Manju Mastakar(Founder & MD)

Armstrong capital & Financial Services

I had come to Zero – I kept meeting the magical figure ZERO many times in life. I had only knowledge, Skills, and Experience rest all is what I built over a while. After starting my entrepreneur journey in a few months, the seed capital that I had raised had become Zero, so I worked hard without any take home to turn around the cash flows”, said Manju while talking about her major hiccups.

“After a few years some recommendations that we gave failed and a lot of clients were upset and paused dealing with us, our clients had become ZERO. After a few more years when there wasn’t any significant growth, our employees felt that this was not a great company to build our career and they left, and the employees had become Zero. Ten years later we have 700+ clients, 25+ employees, and a good brand name. So, challenges keep coming, learn from t hem, improve on them and keep moving”, she further added.

The Support System A lot of new entrepreneurs follow successful people, they listen to their quotes. Manju Mastakar followed the loser – they were many in numbers and she learned a great deal on how & why they failed. Those stories helped her a lot in driving the business through tough times.

A Day in Manju’s Life The leading lady has divided her day into mainly three parts the 1st part from 9 am to 1 pm is about planning what she is going to do today, 2nd part is to get a hang of what others have been doing managing people, and the 3rd part after 8 pm is learning from other she watches a lot of motivational speech. It’s a revitalised exercise. In her free time, Manju loves to listen to Sufi Bollywood music and her hobbies are doing fashion designing.

Favourite Book “YES, WE CAN '', the biography of Barack Obama

A Piece of Advice for Female Entrepreneurs Try to venture out into something you are good at.

You should have some domain experience. Devote a decade to this dream, start small and be tight fist and lean. Remember the first principle is to survive and then focus on free cash flows. Set up good backups at home. Don’t try to be a superwoman and delegate work.

COVID-19: Burden or Boon for Financial Inclusion

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When the Alliance for Financial Inclusion outlined our “Five Key Financial Inclusion Policy Trends for 2020” on January 17 of this year, the spread of the novel coronavirus was still in its infancy, with little sign of what was to come. The previous week, officials had just confirmed the first death from the virus in China, the first case outside of China (in Thailand), and the potential for human-to-human transmission. It would be another 25 days until the World Health Organization officially named the new virus, along with the disease it causes, and a full 54 days before it declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. So it’s little wonder that our trends assessment mentioned neither the public health nor the economic and financial impact of the virus.

Since then, the virus has wreaked havoc on the global economy, leading to at least a 5% contraction in global gross domestic product and a six-year reversal in human development. It has also threatened the livelihoods of an estimated 1.6 billion workers in the informal economy.

Yet despite this destruction to lives and livelihoods, the emergence of COVID-19 on the global stage does not mean we must entirely dismiss the trends we’d predicted at the year’s onset. Instead, we must view them through a new prism. In doing so, it becomes clear that the pandemic presents a major risk of reversing the financial inclusion gains the world has steadily accumulated over the last decade. Yet it also presents us with opportunities – if policy momentum can be sustained in spite of the adverse circumstances.

YOUTH’S UNCERTAIN FUTURE In January, the first trend we highlighted was an increasing focus by policymakers in developing countries on the financial and economic inclusion of their youth populations. While youth may be more resilient to the direct health impacts of the virus, they will not be spared from its economic impact.

More than half of all young people working in developing countries are in the informal sector, and therefore at higher risk of loss of employment and income. In March, some 86% of young entrepreneurs in the Asia-Pacific region reported that COVID-19 had already negatively impacted their businesses. And young entrepreneurs around the world also face challenges in accessing government support schemes, if they do not already have existing relationships with financial institutions.

Furthermore, the closure of schools and universities may exacerbate education inequalities by disadvantaging those without access to e-learning. And studies have shown that youth leaving school or graduating during a recession face lifelong disadvantages and loss of earnings.

INCLUSIVE GREEN OPPORTUNITIES Another trend we highlighted was that 2020 would be a critical year for cementing the nexus of climate action and financial sector policymaking. Though public health responses to COVID-19 have provided evidence of the speed with which harmful emissions can drop when behaviors shift and economic activities grind to a halt, these benefits are not likely to be long-lasting.

Instead there is a real risk that dealing with the pandemic could set back progress on climate action, both by eliminating the fiscal space countries need to invest in the transition to a green economy, and because attempts to keep the virus in check are exhausting policy bandwidth – the postponement of COP-26 to 2021 being one prominent example.

Yet despite these risks, as attention shifts towards economic recovery from COVID-19, policymakers will have an unprecedented opportunity to link the greening of the economy to job creation and inclusive growth.

Research has highlighted that, to date, only 4% of G20 countries’ fiscal stimulus can be classified as “green” – i.e.: with the potential to reduce long-term greenhouse gas emissions. As called for by International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva, now is the time for policymakers to design inclusive green stimulus packages ready for post-crisis deployment.

TARGETED POLICIES FOR FORCIBLY DISPLACED PERSONS As we mentioned in our trends assessment in January, the almost 80 million forcibly displaced persons (FDPs) around the world require targeted policies and interventions as part of a holistic financial inclusion strategy. The COVID-19 crisis has undoubtedly made their lives even more precarious. As the recent catastrophe in Lesbos, Greece has shown starkly, many FDPs are confined to camps, the conditions in which make social distancing and regular hand washing impossible, leaving them highly vulnerable to infection from the virus.

To make matters worse, there are signs that host communities’ attitudes and hospitality to FDPs may harden in response to the pandemic. Indeed, in some cases, FDPs in transit have been turned away from their intended destinations, with COVID-19 movement restrictions cited as a justification. In a context in which “an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere,” it’s essential to include FDPs in economic and financial – as well as public health – responses to the pandemic. As David Miliband, president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee put it, “this is a disease of the connected world and we must address it as a connected world.”

INCLUSIVE DIGITAL ONBOARDING Turning to technological trends, the shift towards digital identification and verification that we highlighted in January has been further catalyzed by the closure of physical premises. Countries such as India, Peru and Thailand, which have invested in national digital identity programs and other digital infrastructure such as interoperable payment systems, have been able to utilize this infrastructure to deliver targeted large-scale fiscal support packages – including to informal sector workers and vulnerable populations.

The president of the Financial Action Task Force, Xianming Liu, gave further impetus in this direction by calling for countries to explore digital identity to manage money laundering and terrorist financing risks posed by the crisis. He also urged them to make use of financial technology, regulatory technology and supervisory technology “to the fullest extent possible.”

This trend towards digital onboarding, if sustained beyond the pandemic, could be particularly important for the financial inclusion of women who, research shows, are disproportionately impacted by traditional Know Your Customer norms.

REGULATION AND VIRTUAL ASSETS We also projected that 2020 would be a year of increased regulation and growing use cases for virtual assets.

This still seems likely to be the case, judging from examples such as the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe’s announcement in March of a regulatory sandbox for cryptocurrency companies.

The Financial Action Task Force has warned that countries need to remain vigilant with regard to the “increased misuse of … virtual assets to move and conceal illicit funds” in light of the pandemic. Meanwhile, the impact of the crisis in nudging consumers and businesses to digital payment channels, coupled with unprecedented monetary policy responses by central banks globally, could also serve to increase the attractiveness of virtual assets as investments. The pandemic also presents an opportunity for various “stablecoin” projects to demonstrate their potential role in financial inclusion, by helping to disburse emergency funds to the most vulnerable populations quickly and efficiently.

Meanwhile, with the exception of China, many countries had pressed the pause button on using central bank digital currencies in the emergency phase of their crisis response. But the pandemic highlights the importance of reliable, secure and interoperable digital payments systems as an essential service. So coupled with the declining popularity of cash, we are now already seeing such projects picking up speed again as we enter the recovery phase.

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mYngle is a globally established, unique platform offering online language education with personalized

course plans. It is focused on innovating the traditional world of education by delivering a truly customer oriented solution. mYngle, under the leadership of Marina Tognetti- founder, has been offering Effective learning process incorporating industry topics & building employees' skills since inception.

When mYngle was started, it was a pioneer in live online language education, amongst the first to provide one-to-one teaching of all languages over the internet. The platform offers customized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages anytime, anywhere.

Here, lessons are one-on-one, with highly qualified native coaches and related to the job-position of the learner. The virtual classrooms enable learners to take classes 24/7.

mYngle is the perfect solution for busy professionals who need language training to be successful in their international business, and for Companies that want great learning results and a transparent and controllable learning process to make their investment a success.

More About the Leading Lady Marina Tognetti is a tech entrepreneur, founder of mYngle.com. She like challenges, in everything she does. She also believes that entrepreneurship, especially in tech, allows us to look far ahead, innovate, change traditional business models, and disrupt industries.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world. This probably best summarizes my vision of leadership as well as of my outlook in life. That is also why I choose entrepreneurship, even if later in my career, as it allows me to really make a difference,” asserted Marina.

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mYngle brings effective and flexible learning process to convert your investment into success The passion for entrepreneurship came later on in Marina’s career. She built first a successful career by large multinationals, Procter & Gamble, Philips, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group, and eBay; living and working in different countries, and got an MBA from INSEAD. It was when working as a consultant on a project on internet strategy that she first saw the potential of the internet to disrupt entire industries and change forever the way people buy/sell/interact. She had to be part of that! That was the driver to start an innovative company as mYngle.

Hurdles On The Way Marina said, “The main challenges were not at the beginning, but were when we had to ‘pivot’ from the initial business model to a completely different one. We had launched mYngle as a marketplace, something I knew very well from my previous eBay experience. We thought we got it all: funding, lots of Awards and PR, a very motivated team. But something in the business model was not functioning as we expected. We listened to our customers and they gave us the new direction, and they gave us the new direction, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school, from B2C to B2B. That is the mYngle that you see now.”

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Marina’s biggest lesson here was that “Change is an essential part of being an entrepreneur.” That was the key to the success of mYngle. Success as an entrepreneur in fact is not a straight line. The truth is that in most cases, what you start out to do will not be what you’re doing when you are ultimately successful.

You’ll discover that things you expected to work well don’t work at all. You’ll stumble into things that you didn’t expect to work that will. You’ll have to be able to adapt. It is how you deal with uncertainty and change that sets you apart.

“Entrepreneurship is jumping from a cliff and learning how to fly at the same time.”

Achievements and Rewards Building a business from scratch is always challenging, building a tech start-up disrupting an industry as traditional as that of education, is exponentially more challenging. There are all sorts of resistances of an immature market you have to bypass: from the stereotypes consumers have in their minds to the (conservative) opinions of people. Now, online language education is setting the standards in terms of quality and flexibility. And mYngle has been part of that.

For these reasons, mYngle has also won numerous awards as recognition for its contributions to online education. Immediately at the start (2008): Accenture Innovation Award, European Ventures Summit Award, Benelux Venture Summit Award, and more later on. Besides, Marina Tognetti received numerous awards as founder and CEO of Myngle, such as 50 most inspiring women tech leaders in Europe, 50 most inspiring women in the Dutch technology sector, Iconic Women Creating a Better World for All, and many others.

Leadership and Innovation This is an era of fast and drastic changes- technology, the volatility of the market, talent development. This affects the role of a modern leader, which must be able not only to adapt but also to anticipate and ride the positive trends.

The characteristics of a good leader nowadays are therefore similar to that of an innovative entrepreneur. A leader must have a strong Vision, to set the direction and anticipate and navigate challenges. This also means being able to ‘Think out of the box’, adapt and change to keep the business successful. A leader must not be afraid of taking (calculated) risks in order to anticipate trends and steer the company also in turbulent waters. Last, but not least, must be able to build an organization that is also agile. That requires developing people that think and not only do ‘’jobs’’, employees that are entrepreneurs, fostering a culture of experimentation.

The future ahead, professionally and personally “It is in my nature to want to constantly improve, and it is in the nature of an entrepreneur to always seek new opportunities or areas of development. The future for mYngle will surely hold new challenges, as we keep on innovating and being ahead of the market,” Marina proudly shared.

“I also have a strong idealistic part. I believe each of us can make a difference. So, for me personally, it will also be time to let the idealistic voice inside speak. I walked this path and learned a lot. That brought me in a privileged position, where I can implement new ideas that can make a difference. I can now use my skills to make the world just a little bit better,” she further added.

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Five things that have changed in sales because of COVID that will never be the same as before Since COVID began impacting our lives many people have reached out to us at Datasocial seeking help with an updated sales process now that face-to-face networking is basically gone.

There are severe doubts about whether we will go back to selling on golf courses and restaurants when the pandemic passes.

The pandemic has accelerated some changes due to the absence of physical relationships, yet many of them will never be the same as before.

1. The growth of Smarketing

Founder at Datasocial

Traditionally the sales and marketing teams teams have been at each other's throats, but today they need to learn to work together.

Thus, marketing has grown faster than ever.

Why? Sales have always given very little value to marketing leads because they could generate their opportunities at expensive restaurants and golf courses.

But with everything closed, they have had no choice but to look pleadingly to their peers for leads to work with.

And this has led to more and more talk about the "lead hand-off" - what the mechanisms are for handing off leads from marketing to sales and what each of the teams has to commit to. Who calls the leads? How long do sales qualify the leads they receive? None of this is new, but COVID has given it the importance that sales teams have traditionally tried to take away.

In this scenario technology tools can bridge the gap between sales and marketing and the tech is continually growing.

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2. Prospecting by providing value is the answer What if inbound can't give me the leads I need? You simply have to pick up the phone or email and try to generate leads by providing value.

And providing value is the most important part. Finding opportunities so that in the sales process, the other prospect receives value even if they don't buy from you, for example, with an audit of their website or CRM. It's no use calling everyone with nothing to offer. We are past that time; it is the time to provide value, even if it is remotely.

3. Automation and value The automation of sales and marketing tasks is here to stay.

It did not arrive with COVID; it has been with us since the 90s when the first marketing platforms were born and have been evolving ever since.

According to Gartner, "A marketing automation system is a system that helps marketers execute multi-channel marketing campaigns by providing a scripted environment for creating business rules and interfaces to a variety of third-party applications."

information face-to-face, it is key to have real-time and updated information about the opportunities we are working on. Therefore, it is more necessary than ever that technology is at the heart of the relationship between the customer and the company.

5. A connected technology stack Now that people can't see each other, it's time for applications to "talk to each other".

The switchboard can no longer be a horrible room full of underpaid people, where everyone is shouting simultaneously, but a cloud application that connects the whole team and is synchronized in real-time with the CRM to which it constantly sends information. The same goes for the other applications where we interact with the customer, which are many and create silos of information that are not accessible by the other team members that may contain very valuable information.

It is time to have a connected technology stack and a CRM that reflects all interactions with customers, wherever they are.

These tools, mostly from the marketing world have been overtaking sales and today many sales tasks can be done semi-automatically, such as importing leads into a CRM or sending sequences.

Far from worrying about the tasks that teams no longer do, there is an opportunity to add value to the tasks we don't automate, spend time on the leads that are truly qualified, and focus our time on creating meaningful and value-adding relationships.

4. Sales teams have begun to value CRM. In times of scarce opportunities, each one must be carefully nurtured and worked on. CRM, which most sales forces see as a divine punishment, has become an ally that gives them context about the relationship with the potential customer, informs them about the technology that customers use, about revenues and employees, tells you about the interactions that other departments have had and in some way sheds light on the customer relationship as a whole.

Now that we do not meet our partners in the corridors or at the coffee machine and we cannot share customer

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Due to the ongoing pandemic, the fact is that profitability for many businesses have been hit. .

As we slowly start to recover, there is certainly the need to take stock of things and prepare for the new normal. While growth has been hard to come by for many this year, it can also be seen as an opportunity to make smart investments to make the most of the improving conditions.

Translation is one such investment that is highly recommended and through this article, we will discuss why many businesses look at it as a very plausible option for growth:

Shilpa Mittal CEO

1) Quickest way to grow your potential Market If you are aiming to expand your business beyond the boundaries of your country, the simplest & fastest way to do this is by translating your website & all relevant content into the native language of the target audience. For instance, a customer in Spain will 36

always prefer to read the product information in Spanish than English. Once your content is translated in Spanish, your business right away gains access to 100s of millions of potential customers in numerous countries and regions that speak Spanish.

2) Cost-effective and efficient Many businesses look toward research and development to innovate new aspects to their products and services in the hope of upselling and increasing usage. As compared to that, translation is affordable and you can have your website and marketing materials localized in a matter of days. Handling incoming business from new geographies can also be planned based on demand which can be controlled.

3) Marketing efficiency From a marketing perspective, especially for online businesses, forecasting demand and competition is fairly easy with appropriate translation. Keywords can be looked up in the local language to estimate demand and cost of competition. Translating emails are also an underrated method to increase sales. From our experience, translated emails get more than twice as much opens and engagement than non-localized emails.

4) Higher ROI Businesses that are already in multiple geographies will testify that customer acquisition costs can vastly differ from region to region. Through carefully planned translated ads, outreach and landing pages, you can estimate acquisition costs before entering a region. Through organized optimization and gathered data, you can reduce your overall acquisition costs and significantly improve ROIs. Of course, trying to acquire more business with new countries does have its operational and legal requisites that you might have to take care of before you begin. However, considering the upsides, the next time you’re looking for that idea to meet your revenue goals, we suggest you strongly consider localization.

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