CEO MONTHLY Ι GLOBAL CEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2024 33 Aerial Systems Technology CEO of the Year 2024 (USA): Fatema Hamdani Kraus Hamdani Aerospace is a mission-based organisation focused on autonomy and AI. Its flagship innovation is the world’s longest endurance, Group 2 fixed-wing, fully electric Unmanned Aerial Systems. The mission that underpins these efforts is using cutting-edge of aerospace technology to, in Fatema’s words, “save lives and connect the world.” The applications of its advancements are vast, opening new doors in emergency communications, disaster relief, anti-poaching efforts, and positive climate impact. The K1000ULE VTOL and unmanned aircraft within its platform are front and centre among Kraus Hamdani’s contributions to the aerospace industry. Capable of entirely autonomous function, it marries a sleek, low-signature design with market leading AI integration. Put simply, the company’s electric UAS are its core products for good reason: they boast a persistent airborne presence for up to 24-hours, small operational teams, and so much more. “Our world-leading technology mimics birds flying long distances, manages battery systems, and uses on-board AI and specialised autopilot technology to enhance flight performance. Our platforms remain airborne longer and fly further to provide critical data while solving global connectivity problems.” These advanced technological solutions and Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s overall innovation would not have been possible without the experience, expertise, and creative problem solving of Fatema Hamdani. She shares that she “always sat at the junction of solving problems with technology.” Fatema built her career foundation doing just that, having helped to build an offshore consulting firm in India before moving to a new firm in New York. However, in the tragic events of 9/11, it lost two of the firm’s largest customers who worked on the 95th and 96th floors. “I think that experience created the foundation for what I would eventually do with Kraus Hamdani Aerospace. Standing across from the towers when they fell, the question that really bothered me that day was: how could we stop such catastrophes?” Fatema was building and providing data and intelligence solutions, and her focus turned to shrinking the gap between data and intelligence in order to respond to catastrophes in time. “From there,” she explains, “I went on to build large enterprise data systems, translating data into actionable intelligence and enterprise solutions.” After spending time within VeriSign, Fatema worked for Syniverse, for whom she helped expand business in North America. Living between North America, London, and Hong Kong, she supported high-profile clients such as titans of the banking industry by honing the company’s technological offering. During a joint venture with a fintech company, Fatema met her now co-founder. “Our one-hour meeting turned into a six-and-a-half-hour meeting of the minds.” The pair’s shared ambition drove them to create the company, an ambition Fatema sums up perfectly by saying, “the world ‘impossible’ does not enter the dictionary with my co-founder and me. That’s how we embarked on this journey of building pseudo satellites that would not need orbit – unscrewed aerial platforms that would be flying within the Earth’s atmosphere and truly becoming the connective tissue for data, surveillance, reconnaissance, and communication around the globe.” In Fatema’s words, focusing on the “so what” of technology is the basis for her process, ensuring a practical, innovative use case instead of creating “technology for the sake technology.” The Kraus Hamdani Aerospace focus is exclusively on fixing real-world problems, each project aimed at playing a part in bettering the world in any capacity from national defence to tackling sustainability goals. By listening to customers and those experiencing the problems in question, the company crafts aerospace advancements to suit. Fatema regrets that the profitability of the defence industry has inspired businesses to maintain contracts as opposed to innovating, slowing the progress of potentially lifesaving advancements in military and civilian technology. The company enjoys its position to support large programmes and is proud to be “funded by the government to scale the business to support these large programmes.” It benefits from government funding while, unlike more stagnant businesses, maintaining the spirit of innovation at its heart, receiving well-earnt recognition and the chance to truly better the world. As the company strives to better war fighters’ efforts, the civilian world, environmental impact, and more, it is making true strides in aerospace technology. The business’s founders are a rare example of those who are truly, evidently passionate about innovation, and the world is a better place for Fatema’s passion. Contact: Fatema Hamdani Company: Kraus Hamdani Aerospace Web Address: www.khaero.com Email: marketing@ krausaerospace.com Jul24439 Kraus Hamdani Aerospace’s mission is the very definition of disruptive innovation within the aerospace industry. It is leveraging AI technology to develop zero-emissions unmanned endurance aircraft with, creating a truly cutting-edge, practical product with revolutionary civilian and combat applications. We at CEO monthly had the chance to speak with Founder and CEO Fatema Hamdani to explore the extraordinary journey which brought her where she is today.
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