The Influential Women in Business: 2019

www.theenterpriseworld.com | America Edition | November 2019

INFLUENTIAL

WOMEN

in Business 2 0 1 9

Binti Pawa SENIOR DIRECTOR OF SEO

TheStreet

Shepreneur in Spotlight Jenny Lin

Building Organizational Quality Systems

UPSHOT METROS Montreal La Metropole

Exclusive Interview

Sheri Atwood Your Financial Facilitator

BINTI PAWA A BRAIN BEHIND THESTREET’S REACH

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Businesses today are evolving and are being rebuilt from the broken shards of glass ceiling. A woman handling a business was a rare sight, until today. Today there has been a welcoming space for women entrepreneurs. Recently, the number of female entrepreneurs has increased dramatically. With that, the impact of businesses with women in the forefront has been significant in terms of its revenues and the hiring.

Business landscape is a man’s world. Well, the times are changing, and for good! Women today have power on both sides of business transactions. We now see women lead the companies that were historically led by men in the past. Tech biggies like IBM, HewlettPackard have chosen women as their CEOs, and it’s not surprising at all, seeing the pace at which women are overcoming the market. Such women with their impeccable leadership qualities and skills have proved it that there really is nothing that can’t be achieved!

This issue of The Enterprise World, Influential Women in Business 2019 features the stories of such women who have broken the stereotypical thinking processes and inspired hundreds with their stories.

Also read about the most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec, Montreal. An important centre for commerce, trade, finance, aerospace, pharma, technology, design, education etc. of Canada. Also read some amazing facts about women entrepreneurs in our editorial section of Fact Page.

The cover story features Binti Pawa, the brain behind TheStreet’s reach. Responsible for leading, developing and integrating SEO and content strategies to increase TheStreet’s audience, Binti has held vital roles at various companies, including brands such as InStyle, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Travelocity, and many others. She is a true motivation for many who work in various domains. Other features include, Marina Tognetti, speaking the success lingo with mYngle and Ellen Voie’s Women in Trucking, a champion of change.

Interview with The Enterprise World feature Shilpa Mittal, CEO of Ulatus, a leader in language solutions and Sheri Atwood, your financial facilitator.

Have a good read!

Shalmali Wadadekar

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For Editorial Concerns: editor@theentetpriseworld.com For Sales & Branding Enquiries: sales@theenterpriseworld.com For Subscription: info@theenterpriseworld.com Publisher The Enterprise World Creative Content Editor Susanne J. Asst. Editor Shalmali W. Marketing Coordinator(USA) Peter J. PR & Marketing Coordinator James H. Business Development Executive Ben Clarke Creative Design Head: V. Mittal Social Media Manager Avinash G. Digital Circulation Manager Amanda V. Technical Lead V. Kate Copyrights Š The Enterprise World | 2019. All Rights Reserved. The images and content included in this magazine should not be copied, transferred or reproduced in any form or by any means, electronics, mechanical, photocopying, recording, otherwise, without proper permission from The Enterprise World.

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Leaders in Spotlight This issue of The Enterprise World, Influential Women in Business featuresFeaturing for the cover story is Binti Pawa, the brain behind TheStreet’s reach. Binti has held vital roles at various companies, including brands such as InStyle, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Travelocity, and many others. She is a true motivation for many who work in various domains. At TheStreet, she is responsible for leading, developing and integrating SEO and content strategies to increase TheStreet’s audience.

TheStreet is a leading financial news and information provider that has produced unbiased business news and market analysis for individual investors.

Jenny has over 25 year’s executive/lab management experience for bioanalytical and analytical laboratory operations in support of drug discovery, preclinical and clinical drug development. She currently serves

as the Chief Operating Officer and Board Director at CMIC. CMIC, Inc. is a leading CRO and a provider specialized in bioanalytical services in support of TK/PK studies for pre-clinical and clinical developments.

Marina, with her successful 18 years of corporate career by Procter & Gamble, Philips, Billiton, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay, decided to become an entrepreneur and started the venture mYngle. She first saw the potential of the internet while she was working as a consultant project.

That is when she realized that it would disrupt entire industries and forever change the way people buy/sell/interact.

Ellen has had a background in trucking industry that began back in 1980, and later started Women in Trucking. Women in Trucking Association is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry,

address obstacles that might keep women from entering, or succeeding in the trucking industry, and to celebrate the success of its members.

Ineke Kooistra has been CEO of YoungCapital since 1 January 2013. With over 5.1 million international connections, YoungCapital has the largest online network for young talent in Europe.

YoungCapital is specialized in young people, because they think they are more important than ever because of the rapid digitisation.

They encourage innovation: provide new ways of communicating, collaborating and solving problems.

In Interview with The Enterprise World features Sheri Atwood, the financial facilitator and Shilpa Mittal, a leader in language solutions.

Exclusive Interviews

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Sheri Atwood

Your Financial Facilitator

42

Shilpa Mittal A Leader in Language Solutions

Cover Story

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BINTI PAWA A BRAIN BEHIND THESTREET'S REACH

CONTENTS 14

28

32

38

A Champion of Change

Empowering Young Talents

Building Organizational Quality Systems

Speaking the Success Lingo

Ellen Voie

Ineke Kooistra

Jenny Lin

From the Editor

18 20 46

Why Retail Therapy Works

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Did You Know?

Upshot Metros Montreal- "La Metropole"

Design an Organization Apt for Employee Growth 8 Facts about Women in Business

Marina Tognetti

COVER STORY

Binti Pawa A Brain Behind TheStreet's Reach

W

‘‘Details matter, it's worth waiting to get it right – Steve Jobs

‘‘

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hile the world was at the cusp of a digital future, media and information businesses were grabbing opportunities to expand digitally. They knew that to expand, the first vital thing was their audience reach. We are proudly featuring Binti Pawa the senior director of SEO at TheStreet as a cover story. At TheStreet she is responsible for leading, developing and integrating SEO and content strategies to increase TheStreet’s audience. Binti has held vital roles at various companies, including brands such as InStyle, Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure, Travelocity and many others . She is a true motivation for many whom work in various domains.

TheStreet, a leading financial news and information provider that has produced unbiased business news and market analysis for individual investors for more than 20 years, was acquired in August 2019 by

Maven. Maven is a coalition of Mavens, from individual thoughtleaders to world-leading publishers, operating on a shared digital publishing, monetization, and distribution platform, unified under a single media brand. TheStreet is the flagship hub and brand of Maven’s finance vertical.

The Initial Challenges Binti has faced a lot of the same challenges establishing an SEO department and companywide search strategies for at each company in her career. She has had to train and educate editorial staffs on SEO best practices. She had to get buy-ins from C-level management to ensure she could get the proper resources and build teams. And she has had to build relationships with members of teams that are not always receptive to the major changes she was implementing. It took a lot of convincing and training to get people to understand not only the

November 2019

Binti Pawa Senior Director of SEO

TheStreet

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changes that were needed for the company to succeed, but why the changes were needed. By walking people through SEO best practices, explaining how and why processes had to change both from the content side and the technology side, and repeatedly being the SEO champion for the business, eventually people became receptive to the changes and audience reach began trending in the right direction.

Triggering Point for The Growth TheStreet’s consumer business was in a turnaround state since 2016.

After years of seeing double-digit declines in its subscription business (which represented around 70% of the revenue), a new leadership team was brought in in Q1 of 2016 to stabilize the business and build a foundation for growth. By the middle of 2017, the combination of a new team, tools, systems, and processes had resulted in the underlying metrics improving month-over-month, but TheStreet needed a broader reach at the top of the funnel to begin to see yearover-year growth. A significant portion of the funnel for the subscription business comes from TheStreet.com website, so the company needed to grow the audience in the most efficient and cost-effective way, with SEO being the primary focus. As traffic from Search began improving, the audience at the top of the funnel grew, helping the business see its first year-over-year growth in more than 3 years in the paid count and earned revenue in Q3 of 2018. That growth continued with total paid count ending up 6.6% YoY and earned revenue increasing by 3.4% YoY in Q4 2018.

Inspiration Behind Working for 10

November 2019

Don’t let the ‘‘ noise of others’

A Woman in The Business World, Breaking The Stereotype It can be very difficult to break stereotypes; at one point or another, the majority of women have faced this. Binti personally faced this very early on in her journey to building her career. It’s important to learn and acknowledge when it’s happening. Stereotypes won’t disappear so it’s important to speak up when it is happening and then be prepared to react. She has used her learnings early on to become a role model and raise awareness.

Binti Pawa says, “For me, the process is gender-neutral and depends how process-oriented the person is. In SEO, it’s important to build process or training when working with an editorial or the technology team. Whether a male or female the process should be in place. The process is always www.theenterpriseworld.com

handled case-by-case. For me, there hasn’t been a difference between it being handled by a man or a woman.”

The Journey Towards Goal She has learned so much through her career in search engine optimization over the years. She had some great successes working with some of the biggest known brands in the industry, such as Travelocity, InStyle, Food & Wine, People, and Essence to name a few.

Early on in her career, one of the websites that she worked on was penalized by Yahoo (when Yahoo was still one of the biggest search engines) and the search traffic dropped over 60%. She had a very tough task ahead when she took the project on to bring them out of the deep hole. It took some time, but the day she was able to finally turn it around was one of her proudest moments. Anyone that has worked in SEO before 2006 would know that what Binti did was a difficult task due to the lack of resources and information available at the time. For example, in 2019 following Google’s John Mueller on Twitter provides access to SEO experts and the chance to get help (they may not answer directly but can guide you possibly in the right direction).

More recently, some of her major achievements have been speaking to large crowds on multiple SEO topics, including speaking about the success of driving 20% - 65% YoY growth via SEO to a digital business Professional Experience Binti has been in Digital Marketing and Search Engine Optimization for over fifteen years in-house, leading performance-driven growth

opinions drown out your inner voice.

– Steve Jobs

‘‘

TheStreet The reason Binti took the role at TheStreet was because she saw a great opportunity to grow the business and turn their numbers around. The website traffic was down significantly YoY, and she believed that she could use the skills she had gained through her career to fix the many problems that were keeping the company from reaching its full potential. She identified short-term and long-term improvements that could be made with the editorial and technology teams, as well as existing workflows and content strategies for some quick traffic wins that ultimately brought YoY growth in Search traffic to the site. Also, she was excited to join TheStreet, one of the most renowned brands in digital financial for over two decades, as well as the chance to work closely with Jim Cramer.

for both start-ups and corporate heavyweights. She has been working in Digital Publishing for seven years starting with Time Inc. where she was the Head of SEO working on such brands as InStyle, Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine.

She is presently the Sr. Director of SEO for TheStreet where she is responsible for leading, developing, and integrating SEO and content strategies. With the recent acquisition of TheStreet by Maven, she is also leading and contributing to SEO for brands such as Sports Illustrated.

Before working in Digital Publishing, she was immersed in Travel as the Head of SEO and Social for enterprise brands CheapOair, OneTravel and Travelocity.

Her Team A good trait for any leader is to take care of their employees. It's important to relate to them and not to ever act like you are above them.

When she sees an employee is having a problem, she thinks about what she has gone through in the past and shares with him/her how she overcome that situation.

Something that she cares about is being REAL and transparent with her employees. She says, “I’ve been lucky to have some great leaders in my life who I have learned that from.” It’s important to give feedback and be honest when employees ask. You can’t always share everything, but it’s important they understand you care. Lastly, 11

COVER STORY make time for them always.

Employees will not feel appreciated when their leaders are too busy to have a simple meeting or chat. It’s important to have bi/weekly meetings with your staff.

She has been fortunate to have built a strong talent of individuals on her team, saying “My team is unique in that they collaborate well with each other. They communicate openly with each other by sharing their opinions and ideas and respect each other’s opinions even if they don’t always see eye to eye.”

Her teammates offer each other support and are always ready to help when there is a need. Many times, she has seen her team help one another out while the other is away on personal leave or holidays.

TheStreet TheStreet has been a trusted brand with both a subscription business and advertising model in the financial information space for more than 20 years. It lies at the intersection of financial markets and investing news publishers (e.g., WSJ, FT, MarketWatch, Bloomberg), investment tools and education platforms (e.g., Investopedia, brokers, and Fintech companies) and investment advice and stock pick companies (e.g., Motley Fool, Investorplace, Stansberry, Zacks).

TheStreet.com provides timesensitive markets and investing news and analysis, as well as personal finance and retirement news and commentary.

Action Alerts Plus is one of TheStreet’s subscription products based on Jim Cramer’s charitable trust portfolio and has transformed

into an investing club focused on educating its members about investing and portfolio management.

Real Money is another subscription offering that focuses on investment recommendations and stock picks by giving subscribers actionable trading ideas and advice.

TheStreet’s newest subscription product, Retirement Daily, is its first product not focused solely on investing in US equities. It focuses on retirement and financial planning advice, income-producing ideas for when retirees, and wealth management education and advice.

As the hub and brand of Maven’s finance vertical, TheStreet’s reach and engagement will grow with the combination of Maven’s growing roster of expert financial journalists operating hyper-focused category destinations, ranging from equities and bonds to crypto and taxes. With more content and a larger audience, TheStreet will be able to create new premium subscription offerings for people looking to learn about financial markets and investing no matter their stage in life.

The Maven technology and platform is now powering Sports Illustrated as well as servicing over 275 brands and websites, with over 100 million monthly unique visitors (and growing), Maven is providing a set of technology solutions with built-in shared traffic distribution and world-class monetization that is helping publishers of all sizes with a path to a sustainable and profitable future.

Her Inspiration She thinks the story at TheStreet is particularly inspiring. Margaret de

Luna, President and COO, did an excellent job hiring the right talent at a crucial time who were dedicated to turning the company and the brand around in a short period of time. By changing the culture, the company went from massive subscription declines to successfully drive subscription and earned revenue increases in a shorter than expected period, culminating in an eventual sale.

Everyone in this office in the different departments worked together to get to this point in just a few years.

She says that she likes this quote because if you try to go about pleasing everyone, you’re going to fall short. You’re never going to make everyone happy, so it’s better to do things your way, speak your mind and aim high. People will try to bring you down, but you need to get back up and listen to your own intuition. Whatever ignites your passion, don’t let it die.

When we asked about her favourite book, she said that most of her reading is focused on digital marketing and search, because it is so constantly evolving, and that takes up a lot more of her time than books. These industries are changing so often, and Google makes so many announcements that she is still reading every day, and reading about something that she is passionate about.

Binti Pawa says, “Just be yourself, and don’t lose yourself in that rat race. It’s important to acknowledge your achievements, stay confident and not forget who you are. It’s good to be competitive because it keeps you on your feet and keeps you wanting more. But don’t get swept up in it.”

Credits for all the photographs of Binti Pawa : Thomas J Strodel.

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Inuential Women in Business 2019

Ellen Voie President/ceo

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November 2019

Ellen Voie A Champion of Change

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Inuential Women in Business 2019

To encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments, and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the industry, Ellen Voie started the Women in Trucking in 2007.

Ellen has had a background in trucking industry that began back in 1980, when she got her diploma in traffic and transportation management while being the Traffic Manager for a steel fabricating plant. And then later she worked as a freelance transportation consultant to carriers in Wisconsin, licensing and permitting trucks for more than 16 years.

Women in Trucking Association is a non-profit organization whose mission is to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, address obstacles that might keep women from entering, or succeeding in the trucking industry, and to celebrate the success of its members.

The goal is simply to increase the percentage of women in the trucking industry. WIT represents the women who design, build, sell, own, fix and drive trucks and is very proud that eighteen percent of the members are men who believe in their mission. The organization is 16

not FOR women as much as it is ABOUT women.

To begin something new is always challenging. Ellen too faced hurdles in the beginning of Women in Trucking. 2007, the year when WIT was started, the country was facing a recession crisis and the trucking industry had been greatly affected by it. Ellen started the company with just two people, which included herself and her assistant. Initial years were hard as the conviction of a non-profit organization was not taken as smoothly. But in the first year they had over 500 members join!

‘

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T

he world is fast moving towards adapting the mentality of gender equality. Almost 50% of the woman population in the world are working women, but the transportation industry still struggles to attract and retain women on the job. Gender equality and gender diversity in the workforce can have a greater impact on the economic growth.

We listen and we act to make the transportation industry a better place for women.

As the organization grew, they needed more resources and hired an association management firm, and realized they had the ability to expand using their resources. That allowed them to manage the growth of the organization in a controlled and predicted way. As for a nonprofit organization, the growth of the company is measured on the addition of the dues paying members. With just 500 members on board, there are about 5000 members today.

Their ServicesWIT is the ONLY organization devoted to bringing more women into the supply chain industry.

They are a resource for nearly 5000 members. The company offers information to corporate members on how to attract and retain female driver, how to avoid and address harassment for truck drivers, best practices in attracting and retaining women in transportation and so much more. WIT works with truck stops on safety, security and amenities. They work with truck manufacturers on truck cab design and ergonomics. Currently, WIT is also working with the Federal Motor Carrier Administration on issues involving safety and harassment for women in the trucking industry.

WIT is also working on a driver ambassador program where they will put a female driver in a tractortrailer combination to visit schools, trade shows, conferences and truck stops to talk about the Women In Trucking Association and the benefits of joining.

WIT right now represents almost 11 countries, and although women only represent eight percent of the professional drivers in the United States, WIT is the leader in the world in regard to attracting and retaining female drivers.

The Women in Trucking Foundation is an organization that supports ambitious students, drivers, and professionals in the trucking industry who seek to grow their skills through classroom and vocational training. WIT is a community of corporations, foundations and individuals who value professional development in the trucking industry and are November 2019

committed to seeing it grow.

They raise funds for scholarships, evaluate applications, and distribute funds to schools to ensure that women in the trucking industry have the support they need to grow their skills and themselves. In turn, the trucking industry benefits from a diverse and well-trained workforce that has continuous opportunities for development.

Ellen Voie- The Driving Force With a successful career trajectory, Ellen has been a recipient of many awards for Women in Trucking.

She has received the 2015 ‘Distinguished Alumna of the Year’. She was also named as one of Supply & Demand Chain Executives magazine’s “2016 Pros to Know”. In the year 2016, Ellie

was also chosen as one of the Fleet Owner’s Dozen Outstanding Women in Trucking.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Is what she strongly believes in.

The reason behind this longstanding success is the fact that WIT never fails to listen to their members. The WIT team takes it to themselves to reflect their concerns, challenges and even frustrations.

Breaking the Stereotype!

“The first reaction I get from people when I tell them I lead an organization called, “Women In Trucking” is “Are you a trucker?”

People have a disconnect when it comes to trucks. They see them on the road, but they don’t make a connection to the items them purchase in the store or the gas they put in their cars, the clothes they are wearing or anything else.

Everything comes on a truck!”

Women look at the world differently. First, we want to ensure that our contributions will have lasting effects. We want to work for a company that is making the world a better place for everyone.

Secondly, we are very collaborative and team focused. We want our colleagues to succeed, because it makes us feel better about our leadership abilities. Finally, we are more risk averse when it comes to decision making. We look at all the options and consider the ones that reflect our values, our goals and our long term vision for the company.

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T

here is this new saying to which people are quite adapting themselves.

people happy immediately, but it is also seen that it helps to fight lingering sadness or even stress.

“When going gets tough, let’s get shopping!”

Many researchers have also noted that people who are sad or feel scared and have a growing feeling that they have no control over their environments, for them shopping was the ultimate coping mechanism. So in a time when people think they can’t do anything about the circumstances, they turn to shopping! This helps them getting control, and exercise autonomy.

You have probably heard people say this, generally, when they have been through tough times at work or in their personal life, the first thing that pops in their mind is, “Let’s go shopping!” Though sometimes we may wonder, will fulfilling materialistic needs help to get over that tough week at work or other frustrating things happened lately in lives? Well, turns out, it will! A scientific study has found that retail therapy is an effective, though expensive coping mechanism for most people.

Going shopping can improve a sour mood. While therapy isn’t the exact word one might want to use to describe the positive effects it has on people, but there indeed are tonnes of psychological rewards. A study revealed that people who are more upset tend to spend more money when shopping, i.e. reacting impulsively. But do they regret spending that money? Absolutely not! Retail therapy not only makes 18

Among many of its positive and therapeutic effects, shopping also helps you boost creativity and aesthetics. One can fill their heads with loads of new ideas and get a lot of inspiration. Trying out one outfit, or finding what matches with what the best gives you a new perspective and lightens up that creative soul. Most people also find shopping to be a relaxing activity, something that rejuvenates them.

Concluding, retail therapy definitely works, with loads of benefits. So what are we waiting for? Let’s get shopping!

November 2019

Why Retail Therapy Works

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Upshot Metros

Montreal LA 20

METROPOLE

November 2019

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Upshot Metros

O

riginally called as Ville-Marie or ‘City of Mary’, Montreal took its name from Mount Royal, a triple peaked hill in the heart of the city.

It is the most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. The city’s official language is French with almost 50% population of the city speaking French.

Historically, Montreal was the commercial capital of Canada. But it was surpassed by population and economy by Toronto in the 1970s.

Though it still remains an important centre for commerce, trade, finance, aerospace, pharma, technology, design, education and many more. Montreal is also a home to the second-highest number of consulates in North America. It also serves as the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization.

With the second-largest economy in the Canadian cities based on its GDP, Montreal has the largest economy in the province of Quebec. The city today is an important centre for world affairs and is also the headquarters of Montreal Exchange. The industries in Montreal include that of aerospace, pharmaceuticals, software engineering, textile and apparel manufacturing, electronic goods etc. The service sector is also equally strong and includes civil, mechanical and process engineering, finance, research and development and higher education.

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The Port of Montreal is considered as one of the largest inland ports in the world and it handles over 26 million tonnes of cargo annually.

Also as one of the main ports in Canada, it is a transhipment point for grain, sugar, petroleum products, machinery and consumer goods. Montreal is also the railway hub of Canada and also an important rail city and is a home to the Canadian National Railway.

Montreal is also a host to the headquarters of many of the organizations. The headquarters of the Canadian Space Agency is in Longueil, which is to the southeast of Montreal. It also is the headquarters for the International Civil Aviation Organization, which is the United Nations body, also the World Anti-Doping Agency which is an Olympic body, the International Air Transport Association and many other international organizations.

The finance industry is another industry playing a major role in the economic development of Montreal. The finance sector has employed as much as 100,000 people in the Greater Montreal Area. As of the year 2018, Montreal was also ranked as the 12th in the Global Financial Centres Index. The city is also a home to the Montreal Exchange, which is Canada’s oldest stock exchange.

The Bank of Montreal and the Royal Bank of Canada, two of the biggest banks in Canada held its headquarters in Montreal. Although

later they were shifted Toronto, Ontario, their legal offices still remain in Montreal. Other two smaller banks, the National Bank of Canada and the Lauretian Bank of Canada have their headquarters in Montreal.

Montreal is also considered as a global hub for Artificial Intelligence research and one can see many companies involved in this sector. These groups of companies include the Facebook AI Research also popularly called as FAIR. Other tech biggies include Microsoft Research, Google Brain, DeepMind, Samsung Research and Thales Group.

The video game industry is another booming industry in Montreal.

Because of the quality of the specialized labour the city offers, it has recently been able to attract many world leading game developers and publishers. These include studios such as EA, Eidos Interactive, BioWare, Artificial Mind and Movement, Strategy First, THQ, Gameloft and many others. It is also because of the tax credits that are made available to the corporations that many game developers and publishers have set up studios in Montreal.

Interactive Entertainment, a division of Warner Bros has recently announced the opening of a video game studio in Montreal. It will be the first studio opened by Warner Bros and not purchased.

This will develop games for the

November 2019

Warner Bros franchises such as Batman and other games of their DC portfolio. The studio will supposedly create around 300 jobs.

Another important industry of Montreal is the Montreal Oil ReďŹ ning Centre. It has the largest oil reďŹ ning centre in Canada with major companies like the PetroCanada, Ultramar, Gulf Oil, Petromont, Ashland Canada, Parachem Petrochemical and many more.

THE PORT OF MONTREAL

EA SPORTS STUDIO

With all these developments, the economy of Montreal is all the more progressive and vibrant than ever. The city has reached a turning point, where many new technologies and big data are transforming the global economy.

BANK OF MONTREAL

Mount Royal STRATEGY FIRST

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INTERACTIVE E N T E RTA I N M E N T

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Interview with The Enterprise World

A

Sheri Atwood Founder and CEO 24

household budget is just as important as any other.

It has a considerable impact on the financial lives of the people in the house. If there is any flaw in the budget, it can cause various problems. Sheri Atwood recognized these problems and started SupportPay. SupportPay seeks to address the specific needs of parents dealing with child support. It provides a much needed automated child support platform to help parents manage the process of sharing child expenses and exchanging child support.

November 2019

SHERI ATWOOD YOUR FINANCIAL FACILITATOR SupportPay takes the emotion out of the equation and protects your finances from becoming a victim of quick tempers and pent up aggression. It is the embodiment of a simple solution to address a complex problem. In an interview with The Enterprise World, Sheri Atwood unfurls the journey of SupportPay. 1. Tell us about the company.

• Smart Family Tech, Inc is a software company that seeks to help families manage their financial relationships. We want to make family life easier by changing the way families manage money across households – from a conflictridden, time-consuming & stressful event to a collaborative process between family members.

• We want to make single, divorced & blended families lives easier by delivering innovative applications that will save parents time, money and headaches. Parents will now have more time & energy to focus www.theenterpriseworld.com

on what matters most, raising happy, healthy children.

The company is committed to donating a portion of profits to make children’s lives better.

2. What inspired you to start this enterprise?

Prior to SupportPay I had a very lucrative career as a marketing executive in Silicon Valley including being the youngest Vice President at Symantec. I was a divorced single mom busy juggling a career and raising a child and quickly realized that you get a bill for everything in life but you don’t get a bill for child support. I searched high and low for a solution and was shocked to find out there was nothing available. At the same time, my daughter had to have emergency brain surgery which really forced me to look how I was spending my time. I realized then that if I was going to spend so much time away from my daughter I wanted to work on something that

made an impact in the world. I decided to quit my job and start SupportPay – giving parents who live apart a solution to manage their child support and share expenses.

3. What were the initial challenges you faced?

The biggest issue facing SupportPay has been the lack of knowledge that a solution exists.

Since SupportPay is the first solution to help parents manage child support and share expenses directly with each other a significant amount of effort has gone to educating the market that a solution exists to this very painful and complex issue.

4. Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?

As more parents and legal professionals learned about the solution our growth rate has continued to steadily increase.

5. What have been the best parts and toughest parts of your journey? Brief us about the marvellous journey. If possible, kindly help us with statistical insights as an overview of your individual achievements.

I started SupportPay got the 25

Interview with The Enterprise World platform to over 40,000 users and raised $3M in seed funding. In December of 2016 I closed a $4M Series A round. The capital enabled me to continue to grow the company but it also meant I gave up control of the board, with me being only 1 of 3 votes (the other 2 were investors). Seven months after raising Series A I was fired from my own company and replaced with an investor insider. Within 30 days of me being fired, 20 of the 25 employees quit or were fired and within 2 months the product didn't work and a few months later I found out, with the other shareholders that they were liquidating my company. I reached back out to the board to let me come back and fix the situation. I felt I owed it to the investors who believed in me and the parents who rely on our platform. Unfortunately, my request went unanswered. After several offers to acquire the company were cancelled because I was no longer involved I decided to make one last attempt. In early 2018, I formed a new holding company and made an offer to acquire all the assets back. My offer was accepted and I used the rest of my savings and a personal loan to buy SupportPay back. Over the past year I have focused on fixing the product, getting the previous users back and driving revenue to ensure we are now financially independent. If nothing else, I am a founder with grit and determination.

6. Sheri Atwood’s professional experience Sheri Atwood is the Founder & CEO of SupportPay by Ittavi (an acronym for “it takes a village').

Sheri is a former Silicon Valley executive, a single mom & a child of a bitter divorced. Raised by a 26

single mom & the only person in her family to go to college, she married at 19, completed undergrad in less than 4 years, finished her MBA 10 days before her child was born, while working full time, divorced at 25 & was the youngest Vice President at Symantec.

After 12 years in high tech, Sheri decided to risk it all and start her own company. She taught herself how to code and is an expert in front end development. Her first company, Ittavi, Inc build SupportPay and successfully raised over $7M in venture funding by top Venture Capitalists including Tim Draper, salesforce.com & Aspect Ventures.

She was fired from her own company 7 months after raising her Series A and the company was liquidated 3 months later. In early 2018, she formed Smart Family Tech, Inc. She took out a personal loan and used the rest of her savings and successfully acquired the SupportPay assets back. She is now continuing on her mission to help the millions of parents and children who deal with financial conflicts in order to make everyone of their lives just a little bit easier.

Sheri has been named “2017 Fast Company 100 Most Creative People in Business”, “#5 of 50 Women in Tech Dominating Silicon Valley” and a “Top 40 Under 40 Executive in Silicon Valley”. She has also been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Fortune, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Oprah Magazine and many more.

She holds a Bachelors Degree in Political Science & Theatre from the University of California, San Diego and an MBA from San Jose

State University.

About SupportPay: SupportPay® is the first-ever automated child support payment platform, poised to transform the complex, time-consuming & stressful process that impacts nearly 300 million parents exchanging more than $900 billion in child support & child expenses worldwide. With SupportPay, today’s modern families can spend less time managing and arguing about child support, expenses and alimony and more time focused on raising happy, healthy children.

7. What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?

SupportPay enables parents to manage child support and share expenses directly with each other.

This enables children to get the financial support they deserve, from both of their parents, while enabling parents to focus on what matters most, raising happy, healthy children.

8. How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?

We are focusing on delivering features that will drive revenue and offer continued value to our customers. The more revenue we are able to achieve the more features & solutions we are able to deliver & the more customers we can help.

9. Constant vigilance- a need or a strategy? Please share your views.

A need. Being vigilant to customer needs, product requirements and the competition.

November 2019

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REGIONAL

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PCI DSS Level 1 compliant since 2006 and certiď€ ed 3-D Secure vendor.

Anti-fraud tools, mobile-ready, real-time consolidated reports, big data.

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Multi-lingual, multi-currencies, multi-channels, multi-cards, and multi-acquirers.

High service uptime of 99.9%+ and high performance.

Local account and risk operation support as well as 24x7 technical support in 15+ countries and regions.

www.asiapay.com

Inuential Women in Business 2019

Y

outh is the future. But many times they are seen facing an employment problem. There are companies that want more qualified and experienced staff. And the youth is left in the land of unemployment.

To help solve this problem, Ineke Kooistra came up with

YoungCapital. YoungCapital is the European market leader in HR solutions for young talent. Their services focus on students, graduates, new job starters and young professionals.

Make money, work. Let’s face it.

Young people today are

Ineke Kooistra EMPOWERING YOUNG TALENTS 28

November 2019

materialistic. Nothing wrong with that, but it gives a different perspective on money and work.

Money gives young people freedom; freedom to buy what they want. To do what they want. Maybe to do what their parents couldn't do.

But to make money, they have to work. Make money, work.

YoungCapital helps young people to work. On their way to making their dreams rock hard reality.

Ineke Kooistra has been CEO of YoungCapital since 1 January 2013. Ineke may be at the helm of a multi-million company, she is very open and approachable in her leadership style. And that makes working at YoungCapital so pleasant.

The Company Dutch recruitment specialist YoungCapital (formerly known as StudentJob) was born in 2000, when the founders of the company themselves were looking for a parttime job. They quickly noticed that there was no platform yet for their needs and target group, so they created it themselves. What started as a simple website grew into an innovative temporary employment agency. They’ve been growing fast ever since. Currently YoungCapital is active in 11 countries and have an online database with over 6 million candidates. But they're also rapidly expanding as a company, with 1.300 employees that work in 60 different locations. In 2018, they had a turnover of around 500 million, which is expected to grow to 1 billion in the next four years.

Ineke Kooistra CEO YoungCapital

www.theenterpriseworld.com

With over 5.1 million international connections, YoungCapital has the largest online network for young talent in Europe. In 2015, they opened their first office in Cologne, Germany. In addition, they have an online presence in Germany, Austria, Belgium, UK, Spain, France, Sweden, Switzerland & Ireland.

The company believes in the power of young talent. They are ambitious, creative, flexible and

always online. With their endless energy and fresh perspective, they are essential to all businesses.

Although, one big challenge they are currently dealing with is the fact that they are growing incredibly fast. It has a huge impact on basically all operational processes. Some of them are more adaptable than others.

Their Services YoungCapital is specialized in young people, because they think they are more important than ever because of the rapid digitisation.

They encourage innovation: provide new ways of communicating, collaborating and solving problems. They just approach it a little differently. With their fresh vision and endless energy, they can conquer the world.

As digital natives, they have new ideas about working. They are ambitious, creative, flexible and connected. This encourages innovation in organisations and helps to break taboos that are in the way of growth.

YoungCapital envisions on being the best talent developer in the Netherlands, focusing on recruitment, secondment and education and then eventually achieving the same result all over Europe. Ambitious? Not when you look at the numbers. It took them just one year to become the third biggest party in the Netherlands in terms of growth.

Since last years, YoungCapital boasts its own accredited HBO (Higher Professional Education) programme for software development. And a MBO (Middle Professional Education) in engineering. The company has also been investing in IT, finance and 29

Inuential Women in Business 2019 engineering traineeships over the past several years.

“There is a major shortage in these sectors. In addition, the Dutch educational system does not innovate quickly enough; resulting in young people/graduates lacking the knowledge and practical skills they need to kick-start their careers.”

The traineeships and the education programmes help them acquire the skills they need and prepare them for the workplace. There is also an additional focus on soft skills, such as behaviour and attitude, which are necessary for the jobs of the future. This is how YoungCapital is helping motivate young people to discover, develop and secure their position in the labour market.

Success Speaks “You immediately feel YoungCapital energy and our entrepreneurship the moment you walk through our door. They do everything in their power to keep our people happy & healthy, and make them stick around as long as possible.”

In 2018, YoungCapital once again outpaced the market, with a 43 percent increase in turnover, amounting to 465 million euros.

This makes them the fastest growing autonomous company in the industry. 2018 was also a successful year for YoungCapital in other areas. The recruitment specialist helped put about 60,000 talented individuals to work last year, 25 percent more than in 2017.

The company also increased its own number of employees from 1,000 to 1,300. YoungCapital has set ambitious growth targets for 2019 as well. They want to grow by 30

at least 100 million euros in 2019, with a turnover of at least 565 million. YoungCapital is now active in 57 locations spanning 10 countries across Europe. They are also planning to further expand our locations. The company is opening branches in Hamburg, Munich, Leipzig and Düsseldorf. With this, YoungCapital Germany hopes to achieve turnover growth of 80 percent in 2019.

staffing market. Her role as CEO of YoungCapital is to get people moving, motivate them and coach them. She also safeguards the strategic decisions they make together as a company. Obviously, everyone makes their own decisions in their own line of expertise. But, when it’s necessary, she has the final say.

The Team A recruitment agency works with real people, not specific products.

They match people with organisations and want them to help each other to be the best they can be. The professionals responsible for the buy in are satisfied when they can get employees for the lowest price.

This puts them in a squeeze, because they see the real value of the employees for these organisations. YoungCapital wants to make them more productive.

This is only possible with a higher margin.

‘‘

I LIKE TO ACT AS A FACILITATOR FOR MY EMPLOYEES. TELL ME WHAT I CAN HELP YOU WITH!

Word from Ineke All women who really want to reach the top will find a way to break through that glass ceiling. No bias in the world will stop a woman on a mission to reach that top position. But it’s wrong to think that anyone with the right capabilities - man or woman - can work anywhere they want. There should be a match between your personality, the company’s values and its culture. And sometimes it’s just a case of pure luck. Being at the right place at the right time. If this match doesn’t come naturally, it’s just not meant to be.

Ineke has been working in the recruitment and secondment branche for 25 years now. Both in the general and specialised staffing sections. Additionally, she has also set up and expanded various specialisations within the IT

“Curiosity and being attentive to your own people is the most important.”

Make sure that you always seek out an honest and open conversation, and take your time to really listen to each other. Give your employees the freedom they deserve, and always make them feel like they’re worth it. I try and incorporate what's best for everybody into all my decisions. Whether it’s the client, YoungCapital employees or the company as a whole. Never do anything for personal gain. Always look ahead and consider all your options, while at the same time making weekly and monthly reports.

November 2019

online

Get Life

Street Cries Think. Create. Promote www.streetcries.com

T

here has been much advancement in the healthcare sector. New and effective treatments for chronic diseases are being invented.

Clinical Research is one branch of the healthcare sciences. Broadly, clinical research determines the safety of the medications, certain devices, diagnostic products and some treatment regimens that are to be used by the humans.

CMIC, Inc. is a leading CRO and a provider specialized in bioanalytical services in support of TK/PK studies for pre-clinical and clinical developments. Located in Hoffman Estates, IL, the company

32

provides cutting-edge capabilities and sophisticated expertise in bioanalytical method development, method validation/qualification and study sample analysis for small and large molecules. As a strategic drug development partner, CMIC helps sponsors to overcome challenges in bioanalysis with expertise, rapid turn-around-time and high quality services.

Jenny has over 25 year’s executive/lab management experience for bioanalytical and analytical laboratory operations in support of drug discovery, preclinical and clinical drug development. Experienced in

COMPETENCY

‘‘

MATTERS THE MOST

November 2019

Jenny Lin COO/Board Director CMIC, Inc.

Jenny Lin Building Organizational Quality Systems www.theenterpriseworld.com

33

Inuential Women in Business 2019 business strategic planning and execution; Responsible for general lab operations, quality assurance operations, Business Development Activities, IT supports and laboratory safety compliance. She currently serves as the Chief Operating Officer and Board Director at CMIC. The OrganizationCMIC has over 30 years of experience in small molecule Bioanalysis and also supports Biologic, Biomarker and Oligonucleotides analysis across countries. CMIC has a reputation for excellence and a strong commitment to helping improve lives around the world. With dedication to the drug development market and continued success, CMIC has become a leading CRO in Japan and North America. Today, CMIC continues to grow and expand its facility and capabilities to meet the needs of clients and the changing drug development environment.

name brand in US market and through our excellent customer experience, unparalleled data quality and rapid turnaround times.”

The organization today stands strong on their diversified services, high quality data, rapid data turnaround, excellent customer services and communication. From the inception of the company, CMIC has quickly and steadily gained the trust of many clients. And they now support hundreds of studies each year, many of which are challenging studies.

Their Products/ServicesThe company invested in talent training. And a lot of business efforts were also made focusing on building solid lab processes to avoid potential missteps or misunderstand in the lab.

With unrelenting pressure to enhance the speed, efficiency and cost-effectiveness of drug discovery

CMIC is a bioanalytical Contract Research Organization(cro) offering:

Being an integrated and a relatively new member of CMIC holdings group, CMIC, Inc. had established its solid footprint in Chicago 10 years ago.

“Even though we are the leading CRO in Asia Pacific area, we have to work diligently to establish our 34

and development, CRO companies need to be confident that their Bioanalytical testing is not only tailored to these translational goals, but fit for purpose, and delivers added value in an environment in which scientific innovation, commercial imperatives and unmet patient needs are rapidly

transforming the drug-development paradigm.

A Woman in Business- Breaking the StereotypeThe most prominent challenge for women in the business world is balancing business and family life.

However, the culture of work is shifting to allow women more flexibility, which is a welcoming change. Although it is still a challenging task, Jenny is not a believer of the concept of glass ceiling or the gender gap.

She believes that businesses are always process driven, once you fully invest your minds and dedications into business processes, there is no difference man or woman.

Jenny has been a selected member for Global Bioanalysis Consortium (GBC) making recommendations for global Bioanalysis harmonization. She serves as editorial board member for peer reviewed journal and chair for international conferences. She is author and co-author for approximately 40 publications, white papers and presentations. She is the inventor of 7 issued US patents. Jenny earned her BS in Analytical Chemistry at Peking University and her MS in Medicinal Chemistry at University of Connecticut. Jenny is a member of the American Society of Mass Spectrometry (ASMS), American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), American Chemical Society (ACS), National Association of Professional Woman (NAPW) and Global CRO Council (GCC).

What Makes the Team Unique?

November 2019

Talent management and talent development are key elements of CMIC. Both the terms are not just a simple human resource key phrases, but a part of the business strategy to stay committed to hire, engage, motivate and develop the most talented and excellent employees in the industry. What makes our team unique is craftsmanship, great team work, enthusiasm and dedication. That is our belief and we exercise that every day in our labs.

“People always are the most important assets of any business” The inspiration and the reason for CMIC’s long-standing success is the CMIC CREED.

CMIC CREED CMIC Group will bring innovation to healthcare so that all people, regardless of age, gender or race, can live their one and only lives according to their own will.

Whether in youth, when potential has yet to blossom, or in later years, when the fruits of one’s life are maturing, every individual has an equally earnest desire to live every moment to its fullest.

We wish to genuinely answer each and every one of these wills to live.

To achieve this, we aspire to always challenge ourselves for a betterfuture.

By evolving and gaining new perspectives, we will create value out of our unwavering determination. and continue to contribute to society and humanity.

www.theenterpriseworld.com

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Did You Know?

36

November 2019

ILLION 1. ABOUT 7.9 M MPLOYED PEOPLE ARE E OWNED

BY BUSINESSES THE US.

BY WOMEN IN

2. THE US, GERMANY, AND GREECE HAD FEWER FEMALE BOARD MEMBERS THAN PREDICTED BUT WOMEN MADE IT TO BOARD LEVEL STAYED THERE LONGER THAN MEN.

3. COMPANIES FROM THE US, HONG KONG, AND MEXICO HAVE THE LONGEST-SERVING FEMALE DIRECTORS.

MENO W HEST THE 5. HIG FIRMS IN NIA R ED OWN IN CALIFO E US AR MILLION. 3 i.e. 1.

4. IN THE US, WOMEN LAUNCH MORE THAN 1200 NEW BUSINESSES EVERY SINGLE DAY.

RE 6. IN THE US, MO THAN 30 % OF BUSINESSES ARE MEN. OWNED BY WO

7. ONLY 58 % OF WOMEN HAVE ACCOUNTS AT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS WORLDWIDE.

8. GHANA, A COUNTRY IN WEST AFRICA HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES.

Facts about women in business www.theenterpriseworld.com

37

Inuential Women in Business 2019

Marina Tognetti Founder/CEO

38

November 2019

Language contributes to the most basic form of communication, and most of the times there could be a communication barrier if the native language is different. Especially for professionals and students, when working or studying in a different country, they may face this difficulty.

“

Marina Tognetti, who herself is fond of learning new languages, founded mYngle end 2007.

Originally from Italy, she has worked in different countries and speaks several languages, Italian, English, Dutch, French, Spanish, and some Mandarin.

If you try ten new things some will fail some will be OK and one will make a difference.

We are looking for that “special one''

Mara Tognetti SPEAKING THE SUCCESS LINGO Marina, with her successful 18 years of corporate career by Procter & Gamble, Philips, Billiton, Sara Lee, The Boston Consulting Group and eBay, decided to become an entrepreneur and started the venture mYngle. She first saw the potential of the internet while she was working as a consultant project.

That is when she realized that it would disrupt entire industries and forever change the way people buy/sell/interact.

“I had to be part of that! The idea www.theenterpriseworld.com

came later on from when trying to learn Mandarin. There are thousands of teachers all over the world; I just need to use the internet to connect teachers with students. That is how mYngle was born.” mYngling with LanguagesmYngle is a platform that pioneers in online language lessons. Native teachers offer classes by means of a live virtual classroom to professionals all around the globe. mYngle offers the possibility of

teaching or receiving live one-onone lessons from the comfort of your home or office, or even when travelling. mYngle offers customized language training programs through video conferencing in 45 different languages anytime, anywhere.

Lessons are one-on-one, with highly qualified native coaches and related to the learner’s job-position.

The virtual classrooms enable learners to take classes 24/7. The platform is a perfect solution for 39

Inuential Women in Business 2019 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.

The key to success for mYngle was being able to ‘pivot’ from the initial business model to a completely different one. mYngle was launched as a marketplace, something Marina was well familiar with from her previous experience at eBay. Even though the company had a good funding, and a very motivated team, little development was seen initially.

“We listened to our customers and they gave us the new direction, from an open marketplace to a quality global online school.”

That brought them to a different place where companies more than consumers were interested in the services mYngle was offering. The second pivot was from B2C to B2B. mYngle now has prestigious business clients and learners all over the word, with tens of thousands of lessons given each month.

Their ServicesmYngle strongly believes that the key to success is not constantly comparing with competition, but aligning with what customers want.

They have always been known for uncompromising quality of their trainings and service. This means the best trainers and tailored courses, a proven method and the highest flexibility, with (online) lessons 24/7 that can be rescheduled just 2 hours in advance.

Continuous improvement comes 40

from constantly listening to users’ feedback and improving accordingly, as well as using new technologies at their advantage.

Data analysis and machine learning helps to triage new products better, it helps to understand clients and try to anticipate possible issues better, it also helps Sales department with forecasting, funnel analysis, staff coaching…

leadership is amplified in tech startups: women are as innovative as men and companies run by women are as successful. Yet, the percentage of women owners of tech businesses is incredibly low.

“I believe the main issue here is that too often women don’t take the first step as they are held back by too many doubts about their own ability.”

“One size does not fit all.”

Education is still operating in the old traditional way, offering learners what is available, and not what they want. mYngle constantly monitors their users’ reactions and tries to adjust accordingly, using adapted versions of NPS (Net Promoter Score), which defines that only excellence counts. Constant focus on customers and their needs is one of mYngle’s pillars and key strengths. This is particularly important when you are in an industry like that of online education, which is in a transition or evolution phase, where the main challenge is not competition but the unawareness or inexperience of customers.

What makes the mYngle team Unique mYngle stimulates a culture of experimentation and allowing mistakes. Innovation cannot exist in a culture of fear of consequences. The team tries to develop people who think and not only do “jobs”. In its staff mYngle looks for entrepreneurs, people who do not keep the status quo, but push themselves beyond their comfort zone.

Tech entrepreneurship is the ultimate challenge. Only 5% of tech start-ups are owned by women. The issue about female

Marina Tognetti- The Pioneer of Online Language Lessons With her love for other countries, their cultures and languages, the internet, and most importantly, a passion to create something new and useful, Marina ended her long corporate career to pursue her love for languages and create mYngle.

Her goal was to use the internet to strengthen and challenge the traditional practices of education.

Marina is a regular speaker at international conferences on topics of women entrepreneurship and leadership. With her innovative approach and leadership, mYngle has been a recipient of several awards right after its launch: • Techcrunch Europa’s Tech Awards- Nomination for Best European Web Application or Service EMEA, July 2009 • FEM Business Top 5 Start-up Media in The Netherlands, June 2009 • Plugg People’s choice award, March 2009 • Best ICT Company at the European Venture Summit, December 2008 • Accenture Innovation award, October 2008 • One of 33 hot Dutch web 2.0 companies, August 2008 • Most promising ICT Company in Benelux, in March 2008

November 2019

www.kia.com

Interview with The Enterprise World

Crimson Interactive is a pioneer and the global pacesetter in the field of diversified language solutions. Its services have helped over 2 million authors and clients across 125 countries achieve superior communication results. In this interview, let’s learn more about what exactly Crimson Interactive does with Shilpa Mittal, Translation Business Head.

1. Tell us about the company.

Crimson Interactive is a leading solutions provider for diverse languages. It assists authors and researchers worldwide in getting their research published in renowned, international journals.

With clients spread across 125 countries and excellent quality delivery and innovation under its wings, Crimson has soared high, growing from strength to strength, with each adventure, each achievement, each exploration. We are pleased to boast of some clients

‘‘ 42

such as Panasonic, MIT, Netflix, American Express, with whom we continue to enjoy long-standing associations. Crimson is headquartered in Mumbai, with offices in Japan, China, Korea, and the US. The three flagship brands of Crimson—Enago (English editing), Ulatus (language translation), and Voxtab (transcription)—work to deliver specialised language solutions to authors. Ulatus is the world’s leading translation and localization provider, being number 1 in India.

It has been recognized among the World’s top 75 translation service providers and among the top 10 Pharma and Life Science Tech Solution providers. It helps authors and researchers with translation requirements reach a global audience and delivers localization to specific markets.

2. Can you please brief us about your professional experience?

Being an All-India Rank holder Chartered Accountant, I secured great professional opportunities in renowned financial institutions like Citibank, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley. I have been part of the treasury teams and have done research in Equities. Thereafter, Ulatus happened and I have been focused on growing this brand ever since.

3. What inspired you to start this

enterprise?

I have always been a very ambitious individual, determined to work against stereotypes and establish a place for myself in the most challenging spaces. It started from my choice of academics–finance–an unexplored territory by females back then. The finance industry being a maledominated one did not deter me from striving to achieve success and growth there, and I am proud to declare that I did achieve what I desired. However, I knew that my ambition and dreams were not restricted to following instructions and working as per someone else’s mind-set, and I knew I wanted to start and drive something of my own. That’s how Ulatus happened!

The challenge in the industry was the primary trigger to me wanting to establish my business in this industry, and so I did.

4. What were the initial challenges you faced?

The translation industry is huge and to even be recognized as a brand here requires immense efforts.

There is immense competition here and entering and surviving this competition requires one to be different and specialized, and hence our start was to be experts at providing language solutions in Asian languages specifically.

Another challenge is that this industry is continuously

BUSINESSWOMEN ARE RARE AND NOT CONSIDERED AS INFLUENTIAL AS BUSINESSMEN, AND I WAS DETERMINED TO CHANGE THIS—WHETHER IT INVOLVED FIGHTING TRADITIONAL MIND-SETS OR EFFECTIVELY BALANCING MY PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL PRIORITIES—I WANTED TO DO IT, AND I DID! November 2019

‘‘

W

hat is a language solution? Sure we do excel in the language we speak, but there is more to languages than just speak.

Language has its different dialects and types. Not everyone is fluent in English or the native language someone else speaks, and that is exactly why one needs language solutions. And Shilpa Mittal is a pioneer in doing the exact same.

Shilpa Mittal Business Head- Translation Crimson Interactive

SHILPA MITTAL

A LEADER IN LANGUAGE SOLUTIONS

www.theenterpriseworld.com

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Interview with The Enterprise World evolving—from one language to another, from one service to another (translation, localization, technological solutions, etc.).

Technology is getting better day by day. Thus, we too need to keep evolving in what we offer clients.

This requires constant market intelligence and innovation.

Building a team competent to handle varied and unique client requests is a challenge we accepted early into our story and successfully achieved. The success of Ulatus today should be attributed to its hardworking and intelligent team.

5. Which was that point that triggered the growth of the company?

We have been able to gain the trust of many clients with our excellent quality and service delivery.

Customer experience and delight is

44

of utmost importance, and I believe that all our clients have contributed to our success story. However, if I were to remember what exactly triggered, it would be some key business accounts with leading pharma companies as well as the localization services we launched, which helped accelerate our progress and success as being recognized as the leading translation brand.

6. A woman in the business world. How hard was it breaking the stereotype?

As hard as you could imagine it to get. Stereotypes existed right from the start of my career in the finance industry. I, an All-India Rank holder Chartered Accountant, was the only female among 50 males in my organisation. Securing professional opportunities and achieving utmost success in

renowned financial institutions like Citibank, HSBC, and Morgan Stanley involved seeping through conventional mind-sets, defying odds, and swimming against the tide. This experience made me all the more determined to start something of my own and prove that women could run successful businesses. Businesswomen are rare and not considered as influential as businessmen, and I was determined to change this—whether it involved fighting traditional mind-sets or effectively balancing my personal and professional priorities—I wanted to do it, and I did!

7. Do you think the paradigm of business processes change when handled by a woman?

I don’t think there is a difference between the thought process of a man or woman when handling a

November 2019

business. Women are considered to be emotional, but businesswomen are fierce! Strategies are alike in both cases and I don’t think one is lesser capable than the other as entrepreneurs.

8. What are the key achievements of your entrepreneurial journey?

I am happy to boast about a competent team of extremely dedicated professionals working together to achieve great heights for Ulatus. Today, Ulatus is a leading brand worldwide and the number 1 translation company in India. The growth Ulatus has achieved is a pride for me and something that makes me extremely satisfied and happy about my journey. To add, because of various other milestones that Ulatus has surpassed, I have been recognized as the Best Woman Entrepreneur India 2017 Award by

www.theenterpriseworld.com

the Future Woman Leader Summit, the Best Woman Entrepreneur Award by Golden Bridge Awards, USA, among the 10 Influential Female CEOs Beyond Leading Business, and Aspioneer’s Flying High Women Leaders 2018.

9. What are the products/services the company focuses on? How are your services different from those in the market?

We are a language solutions provider offering 50+ languages helping authors in getting their research published in international peer-reviewed journals. We also help corporates to talk to their audience in the language they understand the most. We do Life Sciences’ localization and help them launch drugs in foreign markets, through clinical trial translations. We also do regulatory submission translation and

linguistic validation for pharmaceutical companies, medical device and biotech companies as well as CROs. Website localization, book translations, game translation, app localization, finance localization, software localization also form a significant part of services we offer.

10. How do you decide to take the company a step further in terms of your products/services?

Continuous innovation and evolution is key! This needs to be in close association with what the market needs v/s what the market is offering. My team is my strongest army so I need to ensure that they are constantly updated with what is needed and new in the industry to be able to get ideas and suggestions through their on-ground experience.

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A

s a leader, it is your responsibility to take an active and responsible part in the development of the team. It not only gives a feeling of significance to your employees but also portrays your concern for the future of the organization. When you create a work environment where your employees can reach their goals, it gets reflected in their productivity, which ultimately helps the organization grow.

Now, why is such a work environment necessary? The basic need is so that the employees can expand their knowledge, skills, and abilities. With such an environment, employees can get opportunities to gain new skills and experiences. This will also boost employee motivation and also show increased job satisfaction. This will reflexively translate into positive gains for the organization by improving work quality and effectiveness.

With these few tips in practice, you can make sure your organization and the employee growth go together.

• Encourage Professional Development Employees with high potential are not satisfied with their status. So if your organization shifts its focus on their development, with proper guidance, they might just be the future leaders in your organization.

• Create a Development Plan For optimal growth, you can help the employees establish their goals that are neatly aligned with their strengths, interests, and experiences. Also as a leader, you can establish goals and expectations to help your 46

employees set their sights on careers and opportunities.

• Pair Employees and Mentors Together Mentoring relationships will cultivate positive and productive working relationships. Find someone similar to the role of the employee. This will help employees learn and get new experiences. It will also encourage and support them in their careers.

• Help Employees Build Networks You can recommend to the employees of the opportunities within the organization, networking or any other relevant professional groups in the organization. This will help them build strong connections.

Design an Organization

• Challenge them with Assignments Get your employees out of their comfort zones. Challenge them with tasks and assignments now and then. The employees will not be able to grow or move forward sitting in their comfort zones.

• Show Trust in Your Employees If you want your employees to develop, then you must trust them with their job and get out of the way. You can let your employees know your expectations by modeling the behavior you expect.

This lets the employees know what they need to succeed. It also shows that trust and credibility are important for an organization.

November 2019

Apt for Employee Growth

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ENABLING TRUST IN A DIGITAL WORLD Sedicii enables real-time digital customer onboarding. Verify customers in minutes with Sedicii’s fully compliant consent-driven KYC www.sedicii.com

www.atempo.com

preserving data ecosystems

PROVIDING SOLUTIONS TO PROTECT, STORE, SHARE AND RECOVER DATA. • Incremental and automatic file migration between heterogeneous storage • Operational storage during the migration with reduced impact on production • Automatic control of the integrity of migrated files • Performance tuning by simply adding or removing Data Movers • Single platform for securing new storage

Fly Better www.emirates.com