Category: Leaders

As the chairman of CK Asset Holdings and CK Hutchison Holdings, Mr Li is efficiently spearheading the organizations even at a ripe age of 89 and employs around 310,000 people in more than 50 nations. His personal
wealth is more than US$37.7 billion, making him one of the richest persons in Asia. Attributing the success of Cheung Kong, which he started with only about $50,000, to a willingness to learn the latest industry trends, Mr Li asserts that “the correlation between knowledge and business as the key to success is closer than ever.”
Even though Mr Li discontinued schooling at a young age and never received a university degree, owing to unfavorable circumstances at the personal front, he has always been a voracious reader and attributes much of his success to his ability to learn independently. This is quite explicit from the fact that he completed Cheung Kong’s accounting books in the company’s first year himself with no accounting experience as he simply taught himself from text books. Popularly known in Hong Kong as “Superman Li” for his ability to build empires out of ordinary businesses, Mr Li sold The Center in Central for HK$40.2 billion (US$5.14 billion) to a consortium of investors in what could be the world’s most expensive property transaction. He’s now become a major investor in disruptive technology
– one of the first big investors in Facebook, and his most recent big acquisition being the British telecom company, O2, which he purchased for $15 billion and has also invested in Siri and Spotify. According to Mr Li, it took him five minutes in December 2007 to decide to invest in Facebook, even though it barely had any revenues. His investments in stocks and start-ups have also performed well; a gaming hardware maker backed by Mr Li – Razer – was one of the most sought after initial public offerings in Hong Kong in 2017 and its share price shot up 18 per cent in its trading debut.

TOILING HIS WAY TO SUCCESS

Saddled with financial responsibility from a young age, Mr Li’s early leanings are replete with sweat and toil as his family migrated to Hong Kong from southern China during the Sino-Japanese war, and his father passed away after a long battle with tuberculosis. From being employed in a factory at a tender age of 16 to opening his own factory at the age of 22 and within a few years achieving great success as a manufacturer, property developer, business magnate, and investor — Mr Li is an alluring protagonist of an incredible rags-to-riches story.

His sincerity and deep commitment for his family can be assessed from the fact that he sent 90% of his pay to his mother for almost four years during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

Perhaps his early success as a breadwinner taught him generous values which have made him famous for his philanthropy today.

“PERHAPS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT FACTORS WHICH HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO HIS SUCCESS IS THE PASSION WHICH HE FEELS FOR HIS WORK, AS HE PUTS IT, “THE MOST IMPORTANT ENJOYMENT FOR ME IS TO WORK HARD AND MAKE MORE PROFIT”

Being clearly influenced by his experience of working as a child, Mr Li asserts that “It doesn’t matter how strong or capable you are; if you don’t have a big heart, you will not succeed.” Showing promise as a leader and visionary, he opened his first factory in 1950 at a young age. The factory, Cheung Kong Industries, manufactured plastic flowers as he had rightly anticipated that plastics would become a booming industry.

A TRUE VISIONARY

Mr Li’s first visionary move was with plastics, though he was ahead of the curve again when he moved into property development in 1979 with the acquisition of Hutchison Whampoa – this set the stage for him to become a major real estate tycoon before Hong Kong’s global boom. Despite the fact that he is largely recognized as a property developer, his companies control 70% of port traffic and most electric utilities and telecommunications in Hong Kong and also owns a major stake in Husky Energy, a Canadian company. By diversifying his wealth and power across different industries and geographic areas, Mr Li exhibits that he is daring enough to learn and experiment in new areas. Arranging his holdings strategically to ensure his security despite the state of the economy, Mr Li is adept at anticipating economic highs and lows, as he himself puts it, “I do not get overly optimistic when the market is good, nor overly pessimistic when the market is down.”

The thriftiness which he maintained during his childhood has been successfully carried over into his current career as he adheres to a no-debt policy indicating that his companies operate using as little debt as possible, and he himself purchases all of his real estate using capital, in order to maintain zero personal debt. His good financial habits have given him the freedom to treat investment in technology as a “high stakes hobby,” through Horizons Ventures Ltd and his longtime friend, Ms Solina Chau, runs the tech fund.

Besides being one of the first big investors in Facebook, Mr Li has more recently invested in a startup that aims to replace eggs with a plant substitute as he believes in investing in technology that he considers as “disruptive” and would thereby provide a more cutting-edge to his holdings. This approach is consistent with his constant innovation in his businesses. Perhaps one of the most important factors which have contributed to his success is the passion which he feels for his work, as he puts it, “the most important enjoyment for me is to work hard and make more profit.”

A MAN OF HIS WORD

From his humble beginnings as a teacher’s son, a refugee, and later as a salesman, Mr Li provides a lesson in integrity and adaptability and through hard work, and a reputation for remaining true to his internal moral compass, he was able to establish an empire. Besides knowledge and industry insight, he considers loyalty and reputation to be keys to success, as he puts it, “Anytime I say ‘yes’ to someone, it is a contract.” A testimony to this fact is an incident when he once turned down an offer that would have given him an extra 30% profit on a sale (and would have enabled him to expand his factory) because he had already made a verbal agreement with another buyer in the year 1956. He still carries this principle of loyalty today, even when it amounts to losing money.

BENEVOLENCE PERSONIFIED

Revered as one of Asia’s most generous philanthropists, Mr Li has donated over US$2.56 billion to charity and various other philanthropic causes. Mr Li considers Li Ka-shing Foundation as his third son, which is working on its mission of “reshaping destiny through education and seeking efficient initiatives that can forever help those in need.” The Foundation is also serving humanity through its healthcare initiatives and has served 17 million patients comprising terminally ill cancer patients, cataract sufferers, patients belonging to the rural areas and amputees.

The above-mentioned win by Saverin at the age of 13 is so stunning that even the International Chess Magazine (ICM) mentioned Saverin’s win in one of its articles. Today, this innocent boy is best known as the Co-founder of Facebook. He is also one of the richest persons in the world at a net worth of $7.9 billion (as of February 2017). He owns 53
million or 5% of Facebook shares (as of 2015), is a Brazilian Internet entrepreneur, an economist and an angel investor. He renounced his US citizenship in 2011, and now works and lives in Singapore

BORN TO BE BIG

Born in 1982 in Sao Paulo, Brazil to a wealthy Jewish Brazilian family, he went to Harvard University in 2006 and graduated in Economics (Honors). His father Roberto Saverin has several businesses in clothing, shipping and real estate, and his mother, Paula, works as a psychologist. His grandfather is the founder of Tip Top, a chain of kidswear retail shops. In his spare time, Eduardo likes to play chess and read about several things including meteorology.

Savvy, adaptable, and inherently strategic, Eduardo was the first investor of Facebook Inc., which started as any other company with a humble beginning but later rapidly emerged as one of the prodigiously successful companies of all time. He is considered the force that really made Facebook get off the ground, as he established Facebook’s first incomegenerating partnerships with Apple, Paramount Pictures, and others. He worked as Co-founder, Chief Financial Officer and Business Manager of Facebook.

Currently, Saverin makes seed, early-stage and growth technology investments as an angel investor and mentors a variety of companies from all parts of the world. The only thing he looks for in a company before investing in it is “passion for crossplatform people-centric innovation with pan-global ambitions.”

THE BILLION DOLLAR STORY

Saverin’s sensational exit from Facebook is still a matter of research and curiosity for the entire world. Everybody wanted to know what happened. Though people’s imagination has run wild on several theories all this time, there is much clarity now. Saverin calls the various stories about himself nothing but “Hollywood fantasy”; however, his reluctance to share the story of his founding of Facebook and then his exit is attributed to the non-disclosure contract he signed with the other Facebook shareholders.

At Harvard University, he made a friendship with Mark Zuckerberg and as both of them realized that a dedicated social networking website for Harvard students was lacking, together they created Facebook. That was 2004!

Zuckerberg found Saverin a prospective business client because of his rich family background, because of his Brazilian background where insider trading isn’t illegal, and because Saverin’s appearance at Harvard gave an impression to everyone that either he knew something about business or he was connected to the Brazilian mafia. Thus, in late 2003, Zuckerberg approached Saverin, his junior, with the proposal to invest money to handle servers for a site to be launched, which would be called The Facebook.com.

The Facebook.com was launched in February 2004 with Saverin taking care of the servers. Though initially it was launched exclusively for students of Harvard University, it was such a big success that very soon students from other institutes wanted it to be expanded for their use. Zuckerberg and Saverin were more than happy to expand. Within three months, by April 2004, based on Facebook’s exponential success, Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin and the third co-founder – Dustin Muskovitz, established a full-fledged limited liability company under Florida law, by the name The Facebook. Just two months later, by June 2004, Harvard had accepted that thefacebook.com had achieved unprecedented popularity. Till this point, all the three co-founders had a fantastic relationship. Things started deteriorating soon.

Saverin was supposed to handle the business of Facebook, while Zuckerberg was building the product called Facebook. However, just six months after the launch of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz moved to Palo Alto, California where they took a rented house and worked on TheFacebook as they believed in the immense potential it held. Eduardo Saverin went to New York for an internship at Lehman Brothers. Saverin was supposed to set up the company, get funding, and make a business model. However, Saverin launched another start-up – a job boards site called Joboozle. Further, he started to run unauthorized ads of Joboozle on Facebook. Gradually, their relationship started to go south, and their communication narrowed down. Soon, Saverin started to feel left out, and he froze Facebook’s bank account. Zuckerberg needed funds to promote his company, and to find another way out to carry on with the funding of Facebook, he established a new company that acquired the old company, and the shares of the new company were distributed to everybody except Saverin. This not only reduced Saverin’s stake in the company, but also diluted his authority over the funding of Facebook.

However, the world of business is entirely different from the way we perceive and run other things in our life. It’s more of rules, precedents, and business laws. As it would happen in any similar case, even when Mark Zuckerberg wanted to dilute Eduardo Saverin’s stake in the company, there were legal constraints for him to do so. Though Zuckerberg had been advised by his lawyer that Saverin may claim breach of fiduciary duty later, that is exactly what happened. Saverin’s exit from Facebook as its co-founder was settled between Facebook and Saverin out of court after Saverin sued Facebook over breach of fiduciary duty. Though Saverin could walk away with only 4 to 5% shares of Facebook, that stake is worth approximately $5 billion currently.

Zuckerberg is the sole authority in Facebook now, is doing good, and the company is already worth $350 billion.

THE MAGNIFICENCE CONTINUES

Being one of the richest in the world, the humble Eduardo credits his grandparents for being his inspiration in life. He is proud of the fact that, “All of us, always, ended up doing something.” As a matter of fact, his “something” was one of the most successful companies in the world – Facebook, which was first registered as “Thefacebook” at his parents’ Miami home.

He married Elaine Andriejanssen in June 2015, a Chinese Indonesian woman educated at Raffles Girls’ School, whom he met while he was a student at Harvard. She also has several businesses in Massachusetts. Interestingly, Saverin broke the news of his marriage on Facebook!

When Eduardo decided to renounce his US citizenship, it was construed by most that he was doing it to avoid a lot of taxes. That changed his status from one of the most popular persons in the US to one of the most hated. However, leaving his past behind, he continues to be an excellent entrepreneur.

With the legacy of being a Co-founder of Facebook, Saverin kept a low profile for some time before launching an impressive business of assisting startups through angel investing, his business base being in Southeast Asia. Though Saverin likes to play safe on his investments, the interest of his investments has majorly been Asian tech companies as he has made about 20 personal investments in tech startups, which include Hampton Creek – a fraught egg-free-mayonnaise company, Orami – a female-focused e-commerce company, Redmart – a Singapore-based online retailer, etc. His other investments include Flightcar – a company that lets people who park at the airport rent their cars out to other travelers, and Silvercar – a company that only rents out silver Audi A4s.

His story has been a mystery for long, as he is reticent about his personal affairs. However, his story is also strikingly extraordinary as he was with Facebook for only a few months, yet he is one of the richest and one of the most successful persons in the world after his association with Facebook. The best thing about him is that he knows deep in his heart: “I’ve done it before; I can do it again”.

For most magnates, the inner circle comprises as a select group of only the most trusted ones, but for Madam it’s bigger, as there is a nation that believes that she is the Woman to Watch. Being the wife of the current Prime Minister of Singapore, Madam Ho Ching is the most looked upon personality of the Asian origin.

Madam Ho Ching is definitely the force to be reckoned with as she is a part of the Power Woman list every year and has recently helped guide her firm to a $266 billion portfolio last year.

SETTING HIGH STANDARDS

It’s no secret that Singapore is the most vibrant city of the Asian subcontinent when it comes to the diversity of people working there, in a fragile environment; she is taking the Singapore government’s investment firm, Temasek Holdings to great heights. She has scaled major investments including portfolios like major Chinese banks, Lloyds, Standard Chartered, Alibaba, Singapore Airlines etc.

Her not settling for less is now making Singapore discover new things about Madam Ho Ching. Just under a third of the brand portfolio is invested in Singapore, with 41 per cent in the rest of Asia and 24 per cent spread across North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Starting in the early 1976, Madam Ho Ching kicked off as an engineer with the Ministry of Defence. A large part of her dedication towards Singaporeans comes from her serving as the Director, Defence Materiel Organisation, the defence procurement agency of the Ministry, and chaired the concurrent position of Deputy Director of Defence Science Organisation (DSO).

She went on to join the Singapore Technologies group in 1987 as Deputy Director of Engineering and took on various senior responsibilities, before becoming its President and CEO in 1997. The repositioning and steeping growth chart in the past five years is surely credited to her kitty. She played a vital role in the formation and listing of Singapore Technologies Engineering as the largest listed defence engineering company in Asia in 1997 and also became its first
Chairman.

SOURCING INSPIRATION

She is a woman known for her bold corporate decisions, which includes investing in Indian and Chinese telecom and banking firms. Ominously, underlying the market difficulties to set up both the brand and position the city as one of the most important ones in Asia, Madam Ho Ching surpassed every odd and served as the chairman of the Singapore Institute of Standards & Industrial Research (SISIR), and as deputy chairman of the Productivity and Standards Board (PSB), and the Economic Development Board (EDB).

It was Madam Ho Ching’s dogged determination which helped expand Temasek’s investment vertical in tough business environment. Temasek, which is owned by the Ministry of Finance, reported a total shareholder return of 1.5 percent for the 12 months ended March 31, 2014, down from 8.9 percent in the previous year and an average 16 percent a year since its inception in 1974. Its assets rose to a record S$223 billion ($163 billion), helped by an S$5 billion capital injection from the government.

One can see the clarity of perception by Madam Ho Ching, the CEO of the brand from it stating good governance and sustainability underpin as the things that they do as an investor, institution and steward. She strongly believes that sustainable long term returns depends on stable, well-functioning and well-governed social, environmental and economic systems.

This is why, aside from their role in investments, additionally they also have six non-profit foundations to focus on building a better world through education and innovation, caring and sharing, building bridges and promoting an Active, Beautiful & Clean world.

LEADING THE LADDER

It was the vision of Madam Ho Ching that the brand established 17 endowments from the day of its inception. These endowments and philanthropic entities aim to build people, build communities, build capabilities and rebuild lives. To date, they have touched the lives of more than 300,000 people in Singapore and Asia.

In 2003, a policy was to contribute a portion of the annual returns above risk-adjusted cost of capital to the communities. Madam Ho Ching made sure that this money is used to seed endowments, and also establish new ones from time to time to tackle emerging needs in the community.

It was under the esteemed guidance of Madam Ho Ching that the brand established Temasek Trust in 2007 to independently provide financial oversight and governance of Temasek’s philanthropic endowments and gifts. The Trust is responsible for the disciplined and sustainable disbursements of the endowments and gifts to Temasek’s six Foundations, which in turn are guided by their respective strategic thrusts and mandates to drive their community programmes.

The six Foundations are Temasek Foundation International, Temasek Foundation Cares, Temasek Foundation Connects, Temasek Foundation Nurtures, Temasek Foundation Innovates and Temasek Foundation Ecosperity.

Securing accord from a smarter world, Madam Ho Ching positioned Temasek to take concentrated positions with a long or short time horizon, invest, divest or remain liquid when it makes sense. Being a commercial investment company governed by the provisions of the Singapore Company Act, their governance framework emphasizes substance over form, and long term over short term, and put institution over self. It provides for accountability and a robust balance between
empowerment and compliance.

She as a poised leader has led Temasek to be an institution which has its stake in the well-being of our larger community. The brand recognizes that the environmental, social and governance factors which impact both long term sustainability of companies and businesses and the value of life.

TAKING THE RIGHT MOVE

The hardest decision taken by an entrepreneur is when it is tempting to stick with a run of financial success for as long as possible but it’s also important to understand what you will leave on the table if you wait too long to cash out, especially when the family needs you by the side.

But some people have a clear understanding of the situation and they take no more than a couple of minutes to take the right step. Madam Ho Ching began her sabbatical in April following the surgery in February of her husband, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, after he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Lee’s father, Lee Kuan Yew, who was Singapore’s first prime minister, died on March 23. She very gracefully stepped down to arrange the family affairs of the man
who led Singapore to independence in 1965.

After the sad dismissal of Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, the issue of leadership succession has come to the forefront.

It was Madam Ho Ching who stood strong at the time of family loss while Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong stressed the importance of leadership renewal in his May Day Rally speech, stating that finding good future leaders for Singapore was the most crucial issue in the next general election.

The leave period was further extended till October and at the time of her absence, it was Temasek president Lee Theng Kiat, who had temporarily taken over her duties and continued to cover the company’s normal business. “She may be on sabbatical on paper, but she still makes the big decisions and gets consulted. It shows she has confidence in the team that’s currently in place to run Temasek day-to-day when she’s on leave”, stated an economist at CIMB Private Banking in Singapore.

Today what Madam Ho Ching has achieved is big, for she has managed to take her status of being a “leading lady in business” and write a success story which
is idolized.

There are so many firsts in what Madam Ho Ching has achieved by being the leading lady in business and then making it stick. To be desirable in the land filled with varied class and culture of people is perhaps even harder than to be successful in the trade fraternity. The philosophy of not compromising on the well-being of their citizens has made her different from several other preeminent compatriots who are doing good.

Fighting all odds and never letting the adversities diminish his unmatched optimism, the strong-willed Chairman and CEO of GATES PCM Construction Ltd., Dato Sri Krishna, not only established himself as a successful entrepreneur but also transformed himself into an inspirational icon in Singapore.

Every true leader has a story. A story that encapsulates the struggle and obstacles the person went through to emerge as the frontrunner in the world. A living legend of Singapore, Dato Sri Krishna too left a trail of such struggles behind him and worked hard to achieve his goals.

One who knows the significance of the title that his name contains can certainly understand the eminence his personality holds in the country. “Dato Sri” is an honorary title endowed by the rulers of the States in Malaysia to recognize and celebrate those that have contributed greatly to the country or the State in their area of expertise and specialization. It was in the year 2015 that Dato Sri Krishna was conferred with this prestigious honor for his exceptional entrepreneurial journey and the tremendous contribution his work has made for the society. Presently, his professional prowess not only keeps his company on the top but also encourages others to breathe lives into their dreams through hard work and sheer determination.

Author of His Own Destiny

A gem of a person, Dato Sri Krishna’s present affluence is the consequence of his meticulous efforts. For a person who grew up in a family that struggled hard to make ends meet, it was more than a dream to establish his own enterprise having international presence as well. However, Dato Sri Krishna is one of those leaders who had this never-ending desire to be his own boss. He wanted to overcome his financial instabilities and lead a better life.

His ambitious spirit was fueled by his white heat of desire and unbreakable confidence that he was made for something big. Being faithful to his goals and walking resolutely towards them, Dato Sri Krishna established his first company Denwick Piling and Civil Engineering in 1983. This initial step was criticized by many but that never broke his trust in his abilities.

After attaining huge success in this field, Dato Sri Krishna stepped into the railway industry in 2000 and founded GATES PCM Construction Ltd. He focused on growing his business with a single strategy – building relationships that last longer instilling a trust in each and every person connected to the organization. Over the years, his establishment has emerged as the pacesetter in the industry, and he has listed his name among the major tycoons of the business world.

A Magnanimous Legend

Apart from holding an unwavering faith in his own self, Dato Sri Krishna is a generous and kind-hearted person too. Well-known for his solicitous disposition and affectionately known as Mr. Krishna among his employees, he maintains a strong bond with his workforce. According to him, human resource management is one of the crucial aspects of a prosperous organization and that is why he focuses on establishing a family culture within GATES PCM through the active engagement of staff at events and outreach programmes. He also concentrates on grooming current employees into leaders and allowing them to rise through the ranks.

A perfect guiding light, Dato Sri Krishna’s dedication, generosity, and strong optimism helped him set on an outstanding voyage of exceptional achievements. Announced the Overall Winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2015, Dato Sri Krishna with unmatched skills and remarkable accomplishments continues to be a motivating source for the new-generation entrepreneurs of the country.

“He focused on growing his business with a single strategy – building relationships that last longer instilling a trust in each and every person connected to the organization.”

In today’s era of unrestrained commercialization of healthcare services, Dr. Minnie Bodhanwala is a noble soul whose philanthropic & charitable endeavors have helped save precious lives, & have restored the confidence of common man in the virtuous profession of doctors.

As the CEO of two charitable semi-government hospitals in Mumbai, Dr. Minnie’s dedication towards improving the standard of healthcare services in India, and her excellent vision to maintain these services affordable yet at par with top corporate hospitals is worth a thousand salutes. For the last 30 years, she has been minutely analyzing the needs and then serving people with rare health conditions, which are ignored by other hospitals in want of proper facilities or because their treatment is not profitable.

Woman of Many Roles

Dr. Minnie is the CEO of Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children and Nowrosjee Wadia Maternity Hospital. She is also the Advisor to the Chairman of Wadia Group for CSR activities, Advisor to Impact India Foundation by UNDP, UNICEF and WHO. Her vision and efforts in multitudinous directions have not only helped her establish strong roots of her two hospitals, they have also inspired world bodies to come forward and establish strong ties for the betterment of humankind. Thus, she has successfully set up community projects in dental health for Impact India Foundation by UNDP, UNICEF and WHO for their “Hospital-on-Wheels” project. She has also arranged dental camps at Mandsaur (Madhya Pradesh), Udaipur (Rajasthan), Gauriganj (Uttar Pradesh) thus helping thousands of poor people in these States.

Towering Achievements

Her innovative efforts have resulted in Wadia hospitals hosting the largest national intensive care unit (NICU). In addition, the pediatric hospital has started catering to about 30 sub-specialties, thus providing comprehensive healthcare services to children under one roof.
Due to her consistent efforts, the hospitals now have a dedicated Nodal Centre for Clubfoot Treatment in Maharashtra, and a dedicated clinic for Cancer, Malnutrition, HIV, TB, Epilepsy, Occupational Therapy, etc. Her hospitals have also established a Human Milk Bank and a clinic for children suffering with Multiple Disabilities and Vision Impairment, which is one-of-a-kind initiative in Maharashtra.

The IVF Center established at Wadia Hospitals under her leadership have proved to be a blessing for poor patients.

Back to the Society

Dr. Minnie is the person behind the launch of the Little Hearts Marathon. The objective of organizing this marathon is two-fold. Through this annual social event, she not only aspires to help spread awareness for prevention of cardiac diseases among children, she is also able to collect funds for those children who suffer from cardiac diseases but cannot afford expensive surgeries that are the only option for their survival. With the help of funds collected through the marathon, Wadia hospitals have so far funded more than 26 cardiac surgeries for the underprivileged children. Further, with the funds, these hospitals would very soon start their own cardiac center, which is expected to save about 1,200 lives of poor children every year.

Under her guidance, several medical camps have been organized at Rikhiapeeth Ashram in Deoghar District in Jharkhand, where more than 45,000 poor women and children have been treated.

“For the last 30 years, Dr. minnie has been minutely analyzing the needs and then serving people with rare health conditions, which are ignored by other hospitals.”

The co-founder and CEO of the leading document printing solutions provider in Middle-East and Africa, Dr. Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi’s keen interest towards ‘creating something from nothing’ led him to lay the foundation of the legacy called German Imaging Technologies.

A well-groomed and well-informed personality, Dr. Sassan Dieter Khatib-Shahidi is a man brimming with confidence and zest to attain laurels in every venture he steps into. What drives his glorious persona is his vision to look ahead and only ahead. He doesn’t carry regrets with him as he believes that mistakes help a person learn and grow. He says, “The mistakes we make and what we learn from them makes us who we are and if we hadn’t made those mistakes, then we wouldn’t be the kind of people we are.”

Having drawn his expertise from time spent studying, living, and working in Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, Dr. Sassan knows how to play his cards well. He has a hawk’s vision towards the market needs and trends which makes him one of the most successful entrepreneurs of the present time.

LIFE OF A VICTOR

Born to a German mother and Iranian father, Sassan’s family migrated to England from Iran in 1978 when the Islamic revolution broke out. After spending a short period of time in a boarding school in Shareborne, England, he relocated to Germany where he finished his education and obtained his law degree and doctorate (magna cum laude) from the University of Konstanz. Following that Dr. Sassan Dieter practiced law in Frankfurt at some of the leading firms including Heuking, Kuehn, and Wojtek. He also worked as a source of legal and expert opinion on Middle Eastern laws on banking, arbitration, and investments.

After working as a lawyer for around 10 years, Dr. Sassan decided to foray into the entrepreneur’s domain. His frequent visits to Dubai pertaining to his area of expertise being the Middle East while practicing law gave him a fair idea of the market. The lucrative and promising market conditions propelled him to choose Dubai as the location for GIT and he set the firm along with two other co-founders in 1999. Initially, the company faced hard times when its single German client broke away due to insolvency, but this did not dampen his spirits. Rapidly adapting to this situation in an agile turnaround, he fought back with full vigor, driven by a clear vision and passion for the company’s purpose. Today his company is counted among the best printing solution providers globally.

MORE THAN BUSINESS

Married to Founder and CEO of the Diva Group of Companies, Nicole Rodrigues, Dr. Sassan is a complete family man. Father of three adorable children, he loves spending time with them and believes that he has learnt love and passion from his kids. “They teach us how important it is and keep reminding us to not forget the important things in life. It is very easy to forget in a busy work life what family, love and sharing means to us. It is the kids that inevitably bring us back to these important values” he remarks.

Dr. Sassan is a travel buff and an adventurer as well and loves to explore new places. Nothing enthralls him more than the thrill of exploring new places and attaining new experiences. For him his traverse on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania has been the most beautiful experience of his life. The money which he earns is thus never spent on unnecessary luxuries but on newer escapades. He believes that it is because of his sense of adventure that he has made an identity of his own in the challenging business sphere.

“Rapidly adapting to this situation in an agile turnaround, he fought back with full vigor, driven by a clear vision and passion for the company’s purpose.”

Being Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is no cake-walk. His boundless energy and intelligent mind form a lethal combination for any business. At 59, he is immersed at his fine craft and is constantly yearning to excel Reliance Industries, a brand unknown to none

A keen sense of discipline, professionalism and poise is what keeps a man of his stature going. From wiring the entire country with Reliance Jio to driving for growth and global leadership in energy, Mr. Ambani has written a success story which is getting better with time.

India’s best businessman is today redefining the nation’s approach to business in the most astonishing manner. Leading the Richest Indian list for years together, the Managing Director & Chairman of Reliance Industries,

Mr. Ambani is an exemplary entrepreneur carrying forward the legacy of excellence. Mr. Ambani carries a reputation of playing a pivotal role in taking Reliance Industries to the zenith of accomplishment in his illustrious career. Despite having a stiff competition with others in the fraternity like Tata’s, Birla’s etc, Mr. Ambani never failed to surprise everyone with phenomenal feat.

FOLLOWING INNOVATION

A believer in game-changing businesses of the future, Mr. Ambani is a man who innovates masterpieces while challenging conventional wisdom and spotting opportunities quickly. He is a task master who is loved by his team, for the sense of belongingness that he renders to each and every individual working for his brands.

He splurges on each and every product and the services launched by the company, making him a dreamer who is also realist. He has the art to foresee huge opportunity in transforming the agriculture sector through Reliance’s retail business, which has a unique value and supply chain model – famously referred to as the ‘farm-to-fork’ model. His varied business models like education, finance, retail, healthcare, telecom conforms to the spectacular giveaways associated with his products.

It was 2010, when Mr. Ambani inaugurated the biggest grassroots petroleum refinery plant in Jamnagar. This proved to be a stepping stone in the brand to reach new heights. It was this initiative that raised the manufacturing capacity of Reliance’s Petrochemicals to grow substantially.

Mr. Ambani has been pinning down success in almost every sphere he ever has tried his hands on. Continuing to march on the path of incessant prosperity, many he is an inspiration to millions of young minds who want to achieve high in life.

For years together, Mr. Ambani has been able to keep both investors and shareholders happy, it is his humility and sense of being grounded that best explain his unmatched phenomenon. This plays a pivotal role in him being at the top of his game for decades. And though business remains his first love, he never lets his family down.

Encouraging many young hearts, he said in an interview, “All of us in a sense, struggle continuously all the time, because we never get what we want. The important thing which I’ve really learned is how do you not give up, because you ever succeed in the first attempt.”

The Radiating Effect Much like his poised persona and diversified operations in varied industries, Mr. Ambani’s vision and thoughts firmly belong to the future. Having massive investments in his petrochemicals empire, whose cash flows give him the firepower to promote and expand his new fourth-generation mobile service. Mr. Ambani has high hopes to turn the network into a payments gateway.

Reliance’s biggest advantage is its balance sheet. During the pre2008, liquidity-fueled boom for Indian businesses, Mr. Ambani stayed away from expensive deals of the kind that have returned to haunt India Inc.

His ever booming flagship brand, Reliance Jio snagged 50 million mobile subscribers in 83 days.

Jio’s network covers 18,000 cities and towns and 200,000 villages. By March, it hopes to cover 90% of the population. Ambani said he has set a target for the Jio team to reach 100 million connections as quickly as possible. Jio employs 60,000 people with the average age of 30. Among its youngest employees are Ambani’s 24 year-old, USeducated twins, Isha and Akash who were present at the meeting.

As they say, there are only three things which are certain: Death, Taxes and Competition, very clearly Mr. Ambani has swiped out competition from his terrain. What Ambani has managed to do is to push down per-user revenue for his competitors, which have been forced to cut prices. There’s still no evidence he’s taking market share away from Bharti Airtel Ltd., Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular Ltd. Regardless, the trio are guaranteed an uneasy 2017.

PROGRESSING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION

Secretively Mr. Ambani’s Reliance Industries had taken a 14.12 per cent stake in East India Hotels (EIH), the company which runs the Oberoi and Trident chain of hotels; it became clear that this would be one long and interesting story surrounding a company which has been at the forefront of India’s hospitality industry.

With several intricacies involved, it is completely right to believe that Mr. Ambani came in as a white knight for the Oberois, who have been living under the shadow of an open offer threat from rival ITC. Having assiduously built up the company into a major player in the luxury hotels space, it was always unlikely that the Oberois would give up control of the company in a hurry. A counter-strategy to ITC was always in the offing. What has surprised most in corporate circles is the identity of the white knight.

POWERED BY FAMILY His marriage is not a lesser known fact to everyone around. His young and vivacious children are doing well in life. Like several other businessmen, Mr. Ambani is also grooming his children to come forward and take charge. In the recent past, the boards of Reliance Jio Infocomm and Reliance Retail Ventures, the telecom and retail units of Ambani’s Reliance Industries, approved the appointment of both Isha and Akash ambani as directors on their boards.

The US-educated twins are the eldest of Ambani’s three children (the youngest Anant is studying in the US). While Akash is an undergraduate from Brown University where he majored in economics, Isha is a Yale University undergraduate with double majors in psychology and Asian studies. Akash has already begun working at the telecom arm in Mumbai, whereas Isha was a business analyst at McKinsey & Company and is reportedly likely to get involved with the retail business. It will be good to see young minds helping their father reach new heights of success.

KEEPING PANACHE INTACT

From a very young age, Mr. Ambani knew that he belonged to the business world. He credits his early exposure to business to his father, who introduced him to the best practices. With him diversifying in different sectors of operations, Mr. Ambani never skipped a bit of keeping it utmost stylish. He has often hogged headlines for his lavish lifestyle to residing in one of the most valuable property called Antilia.

Though his house has been a subject of discussion for nearly five years; every aspect of it has been scrutinized the land deal, the helipads, the green status, and the parking lots. The effect the building has on people around it Mr. Ambani never lost his calm reading all what is written about it and rather appreciate individual’s work.

Today, Mr. Ambani is regarded as a volcano of talent and supremacy that can lift a business in any sector of operation. Talking about the posh lifestyle of Mr. Ambani, you can never skip his thing for luxury cars. His collection for luxury cars has earned many eyeballs. Although the Chairman of the Reliance group has been spotted travelling along with his family in the luxurious ‘Mercedes Benz S Class,’ one of his most attractive toys is the ‘Maybach 62’. The Maybach which is considered to be one of the most luxury cars to be ever made, costs approximately 50-Million Indian Rupees. Apart from cars, this celebrity businessman is also famous for his private Jets and Yachts

Dr. N. M. Veeraiyan is a brilliant intellectual and academician – a name to be reckoned with in the Education Sector of India. A visionary, he established Saveetha Medical & Educational Trust in 1986, to bloom it into a full-fledged university.

Today, as Chancellor of the prestigious Saveetha University, he is determined to transform it through his excellent vision and tremendous efforts into a top and model university in the world by 2020.

Born in a small village by the name Nalligoundanoor in Erode District, Tamil Nadu, Dr. N. M. Veeraiyan has dedicated his life towards revolutionizing the higher education. His determination, diligence and integrity towards achieving excellence have resulted in the establishment of Saveetha University – one of the leading universities in Tamil Nadu and India.

Steering the university as Founder and Chancellor, Dr. Veeraiyan has created an inspiring centre of learning comprising seven colleges, which – riding on the reputation of providing excellence to their students for the last 29 years – offer academic programmes up to Doctoral level in the fields of health sciences including Medicine, Dental, Physiotherapy, Nursing, and also in Engineering, Law and Management Science.

Proving that “academic excellence is its mainstay”, every year Saveetha University generates excellent academic output in terms of highly sought-out job-ready graduates, several patents and hundreds of citations, in addition to its more than 2,000 Scopus-indexed research articles. All this has been possible because Dr. Veeraiyan has structured Saveetha University with outcomebased education, research-intense ecosystem, world-class infrastructure and good governance. However, striving for accomplishments, he is not satisfied by merely creating a best-in-class university, his insatiable desire is to enable the university reach the loftiest horizon in all academic aspects.

He wishes to transform his university into “a people (society) centered institution of academic excellence focusing on innovations, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and inclusive development of human capital that will contribute to peace and prosperity of the humankind”. Thus, his vision is to establish a stateof-the-art and people-centred model university, where the educational and research programmes will be driven by the society, and which will be tweaked to contribute to the transformation of the society and growth of the nation.

REFORMS TO TRANSFORM

Endowed with remarkable educational philosophy, Dr. Veeraiyan fully understands the emerging needs of the society and the economy, and has instilled the entire spectrum of the university system with demand-driven programmes.

In line with his vision, radical reform is underway focusing on five thrust areas: programmes and students’ development, research and excellence, human capital development, governance, and infrastructure. Thus, he has been instrumental in developing and implementing a dynamic programme delivery process, which is twopronged: it not only caters to the contemporary needs of education, but also takes care of the relevant educational needs in dynamically changing times. As a result, these dynamic programmes have successfully enabled all the constituent institutions of the university to constantly engage both the society and industry throughout the delivery process – right from curricular development through teaching and learning, and research & development, to assessment. Thus, Dr. Veeraiyan is not just preparing simple graduates, he is preparing future national and international leaders equipped with the right mix of technical, business and functional skills to meet the economic and industry targets of tomorrow.

The research programmes also have an in-built entrepreneurship initiative to create innovative entrepreneurs rather than plain graduates. Consequently, he has created a Research Alliance structure, which in turn has created a pool of students and experts who, regardless of their specialization, pursue borderless research programmes resulting in higher number and higher levels of innovation and product development.

Dr. Veeraiyan’s belief that a flexible participatory governance structure and suitable work culture must be aggressively pursued as support for academic reforms for best desirable outcomes, has led to a flattened management structure in the university. This is a major initiative of Dr. Veeraiyan’s administrative reforms, where the flattened management structure has devolved reasonable powers to the respective levels while restoring accountability and responsibility among the workforce.

MILA LEARNING METHOD

Following the MILA (Multiple Interactive Learning Algorithm) system of teaching, Saveetha University has developed one of the best cognitive methods for students pursuing professional education. Dr. Veeraiyan started MILA in 2014 across all professional programmes like medicine, engineering, dental, law, nursing, physiotherapy and management. Under this method, the class size is reduced to 30 to 50 (depending on the course) and the class hour is increased to 90 to 120 minutes with high interactive sessions including practical aspects in various forms to make learning effective. MILA has significantly improved students’ skills, knowledge and professional competence.

GOVERNMENT AND GOVERNANCE

Though the current and previous governments in India have focused on the emerging trends, there is definitely room for further improvement in the higher education sector. It needs to get its act together on long-term policies and strategies. It needs to balance responsibility and efforts of public and private players in the education sector to enhance inclusivity and quality.

Dr. Veeraiyan feels, “Within the government sector, dilapidated buildings/infrastructure, lack of performance-based working system leading to irresponsible faculty members, less research intensity, less innovations are on the rise in majority of public institutions.”

There is an urgent need for the government to set a feasible model similar to one already being followed by most best-in-class and private institutions. He further shares, “Lack of ‘must perform’ condition is probably one of the detrimental factors impeding growth in the public education sector. This is the fundamental reason why students these days prefer private education where, a ‘must-perform’ is the condition, ‘do or die’ is the norm.”

He has been making concerted efforts towards reinforcing effective implementation strategies and mechanisms so that quality educational evolution becomes organic.

CONVENTIONS VS FUTURE

The world is rapidly changing and so is the educational sector nationally and internationally. Knowledge economy is replacing the conventional economy.

The future is in innovation, dynamism and competition. All three provide lifeblood to living and thriving institutions such as universities. Equipped with extraordinary resources and the right mindset, Dr. Veeraiyan is ready to revolutionize the education system in India. “A 360-degree comprehensive assessment system fostering desirable levels of quantifiable educational attainment & the resultant impact the institutions create for the welfare of people, growth of the nation and wellbeing of the economic sectors are very much essential to pave the way for measurable growth of the education sector,” he maintains. Three major things Dr. Veeraiyan wishes to change in the current education system are: open-ended, less-prescriptive and competitive educational programmes; flexible educational system and accountable educational establishments; and comprehensive assessment pattern which truly credits the contributions made by the educational institutions.

BUSY AND INVOLVED

Saveetha University graduates do not exit the gates of the institution and enter the competitive world as just another heap of unemployed dead weight who are a liability to the nation, they confidently walk out as ready to create lifelines and backbones in various economic sectors. In possession of an unparalleled vision in the education sector, Dr. Veeraiyan is known as a perfectionist who would go to any extent to promote quality & excellence.

Administering the well-being of people through an amalgamation of technology and training is the passion of Dinesh Verma, Director of one of the most prominent physiotherapy centres of the Asian region – Physio Asia Therapy Centre

Human body is engineered in the most splendid manner by God. The agility and mobility of our bodies make us one of the strongest beings alive on this planet. However, many ailments haunt the functionality of this form. And when the movement of one’s body parts is affected, it not only leads to pain but also emotional humiliation. The insecurities that such diseases carry can make a person go low on self-esteem and augment a state of helplessness. Aiming to be the prime support of people suffering from such debilitating conditions, Dinesh Verma ventured into the world of physiotherapy – one of the oldest and key modes of treatment responsible for promoting, developing, maintaining, and restoring people’s maximum movement and functional ability throughout their lives.

His abundant knowledge of physiotherapy and tremendous business acumen has helped him in establishing himself as one of the most successful entrepreneurs of our time. Dinesh Verma has perfectly balanced his medical expertise and business wisdom to spread the power of physiotherapy across Asia and beyond. He has trained over 4000 clinicians across the world in Advance Electro-Physical Agents techniques in Physiotherapy.

INGENUITY OF APPROACH

An alumnus of Delhi Tamil Education Association Senior Secondary School, Dinesh Verma completed his course in physiotherapy from the Institute for the Physically Handicapped, Delhi in 1988. Understanding that by being a mere practitioner of the subject will not help him in establishing it as a prime mode of treatment, he decided to be a promoter as well. For that he earned his Graduate Diploma in Business Administration from Singapore Institute of Management and further attained his MBA degree from Henley Business School (UK) in 1998 (Receiving Gold Award for overall Top performer among the graduating batch).

Before establishing the Physio Asia Therapy Centre in Singapore, Dinesh Verma worked with several Organizations like Margaret Drive Special School, Gleneagles Hospital, and Quintech Scientific Pte Ltd. He also founded two companies called Rehab Asia Pte Ltd and V2U Healthcare Pte Ltd, which deal in supplying physiotherapy and rehabilitation products and clinical Solutions across Singapore and Asian region.

He has also served as the President of Singapore Physiotherapy Association – honorary position (2012–14) and is currently serving as Secretary of Asia Western Pacific World Confederation of Physical Therapy.

ANCHOR TO SUCCESS

In his capability as the Director of Physio Asia Therapy Centre, Dinesh Verma has made the clinic reach the pinnacle of popularity and success. He has also developed an exclusive and proprietary approach – SCORES (Spinal Core Stability Program) for the Centre which is first of its kind program providing comprehensive and integrated treatment for those suffering from acute, sub-acute or chronic, and debilitating lower back or neck pain. Under his able guidance, the Centre has also become the first to win the Singapore Prestige Brand Award 2012 in Established Brand category. SCORES programs are now operated in Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Bangladesh and South Korea.

For his exceptional skills and inspiring work he has done to promote and spread physiotherapy, Dinesh Verma has been honored with several awards like SICCI – DBS Awards – Winner for Upcoming Entrepreneur Category, Singapore Indian Business Leaders Award 2016, MIDAS Touch Asia Enterprise Award, etc.

Tenacious in approach, resilient in thinking, and passionate about her work, Shalini Kamal Sharma – Group Managing Director of Formula One Furniche – is gifted with a natural knack to rise as one of the finest business magnates of today’s world

Leaders think and talk about the solutions; every solution had a problem,” Think big and live even bigger. The only company in the world to provide a full range of FF&E Products, Services, Technology and Hospitality Solutions to hotel chains spanning the globe, regardless of location, specifications, budget with a focus on environmentally friendly products that have set industry standards. Inspired by creativity and driven by passion, Shalini Kamal Sharma is an exemplary new-age entrepreneur. Her effervescent personality attracts admiration not only from her team but also from her counterparts. Always brimming with confidence, she speaks with a zeal and conviction that matches no other. She believes, “Quitting is never an option in the world of entrepreneurship”, and has covered the journey from an aspiring businessperson to becoming one of the most recognized entrepreneurs because of her never-say-die attitude.

She is proud founder of three firmly established global businesses in less than 10 years, which have a formidable reputation internationally for their huge product range comprising hospitality solutions, furnishings, organic health, beauty and lifestyle. The way she has developed her own personality is reflected in the culture, growth and expansion of her organizations also: development of products with utmost quality, innovation and goodwill. With the mantra, “Your success is our success,” and lifetime warranties on all hospitality solutions, it is key for all employees and business partners to truly care and commit to quality and service.

For consistent positive results, she has carefully built a cultured, creative and competent team around herself and all her organizations are multiple award winning and industry leaders that reward people for innovation, knowledge and integrity, organizations where people truly care about making a difference and share a common commitment to quality and service.

She doesn’t believe in resting on her laurels even after her innumerable professional and personal achievements, and keeps searching for new and enthralling opportunities. She reckons, “Success is not final. For continued success, a successful company must innovate every day.”

THE FIRM ROOTS

Shalini Kamal Sharma was devoted to achieve excellence from a very young age. As a student, she was both House Captain and Sports Captain in her school, and was also awarded the Rotating Trophy of“Most Likely to Succeed”. Founder of the Politique magazine in college, Shalini topped her University in Political Science Honours. This law student then went on to win the coveted Ms Milford Beauty Pageant. She further pursued postgraduate studies in International Relations at the Royal Chulalongkorn University under the tutelage of the Governor of Bangkok.
This multi-talented personality believes that the opportunities she seized in her early years helped her in taking major decisions as an entrepreneur.

THRIVING OPTIMISM

“Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Every solution had a problem.”
This avant-garde entrepreneur approaches every problem with audacity because she reckons that fear impedes success. Honest hard work and steadfast dedication has steered her companies towards global recognition with operations in 21 locations across the world and she firmly believes in continued diversity, growth in products, technology and solutions.

BACK TO THE SOCIETY

In her efforts towards introducing innovative processes and environmentally responsible products and practices, she has implemented “Go-Green Initiatives” and recycling programmes in her companies, and has personally involved herself with several organizations such as The Rotary International, Singapore After Care Associations, Handicaps Welfare Association, Singapore Children’s Society, and Ministry of Social & Family Development.

Do not let your dreams get crushed in the day to day realities of life. If you want to achieve something, keep on at it. Work hard, keep the faith and never give up.