Category: Leaders

A BOOK THAT CHANGED HIS LIFE

The development of the most beautiful residential, recreational, and commercial structures in Thailand and South East Asia marks the experiential journey of the man whose life changed all of a sudden when he came across a book, “The Secret: Law of Attraction.”

Mr. Pira’s personal life has been a great struggle. After the demise of his grandfather, Mr. Pira’s financial condition turned completely disastrous, post which he decided to moved to Thailand from Stockholm, Sweden, on the recommendation of a booking agent. With a one-way ticket, he decided to start life afresh with no clue of where he would land up.

FROM BEING HOMELESS TO PROVIDING SHELTER

In his 20s, Mr. Pira was homeless and had to spend nights at a beach in Phuket; that was the turning point of his life. One of his friends offered him the book ‘The Secret: Law of Attraction’ while he asked to borrow some money from him; this was the book that became a savior and converted the 20-year-old homeless boy into a 30-year-old real estate tycoon. Reading through the book, he realised that nothing comes to you until you work towards your goals and start manifesting what you desire.

With complete determination, Mr. Andres Pira started focusing on how to be skilled enough to attract wealth, as it is not something that comes easy or given out of charity. As a marketing executive to a real estate developer in Thailand, the ace learned the respective skills and became a shelter provider himself.

OWNS A DISCERNING EYE

Being a struggler throughout his life, Mr. Pira has managed to develop a keen eye for detail. He never fails to focus even on the minutest things that he comes across. From the quality of the structure that is being developed to hunting for the right people to trust on with the business, he emphasizes on every important aspect that makes his team nothing but the best. He is ever-ready to identify and address the shortcomings, as and when they come into the notice.

His clarity is what makes the principles he shares with the people across the globe so much more relatable. The leader has gone through so many unanticipated losses that he is no more scared of taking risks. However, he always recommends taking calculated risks to survive, even if the worst situations occur.

A READER-CUM-WRITER

Today, he is not only the man behind the attractive and luxury recreational centres across the world’s best beaches but also an influencer who inspires the youth by sharing his wealth-attraction principles around the world. In this way, he has been helping the younger generation with high aspirations to proceed towards the achievement of their goals.

He has authored a book titled “Homeless to Billionaire – The 18 Principles of Wealth Attraction and Creating Unlimited Opportunity” in which he offers practical tips to handle successes and failures. His strategies to attract positive vibrations have been universally appreciated and have been found quite effective. Through his book, he has succeeded in inculcating the feeling of optimism in readers across the globe.

After capturing the real estate sector in Thailand and Southeast Asian nations, he is all set to expand his group of companies to other beach locations beyond Phuket. According to his latest revelation, the next destinations that Blue Horizon Developments is planning to target include Bangkok, Krabi, and Samui.

A PROFOUND VISIONARY

A dynamic leader, passionate learner, skilled entrepreneur and a humble gentleman, Mr. Amit Sujan believes in doing his damnedest to achieve his goals. His leadership skills and risk-taking abilities have shored up his credentials as the CEO of ITCAN Pte. Ltd. When he was working in multinational companies, he found that there was a great demand for quality tech services at reasonable prices. Though big brands were offering high-quality services, their fees were exorbitant. This realization motivated Mr. Amit to take a major initiative. He decided to quit his stable and high-paying job to start a venture that could provide good IT services at affordable prices.

CUSTOMER-CENTRIC APPROACH

In the current competitive world, there is Amit adheres to a customer-centric approach. The relationship he has developed with his clients has gone a long way in producing uniquely positive results. He never fails to impress his clients as he believes in doing his absolute best to generate world-class customer satisfaction. ITCAN now has 480 clients from countries such as Australia, US, UK, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and India.

CONSTRUCTIVE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Considering the importance of having a healthy work culture in the current competitive world, Mr. Sujan has created a work environment that is based on employees’ welfare and happiness. Empowering the team is his priority, and he shows genuine concern in the personal growth of his employees. He takes it upon himself to stimulate their creativity, and abilities, till they reach their full potential.

Mr. Sujan is well aware that happy employees bring happy customers. Therefore, he regularly motivates his employees to contribute their innovative inputs. What’s more, ITCAN employees also have the freedom to handle projects without close supervision. When an employee successfully finishes an assignment, Mr. Sujan motivates them with revised compensation or incentives. He believes that rewarding employees at the right time encourage them to be more successful and productive.

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP

Mr. Sujan believes in effective targeted networking and participating in corporate events, as these events provide an opportunity to collaborate, brainstorm, and share ideas with the industry players. He is also a member of CEO clubs and finds such forums an excellent way to interact with his peers. He believes networking is a great opportunity to know more about other companies so that ITCAN could tweak the services for mutual benefit.

He also values social networking within the company and has set up the CANCLUB committee. This exclusive club looks into employee welfare and conducts team building activities like birthday celebrations and company retreats. It is also responsible for organising Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

Mr. Sujan adheres to the mantra “EVER” – an acronym for Encourage innovation, Value teamwork, Empower team leads, and Reward performances. His mantra, combined with his hard work, determination, and the drive to do more, has helped him build his empire. Though he has faced various setbacks and challenges in his entrepreneurial journey, he overcame them with fantabulous business policies and mindset. The secret to his success lies in the fact that he treats every challenging situation as an opportunity, and not a limitation.

Being well-aware of the importance of innovation, he employs modern creative practices to match new trends. His customer-oriented business approach and the ability to deliver quality products and services on time make him the frontrunner in the industry.

Ms. Sippy Sujan embodies the persona of an ambitious individual whose ceaseless efforts and high aspirations have taken ITCAN to new heights of success. Under her quintessential leadership, the company has witnessed record-breaking growth. No wonder she was one of the top finalists for Singapore Indian Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2019.

Sincere and Dedicated

In a short span of 13 years, she has transformed ITCAN Pte. Ltd. from a two-member company into a massive organisation consisting of more than 1900 employees. Ms. Sujan primarily attributes her success to two main factors namely gaining diverse experiences, and taking calculated risks. She has consistently been a calculated risk-taker and has always managed risks and crisis dexterously.

Ms. Sippy firmly believes that with hard work, dedication and determination, positive results just fall into place. Her zest for innovation is the reason behind ITCAN’s immense popularity in the market. Her nifty business acumen, combined with people skills, and confidence, compliments her knowledge in sales, marketing, application development, professional services, and systems. Apart from dealing with business development, she also provides her strategic leadership for new initiatives.

Creating a productive Work Culture

ITCAN has clients spread over a wide range of industries, including Financial Institutions, Banking Sector, Insurance, Healthcare, SME, Hi-Tech, and more. Managing such a huge client base is no doubt, a Herculean task, but she has always succeeded in demonstrating skilful administration by means of strategic planning.

Ms. Sippy has even managed to form a tight-knit work environment and collaborative work culture. She takes great care in recruiting the right talent and retaining the best employees. She also emphasizes on the skill development of her workforce. She is greatly interested in targeted networking and regularly participates in corporate events for discussions.

She also operates ITCAN Can Club that focuses on employee welfare. A number of initiatives are taken through the Club to strengthen the bond between the company and employees. Ms. Sippy is a down-to-earth personality who is always ready to lend a patient ear to the employees and provide instantaneous solutions to their concerns.

Maintaining Relationships

Being a woman entrepreneur is definitely challenging, but Ms. Sippy believes in work and life integration, rather than work-life balance, which she hopes to achieve through time management and strategic planning.

While focusing on the business, she also believes in maintaining good health. She relies on a strict fitness regime for physical and mental fitness. Ms. Sippy is also adept at multitasking and constantly finds time for her family and friends. As a mother of three, she strives to be a mentor to her kids. A strict disciplinarian, Ms. Sippy aims to instil the requisite values and principles in her children; especially the fact that success does not come easy and needs to be earned. For Ms. Sippy, her friends and family are her greatest support system.

Deeply Involved in Charity

Ms. Sippy is passionate about giving back to the community and hopes to make a difference by working towards change. She has a huge role in organising sponsored charitable events and humanitarian projects, apart from boosting brand recognition. As a responsible citizen, she contributes to society as much as she can and also inspires others to do the same. She is highly respected for her personal values and social contribution. Such social activities keep her motivated and running. She aspires to maximize opportunities in each and every aspect of life.

An Erudite Professional with Diverse Capabilities

An expert in management skills, Mr Shriram is handling the operations of DCM Shriram Limited which is a 128-year-old company acknowledged for its transparent work culture and diversity, and has brought fresher perspectives into the organization.

Under his leadership, Fenesta has emerged as India’s largest Window Company and also India’s first Window Superbrand and has been the flag bearer and game changer of the Window industry in India. The team at Fenesta understands customer needs and need gaps, develops its products and services accordingly and specializes in design, manufacture, installation and service of precision-engineered, 100% customized windows and doors. Having diverse capabilities and in-depth knowledge of India’s market and the latest global technology trends, has enabled Fenesta to install over two million windows that can withstand India’s diverse and extreme climatic conditions.

Mr. Shriram graduated in Commerce with Honours from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta and has done his Chartered Accountancy from The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) in the year 1981. He is a Fellow Member of the ICAI. He has attended various training and Management Development programmes in India and abroad. Mr. Shriram started his career in 1981 with SRF Group at Shriram Bearing Ltd. (SBL). As a part of SRF Management team, he worked in various Divisions of SRF Group Companies and was responsible for various functional & general management areas including Projects, Marketing, Works Management & General Management. He was responsible for total operations of all Bearing divisions.

After the trifurcation of the reputed DCM group in 1990, Mr. Vikram Shriram was appointed as Dy. Managing Director of DCM Shriram Ltd. and today is the Vice Chairman & Managing Director.

He along with his brothers Mr Ajay S. Shriram, Chairman & Sr Managing Director and Mr Ajit Shriram, Joint Managing Director and a team of highly professional executives have grown the organization and entered into new business areas too.

A Multifaceted Personality

Mr Shriram always upholds the ethical standards by being socially responsible and delivering on promises. He encourages innovative ideas and diverse views and tries to build external orientation. Over the years, he has built a strong and talented workforce of more than 4800 employees that are professionally trained to handle the operations of the Group.

He has established a unique way of management, which he refers to as corporate management board that consists of all the business heads plus corporate finance, HR, internal audit and IT, and the Group has a structured vertical for each of its businesses headed by the respective business heads as they have the authority to delegate the growth and budgeting plans.

Mr Shriram is a highly motivated person and gives his valuable contribution in serving various organisations, including being a member of the governing body of Shriram College of Commerce. Concerned about the well being of the community at large and continuously supporting various educational activities, his focus is on protecting the future of girl children.

MULTI-TALENTED AND INCISIVE

Cole Sirucek is currently the cofounder and CEO of DocDoc. DocDoc is Asia’s leading patient empowerment company. Operating in 8 countries with more than 23,000 doctors, DocDoc enables patients to find the right care at the right time. The company combines deep expertise in clinical informatics, artificial intelligence, and healthcare quality assessment to deliver simple yet powerful healthcare solutions.

Cole also moonlights as a venture capitalist for Founders Equity Partners and is an advisor to several successful investment funds. Cole has founded and/or invested into an array of successful businesses over the course of his career including such names as Alibaba, Facebook, Lyft and Palantir.

Prior to founding DocDoc, Cole spent seven years as an investment professional for Temasek Holdings as part of the firm’s technology media and telecommunications direct investment team.

Mr. Sirucek has been committed to supporting the entrepreneurship ecosystem throughout his professional journey and is credited with the rare achievement of being the Lead Organiser of the MIT $100K Global Entrepreneurship Competition and as the President of MIT’s Private Equity & Venture Capital Association during his time at MIT.

Cole holds dual graduate degrees from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Master of Business Administration, and a Master in Public Administration from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

MISSION DRIVEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Mr. Sirucek understands firsthand the difficulty associated with founding a business and transforming one’s vision into reality.

In his view, entrepreneurship is less of a trainable skillset and more of a calling. He and his wife Grace Park, founded DocDoc together because of a uniquely
difficult experience they went through while trying to find a doctor for their daughter who needed a liver transplant when she was only 100 days old. “For
us, DocDoc is not just a business, it is a calling. We will win as an enterprise because we must! Hundreds of millions of patients each year are desperate

for help in trying to find high quality healthcare. When you think about your business this way, it creates a burning desire to win. This is what I look for
in myself when founding a company or when making an investment into another founder. It is not enough to have a good idea. Entrepreneurs need to be firmly on a mission that is larger than themselves.”

SERVANT LEADER

Mr. Sirucek is highly energetic and has the rare kind of tenacity required to make a business flourish and grow. His leadership signature is based on the servant leadership model. “I would not ask anyone on my team to do something I would not do. There are no small tasks just small people who cannot do simple
tasks well. Being a leader is a privilege and not a right. It must be earned every day by example.

INDUSTRIOUS AND SHARP

Due to her excellent teamwork, thoroughness & emphasis on details, and a peerless understanding of the clients’ business and their respective industry sectors, Ms Prasad has established an outstanding association of attorneys with varied & rich experience, which offers a full range of legal services.

Very diligent and enthusiastic in her work, she actively manages the affairs of her firm on all fronts, practicing law in the Indian Courts including Supreme Court of India, High Courts, District Courts and other Judicial Forums & tribunals and the Royal Court of London, UK and Wolverhampton Court, Sydney, Australia, as well as providing assistance in Arbitration and Dispute Resolution needs and reliefs for her valued clients. She has been consistently leading C & V Associates aggressively in a man-dominated profession to offer the best and the most relevant advice and practical solutions to her clients’ problems after complete analysis, thus helping them in making best decisions in their professional and personal lives.

Her flawless advices have not only made C & V Associates one of the most sought-after law firms in India, but have also opened multiple avenues of opportunities in the legal field, for instance, under her leadership, C & V Associates was chosen for participation in National Initiative Towards Strengthening Arbitration and Mediation held for the first time in the country in 2016. She also actively led her organization to represent in ICADR, IMI (International Mediation Institutes) and IAM (International Academy of Mediators) in San Francisco and Baltimore. In addition, she is a very active member of the American Bar Association (ABA) and Committee Member of Family Law under American Bar Association and various international forums such as International Bar Association (IBA) and Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA) among others. She is renowned in the industry as an expert who prefers to utilize her prodigious legal expertise to create not only ingenious solutions for her clients’ complex problems, but also a base of pragmatic analysis, which her clients may use for further fruitful decision making as and when required.

ASPIRING AND INSPIRING

When she decided to pursue the career of her passion, not everyone believed in her high-scale dreams, as there are not too many examples of women lawyers achieving great success at both national and international levels. However, the fact that very few people believed in her aspirations of becoming an entrepreneur in the field of legal services, made her desire to be successful even stronger, and without paying heed to the discouraging souls, she strived hard with her undeterred faith. Today, her zeal and hunger for success have made her as successful as some of the renowned veterans of the legal industry.

Thus, she is recognized in the legal profession not only as a symbol of women empowerment, but also as a socially responsible person, who offers free legal aid to the needy. She is involved in providing legal education through Society of Indian Law Firms and the Bar Council of Delhi to women regarding their rights; she is a specialist in matrimonial disputes; she fights against domestic violence, dowry demands, and gender discrimination; and is considered an expert in offering Mediation and Arbitration services in the fragile and sensitive matters of the society.

More Than A Chinese Entrepreneur

With path-breaking results and a recent revenue jump of nearly 40 percent, Alibaba has shown that it has the pulse of the complex Chinese investment market. When seeking to construct an ideal workplace Jack Ma tends to focus on big cerebral concepts, such as purpose & shared values, which soon became the bedrock of Alibaba Group.

“No matter how tough the chase is, you should always have the dream you saw on the first day. It’ll keep you motivated and rescue you (from any weak thoughts).”

There’s the founder and executive Chairman of a successful Internet-based business, the Alibaba Group, who happens to be leading the world of online trade. Few people carry gravitas and mirth in equal measure. Jack Ma is one of those exceptions. For the ones who have seen him amongst his favorite people have witnessed the most chirpy side of him and when you walk into a meeting headed by him, you will witness anything but company commerce.

Taking the sturdy little steps

Ma Yun or the fondly called Jack Ma was born on September 10, 1964, in Hangzhou, situated in the southeastern part of China. Being born during China’s Cultural Revolution, his family members had an active participation in a profession of narrating stories hrough music were persecuted. Teaching him some tough lessons at an early age, life was never a cake walk for Jack. He was brought up along with an elder brother and a younger sister with only a handful of money at disposal as the communist China was then facing isolation from the west. At the tender age of 12 years, he developed a keen interest in learning English. Having skilled the language, Jack was able to practice the same as China became more open to foreign tourists and he played a guide to them. Hard work was also his key characteristic, as every morning, he rode his bike for 40 minutes for eight years to a hotel near the city of Hangzhou’s West Lake district, about 100 miles south-west of Shanghai.

Blessed with an overwhelming heart, he used to mingle with tourists really well. Not many people know that one of the American kids that he befriended named him Jack as his real name was a little hard to pronounce. It is rightly said that one is only satisfied when it is perfect and, in the virtue of achieving the same Jack worked really hard in those initial eight
years of his career. The long haul paid off as he became more globalized than a majority of other Chinese youngsters.

Ambition knows no time zone

The vivacious Jack first blossomed in open when he was invited to spend his summer vacations in Australia in Those 31 days helped him groom and understand the real world.
After flunking twice in the university exams and just before Hangzhou Teachers University accepted him, Jack studied to be a high school English teacher. He was elected to be the student chairman and later on went to be the chairman of the city’s Students Federation.
Jack’s journey started off from rags-to-riches when he was the only one of 500 students who was accredited to teach at a university. As they say, “no matter where you are your dreams are valid”, his first pay was $12-$15 per month, but he always aspired to join a business 5 years from then. He was no exception in his childhood, as Jack too got thrashed by his father several times over his mischievous acts, however that came along with a lot many revering memories too. He liked collecting and fighting crickets, an ancient pastime that was later on banned. Jack developed an expert ear; able to distinguish the type and size of cricket just by the sound. The year 1992 saw a rise in the Chinese economy and Jack again went on to try his luck but was turned down by many including the secretary to the general manager of a Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The secrets of great teamwork

He made his billions during his first trip to the US in 1995, where he was very captivated with computers and coding. Jack Ma, the founder of the leading e-commerce firm Alibaba, once gathered 17 of his close-knit friends after his two failed attempts to establish his market presence. He persuaded his friends, the same people he could share his deepest concerns and his silliest ideas without any inhibitions to invest in his vision of creating an online marketplace called “Alibaba”. As they say, there is no point hiding something under the carpet, especially from the people who are serving to turn the entrepreneurs dream into reality. Alibaba has always been a fun organization to work for, it was the very first time when the company became profitable and Jack Ma treated each and every employee with a can of Silly String to go wild with. He is one of the employers who will go out of the box to keep up the energy levels of his employees and makes sure that he motivates the team enough at regular intervals. Back in the year 2000, when Alibaba decided to start Taobao, its eBay competitor, he made his team do handstands during breaks to keep their energy levels high. Jack Ma had always been of an inquisitive nature and his ability to and reexamine issues helps him to look at situations from various angles and see opportunities where most people see only problems. This has also helped him accomplish what many people can’t even think of. A straight situation being, when most people feared conducting
e-commerce in China due to an unreliable and untrustworthy payment system, Jack Ma got
Alibaba to build Alipay without the Chinese banking authority approval at the risk of his personal freedom. Now Alipay facilitates more business globally than PayPal, as measured in U.S. dollars.

A Rich Harvest

It was only in the year 2005 that Yahoo invested a total of $1 billion in Alibaba in exchange for an approximate 40% stake in the company, this is when the chemistry worked for Alibaba. It was just at the same time when the company was on the verge of beating eBay
in China. On the other hand, it fetched a huge fortune for Yahoo, as the stake netted it $10 billion in Alibaba’s IPO alone. The year 2013 saw Jack Ma stepping down from his post of a CEO only to continue as an executive chairman. Jack Ma is elated that what they have been able to achieve is not money, but instead they have earned is the trust of people in a brand called Alibaba. The history of the New York Stock Exchange witnessed the largest offering for a US-listed company with Alibaba’s $150 billion IPO. It further made Jack Ma, the richest man in China with an estimated worth of $25 billion. Soon after attaining one of the highest brand positions in the market, Alibaba employees threw a big party at the company’s Hangzhou headquarters to honor. Jack Ma, while addressing his employees at a press conference, stated that he hopes they use their newfound wealth to become “a batch of genuinely noble people, a batch of people who are able to help others, and who are kind and happy.”

“Help young people. Help small guys. Because small guys will be big. Young people will have the seeds you bury in their minds, and when they grow up, they will change the world.”

Back in March 2013, Alibaba spent a reported $49.7 million for a Gulfstream G550, mostly for Jack Ma’s use. The number of people who stop to listen when Jack Ma addresses any gathering speaks volume about him carrying a stature no less than that of a celebrity in China. Jack Ma has that natural entertaining streak in himself, out of which the company also hosts annual talent shows. There was a time when he dressed up as a punk rocker for a performance in front of 20,000 Alibaba employees at a company anniversary event. Company lore has it that Ma came up with the name “Alibaba” while sitting in a San Francisco coffee shop. Going by the old story of “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves,” there is a secret password that unlocks a trove filled with unbelievable riches. If at all the company fortune of Alibaba is observed minutely, one can understand that the brand has unveiled the potential of small and mid-sized businesses across the globe. A true hallmark of a well-run company is that its founder members are kept in the loop on all matters of concern to every employee. The IPO made Jack Ma one of the leading men in business, but he never got involved in any of the flashy purchases to please himself, instead he till date has some pretty modest hobbies. Jack Ma’s friends vouch for him being the same old person he has always been. His hobbies vary from reading and writing kung fu fiction, playing poker, meditating, and practicing Tai chi. He has recently joined hands with Jet Li to spread awareness of tai chi, and he brings a trainer along with him when he travels.

Help Save the Habitat

As they say, in a few decades, the relationship between the environment, resources and conflict may seem almost as obvious as the connection we see today between human rights, democracy and peace. Jack Ma vested his interest in environmentalism when a family member of his wife’s side became severely ill due to pollution. From that very day, he has been very close to mother earth. Despite being thoroughly occupied with his businesses, Jack Ma takes time out to enjoy some quite mornings in the lap of nature.
He chairs as one of the active members of the global board of The Nature Conservancy and
also spoke during a session of the Clinton Global Initiative. He has also played an instrumental role in funding a 27,000-acre nature reserve in China.

The Family Affair

Soon after Jack Ma scaled new height of success, people started asking a lot about his personal life. But for him, the family life was a very close and personal thing. Jack Ma has profoundly kept his family life out of the spotlight and glamour of the business showbiz. He married Zhang Ying, a teacher whom he met at school after they graduated in the late ‘80s. In one of the rare interviews, his wife stated that he is not a handsome man, but I fell for him because he can do a lot of things handsome men cannot do. The couple has been blessed with two children, a daughter and a son who is an undergrad at UC Berkeley. Jack Ma has also been observed auditing history classes at his son’s college.

His is an extraordinary story of triumph, where he spearheaded the development of leisure and retailing arena of United Arab Emirates, and currently possesses and controls 17 shopping malls, 11 hotels and 3 mixed-use communities across 13 international markets. His company’s legal name is the same as his own – Majid Al Futtaim – and has developed into one of the most successful and esteemed businesses of United Arab Emirates with the accomplishment of a BBB rating (highest credit rating among privately held corporate houses in the Middle East).

He almost has a monopoly in the shopping mall business in the UAE, as his empire comprises the Mall of the Emirates, the Mall of Egypt, City Centre Malls at Sharjah, Deira, Mirdif, Ajman, Fujairah, Bahrain, Muscat, Qurum, Maadi, Alexandria, Beirut and Nasseriya, and 60+ hypermarkets and 70+ supermarkets in 13 countries. Some quintessential leisure and entertainment establishments including the Ski Dubai and iFly Dubai, and about 150 VOX Cinema screens and 18 Magic Planet centres are also operated by him; in all, enchanting about 150 million visitors each year to his establishments.

BOLD AND PASSIONATE

“My dream is to create great moments for everyone, every day.” When Majid Al Futtaim started with this philosophy, he wanted to transform Dubai into a world destination hitherto unimagined; however, he moved on with the courage to go into the unknown and achieve the most challenging. He is known for boundless entrepreneurial energy, and a healthy and enthusiastic disposition.

Majid Al Futtaim chose to manage his corporate house with non-family members; it becomes more challenging in this competitive world, but he took it in his stride and carried on to create an empire where his net worth is calculated at $6.5 billion (May 2015).

EPOCHAL LEADERSHIP

Majid Al Futtaim and the billionaire Abdulla Al Futtaim are estranged brothers; however, his eponymous holding company operates malls and Carrefour hypermarkets across the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. For successfully running the vast empire of malls, he chose Sir Michael Rake as the Chairman, who is also the Chairman of British telecom company BT Group plc, WorldPay and International Chamber of Commerce. Though the corporate house is privately held, Majid Al Futtaim keeps the conglomerate most transparent in the UAE.

Majid Al Futtaim has built a team of experts to take care of his vast empire, that brings decades of experience across a diversity of industries to the company, and thus in the process combine business acumen with strategic leadership in their respective fields of expertise. These experts contribute to the soul of the group as they are passionate, talented individuals who continue to drive success by exemplifying the business’ vision, mission and values. Majid Al Futtaim has kept on top priority his commitment to good corporate governance, sustainability initiatives and community empowerment, the values on which his business model rests. He has also backed the initiatives of the Dubai and UAE governments, and has contributed to the development of the city and the country as global tourist destinations. He has directly participated in Dubai’s major tourism-related events through Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment (DFRE), and also through Dubai Shopping Festival and Dubai Summer Surprises.

With all the stupendous success in the last 20 years, he has ambitious plans for the future, actually intending to double his business in five years by increasing investment in existing brands and also by expanding the market internationally. The growth and expansion is based on his commitment to innovation, a customer-first attitude and new entertainment concepts. Under his epochal leadership, the company has delivered more than expected on the financial strength and operational augmentation in the UAE, Middle East and North Africa across all areas of the business.

MYRIAD AVENUES

Exploring avenues to enalrge his empire and its commercial presence, he has inaugurated the maiden LEGO-certified store in the entire Middle East, a consumer finance company dealing in “Najm” credit cards, a fashion retail establishment showcasing famous global brands like Abercrombie & Fitch, Juicy Couture and Halston Heritage, a healthcare enterprise, a facility management company – Enova, and a food and beverage firm in partnership with Gourmet Gulf.

His success story hinges on his resolute belief that if you surround yourself with other accomplished and gifted people with the goal to support each other in their own individual missions, you are bound to magnetize their talents, expertise, vision, passion and success towards yourself. In his pursuit of excellence, he has empowered thousands of emiratis, and provided UAE a taste of luxury, and superior experience of shopping, entertainment, leisure and hospitality.

He is a true people person and believes in building and celebrating success together with all stakeholders, structuring a home-grown environment, and disseminating to and utilizing the skills and knowledge of the local people of the UAE and everyone involved in his projects. He also takes care of inclusiveness and integrity in his organizations, and has created the most transparent corporate house in the UAE, in which he raises the capital through the financial markets and regularly publishes his company’s financials in the public domain for everybody’s scrutiny.

He is a man of principles and immense financial talent, creating an aura of inordinate accomplishments around himself; yet is humble about his opulence and believes in making a future of luxurious, simple and pleasant life for all.

MAN OF INNOVATIVE IDEAS

Born on 15 November, 1955 in the Thrissur district, young Yusuff completed his schooling from Natika. He later went to Gujarat to acquire diploma in the field of Business Management and Administration. From a very early age he fancied becoming a businessman.

In the year 1973, an 18 year old Yusuff left his homeland to join his uncle in Abu Dhabi who ran a manufacturing company there. Yusuff was a quick learner. Not only he clearly understood the business process but also started coming up with innovative ideas to boost their enterprise presence.

Yusuff developed the wholesale distribution of the group and soon set foot in the retail industry. With the launch of Lulu Hypermarkets, MA Yusuff Ali had marked his arrival in style. In the 1990’s when UAE was witnessing a sea of economical changes, Yusuff Ali found it to be the best time to take control and the company started rolling out Hypermarkets across the country.

With a motivated leadership and a dedicated employee bench, Lulu Group has bloomed day and night in the retail industry. The firm today has a hundred and fourteen supermarkets, hypermarkets along with grocery outlets and most of them can be found in the Middle East.

The company then started expanding across to other countries, and without surprise their products were widely accepted and the company now has a firm base in the Malaysian and Indonesian market.

The young boy from India might have left his motherland in search of a better future but he certainly never forgot his childhood. Lulu Group has significantly invested in the Indian Sub-continent. It owns a Lulu Mall and a couple of Marriott Hotels in Cochin. The company is engaged with building a technology park known as the Lulu Tech Park along
with the Grand Hyatt hotel.

Mr. Ali as has also revealed his plans about investing four hundred and thirty five million dollars in Telangana, a southern Indian state which will have a chain of supermarkets, malls and convention centers.

EXPANDING HORIZONS

Yusuff Ali has never settled with the things he and his company have achieved. He is known for his never ending curiosity and will to do something new in every aspect of life.

The 62 year old tycoon is now thinking towards vividly expanding into the hospitality sector and the group has already started working towards realizing this dream. Lulu Group International recently signed a $170-million agreement with London-based property developer Galliard Homes to create a five-star hotel at the site of the original Scotland Yard Police Station in London.

Not stopping by with the hospitality industry, MA Yusuf Ali is also a major player in the retail banking sector. Mr. Yusuff has always emphasized on the need of a good and capable team. He believes in the fact that the leader is only as good as his team. Under the employment umbrella of Lulu, come more than 35,000 people from 37 nationalities.

Mr. Yusuff is renowned for his philanthropic character as he is very actively involved in social and humanitarian activities across India and West Asia. MA Yusuff is a proud father of three daughters and makes sure that he spends enough quality time with family. His work has been recognized by the Indian government and he has been bestowed with the Padma Shri Award in 2008 and Pravasi Bharatiya Samman in the year 2005.

An Illustrious Career

With first break as an officer by the IDBI Bank in 1991 to a cushy job of working as President and Chief Information Officer at the Reliance Industries Group from 2000 to 2009, Mr. Ashishkumar Chauhan has left no stone unturned and has achieved many milestones of success. Regarded as the father of modern financial derivatives in India, he is one of the notable and leading experts in the fields of IT and telecommunications, finance, markets,
micro-structuring, cricket, retail, and oil and gas refining to name a few. An integral part of many organisations, he is serving as the Chairperson on the Board of Governors of the National Institute of Technology, Manipur; Independent Director, ICSI Insolvency Professionals Agency; Chairman of South Asian Federation of Exchanges; Member of the SEBI committee on corporate governance; and advisor to Asia-Pacific Investment Council and the Central Board of Direct Taxes.

Achievements Galore

Having a deep interest and captivation with IT, at an age of 25, Mr. Chauhan successfully set up the first commercial satellite telecom network during 1993 – 1994. Being a member of the core team that founded the NSE, Mr. Chauhan responsibly and meticulously instituted equities and derivatives markets from 1993 to 2000, and considerably improved market operations, membership, clearing and settlement, surveillance, regulations, sales, marketing, IT, among other things. Actively involved in creating the trading infrastructure at NSE and NSE-50 (Nifty), he has immensely contributed to the growth of Indian financial markets.

Mr. Chauhan’s persistent tenacity revivified and gave a fresh lease of life to the dying BSE, and for this he is credited with a distinction of reviving and overhauling of BSE together with making it world’s fastest exchange with a response time of less than 6 microseconds, introducing Mobile Trading, putting in place online real time surveillance system, offering an entire spectrum of market leading product, distribution of MFs, Mr. Chauhan has transformed BSE to a leading platform commanding a lion’s share.

Under his leadership and vision, in 2012, BSE became the first Exchange in the country to launch a steadfast platform for listing of small and medium enterprises and has made the BSE SME segment market leader with approximately 275 SME listed, of which 54 have fully grown and moved to the main Board of the Exchange. Moreover, under his headship and management, BSE started trading in gold and silver contracts and its venture into the commodity derivatives segment and has prominently grown as India’s first universal stock exchange dealing in all assets category, comprising equity, MFs, currency and commodity in its portfolio. He was also highly involved in ideating National Securities Clearing Corporation and setting up National Securities Depository Limited.

Awards and Honours

He has been bestowed with numerous awards and recognitions for his pioneering role and path-breaking achievements, such as Distinguished Fellow 2017, Institute of Directors; Distinguished Alumnus Award 2016 by IIM Calcutta; CEO of the Year, Diamond Sabre Awards 2015, Hong Kong; Best CEO in the Financial Markets in the Asia Pacific by the Asian Banker, 2014; and TOP 50 CIOs, Information Week, US, 2009.