Category: Business Spotlight

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Power to the People!

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Established by female entrepreneur, Arjodita Mustali, Vigàn Group (Vigàn) represents a group of outsourcing companies based in Albania. We speak to Arjodita to find out more about her passion for her country and empowering the people who live there, as she is named in the CEO of the Year Awards 2022.

Arjodita Mustali has created several platforms for the emancipation of the Albanian youth and society in order to develop the national capacities of the state. The services offered by Arjodita to improve this situation are multifaceted, but what can be considered as a breakthrough innovation is the promotion of young people towards technological initiatives, start-ups, and orientation towards the BPO industry in Albania.

One of these platforms is Vigàn Group – a fast-growing consulting business development company headquartered in Tirana, which provides strategic giving for complex projects through cultural innovation and social innovation.

Established as result of all the intensive hard work and collected experience from talented and passionate people, the group has launched several businesses in and outside the country of Albania, creating jobs and equal opportunities for all people.

Vigàn Group aims to promote the country at a national and international level by including Albania in the most prestigious world business circles. It has its primary activity operating in Albania, with subsidiaries in Balkan Region Kosovo and branches in the USA, Switzerland, Africa, and Tanzania.

“Vigàn Group has changed the business mentality and mindset in Albania, by being forward thinking and innovative and applying the best worldwide business models,” explains Arjodita, the firm’s CEO and Co-Founder. “Our secret is trusting and nurturing the human potential while acknowledging it as our most treasured talent paves the road to a healthy company mindset. Persisting on our core values, such as resilience, innovation, customer loyalty, and integrity supports the growth of this mentality from company-centred to culturally accepted.”

Vigàn’s primary competence is strategic giving that helps its partners design and implement complex projects with impact. Through cultural innovation and social innovation, two different approaches mixed together, Vigàn Group consults the process of design and implementation of the projects or programmes that its partners are looking for.

“Vigàn thinks in the future and designs with results in mind,” continues Arjodita. “The word “vigàn” was chosen based on the idea of ​​being big and powerful, like a giant. We aim to make any partner feel like a part of the group.”

As well as establishing and running Vigàn Group, Arjodita is one of the first entrepreneurs who has a concrete impact on the growth of new start-up business initiatives, new technologies, and the development of the BPO industry in Albania.

As a serial entrepreneur, business coach and developer, start-up mentor, public speaker, and co-author, Arjodita has mostly mentored young people in a continuous professional cycle in the fields of sales, management, brokering, and leadership, enabling the successful realisation of the 23 start-ups developing their business in Albania and abroad.

“My motto is that success comes as a result of passion and determination to stay true to one’s beliefs and dreams,” she elaborates. “As a company, we follow the idea that we want to make any partner feel like a part of us. We like to consider our clients as our extended family.”

Elaborating on the role that she plays, at Vigàn Group in particular, Arjodita tells us that she is a huge advocate of empowering entrepreneurs, women, and youth in making more self-conscious choices that not only benefit them professionally, but also the industry, the economy, and the country, leading by example.

Arjodita is the author of the “The Female Leaders of Tomorrow” a biographical piece, which conveys a message to youth about personal growth and motivation to achieve set goals. She is also in the process of publishing a series of books in business development and entrepreneurship.

This is in addition to being the CEO and Co-Founder of Vigàn Investment, a holding company that invests in businesses and start-ups, providing services and solutions in the business services industry. Since 2020, Arjodita is the President of ABLS Albania, representing Albanian businesses that operate in BPO, R&D, ITO, and Shared Services, and has been contributing to the business services industry for more than 14 years, focusing mostly on technology and innovation.

As a company that is constantly in the process of improving itself and the services it provides, Vigàn Group is always looking for the latest innovative strategies to apply, and continues evolving and growing to bring the best for the team and the clients. This is something which is reflected in Arjodita’s approach to personal growth and development, too.

“I am in constant need to change and develop myself, as well as my environment and my business, workplace, the environment that surrounds me, and my team,” she enthuses. “I strongly believe that creating a healthy and happy place for all will make an enormous impact on the outcome results for our partners and clients as well.”

Obviously, the world changed a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic and, of course, it affected businesses all over the world, as well. Arjodita comments on how it changed her mindset on how to collaborate and build the future.

“At that time, we realised that our society is so fragile but, at the same time, we came out stronger as we defeated that world crisis,” she says, passionately. “It made me deeply understand that human interaction is irreplaceable and the job trend is changing, fast going towards digitisation in every business field.”

Recently, as recognition for her commitment, dedication, and hard work, Arjodita was named CEO of the Year 2022 – Tirana, Albania in the CEO of the Year Awards. She is extremely grateful and humbled to have received such a prestigious accolade.

Looking to a post-Covid future, Arjodita has great plans ahead which she wishes to execute.

“My real passion is to be a motivational speaker and a business coach,” she shares. “I find an immense pleasure when I help people in many aspects to find their way, to achieve their personal and professional goals, to understand themselves and what they would like to do with their future. Of course my field is specialised in business coaching but life is so much more that they can effectuate each other.”

For business enquiries, contact Arjodita Mustali from Vigan Group on their website – https://vigangroup.com/

man looking at camera

Transforming the Future

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

With more than 47 years of professional experience in the local, regional, and international market, Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants (ZFP) excels in the construction industry. As a more sustainable future beckons, we find out the company’s plans from Dr. Al Assaf as he is recognised in the CEO of the Year Awards 2022.   

Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants has been serving the regional architecture and engineering (A&E) industry since 1974. Today, it is one of the leading companies, as well as the most established in architectural, engineering, project management, construction management, engineering information system, manpower supply, municipality services and studies, and information technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

As well as being among the oldest firms in the region, ZFP possesses an unparalleled experience and knowledge base of the Middle Eastern construction industry with its skillset combining a blend of innovation and local aspirations.

The company’s current organisational structure comprises of the following main divisions: design, municipal projects and construction management, and site supervision services, and it has been working for government and major private sector clients, in addition to being a one-stop shop for A&E services, ranging from need assessment to final handover.

“During this journey, there has been a myriad of contributions that have attributed distinct value to the industry,” says Dr. Abdulaziz M. Al Assaf, the firm’s CEO. “During these 47 years of multidisciplinary presence, ZFP has given value to the A&E industry by always promoting newer yet authentic methods and approaches of project development and delivery, starting from highest standards of health and safety, through enhanced environmental and sustainability compliances, implementation, and promotion of ESG principles to digital transformation initiatives.”

Dr. Al Assaf received his degree in civil engineering followed by a master’s in engineering management from Saint Martin’s University, Washington, USA. He joined ZFP in 1991 as manager of the Riyadh Office and since then, he has been involved in overall supervision, project management, and construction management, as well as design-built projects.

In December 2022, owing to his extensive 30-plus years of services and contribution to the regional construction industry, Dr. Al Assaf was recognised and conferred with an Honorary Professional Doctorate in Projects Management. He was the first Arab engineer to become a chartered engineer in the UK.

Prior to joining ZFP, Dr. Al Assaf was working for the Ministry of Interior’s projects department and the USA Corps of Engineers. During his professional journey, he has delivered state-of-the-art solutions to local and regional construction clients. His professional leadership approach is based on standards and norms that deliver value, innovation, and sustainability with affordability to clients, while promoting local and regional content.

Working with almost all major government sector entities including ministries, municipalities, government departments, and authorities in realising mega projects of diversified nature, Dr. Al Assaf has an in depth understanding of the local and regional architectural and construction industry needs. Under his leadership, ZFP has now engaged in the giga projects under the KSA Vision 2030; these include NEOM, Qiddiyah Red Sea projects, Amaala, and Dariyah Gate.

Employing high caliber professionals and support staff with Dr. Al Assaf at the helm means that the consultancy services provided by ZFP are delivered with the highest degree of professionalism, having completed more than 1,000 projects to date.

“The benefits of the ZFP solutions to clients are multifaceted,” he explains, speaking of what sets the firm aside. “There are qualitative and quantitative benefits in terms of optimum value of money, numerous state-of-the-art designs and sustainability-oriented developments and operations. All these are demonstrated at their best in long-term development programmes, most of which are owned by governmental clients.”

Some of the above programmes include those for the Ministry of Housing, interior affairs, health, and defense and aviation; a couple of these ongoing/completed programmes are briefly described below:

 

Design and Supervision of Housing Sectors in Various Parts of the Kingdom

A huge undertaking with 115 sites (covering a total site area of 110 million square meters and a total built-up area of almost 22 million square meter) aiming at providing communities with healthy social lifestyle and a unique sense of place while promoting sustainable environmental principals.

The project aims to design and plan for multiple housing complexes covering inclusively: housing, education and health services, religious and social amenities, security, and public realm.

 

Programme of the Design and Development of Airports Across the Kingdom

ZFP was awarded by the Saudi General Authority of Civil Avi­ation (GACA) the consultancy services for the planning and design of several regional (domestic) as well as international airports, to meet the growing passenger and aircraft movement demand togeth­er with the provision of modern facilities. Thus, facilitating a better level of service (LoS) for airlines and consequently for passengers.

ZFP envisaged the strategic masterplan development of the airport facilities for the next 12 years onwards; it also described the basic concept of the design development of the airport facilities and related infrastructure.

A pioneer in the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology throughout the design process, sustainability study, construction managements (through 4D and 5D simulation), and facilities management as well, ZFP has already, successfully, finished several MEGA projects with a seamless coordination between architects, engineers, and contractors, enabling quick design decision making, production of accurate construction documents, and automated BOQ extraction from the models.

In fact, when onboarding new clients, ZFP’s implementation of BIM technology into the course of a project has huge advantages, such as design visualisation, rapid design modifications, optimised multi-disciplinary coordination, and clash detection to ensure smooth construction without obstacles, as well as better collaboration between all project stakeholders.

To achieve the above advantages, ZFP provides internal customised developed tools to automate most of the repetitive tasks and increase accuracy and productivity, including cloud services which were developed by Autodesk, and creating a tool that has made it easy for the client to be involved during the process and enables them to interact and communicate from the early stages of the project.

“By using tools such as this, clients’ reviewers are in direct connection with the product while it’s being developed and can give feedback to the ZFP team for any modifications or corrections, if needed or observed,” Dr. Al Assaf explains further. “Working with cloud-based services, like Autodesk BIM360, has made it easier for the client and all project stakeholders to find what we call “Single Source of Truth” product that is available all the time.”

This is just one area where ZFP differentiates itself from competitors; other factors that set it a notch above include the successful delivery of its innovative solutions to multi-disciplinary and multi-geographic platforms, which have gained the firm recognition in publications such as Engineering News Record (ENR), CEO Global and CEO Middle East Magazines, Construction Technology Festival (GCC), and Fast Company Middle East for Innovative Solutions.

Engineering News Record, which is the most reputable US-based international platform for assessing and ranking consultants and contractors from around the world, has placed ZFP in the top 225 global ranking of international design consultants, four times in a row, with this year’s rank of 84th in the world. Plus, CEO Today Middle East and CEO Today Global magazines have both acknowledged the performance of the company under its current leadership.

A keen focus on the sustainability-oriented design and construction methodologies that are in-built in ZFP’s developed solution have been recognised by the regional industry at the Construction Technology Festival 2022 in Dubai, where ZFP was nominated among the top five most sustainable organisations in the Middle East. And it was crowned Most Innovative Company in the region by the Fast Company Middle East.

It will come as no surprise to learn, then, that Dr. Al Assaf has yet a further accolade to add to the trophy cabinet as he recently gained recognition in the CEO of the Year Awards and was named CEO of the Year, 2022 – Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Understandably delighted, Dr. Al Assaf does not have long to celebrate his latest success as business must resume in order to keep up with the fast-paced and ever-evolving environment of the construction industry, for almost $1 trillion worth of development projects have commenced, or been announced, since the launch of the Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 agenda. This programme intends to wean the country off its oil-based economy and to align it towards service domains, with smart cities and economic zones that will have infrastructure for digital transformation of the incoming service and corporate sectors.

The Vision 2030 Saudi Arabia has initiated a boom in the country’s construction industry, in terms of new fully sustainable cities being planned and designed to provide state-of-the-art giga projects in entertainment, recreation, and hospitality sectors. This boom is evidenced by the presence of a whole host of top-ranking international consultant and construction firms deployed in KSA with framework agreements. In this context, it is rational to believe that Saudi Arabia has enormous potential for the international construction market.

Currently in the process of shifting from project-based digitalisation to complete digital transformation, ZFP is planning a test phase for the end of the first quarter of 2023.

“ZFP is a firm believer in the ECG based functioning of the business,” finalises Dr. Al Assaf. “We were among the top five sustainable organisations of the Middle East, ranked by the Construction Technology Award 2022 in Dubai. This is due to our active participation in the sustainability-oriented projects of the Vision 2030.”

For business enquiries, contact Dr. Abdulaziz M. Al Assaf from Zuhair Fayez Partnership Consultants on their website – www.zfp.com

Pubity Group logo

Social Media Titans

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

It was in 2014 that Kit Chilvers started his first Instagram page, ‘@football.newz’, on which he was posting game scores and astonishingly grew an audience of over one million followers in just 12 months. This was only the beginning. Fast forward to 2021 and 22-year-old Kit and his team had built several more social media accounts including ‘@pubity’, ‘@dadsaysjokes’, and ‘memezar’, among others, with a combined following of over 100 million people.

CEO Monthly has recognised Kit’s extraordinary success in the world of social media by crowning him Entertainment News CEO of the Year 2022 – Northern England, so we got in touch with him and his business partner, Iyrah Williams to learn more about Pubity Group and their plans for world domination.

Having fast become Instagram influencers at just 14-years-old, Kit Chilvers and Iyrah Williams went from focusing on just sports and memes on their football page to expanding to an array of social media accounts that are diversely themed around humour, travel, social commentary, gaming, and even pets. In the beginning, Kit certainly wasn’t expecting it to become such a goliath, saying, “I just started it as a hobby, from school here in Worcester. It was like a game to see how many followers I could get. At the time, there wasn’t as much money as there is now in social media, and it’s still so new.”

He encouraged his friend, Iyrah to create his own page, too, and by the age of 16, they had gained over two million followers between them and caught the attention of British digital news publisher, LADbible. Rather than going to college, they were snapped up as apprentices by the news outlet, with it supporting them in their move to Manchester to take on their new roles. The pair found themselves overseeing LADbible’s main Instagram account and discovering popular memes such as Big Shaq’s ‘Man’s Not Hot’.

Kit and Iyrah enjoyed working for LADbible, having grown its Instagram account from two million followers to around seven million, showing their ability to keep on top of all the trends and taking part in a range of exciting projects. In fact, they soon spotted a “niche in the market for pictures and posts that weren’t being posted anywhere”, including Reddit and Twitter content that was “edgier” and “not as brand friendly” for LADbible’s audience.

Knowing there would be an audience that would resonate with that content, they decided to go on their own venture, launching the ‘@pubity’ and ‘@memezar’ pages. These pages were fast gaining traction not only in the UK but also the US, with the duo using the same techniques to promote their pages since the beginning in form of shoutouts from other popular pages. They continued to curate popular content by gaining permission from the copyright holder or by purchasing content from licensing agencies.

Kit and the team know exactly what their audiences want, with him saying, “It’s being able to stick to what people really want to see overall. We say for people that want to grow themselves, stick to a niche. It’s really hard to achieve that top line straight away. You have to go through a certain point of being a niche audience, whether it be, for example Francis Bourgeois, the guy that did the trains. He really knew what he wanted, and that’s when you can expand.”

And their journey hadn’t ended with LADbible, either. By the end of 2019, Pubity Group had grown a huge international audience, the majority of which is in the US, and Kit saw the opportunity to collaborate with LADbible. So, he reached out to co-founder and CEO, Solly Solomou who agreed that he wanted Pubity Group to help LADbible reach the US.

Speaking about catering for an American audience, Kit says, “We’re around 50% US and about 25% UK. Just because of the numbers that we have, we just changed our terminology to work with the US audience because we know that if we want more followers, the numbers are over there with the US and Canada. In terms of taking on the US, it’s really where the money is – I mean, the majority of the budgets in the US are so much bigger, and the deals that we can achieve are so much bigger in the US. For us, it’s where we really see ourselves in the next 12 months.”

Iyrah adds, “We’re building a team over in the US, as well. As of now, we’ve got 15 full-time staff and one of those is in America. We’re looking to build a bit more of a presence over there, in New York and LA.

“We’ve got team members out in India, too, so it’s not just UK or America. We’re looking to hire globally because nowadays people can work from anywhere.”

Kit elaborates, “Being in different time zones, it really helps us to get everything out whenever it happens, so for example, if we’re asleep over here in the UK, we have someone, whether it be in India or LA, that can get content out.”

Pubity Group soon found itself partnering with TikTok, promoting, and using the platform months before it gained huge popularity during the pandemic. The Pubity Group team were posting videos on TikTok and also sharing these to Instagram to urge people to download TikTok. And that’s not all in terms of collaborations for the company. It has worked with the likes of dating app, Hinge and fitness brand, Gymshark, as well as been working on a new project called No Brainer TV, a platform for original content.

Now, Pubity Group has 15 main pages that people might not know are all owned by the same company. Kit and Iyrah are really pushing creating their own content, with Iyrah saying, “We’re making videos with our own inhouse creators who have their own big followings on TikTok, and we’re using them to create cool brands together and make our own content instead of using other people’s.”

He continues, “We’ve done some really good stuff. We’ve got the biggest dad jokes brand in the world, and for that, we’ve done a best-selling Amazon book. We’ve done a lot of sports stuff, too. In all these niche areas, we’re trying to create as much original content as we can.”

So, what’s next for the behemoth that is Pubity Group? Iyrah shares, “Our next step going into 2023 is to really double down at creating our own original content because we’ve seen really good success over the last six months from creating our own stuff. For example, our video went super viral on TikTok and we gained over 200,000 followers on a brand new page in just two weeks.”

There really is no signs of stopping for Kit, Iyrah, and the team, who are well on their way to becoming one of the biggest youth/gen z publishers, and we at CEO Monthly are truly rooting for their continued success.

For business enquiries, contact Andrew Chilvers from Pubity Group via email – [email protected] or on their website – www.pubitygroup.com

woman smiling with crossed arms

Revolutionizing Parking: A Future Everyone can Love!

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Founded in 2009 by dynamic father/daughter duo, Don and Shareena Sandbrook, Frogparking came about from watching a parking warden chalking tyres in the rain. Having been successful in other industries using cutting-edge technology, the pair decided to modernise the world of parking. We find out more about the firm as it celebrates Shareena being recognised as CEO of the Year, 2022 – New Zealand.

Frogparking is a Deloitte Fast 50 company offering an end-to-end smart parking solution to large premium clients around the world. Remaining nimble in its approach enables Frogparking to be agile and future focused, whilst its parking technologies offer one-of-a-kind profitable solutions to customers, fit for their unique business needs.

First in the world to produce solar-powered parking sensors, laser indoor sensors, and wireless parking guidance, the firm has a full, in-house hardware and software design team, and its unique platform also includes custom mobile apps, dynamic signage, and cloud-based data reporting software. But whilst it may be a highly innovative tech company, Frogparking still upholds its deep-seated family values.

“As our culture is very much a family supportive environment, my leadership style is also inviting and encouraging – I will always have my doors open for communication with staff,” explains CEO, Shareena, who actively encourages a collaborative environment to nurture joint leadership throughout the firm’s internal structure.

With a Bachelor of Business Studies in Marketing from Massey University, a Postgraduate Diploma in Management Studies, and an Executive MBA from Waikato University, Shareena may be armed with the paper qualifications she requires to take the business far, but her skills extend much further. Shareena has an extremely strong customer focus, shaped around building sustainable long-term relationships and effectively communicating to shape the competitive advantage of the company.

“With my extensive marketing background, I took it upon myself in the early stages of Frogparking to develop sales and marketing strategies and implemented them myself,” Shareena elaborates. “Although my time is mostly spent as CEO, my love for marketing results in a natural gravitation towards those activities. I see this as an advantage as I’m still very present in the sales and customer-facing environment and can ensure our direction remains customer focused.”

Having such a large portfolio of corporate and business owners with high value parking assets, Frogparking must ensure that it stays ahead to keep its competitive advantage. One of its key differentiators is that it can offer a full end-to-end solution, something that no-one else in the world can offer, and which clearly sets the firm aside.

What makes Frogparking truly stand out is the ability to customise its hardware to match what its customers need and want, enabling its clients to make smart business decisions by using accurate data analysis from its reporting dashboards, and caring about what its customers can provide to their own customers in turn.

“We call our solution FrogOne,” says Shareena. “It’s the only solution that saves clients money in the long run and drives higher ROI. In brief, it’s one supplier, one dashboard, one system, and one aggregator. When we say we offer end-to-end, our product really does it all. Although it can integrate with third-party solutions, our customers don’t need to bring in other providers for a complete parking solution.”

But it’s not simply clever technology that has made the company so successful, it is also down to the diligence of the team behind the scenes at Frogparking.
 
“The passion and dedication that is reflected in our everyday successes and milestones is due to our staff and the hard work they put in,” Shareena enthuses. “Having such a strong working culture means that the passion for Frogparking’s success is contagious amongst our team. This helps us not only drive our business in the right direction, but it fosters long-term staffing connections.”

It is Shareena’s dynamic leadership style that earned her success within the CEO of the Year Awards 2022. This award recognition comes hot on the heels of another prestigious accolade for Frogparking as it was recently recognised as one of the Top 10 Smart Cities Solution Providers in the GOVT CIO Magazine.

Now, with the next 12 months firmly in her sights, Shareena has big plans for the company.

“We are building our brand specifically focused on our US market, directly launching our world-first end-to-end solution, FrogOne,” she states. “The nature of FrogOne allows us to target the industry’s low hanging fruit which means our long-term goal to grow revenue to 50 million is inevitable as we look beyond the next 12 months.”

And does Shareena have any plans to build upon her own career? Of course she does! Whilst Frogparking is always going to be her first priority, she is constantly looking to see how she can utilise her knowledge and expertise to give something back. She is also keen to fly the flag for women in business and wants to encourage like-minded females to push past the industry barriers that are all too often placed in their way.

“It wasn’t always an easy path to get to where I am today, but it is very important to me that I continue encouraging other women to always advance in their own careers, no matter what the challenges at hand may be.”

For business enquiries, contact Shareena Sandbrook from Frogparking on their website – https://frogparking.com/

Business coach.

The Changing Face of Training

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Having just toasted to its 20th anniversary in business, TOOJAYS Training & HR Consultancy Ltd (TOOJAYS) has another reason to celebrate as its enthusiastic, passionate, and driven CEO, Lee Martin is named CEO of the Year 2022 – East of England. We find out more from Lee about the firm, its history, and its future.As an award-winning leadership, management, and team development training and HR consultancy company based near Peterborough, TOOJAYS Training & HR Consultancy excels at delivering inspirational learning and development, and HR solutions to a global client base.

Working across all sectors and industries, from FTSE 100 to SMEs, public and private sector, wherever there is a need for the development of people, there is a need for TOOJAYS’ services.

Big brand names such as Kuehne & Nagel, Heineken, The Rank Group, Allianz, John Lewis, HM Treasury, CIPS, Z Hotels, Avon, Cedo, Aviva, Sodexo, and Matalan, to name a few, have engaged TOOJAYS’ services over the years. They have experienced the company’s bespoke programmes and enjoyed its ability to really listen to and understand their needs, and deliver tangible value.

TOOJAYS was officially established in 2003, however its story started much earlier than this. Formed by Lee Martin, the original focus for the firm was on providing enjoyable and relevant soft skills courses for managers and leaders. Lee’s own experience of training providers had left him disillusioned with their lack of flexibility, understanding of client and delegates’ needs, and ability to deliver. As a result, he was convinced there had to be a better way. So, stepping out of his senior HR role with his corporate employer, and utilising his own consultancy and L&D expertise, he set up TOOJAYS.

Lee explains more about these early years and how the company evolved even further to become what it is today. “As time passed and the business grew, more clients were approaching us to assist with specific development and personnel issues,” he begins. “That’s when things got interesting. Because of our adaptability, understanding, and expertise, we were able to create tailored solutions to clients that had real impact and made a difference.”

Soon, Lee found himself involved in much more than just training courses. His approach to experiential learning meant that his reputation proceeded him – and coaching, team building, HR advice, graduate development, and event management found their way into the company portfolio.

Utilising a core team of experts and excellent facilitators, Lee is now able to continually ensure the quality of everything the firm does and, while he continues to add more services and solutions, as well as strives to provide a unique partnership relationship to clients, his initial goals haven’t changed since day one. These are to respect the individuality of clients and ultimately equip and enable them to succeed for tomorrow’s achievements.

“Regarding our values… we value innovation,” he enthuses. “We always aim to be leaders in our field and address tomorrow’s challenges today. We value passion and we are passionate about our work and look to inspire our customers to feel the same about what they do. We value excellence and are committed to providing a high-quality service at all times. We value integrity and strive to uphold the highest professional standards and, finally, we value teamwork. We believe in bringing out the best in each other.”

So, let’s learn a little more about Lee… As a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) he is an experienced Learning and Development professional having spent over 25 years in L&D consultancy, training, and senior management positions.

Having established TOOJAYS in 2003, Lee has worked internationally in both public and private sectors in a variety of industries, providing training, coaching, facilitation, and consultancy to managers and directors at all levels.

He has project managed change management initiatives, delivered training and learning needs analysis (TNA & LNA) processes, as well as delivered outplacement services and works as a HR Director and Head of L&D departments.

As a motivational trainer and coach, Lee has worked with high performing individuals at all levels, from CEOs, executive teams, VPs, MDs, to front line staff. He has delivered bespoke training and leadership programmes to graduates through to board level in both national and international organisations.

Lee has designed and facilitated team building events, business planning sessions, focus groups, and strategic planning sessions, with a diverse range of clients from the small through to large multi-nationals and even professional bodies.

With his trainer hat on, Lee has worked internationally within organisations to deliver certificated programmes and presentation techniques and, finally, as a business adviser, Lee has worked with hundreds of SMEs to improve leadership, management, and HR capabilities to help grow clients’ businesses and ensure legal compliance.

Overall, Lee’s passion for enabling others to achieve their goals has been the driving force behind the success of TOOJAYS.

“My leadership style has always been one to show respect and humility to the knowledge within the team,” he elaborates, telling us what he believes makes him a successful leader. “Listening to others, gaining understanding from their experiences and coaching development and solutions, as well as effectively empowering others to perform and reach their potential, which in turn benefits the team and company. This is fundamental to the DNA of TOOJAYS and the way we work and engage with clients. Listen, respect, engage, empower.”

Despite his exceptional skills as CEO, Lee is also quick to sing the praises of his dedicated workforce, describing his staff as the reason for the company’s overall success. When looking for new talent to join the team, Lee wants a customer-centric mentality, combined with the ability to take the initiative to resolve the customers issues, and a thirst for constant self-improvement.

In fact, his dedicated team were behind him and the firm all the way when the Covid-19 pandemic hit and the workload dropped off the proverbial cliff.

“We had to adapt very quickly – which, credit to the team, we did successfully,” Lee states. “We moved our courses to online delivery via Zoom and webinars, which required a different skillset but enabled us to maintain the high standards of leadership and management development. We also developed our own range of on-demand training. We’ve found post-Covid these approaches live on and whilst we are returning to face-to-face training, the remote and on-demand solutions are still very much of the new way of working which supports a hybrid workforce.”

This adaption to offering remote solutions was obviously a huge challenge, but the ability of Lee and his staff to be agile served TOOJAYS in great stead, and business is once again booming.

Having learned lessons from the pandemic, yet survived to tell the tale, was just one of the reasons that Lee recently gained recognition in the CEO of the Year Awards and was named CEO of the Year 2022 – East of England, UK.

Now, as he looks to the future, it seems that the firm will continue to be a fast adaptor of new technology and mediums in order to deliver its leadership and management solutions effectively, with 2023 looking bright when it comes to providing more resources and greater access to its podcasts, YouTube videos, online remote eLearning courses, webinars, and downloadable content.

And how does Lee intend to build upon his current success? “I’m always learning, and don’t believe age should be a barrier to that,” he laughs. “I continue to learn new tools, techniques, and processes for the team, and from clients, colleagues, and collaborators. I am sure that will continue into 2023, and as a result, benefit the company.”

For business enquiries, contact Lee Martin from TOOJAYS Training & HR Consultancy Ltd on their website – www.toojays.co.uk

Lee Martin
man smiling for photo

Pioneering Spirit

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Porsche is the car brand “for those who follow their dreams”, epitomising freedom and independence – and the inner drive to achieve goals. As CEO, Jonathan Mannell spearheads Porsche Cars Great Britain (Porsche Cars GB), a brand which is wholly owned by Porsche AG in Stuttgart. Having devotedly worked his way up the Porsche career ladder over the last 15 years, CEO Monthly magazine now recognises Jonathan for his hard work and outstanding leadership, crowning him ‘Prestige Vehicle Manufacturing CEO of the Year 2022 – UK’. We got in touch with the man himself to learn more about his career and the colossus that is Porsche.

The role of Porsche Cars Great Britain is to embody and exemplify the experience of Porsche to all its dreamers, drivers, and dealers. With 46 Porsche Centres across the UK, including its Porsche Service Centres, the highest standard of sales and aftersales service is guaranteed to customers. The Porsche Centres, and those who work within them, reflect the outstanding quality and cutting-edge technology that only Porsche can offer.

Austrian-German automotive engineer, Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car brand back in 1931, and he is best known for creating the first gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle, the Auto Union racing car, and the Mercedes-Benz SS/ SSK, among other significant automobiles and technologies.

However, it was Ferdinand’s son, Ferry who was highly instrumental in developing the range of cars that made the Porsche brand famous, starting with the 356 in 1948. Ferry’s mindset back then remains just as relevant into the company’s future, having described Porsche as “the brand for those who follow their dreams”. In response, Jonathan enthuses, “We want to help our customers realise their lifelong dreams. Porsche celebrates all those dreamers who, like Ferry Porsche before them, are fuelled by passion for making their dreams come true.”

For over a decade, Jonathan has been working his way up the levels of Porsche, with this experience having given him a deep, rich insight and appreciation for how all the different parts of the organisation work and how to enable them to work together in the most effective way.

Expressing his passion for the brand, he goes on to say, “I love to talk about our vision – What the brand stands for and what it should look and feel like to our staff, our partners, and customers. This way, we constantly keep alive a sense of honesty, transparency, and commitment to uphold the right level of quality, decision making, and direction that everyone can buy into and understand the context of their contribution to.”

Jonathan believes that Porsche Cars GB is truly a great place to work, as reflected through low staff churn and high average length of service. By placing value in the people that make up the Porsche family, the company’s people in turn value being part of it. At the foundation of this robust team is an internal culture that consists of four core values.

The first is what Germans call ‘herzblut’, meaning ‘heart and soul’. It’s the spirit of Porsche that drives the team.

Second, it is one family. Despite the size and recognition of the brand, the team is small enough to feel like one family who share a common passion.

Third is having the same pioneering spirit that Ferry Porsche had, which made him do things differently and pursue his own path towards his dream.

Fourth is the team’s sporting and competitive spirit that make them love a challenge and the familiar feeling of winning the race!

Ultimately, Jonathan loves “communicating, motivating, exciting, inspiring, and leading such a great team”. He adds, “As long as I can keep doing that, then I will be happy and fulfilled! There’s nothing like new challenges and opportunities to sharpen, test, and refine those skills!

Among new opportunities, Porsche has discovered, like many businesses, that it could work just as or more efficiently by giving more flexibility and freedom to its teams. This had a really positive and evolutionary impact on the organisational structure, culture, and approach to work and collaboration.

And challenges are indeed a reality at Porsche, just like any other company, too. It may be a huge global brand, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t have its own hurdles to jump – including the current global volatility which has taken its toll on the company’s production capability, product availability, and lead times.

Meanwhile, the car manufacturer was expecting Brexit to be a significant challenge, but it was well prepared, and, whilst it has added complexity to its operations, the company has managed to stay on top of it. Then, covid and forced recession looked like they would be hugely detrimental, but they actually had the opposite effect. Alongside all this, there is the war in Europe and supply chain issues which couldn’t have been predicted, but Porsche has been gradually finding its way through and has come out on the other side stronger.

Jonathan comments, “I couldn’t be more proud of the adaptability, agility, and commitment from all the team to have not only sustained the business but enabled it to grow significantly through all these challenges.”

Indeed, while these difficulties have tried to throw a spanner in the works for Porsche over the last couple of years, it has amazingly seen a noticeable increase in demand for its products, with Jonathan delightedly saying, “2022 was a record year for Porsche and 2023 will break them all again.”

He goes on to tell us more about what the future of Porsche entails: “Our product line continues to excite and create desire to be a part of our brand story. There are more exciting new cars and technology to come, along with opportunities to experience and engage with Porsche.”

For business enquiries, contact Jonathan Mannell from Porsche Cars Great Britain Ltd on their website – www.porsche.com/uk

How to Become a Better CEO: 5 Helpful Tips

Posted on | by root

Figuring out how to become a better CEO is important both for entrepreneurs who didn’t start out as managers and who took on the role of the leader of a startup and for established company heads who want to make a bigger impact on their organisation.

For companies like Huge Supplements who want to back up their product with stellar leadership practices, it’s crucial to know the key things that impact your company and how to invest your attention in improving the big picture a priority.

These 5 tips will help you become a more effective CEO by encouraging you to think deeper about your company’s goals and direction by focusing on stakeholder values, crafting a quarterly game plan, and taking actionable steps to ensure that your teams’ contribution is using every day to act on communicated vision, steps, and goals.

1. Focus on What’s Important for Your Company’s Vision

The first thing to do when you’re trying to become a better CEO is to nail down the things that matter the most to your company.

This means solidifying your mission or your why as a leader and as an organization. It can be hard to define your purpose. Think back to what you wanted to achieve when you started your company. Your purpose or mission statement should be a powerful reason why your company exists in the first place.

Ask yourself, what’s the reason that you’re in business? What (including and beside financial success) are you trying to achieve? Ask yourself what your mission is to your customers, your team, and the world.

What ways can you engage your team and inspire them to get passionate about this mission so that they believe in your company rather than just watching the clock for a pay check?

Having a strong sense of purpose and learning how to embody and communicate it so that you inspire those who work for you and those who buy your service or product is foundational to becoming a great CEO. In fact, companies who demonstrate a clear social initiative have outstandingly outperformed the S;P 500 during the past two decades.

Once you know your powerful purpose, it’s your job to focus on that vision, lead with purpose, and let that inspire your employees’ wellbeing, and build brand loyalty. Use your purpose to develop your strategy to focus on areas of your company where you want to improve and make your purpose shine clearly. This can include company culture, customer service, and shareholder expectations.

2. Cultivate Intentional Company Culture

Your company culture is the invisible force that informs your team’s decisions and behaviour when no one is overseeing them. Team culture is crucial to attracting and keeping great talent that is an asset to your company. Your team culture can either leverage or limit your capacity to produce successful results.

You can’t do amazing things if your company has a poor team culture. One of the most important ways to invest your time is to intentionally build the kind of culture that you want for your company.

This means using the right people to build and develop your leadership team. Think about the kinds of people that you will eventually need to manage and lead and start grooming them for the role. Check for any gaps, issues, people, or behaviours that fracture your team and work to upgrade it.

3. Don’t Forget Stakeholder Value

It’s all too easy to immerse yourself in your passion for what your company does and lose sight of the people that you serve. A great CEO knows that an organisation’s drive comes from the value that it provides to stakeholders, whether that’s for customers, investors, or your team.

As you solidify your goals and work to hit them each quarter and year, it’s important to recognise that your job as a CEO is not about getting as much as you can from people. Instead, it’s about asking them what they need from you and serving them more than they serve you.

Tap into feedback about customers’ needs, what your shareholders are looking for, and what your team needs to do their job effectively. Once you get the facts about how your service process can improve, take concrete steps to make things happen.

4. Create a Quarterly Action Plan

Many companies think about what they want to accomplish in a year. The problem is that this is too broad a goal. If you want to become a better CEO and help your company flourish, you’ll need to draw up a quarterly plan of action and go over this every quarter.

A quarterly action plan can help your company define its priorities and develop an actionable strategy to propel the business forward towards its goal. A simple one-page action plan delivered every quarter helps keep everyone on track. It also breaks down big goals into smaller, actionable steps which are crucial for a small or midsize company.

After you draw up your plan and work towards meeting those goals for several quarters, it’s a good idea to gather your top department leaders and ask them to craft a one-page quarterly action plan for their own department as well.

This step has two major benefits. First, it breaks down the actions that will make a big difference for the company at a departmental level. It also creates an accountability blueprint to check in on how their department is carrying out your company’s vision and goals.

5. Set the Standard for Accountability

A good CEO knows how to delegate, but he or she also knows how to set the ultimate standard for your organisation.

Stay true to yourself and your defined goals. This doesn’t mean that you stick inflexibly with old techniques. Instead, listen to the feedback from your managers, employees, and customers. Get multiple perspectives, but invest the company’s time, money, and energy in the right places that will make the most impact or achieve the most results.

At the end of the day, a CEO is the gatekeeper for a company’s goals, priorities, and values. Hold yourself, your leadership, and teams accountable to use every day to act in accordance with these stated goals.

Conclusion

This list of best practices is just a start when it comes to becoming a better CEO. Great leadership starts with honing in on your mission and how you can best accomplish it for all involved. Your financial performance flows from your company’s vision and mission and that comes down from you to your team.

It takes self-reflection and confidence to lead a company successfully. It means looking inside, connecting with your customers, stakeholders, and team, and acting from there. Most CEOs want to avoid major mistakes and may not stretch themselves or their team as a result.

If you want to become a better CEO and see greater returns, then you will need to step you, manage yourself and others, and avoid becoming stagnant. Work to fulfil your vision and seize the best opportunities that will drive strategic growth.

While it’s important to break down big goals into small, actionable steps, your company goals shouldn’t stay small. Set big and bold goals that will challenge yourself and your team to reach your highest potential.

8 Women CEO in the Forbes 100 List

Posted on | by root

Eynat Guez, co-founder and CEO at Papaya Global

For the last seven years, Forbes has published a list showcasing the 100 CEOs who are leading the world’s most successful privately owned cloud companies.

The Cloud 100 is a diverse list that is global in its scope and includes enterprises at all stages of growth, sales and valuation. It reflects the growing importance of cloud-based tech and is compiled using a variety of criteria, with a panel consisting of 26 assessors from within the sector and fellow CEOs.

A significant point that highlights the ever-increasing prominence of this sector is that the companies on the 2022 Cloud 100 list have a combined market capitalization of $100 billion greater than those in 2021.

More women CEOs in the top 100

One of the most significant features of the 2022 Cloud 100 list is that it features 8 women CEOs, up from 6 in 2021. It can of course be argued that women are still significantly underrepresented at the helm of tech companies, but the albeit small increase can nevertheless be seen as a positive, although there is still much more to do when it comes to women in executive leadership roles.

Below we look at the eight women who have crashed into the top 100, their achievements, their companies’ valuations, and what they have done to foster such significant growth and success.

Eynat Guez

Papaya Global

Papaya Global founder Eynat Guez is ranked at 74 in the Cloud 100 list, and under her leadership the company is now valued at $3.7 billion, having raised $250 million in a Series D funding round in 2021.

The Israel-based global payroll provider is also leading the way when it comes to women in tech, with the workforce being more than 50% female. The company has built its success on supporting organizations of all sizes and across sectors to expand into new markets, hire freelancers, and manage payroll globally.

Laura Behrens

Shippo

The eCommerce shipping platform Shippo is headed by co-founder Laura Behrens (no. 85), under whose stewardship the company raised $50 million in new funding in 2021. Now valued at more than $1 billion, Shippo has successfully expanded internationally into Germany, France, the UK, Canada and Australia, and is looking to go even further afield in the coming years.

One of the key reasons for Shippo’s success has been that it enables owners of eCommerce sites to use virtually any shipping provider globally via a single API.

Bernadette Nixon

Algolia

Coming in at 39 in the Cloud 100 list, Algolia CEO Bernadette Nixon has seen the company’s valuation grow to $2.25 billion, thanks in part to a $150 million Series D funding round in 2021.

This is Nixon’s first appearance on the list, and her API search and discovery platform has significantly grown its global customer base to more than 17,000 users since its founding in 2012.

Karen Peacock

Intercom

Intercom founder Karen Peacock is placed at 35 in the Cloud 100 list, and she has been at the helm as the company has raised over $240 million over 9 funding rounds.

Now valued at $1.25 billion, the Intercom communication platform supports companies in the management of their customer relations, and has more than 25,000 clients around the world, including major corporations such as Amazon, Webex, Meta and more.

Edith Harbaugh

Launch Darkly

LaunchDarkly CEO Edith Harbaugh is at number 34 on the Cloud 100 list, and under her leadership the California-based software feature management company is now valued at more than $3 billion.

Over eight rounds, LaunchDarkly raised $330 million in Series D funding in 2021, and now works with over 4,000 clients across a diverse range of industries, including Square, AMC, Intuit, Adidas and NBC.

Rachel Romer

Guild Education

Guild Education is a unique platform designed to make it easier for employers to enhance the range of economic and career opportunities it provides its employees, primarily through increasing access to education.

Co-founder and CEO Rachel Romer (no. 32 in the Cloud 100 list) has a number of industry awards to her name, and under her leadership the company is now valued at $3.75 billion, having raised over $634 million in a Series F funding round in 2022.

Melanie Perkins

Canva

Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins is the highest ranked woman in the Cloud 100 list, coming in at number 3. Canva, the online graphic design platform that she co-founded in 2012, is now valued at $40 billion and has more than 3,000 employees worldwide, with around 45% of the workforce being women.

Canva has also made a number of acquisitions, and has been highly successful throughout its history at attracting major investors, such as Sequoia Capital, Felicis Ventures, Blackbird Ventures, and Tiger Global Management.

Mathilde Collin

Front

Number 100 on the Cloud 100 list is Mathilde Collin, CEO of Front, a business communication hub that personalises customer relationships and makes it easier to ‘humanise’ messaging and other interactions with customers.

Front offers plans and packages for enterprises of all sizes, and under Collin’s leadership, the US company is now valued at over $1.7 billion, on the back of a $65 million Series D funding round in 2022.

luxury bathroom

The Builder’s Choice for Functionality, Durability and Affordability

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Aesthetically appealing and practical, Lauxes Grates provides elegant water drainage solutions for indoor and outdoor applications. Trusted by clients the world over, we take a more in-depth look at the man behind it all, Tim Dawson, as he is recognised in the CEO of the Year Awards 2022.

Established in 2010, Lauxes Grates (trading under Lauxes Products) is one of Australia and New Zealand’s most exclusive designers and manufacturers of versatile indoor and outdoor drainage solutions.

With more than 20 years’ worth of combined trade experience, the firm’s knowledgeable and highly skilled developers have created unique, innovative, and aesthetic products to meet market specifications.

Lauxes Grates was initially developed with more than 1,000 product lines, however by later focusing on just one product, it allowed the company thrive. The Australian business has come a long way from its original 24 distributors when the decision was made to focus on linear grates. Today, as an industry leader, the firm is always on to the next best thing. With its head office located on the Gold Coast, and warehouses in Western Australia and Victoria, expansion is inevitable. Now with 50 employees, and availability through more than 2,000 wholesalers (and growing daily) across seven different countries, the company’s in-depth product knowledge has kept it well ahead of the competition over the years.

Capably steering the firm at the helm is Chief Executive Officer, Tim Dawson, who created Lauxes Grates with an idea, a plan, and a determined mindset. Seeing a gap in the market and an increase in home development projects, Tim designed the award-winning range of linear drainage. Almost 13 years later, several re-thinks and major decisions taken, and along with his ever-growing and dedicated team, he’s finally riding the waves of success.

“We’ve become a popular builder’s choice for durability, functionality, and affordability,” explains Tim, who was born and bred on the Gold Coast. “I know what it’s like to be using material that’s not up to scratch. Over the years, I’ve often worked with products knowing that the person who made it has never used it. That’s one of many things that makes us different.”

With a demonstrated history of working in the electrical and sanitary manufacturing industry, Tim is skilled in sales, business development, marketing strategy, business strategy, and leadership, gleaned from his time spent in high-end roles and has developed a strong business development focus in building company cultures and principles.

Whilst Tim may be the genius behind the firm and its innovative grates, he is also an inspiring leader who always encourages his employees to be the very best they can be. He enjoys family time on weekends with his wife and three children, and also loves to personally challenge himself at hardcore physical events such as True Grit or Tough Mudder.

But Tim is also a big believer in his people and that behind every ‘grate’ company, there is a dedicated team helping to fly its flag. Through Lauxes Grates, he genuinely values the staff he has.

“The product has been the vehicle of our success, but the best part of our business is the team,” he elaborates. “It is, without doubt, our best creation. It’s a fun and inspiring company to learn and grow in. That’s what it’s all about to me. I genuinely enjoy being a leader – not being a boss just telling people what to do but really leading.”

With a strong focus centred on the firm’s core values, Tim ensures that everyone is singing from the same hymn sheet to meet customer expectations each and every time.

Constantly looking ahead, anticipating and responding to change quickly, and challenging the status quo, Tim describes his team as problem solvers who are able to be adaptive to change and think outside of the box.

“We encourage and value informed initiative-taking,” he goes on to say. “We are action takers and see issues and problems as opportunities to improve. We feel empowered by empowering others. The thrill and excitement of growing as a company is infectious, creating a fervent team culture within an inspirational environment.”

And 2022 has been a year of successes for Tim and the team, including its attendance at several incredible expos such as the Sydney Build and Design Show, which widened the firm’s circle of influence substantially. The Lauxes family also grew by 18 people over the year, making the total nearly 50 strong.

“It feels like only yesterday I had a team of five,” Tim laughs. “As always, I’m so proud to surround myself with these people every day, the people that keep my vision alive and make it all possible.”

Furthermore, 2022 was a year of many firsts too, including the firm’s first magazine features, plus the launch of its gold grates, a release that Tim never anticipated would be as big as it was and the demand of which has surpassed all of his wildest expectations.

It was, however, not without its challenges, and as a determined and pragmatic leader, Tim took a proactive approach. “There were multiple challenges and times we had to pivot,” he tells us. “But sticking to our core values, we have worked tirelessly to make things happen and improve in the areas that encountered some problems.”

He continues, “My business success is a result of all the mistakes I made. In former businesses when I was younger, I didn’t appreciate people the way I do now. I kept a lot of secrets and it didn’t serve me well. I was broken when I went bankrupt. Without that bankruptcy experience behind me, I wouldn’t be here.

“All I can say is ‘wow’. Another year done and dusted. It’s safe to say 2022 was wild, challenging and rewarding for the Lauxes Grates team and myself!”

As a leader in the industry, Lauxes Grates has received a plethora of awards over the past few years. These include ProTrade United awards for categories such as Team Leadership, Student Engagement, and Business of the Year, as well as the annual Gold Coast Business Excellence Award in 2020 for Retail, Wholesale & Distribution, and many more. Plus, Tim has been named amongst the Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs of Australia for three years running in 2019, 2020, and 2021.

The most recent accolade to add to the trophy shelf and further uphold Tim’s reputation as a ‘grate’ leader comes in the form of CEO of the Year, 2022 – Queensland, Australia, as recognised in CEO Monthly’s CEO of the Year Awards.

Understandably delighted to receive this much-coveted title, Tim now has big plans for the future. With relationships already established in Europe and the US, the global expansion is in full swing. Having recently opened a new Global Headquarters in Ashmore, just five minutes down the road from the Australian headquarters in Molendinar, Tim and the team are gearing up to take this company to the next level, continue building their global empire, and taking the world by storm, one grate at a time!

“As the business grows, so do our amazing professional and personal networks,” he enthuses. “I appreciate every message, every connect, and every call or email – Lauxes wouldn’t look the same without the incredible amount of support behind us!”

For business enquiries, contact Tim Dawson from Lauxes Grates on their website – www.lauxesgrates.com.au

Men walking next to a blue sign

Joyous Adventure from Austria for Austria

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

Established in 2003, Jollydays GmbH provides thousands of leisure experiences in Austria and Germany, with something available to suit every interest. Vid Matic took on the company as CEO in March 2021, and he hasn’t looked back since. In light of him being crowned CEO of the Year – Austria, we sat down and had a chat with him about Jollydays and his own career.

For 18 years, Jollydays has been offering all kinds of adventure gifts, whether for the food lover, thrill seeker, romantic, traveller, or wellness and relaxation enthusiast. Over almost two decades, it has made a big name for itself in the Austrian market for being one of the go-to leisure providers. Its team works tirelessly to bring clients the best possible service, the most exciting offers, and the most unforgettable experiences – keeping them coming back time and time again.

With over 6,000 experiences available, including cooking classes, candlelight dinners, wine tasting, quad biking, driving dream cars, skydiving, paragliding, spa days, hot balloon rides, and much, much more, customers are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting the perfect gift for that special someone or even treating themselves.

Now, Vid Matic leads the company with a passion for looking after his team and providing the best possible experience to each and every customer. He tells us, “We took Jollydays on because we thought the brand name was very strong, and it’s super expensive to actually develop a brand. You can throw millions down the drain to achieve nothing, but Jollydays was organically grown.” And the company continues to thrive under his leadership, with core values of emotional intelligence, inclusion, transparency, people-focus, and joyfulness underlying everything the team does. He says, “I’m as good as my people. I’m here as kind of chief motivator. I make decisions, but I live and die by my team.”

As leader, Vid sees output as the most important thing. As long as everyone in the team is achieving the company’s goals, he isn’t a stickler for how many hours are spent in the office or how long it takes to complete a task. The important thing is that work gets done. In line with this flexible leadership style, he wants his team to feel that they can approach him, no matter what it’s about. He has come to know how his people work best, respecting that some prefer space while others need a little more support and guidance.

Vid states, “I try to be friendly with everyone on my team. You spend your whole day, the majority of your life in an office surrounded by people, and if you don’t love them or like them, then there’s no purpose in it.”

He goes on to tell us more about his team, “They play the absolute role. I can push and want and motivate, but it is their output that is vital. The truth is, I hire people who are better than me. In marketing, in finance, in technology, in customer relations, and more, they are the specialists. I need to have sound understanding of all topics, maybe be great in a few areas. For example, my chief financial officer, of course he’s better than me. He needs to be; I depend on him. My chief marketing officer, of course she’s better than me. I rely on her. At the end of the day, I have to make the final decision, but I fully, fully depend on them. I got very lucky that the people I’ve brought in so far have been fantastic. Fantastic people and fantastic experts.”

Armin Sageder, the majority shareholder of Jollydays, is the person Vid refers to as his mentor and part of the reason for his success. “He chose me as his CEO, my first such role, and showed his belief in me,” Vid states. “This belief continuously fills my sails and is an incredible driver. Armin has founded and built up Paysafe and Best Gaming Technology, both incredible tech successes, so his advice and mentorship is worth its weight in gold. The real reason behind my admiration is that whilst achieving incredible success, he has maintained his empathy and a lack of pretentiousness. For me, that is rare and special.”

Although Vid and his team are experts in what they do, that’s not to say that it’s been all roses. As soon as Vid became CEO, he had to navigate the storm that was the pandemic. A company that is extremely dependent on events suddenly found itself with an extreme challenge of events not being able to happen. Not only this, but Vid was also managing a restructure, hiring new people, and getting ready for a relaunch in 2023 – where content will become all the more accessible and bookable within a couple of easy steps on the new Jollydays platform.

Speaking about facing all of these challenges, Vid says, “Trying not to reduce the team, trying not to cut anyone’s time… the crisis really sharpened my teeth, our teeth, because we could not have expected a global pandemic to hit and not be able to do anything. So, taking over a company at that time, that was a super challenge. But, what I always tell the guys here, always remember the way there; once we reach the mountain top, it will be a momentary kind of bliss.”

Then there is also the recession, with Vid explaining, “What happens in a recession is leisure suffers. The tourism industry, the hospitality industry, because if people cannot provide for their security and welfare, then they won’t be thinking about leisure.” This could be an ongoing challenge, as he continues, “If there’s a recession next year, it’s how to be more flexible with revenue streams coming from other places. Also preparing for our relaunch, of course. It’s just important not to panic, to be calm and adapt.”

With confidence, Vid tells us, “We made sure that the company’s flexible enough that we can pivot really quickly.” However, he also believes that it is important for his team to see weakness, that things can be difficult, and that anyone can make mistakes. Thus, Jollydays holds weekly sessions where everyone presents one of their own failures, with Vid saying, “Showing a bit of blood, showing that you can also bleed, showing that I can be sick and I’m not doing well, or I’m going through a relationship breakup and it’s really affecting me. There’s no hiding.”

Vid undeniably loves his work, too, and this shines through in his devotion to his role and his efficiency in it, with him saying, “I’m quite quick with my decisions. Energy-wise, I usually have excess in reserves. I can go at a strong pace for a long time during the day, and I like a mix of everything. I like structure in my work, but I also need this kind of flexibility within the structure to feel comfortable.”

Ultimately, it’s easy to see how Vid Matic has come to achieve such success as CEO of the Year, from his dedication to his work, to leading his team with empathy, admiration, and respect. He is excited about the future of Jollydays, where the aforementioned relaunch will be taking place, developed by Vid’s other company, Jollytec. He gives us a little more insight into that: “We want to be the place where you can organise and book all of your free leisure time. From a concert to a cabaret, to a skydive, a dinner in the sky, or a drive in a Lamborghini. You can do and find everything through our app, with the help of a few well-thought out filters.”

He explains further, “It’s just finding a better way to do something that people already do but waste a lot of time doing and get frustrated. Everyone can go on Google and find what they want if they search hard enough, but now you’ll have it there in one place, and you can also find other content there.”

With regard to the future of his own career, Vid says money isn’t a driver for him, but rather it’s about doing what he loves. He wants to become more knowledgeable, kinder, more sympathetic, and a better leader. He says, “At this point, I’m really enjoying what I’m doing. I want to grow; I want my people to grow. I want to teach them and for them to teach me. I will do some academia, too, some seminars, but only if time allows for it because my people, my companies are my absolute priority.”

For business enquiries, contact Vid Matic from Jollydays GmbH via email – [email protected] or on their website – www.jollydays.com

Team leader irritated man disagreed with colleague female

Perception Drives Distrust in Woman Leaders

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

By: Sharmla Chetty

It pains me to see that trust in women leaders has fallen according to the latest results from The Reykjavik Index for Leadership, but I am not surprised.

The report itself struggles to conclude why trust levels have dropped but suggests there are long-standing gender biases and prejudices that exist in our society which are perpetuated by the media, by deep rooted cultural norms, and supercharged by the political landscape and the pandemic. In other words, there is no hard data to support the results, it’s driven by perception.

On the contrary, there is data to show that women leaders have demonstrated strong leadership throughout the global pandemic. For example, according to a Covid study of 194 countries by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum, countries led by women had “systematically and significantly better” outcomes suffering half as many deaths on average as those led by men.

Additionally, female political leaders and public figures are often targeted and harassed online or by the media. At a recent media conference between Finland’s Sanna Marin and New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, a male journalist asked if they were meeting because they are both women and of a similar age. This is a condescending question never asked of men.

Not only do these micro-aggressions discredit women, but they also have devastating effects on perpetuating negative perception of our women leaders, which in turn can discourage other women seeking or aspiring towards leadership roles.

The Reykjavik findings support this, stating “Perception matters: it manifests in numerous and deepening inequalities across every aspect of society, government, and business. It leads to further prejudice in the education choices and opportunities offered to girls; it impacts the paths of careers, interrupting earning potential and access to basic livelihoods.”

Consider the devastating cost to businesses and our society at large if this continues. Time and time again research has shown companies that invest in gender diversity at an executive level are more likely to have above-average profitability. While companies with more than 30% senior female leadership were more likely to outperform those that don’t.

Yet this latest survey revealing declining trust for women in leadership shows us that there is still much to be done at all levels – whether it is individuals, private organisations, or policymakers – everyone has a role to play by not looking away. Instead, we need to step up and use our voices to create real change.

Women’s rights should not be relegated to a day, or even a month, but remain central to the strategy of every business. Currently only eight women, and no women of colour, are employed as CEOs in the FTSE 100. Quotas alone will not shift the gender scale for female representation in corporate boards and leadership teams. We need companies to be transparent and accountable in relation to gender-equal hiring practices and promotion processes. There should also be policies introduced to close the gender pay gap, increase financial support for female-led businesses, and improve the protection of women from workplace discrimination and sexual harassment.

The data is clear. The research is solid. Inequality remains a challenge to our gender. And yet, I have hope, as I have witnessed the efforts of many strong female leaders in my time at Duke Corporate Education who have been at the forefront of progress for many decades. It is more important than ever for us to recognise and celebrate their work as they have shown us that the success of every woman has inspired another who has followed in their footsteps.

About the author: Sharmla Chetty is the CEO of Duke Corporate Education (Duke CE) where she is driven by her purpose of transforming organizations and society through leadership.

Sharmla Chetty
Portrait of Young Successful Caucasian Businesswoman Sitting at Desk Working on Laptop Computer in City Office.

People Power!

Posted on | by Magdalena Lew

In today’s world, organisations need to act with purpose and with high impact as much as possible. Erika Giorgana is Humand CEO & Founder, as well as a passionate believer in the power of people and the impact they can have on businesses. Named CEO of the Year, 2022 – London, the United Kingdom, by the team at CEO Monthly, we thought it was the right time to catch up with Erika to uncover more.

Founded just five years ago, Humand had already managed to establish itself as a leading player, especially when companies are looking for people who can revolutionise the way they work. Businesses will need to find ways of becoming simpler, faster, and more flexible, and achieving this will require the right people in the right positions. Big companies struggle because they cannot always provide a boutique service – one perfectly matched to the needs of the business. That’s where Humand thrives.

Humand offers a way of achieving large-scale business transformation, leveraging digitalisation and agility to help organisations from every industry and of any size to reconfigure their operating models. For them, however, it’s not the technology that is most important to achieving success. It’s the people. That’s the secret that has allowed its CEO & Founder, Erika Giorgana, to thrive in an immensely competitive sector.

Erika has overseen growth at a tremendous rate whilst at Humand, building on her own deep experience at the frontline of organisational agility. Her strength of purpose has seen her partner up with many passionate leaders, all of whom are thinking towards the future of what business can and will be. “We are consultants, but we have a strong ‘why’, behind everything that we do,” Erika explains. “Our Purpose is to mobilize organizations into Purposeful and High-Impact Human systems. At Humand, “we sell what we do.”

Since opening the company’s doors, Erika has managed to build an incredible team of experts around her who not only share her dream, but have her passion for the field. “We collaborate, experiment, innovate, and deliver value at speed,” she says with a smile. “We are not just advisors – we work hand in hand with our client’s transformation teams to make what they believe is almost impossible, possible.”

Erika doesn’t just offer empty words when it comes to growth. She applies the same techniques to her clients as she does to her own company. Whilst the big firms such as McKinsey, BCG, and Bain bring their own reputations and brand recognition to the table, she has immense experience on her side, not just on how to support these businesses, but on how to support her own staff.

These thoughts have very much guided her approach to running her own business. “I believe top-down leadership is outdated, and, more importantly, counterproductive,” she tells us. “Unfortunately, there are still too many organisations and leaders that haven’t realised that by focusing too much on profit and end goals, and not on people, whether it’s employees or consumers, they are making it more difficult to achieve their own desired outcomes.”

In Erika’s experience, leadership has to change in order to ensure that businesses are able to thrive in an ever-changing world. “A leader’s main responsibility is to help people feel purposeful, motivated, and energised so they can bring their best selves to work,” she tells us. “It is not easy to achieve this. It takes hard work and new mindset. Every day I try to do my best to be a servant leader, to be humble and to do everything that is in my hands to help the people from my team grow as human beings, providing tangible and emotional support as they do so.”

As a result, Humand has been able to develop a team atmosphere where anyone and everyone feels welcome to contribute to the group. Instead of everyone being siloed into specific tasks, the company structure builds on each person’s strengths and accepts their weaknesses. “At Humand, we’ve realised that we can’t transform businesses and provide a world class experience without talented and passionate people,” Erika explains. “Once we find the best talent, we make sure we give them the freedom and foundation to shine at their brightest.”

This structure has allowed the team to make quicker decisions better than many other consultancies. There are no hierarchies, with the business built around multiple empowered teams. Each is responsible for specific clients, with the ability to set their own objectives, key results and backlog. These small but powerful teams are multidisciplinary, meaning that a mix of skills is always on hand. Working in this agile fashion has allowed Humand to support clients through varying challenges with a consistent degree of success. “This, I believe, creates an atmosphere that encourages everyone to be themselves and be at their best,” Erika tells us. The results certainly speak to this sterling effort.

The challenge for Erika, however, remains finding top talent to support her and the team she has been proud to build. “For us finding the right skills is super important, but not everything,” she explains. “We also need people who match our values, vision, and, most importantly, our purpose. If there’s anything the last few years has taught us is, it’s that skills are important, but people who share your vision and are aligned to your purpose can not only grow within the organisation but grow the organisation. So, finding the combination of the two is our biggest challenge.”

Whilst it’s clear that people are at the heart of Humand, technology has an increasingly important role to play. “During the past three years, at Humand, we have been experimenting with more technology-heavy offerings,” Erika tells us. “One of our most important has been the development of an online tool that allows our customers make their agile people ecosystem come to life. Our platform helps companies create agile HR processes and build responsive teams through a skill-based approach.” Development of this exciting idea is still ongoing, with 2023 seeing the launch of a new and improved version of this platform. For Erika, her team, and her clients, it’s certain to be a gamechanger!

Looking forward, Erika plans to continue on a path of pushing into bold new territory and exploring brave new ways of working. “If I assume that my experience of the last 16 years is what’s going to help me be successful in the next few, I would be very wrong!” she laughs. “I know that what got me here will not necessarily get me there. So, my plans for the future are basically focused on listening to our clients’ needs, and continuing to innovate and learn new skills.”

For business enquiries, contact Erika Giorgana – Humand CEO & Founder/ from Humand via email –  [email protected] or on their website – www.humand.com

Erika Giorgana
Erika Giorgana