THE 10 MOST INNOVATIVE BUSINESS LEADERS MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN 2021

www.primeview.co March 2021

The

Business Leaders

May Yap CEO & Managing Director

LHT Holdings Ltd

EDITOR’S NOTE

The Soulful Stories That Behold the Power to Transpire Upright, Self-motivated. Confident. Optimist & Positive.

Accountable. Courageous. Full of Humour, Passion, Integrity, and Respect for self and others. And most important, Likable. These are some of the traits that sets a person on the wheels of leadership or frames them in broad light as people who inspire. But with the changing times and entry of new blood in the entrepreneurial world, it is time for the entrepreneurs to reinvent themselves upright and up now. Coming from diverse education & professional backgrounds, these entrepreneurs have become the epitome of change and are looked upon for inspiration and motivation by not just their employees but the society too.

Just like a fresh breeze of wind, these entrepreneurs bring fresh, innovative ideas, and Silicon Valley like work culture that has already transformed the way people here perceive being an entrepreneur. On the other hand, we cannot demean the efforts that our local entrepreneurs have put to bring in a change in the perception in the grass root level. Today they are not just creators of job who have huge followers, but one who believes in creating more leaders throughout his/her journey.

But many a times, their story remains untold, and unheard, which when brought to light have the power to transpire generations alike. Saluting such inspirational souls and bringing to you their untold story of hardships, successes, failures and motivation, Prime View dedicates the current edition to “The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Making a Difference in 2021”. We believe these stories when read will leave you awe-stuck and inspire you and take up challenge to change the world you want to see it like.

Do let us know what you think!

Prime View Magazine editor@primeview.co

The 10 Most Innovative Business Leaders Making a Difference in 2021

SONAL K

STEVE R DAVID S

DNYANESH K , JOHNSON J.

SAM K.

RICHARD D.

ALEX S. , ALEN A.

Visit: https://primeview.co Email: editor@primeview.co

LHT Holdings

CEO and MD

121Advisor (CEO)

Datasocial (Founder)

CONTENTS

Wiersma Experience Marketing

Cover Story

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

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.

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

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"

Kevin Steer, CEO & Co-Founder of 121Advisor, is a dynamic leader who hails more than 40 years of experience in the entire spectrum of Banking & Finance. He started his career for Schlumberger Asia in 1979 as a Field Engineer and Manager. Later, he joined Artificial Intelligence Ltd, UK in 1988 as a Research Engineer. He played a major role as a Consultant with Strand Software Inc, US, Oregon Advanced Computing Institute in the US and was appointed as a consultant to Boeing Aerospace Inc, US (1989 –1990).

In 1990, he moved to Malaysia working as a Consultant to Computer Systems Advisers Bhd on a client-server banking systems for a local bank. In 2010 he co-founded One Two One Advisor Sdn Bhd, providing FinTech & InsurTech solutions to the Banking, Insurance & Takaful sectors.

KEVIN STEER 121Advisor (CEO)

“AI, big data, ML, chatbots, Robo Advisors & RPA will have a significant impact on the FinTech & InsurTech sectors in order to fuel their growth. 121Advisor will keep promoting our disruptive AI solutions to Banks, Insurers, Takaful & Investment Companies”.

- Kevin Steer

In academics, Kevin did graduation from Cambridge University (UK) in 1978 and holds a Bachelor of Arts Engineering degree, a Master of Arts (Electrical Sciences) degree from Cambridge University UK, and a Master of Science (Computing) degree from Imperial College, London, United Kingdom.

A Glimpse of 121Advisor Catering to both the FinTech & InsurTech sectors, One Two One Advisor was formed in 2010.

121Advisor’s product is called ‘Customer First Connected Enterprise Digital Framework’ that integrates all of the above solutions. 121Advisor motto is “We Don’t Follow Trends, We Pioneer Them”.

Over the past 10 years, the company has implemented many disruptive online solutions including Referral Management with Marketing Automation (for Banks), Mobile Point of Sales, Online Direct Selling, Online Claims, Agency Distribution, Online Customer

Service Portals & Corporate Websites. With the growth of AI & chatbots; 121Advisor implemented disruptive solutions including multilingual Chatbots & Robo Advisors along with AI-based Predictive Analytics / Machine Learning for predicting New Products, Lapsation, Fraudulent Claims & future predictions for Investment Funds.

The Inspiration behind the Initiation Having worked in the insurance & takaful sector for a number of years, 121Advisor’s mission was to provide disruptive InsurTech & FinTech solutions for insurers, takaful operators & banks.

As a CEO & ‘techie’, Kevin has always been looking for new disruptive solutions to continue evolving the business. What was interesting was that he worked for an Artificial Intelligence Company in 1986, and that piqued his interest in AI. When 121Advisor started seeing the evolution of Chatbots, Robo Advisors, Predictive Analytics, Behavioural Intelligence & Robotic Process Automation.

team started implementing various solutions, and by 2014 we started growing customers, providing solutions both for banks, insurers & takaful companies.

"Millennials are the least insured generation since WWII … insurance companies are ripe for disruption."

Mark Dowds, Trov

121Advisor started researching on AI solutions and the The Roller Coaster Ride toward Success team implemented 24x7 multi-lingual Chatbots, Robo Advisors for lifestyle financial planning, as well as We grew the business and now have 18 plus clients, implementing Predictive Analytics solutions for with 12 product solutions predicting new products to buy, lapsation of policies, fraudulent claims & future grow/decline of investment funds; which are integrated with RPA solutions to trigger workflows to notify the relevant people.

By 2014 the company was profitable and 121Advisor used the profits for R&D on developing new disruptive solutions. Here is a graph that shows the company’s growth over the past decade.

Clientele and Challenges on the Way The clientele includes Manulife, MCIS (part of Sanlam Group), Etiqa, Gibraltar BSN (part of PrAmerica), FWD Takaful, Zurich Takaful, AmMetlife, AmMetlife The company has been disruptive and offered various Takaful, as well as Banks – BSN Bank (Bank Simpanan product solutions to customers, they have continually developed new disruptive solutions including Nasional), & MBSB Bank. predictive analytics, plus multi-lingual Chatbots & Robo advisors.

In 2010, the words ‘FinTech’ & ‘InsurTech’ were not available, so it took a while to convince customers of 121Advisor’s digital skills & capabilities. In 2011 the

Last year they introduced a knowledge portal. As most millennials in the Asia Pacific do not understand financial planning, and often max out their credit cards and get into debt; there is a need to help educate them on their lifestyle financial goals and recommend products that they can buy online. With the launch of u12know, they see that this will become a disruptive knowledge portal offering advice on lifestyle financial & (in future) health goals. This will help them understand their needs and create a plan to help them build their lifestyle & business financial plans. For each country, this will be translated into the local language.

With the current pandemic ongoing, 121Advisor saw the need to offer financial services and health services online with lifestyle financial & health advice. We recently launched a knowledge portal u12know in Malaysia that provides lifestyle financial advice (for single, married, family, retired & my business). This will be continuously extended to include lifestyle financial goals with recommendations for financial and business products, including our multi-lingual chatbot & Robo Advisor (which provides advice on financial goals).

"A well-executed user experience builds trust." Tom Creighton, Wealthsimple A Day in Kevin’s Life & Favourite Book He gets up at 5 am, and goes to the office at about 7.30 am, as a ‘techie’ he reviews emails and advises his team on their solutions, he also designs data models for customers to implement. He goes to sleep at about 10 pm.

“Valuation Seventh Edition - Measuring & Managing Value of Companies” by Wiley is Kevin’s favourite book.

Road Ahead In future, u12know will include health and wellness calculators to advise people on their health and what they need to work on to get healthy; this will also include a “Total Health Score”, based on the health calculators to indicate whether they are very healthy, healthy, unhealthy or at risk.

121Advsior will also be including another solution 121Advisor will be signing up with a number of banks, u1Notice, which is a mobile app integrated with WhatsApp for Business that enables customers to insurers, takaful operators, unit trust companies & receive reminders & renew their policies online. will-writing services to offer their services online.

For their knowledge portal (u12know), Kavin Steer will be expanding to Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, and Vietnam. Then later expanding to Europe & the US.

"True AI needs quantum computing to support [it], but 'Augmented Intelligence' is transforming industries today." – Pavel Abdur-Rahman, IBM

Feathers in the Cap • 121Advisor has been honoured as Top 10 Insurtech Consulting/Services Companies in APAC, 2018 by CIO Outlook

• It was recognized by IndustryWired as Top 20

Companies with Most Disruptive Solutions in 2020

Reversal of Fortune: Five Ways Biden’s Win Will Boost Impact Investing in Emerging Markets

However it turned out, everyone knew that the U.S. election results would bring significant change to America.

In the world of finance, the markets have already responded positively to the news of President-elect Joe Biden.

Biden’s victory will impact different industries in different ways, but one particular economic sector that will get a major boost is impact investing.

Under the isolationist policies of the Trump administration, it became much more difficult for impact investors to operate in emerging markets. Travel/visa restrictions, inconsistent federal investment in emerging market economies, vacancies at embassies, and a general retraction of U.S. policies intended to help emerging countries all made impact investing work more difficult in these markets. That was a stark difference from what was happening when I was a science and technology advisor for President Obama, who had a robust policy for global development initiatives that helped U.S. companies grow in emerging markets. During that time, impact investors were one of the groups benefiting tremendously from good relations with countries worldwide, and from the Obama administration’s efforts to:

• “Alleviate poverty, and advance global commitments to the basic welfare and dignity of all humankind.”

• Create policies and funding “focused on sustainable development outcomes that places a premium on broad-based economic growth, democratic governance, game-changing innovations, and sustainable systems for meeting basic human needs.”

• “Increase […] investments and engagement in development-focused innovation by seeking and scaling up potential game-changing development technologies such as vaccines for neglected diseases, weather-resistant seed varieties, and clean energy technologies.”

Over the last four years, the Trump Administration’s chaotic approach to international trade policy, threats to gut international economic development budgets and lack of leadership on helping emerging economies hurt the impact investment community. All of the values the sector holds dear – from economic justice and community-based decision-making, to governance, green infrastructure and safe food systems – were eroded if not wholly devalued. Plus, the U.S. government’s shift toward isolationist policies, defunding of many green infrastructure programs, and failure to deal with the pandemic dampened impact investors’ ability to expand their work in these emerging markets.

As we look toward the incoming Biden administration, we can expect that it will reverse course on this isolationism. But I believe the Biden administration will give the sector’s work in emerging markets an even more significant boost. Below, I’ll discuss five key reasons why.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE FINANCIAL FUTURE Under a Biden presidency, impact investors will be able to see their investment dollars go further within their portfolios of green infrastructure-related companies. Biden has already announced a $2 trillion plan to develop the green economy, which will provide a significant boost to renewable energy. And this impact will extend beyond just solar and wind to other green technologies like green chemistry, geothermal, bioenergy, hydrokinetic energy production, energy storage, green transportation, green building and many more. These are the emerging technologies that startup companies have a hard time investing in on their own. History has proven that federally funded research from a wide range of agencies (Defense, Energy, NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, etc.) is an economic driver for change and innovation. Biden will bring the might of this type of economy-driving research that has, in the past, created innovations like the Internet, GPS and smartphone technology. Once we rejoin the international community in the Paris Agreement and beyond, our commitments will be matched and met by many other countries. As a result of this, doors will open to impact investors who work in emerging economies.

For example, I’m confident that the impact investment support work done by Jumpscale (where I work as a General Partner) in Ecuador, Brazil, Kenya and beyond is going to experience a renaissance of growth in impact as a result of Biden’s agenda.

STABILITY IS GOOD FOR BUSINESS The first lesson in investing is to reduce risk. The destabilization of government institutions, knee-jerk reactions among political leaders and policy chaos are risky: They cause markets to wildly fluctuate and tend to scare off investors. Throughout Biden’s campaign and even during his first speech as President-Elect, he has projected an image of stability, empathy and thoughtfulness that has been missing for the past four years. Biden also has decades of experience working across the aisle in the legislative and executive branches of government, which will help him bring more stability to American society and the global economy. Consistency, predictability and stability are the hallmarks of good business.

IMPROVED INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS OPENS DOORS IN EMERGING MARKETS We’ve already seen world leaders congratulate Joe Biden, as cities around the world celebrate his election in gestures of support that we’ve rarely witnessed before. The re-establishment of strong diplomatic and financial relations with our allies worldwide will help impact investors tremendously. Sound policies will help to reinforce both positive investments and positive outcomes in those countries. Cooperation with our allies will help to stabilize emerging economies around the world, which will reduce the risk of working in those countries. It will become easier to find and invest in the innovative impact companies that exist around the planet, yielding global solutions for local (and international) problems.

RE-EMERGENCE OF SCIENCE-BASED DECISION MAKING RESTORES CONFIDENCE The past four years have seen an erosion of trust in the scientific institutions and processes that help guide future innovations for the planet and our society. Conversely, during my time with the Obama administration, I saw the rebuilding of science-based inquiry and research which was gutted by the Bush administration, with R&D sponsored by the federal government leading to innovations that were shared with the private sector.

Biden has always been a big proponent of science-based decision making and research. Regardless of which party controls the Senate, we’re about to see a massive new federal investment in scientific and technological innovation that will rival the incredible leaps we’ve achieved in the past.

EFFECTIVE PANDEMIC MANAGEMENT WILL ALLOW INDUSTRIES TO RESUME BUSINESS PRACTICES It is not possible to overstate how much damage has been done to America’s people and economy due to the Trump administration’s lack of leadership in marshalling an effective federal response to the spread of COVID-19 in the country. Entire industries have been economically devastated, and private equity investors have had to deploy capital to try to save their existing investments, which reduced their ability to make new investments. Additionally, investors’ inability to travel meant they were unable to strengthen relationships or conduct due diligence in foreign markets, leading to a slow-down of innovation. In many emerging markets, a handshake and looking somebody in the eye are essential parts of the process. I expect that within the first six months of the Biden administration, we will see a more rational, science-based and empathetic response to the pandemic. It will lead to a clearer path towards rebuilding our economy, while moving societal norms in a much more positive direction.

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.

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."

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

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.

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By Betsy Wiersma, Wiersma Experience Marketing

W

hat differentiates your business from the pack? What communicates your business’s heart and soul? What can unite employees, connect with customers and help your community?

Consider philanthropy as a business tool! We call it “Do Good and Have Fun!” For the last 16 years, I have dedicated my life to uniting amazing women from all walks of life to help others. Our Denver Colorado CampExperience ™ Network has raised over $1 million in cash and in-kind support for 50+ charities in Colorado and around the world.

We gather women for both online and in-person events, promotions and campaigns, and each year we choose charity partners to receive the Network’s donations. Over the 16 years we are partnered with large organizations like our Mile High United Way in Denver and small organizations like the Sock It To Em Sock Campaign. Each time we look for a specific project or group we can make a difference for and engage our volunteers.

There are so many examples of Doing Good and Having Fun. One of my favorites was 1000 Acts of Peace in September of 2019. We gathered donations of more than 20,000 items of shampoo, soap, toothbrushes, floss, tooth paste, combs, sanitized wipes, Kleenex, a bottle of water and a Luna bar. Then 130 ladies assembled 1000 knapsacks in 2 hours, loaded onto busses and delivered the donations to the Mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado, to gift to agencies that served people experiencing homelessness.

The process of partnering has elevated the stature of our organization, attracted new members and kept the loyalty of current members. Our focus on helping others rates high in surveys about organization interest and market reputation.

We have developed a style of “sisterhood by choice” in that we treat each other as family and treat others as our own. Our community involvement generates positive energy, publicity and more opportunities for our members and sponsors. This experience has proven the following three tips for your organization’s community success.

Match Your Mission to Your Mate A great way to choose a community partner is to match the passions and purpose of your organization with a like-hearted “mate.”

Like dating, try some conversations with potential community partners and find a match. You might start with your stakeholders to see where they are involved and what type of experiences are working.

There may be timely issues in your community or you may need to serve multiple markets across a country or a region.

Look for:

• Leadership stability and fiscal responsibility.

• Check some references to ensure a top reputation.

• What are the deliverable goods and/or services and who specifically is served? How is the “good” measured?

• What are the needs and specific opportunities to

involve staff or customers? For example, our volunteers gathered new socks for men, women and children and the socks stayed in each market to help local groups.

Choose A Scale That Makes Success Easy My mom always asked, “Did you bite off more than you can chew?” Even as I kid I wanted to do it all, save it all and take every opportunity for the FUN of getting involved. I have discovered (the overcommitted and tired way) that with community involvement (and life) you can choose the “scale” of involvement. This means when you discover the magic of a cause that matches your interest, develop a “menu” of ideas both large and small.

This scales serves you in many ways:

In a world running fast and working hard, take a minute for some thoughtful strategy.

Consider philanthropy and some Do Good Have Fun for you and your team!

• The menu of specific needs and tasks can fit the

multiple interests of your employees and customers. Just Do It … Go, Review and Repeat!

Include the time, level of commitment, location After creating the perfect partnership and developing and what to expect when serving. your action plan just do it! Take action and begin. The magic of the Do Good is the Have Fun! • When you start and complete an exact task, the small success starts positive momentum.

When you get even small “wins,” you start to stack up the good deeds and start the reputation of the project to be viable and FUN!

• The process of developing the menu can unlock more creativity and is great for the process of developing a working partnership with your community

In hundreds of projects, we find that the journey of helping others is even better than the destination of any goal. Goals can always move and change. The journey is the juicy relationship-building process. The activities connect hearts and minds. The positive impact generates possibility thinking and a fresh outlook. And these relationships and shifted perspectives contribute not only in the community but back in the organization.

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.