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TRAILBLAZING CEOs SHAPING THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS, 2026

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JANUARY 2026

Business Strategists That Redeﬁne Tomorrow

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In a fast-paced marketplace, leadership is no longer about hierarchy but rather about vision and agility. The most inventive leaders are rewriting the business play-book; they are combining innovation and resilience to better deal with uncertainty. Not only are they the ones reacting to disruption, they are the engineers of disruption; they extract value from a disruption and engineer new ideas. They span industries in a way that ecosystems fringed on cooperation, sustainability, and digital. What sets them apart is their ability to sense changes in consumer expectations, while never losing an obsessive focus on long-term value creation. They are building companies that stretch beyond a business mandate, merging profit and purpose in ways that resonate globally. Their mindset is not quarterly results, but developing a sustainable future that leaves a mark on both society and commercial history. The future of business will belong to risk takers, who dare to lead with clarity, conviction, and creativity. At CIO Views, we honor these empowering leaders by dedicating this issue titled “Trailblazing CEOs Shaping the Future of Business, 2026” to them. Featuring as the cover story, we have covered the successful & motivating journey of Marcella Wilson, CEO and Founder of Transition To Success. We have also included the inspiring stories of Victoria Jenkins, Founder and CEO of Unhidden; Kim Butler, Founder and CEO of Prosperity Thinkers; Kelly Ruigrok, Founder and CEO of Global Sustainable Enterprise System; Lizette Ibarra, CEO and Founder of Latina Chief; Dr. Blessing Mudavanhu, CEO of CBZ Holdings Limited; Aiden Keegan, CEO of Esquires Coffee; Caterina Berbenni-Rehm, Founder and CEO of PROMIS@Service; Mona Ataya, CEO of Mumzworld; and Susan Emmanuel, Founder & CEO of SE & Co. CIO Views is a business magazine that mainly focuses on business leaders, their journey, views on current economic states, and all other relevant subjects that refer to the business world. Our goal is to be a leading source of information dedicated to providing our readers with detailed perspectives and views of successful business leaders who are transforming the business outlook and redefining their goals. With exclusive editions on various industries like software, education, healthcare, technology, real estate, and many more, CIO Views is driven to promote excellence in the world of business. Happy Reading!

Mousmi

Mousmi N.

COV E R S TORY

10.

Marcella Wilson

22.

CON T EN TS

Victoria Jenkins

26.

Kim Butler

30.

Kelly Ruigrok

36.

Lizette Ibarra

40.

Dr. Blessing Mudavanhu

44.

Aiden Keegan

50.

Caterina Berbenni -Rehm

54.

Mona Ataya

60.

Susan Emmanuel

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Path Leading to Founding Transition To Success® In the early 2000s, during the collapse of the auto and housing industries in Detroit, Dr. Wilson decided to leave her position as CEO at a managed healthcare corporation. She joined a Detroit-based struggling charity. There, through lived experience and data, she came to understand that, despite deeply embedded cultural beliefs, poverty is not a character ﬂaw. “The science is irrefutable: Poverty is an environmental condition caused by exposures to the social determinants of health,” she says. When Dr. Wilson took the helm of the charity, Detroit was the poorest urban community in the U.S., with the highest infant and maternal mortality rates, comparable to many underdeveloped countries. She spent her ﬁrst two days making calls while pretending to be a single mother seeking food, childcare, and employment. Her “secret shopper” strategy was enlightening - but the results weren't good. She couldn't secure a single service, nor did she receive a single return call. “Even at the organization I was now leading, I was told there were no Head Start slots, call back in July,” she recalls. The complexity and unresponsiveness of this system were only surpassed by the abject poverty she was witnessing. She saw hungry children, abandoned teens, and the elderly living in squalor. Homelessness, deplorable living conditions, and pervasive hopelessness were rampant, a mere 35 minutes from her community. Dr. Wilson soon realized that the living conditions, hunger, destitution, and dire circumstances faced by thousands of clients they were serving, aged 0 to 103, were beyond the scope of her expertise. She felt

ashamed of her lack of awareness and preconceived notions about poverty. Dr. Wilson found herself overwhelmed, leading a failing charity and feeling distraught over the human circumstances she was expected to address. She began asking

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a simple question: “How do you treat the condition of poverty?” No one could answer that, and so began her research. “Despite the millions of pages of research, poverty sliced and diced any way you want to examine, I learned

very quickly there was no answer,” Dr. Wilson says. “Unlike every other condition and/or industry, the condition of poverty has no standards of care.” She noted that practitioners, organizations, and communities developed their own approach to helping those in need. She realized that the treatment of poverty is void of standardization. A character-flaw mentality steeped in blame and shame fuels a system filled with blatant inequities and devoid of sciencebased protocols. In the United States, poverty is usually viewed as a character flaw, a choice rooted in laziness and unwillingness to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. However, when she met her clientele, she realized that no one chooses to be poor, hungry, or homeless. “We expect those with the least amount of resources to self-navigate one of the most complex, siloed delivery systems in the world.” “I also discovered that in the

treatment of poverty, practitioners and providers are not bound by any evidence-based standards of care,” she adds. The treatment of poverty has eluded standardized protocols based on science and data. If someone is poor, the type of care they receive depends on “the luck of the draw.” And, in Detroit, it was like the Wild West, with dozens of not for proﬁts competing with each other for survival with limited, ever changing, and conditional funding streams. Her experiences in Detroit led to the discovery of her life's work and her organization Transition To Success® (TTS). Continued Research and Initiatives As Dr. Wilson continued her research, she uncovered new insights and information. She recalls being stunned when she found “irrefutable evidence” showing a direct relationship between poverty and health. Dr. Wilson explains that if someone is

living in poverty in the U.S., they will have, according to statistics, higher rates of diabetes, coronary illness, asthma, high blood pressure, and mental health issues. “When I learned that even intermittent exposure to food insecurity can cause compromised brain development of the white matter, gray matter, hippocampus, and amygdala, especially among young children, I was devastated.”. She knew that these brain functions are key to learning, memory, and impulse control. As the CEO of Detroit's largest Head Start, with nearly 2000 children in their care, hunger proved to be a daily challenge for Dr. Wilson. Realizing the impact that hunger was having on the futures of young children, food became the number one priority across all of their programs. Rather than seek additional funding for food Dr. Wilson developed mutually beneficial partnerships with food organizations across the city. These partnerships led to food deliveries at every Head Start site across their organization at no cost to them. The food programs supporting Head Start then received additional funding as a result of their partnership with Head Start. “This began a model of collaboration we now call our CARE Network.” CARE stands for Coordinating All Resources Effectively. With continued research, she soon learned that the exposure to environmental conditions called social determinants of health (SDoH) are the real root causes of poverty. “Regardless of your age, race, sex, religion, or culture, when you have negative exposures with any of the 20 recognized SDoH, these directly affect health, life expectancy, educational, and economic outcomes,” she explains. Examples of

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delivery systems of health, human services, government, education, and faith-based organizations.”. “To date, it is demonstrated with statistically significant outcomes in seven independent evaluations.” Dealing with Challenges Contrary to popular belief, the biggest challenge to treating poverty is not its cost. The United States offers the most extensive and expensive delivery system to help the poor in the world. It is the pervasive shame and stigma associated with poverty, which results in a dysfunctional, siloed system of care that treats clients with suspicion and disrespect. Initially focused on helping clients in Detroit, her research eventually led her to identify several key evidence-based best practices for treating the condition of poverty, such as care management, financial literacy with a focus on predatory lending, peer mentoring, and volunteerism.

these negative exposures include lack of food, unaﬀordable or insecure housing, limited access to transportation, poor performing schools, unemployment, and underemployment. The relationship between poverty and health is direct and irrefutable. “It is not widely known that poverty is recognized as a medical condition in health care,” Dr. Wilson notes. “However, unlike every other condition, poverty lacks any

standardization of care despite the complexity of the condition. She founded Transition To Success® to change America's understanding and response to the devastating and widespread condition of poverty by using evidence-based standards of care. She believes that the foundation of this work is shifting the nation's perspective on poverty: from viewing it as a character ﬂaw to recognizing it as a treatable condition. “Our work is being integrated throughout the CIO VIEWS | 15

“Our first step was training at every level of our organization, including the board and volunteers, on the science of the real root causes of poverty,” Dr. Wilson explains. “Then, using the medical model, we trained every direct care worker across multiple programs and locations on how to use care management (CM) to coordinate all services effectively.” This key practice, used extensively in health care, improves both quality and cost-effectiveness. Instead of clients self-navigating the most complex delivery system, the organization's direct care workers, were now trained to help clients understand the science behind their struggles, help them identify and prioritize their environmental SDoH challenges, access services and hold the delivery system accountable.

“The evidence-based practices transformed our organizational culture and the lives of those we were serving,” Dr. Wilson says. “The focus on accountability within and outside our organization empowered staff and clients to trust that services and benefits would be provided, and they would be treated like customers and not beggars.” Heartwarming Stories to Evidencebacked Change Initially, Dr. Wilson could share heartwarming stories of clients' transformations, but realized she didn't have the data to support them. That changed with their first study, thanks to funding from the Community Foundation of Southeast

Michigan. They were able to apply their model with 200 returning citizens coming home to Detroit's poorest and most violent zip code, without any new program funding. “After three years, only 7% of the 200 clients returned to prison (nationally, the rate of return to prison was approximately 40%, and in Detroit, at the time, it was over 60%). This initial study led to an award from the Kellogg Foundation to develop the ﬁrst standard of care and corresponding curricula to treat the condition of poverty across health, human services, government, education, and faith-based organizations using common data collection points. Kellogg also funded 3 independent

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evaluations using this new standard of care. All three independent studies reported statistically signiﬁcant results. These results led to what has become Wilson's life's work. “For the ﬁrst time since I was 15, I left traditional employment,” she recalls. She wrote the book “Diagnosis: Poverty” and started TTS. TTS: Leading Social Transformational Change The key to driving social transformational change is engaging others and empowering them to become champions to engage others. The TTS culture embraces every opportunity to change hearts and minds. At TTS, social change is fueled with each conversation,

publication and every opportunity to present to an audience. The TTS Train the Trainer framework oﬀers individuals and organizations the opportunity to lead their community-based initiatives as the training organization, creating a sustainable training social enterprise. This framework also includes unlimited printing rights for client Map of My Dreams Workbooks for certiﬁed practitioners. The Map of My Dreams Workbook is a step-bystep guide for clients to assess and prioritize their SDoH challenges, and identify the programs and services they are eligible for in the pursuit of their dreams. TTS promotes adoption

of the standard across practices, organizations, and communities in pilots across the country, and maximizes the existing funded delivery system, holding it accountable. This focus on maximizing existing services promotes sustainability and collaboration across organizations. Science and data are at the core of the TTS paradigm, the standards of care and the ability to demonstrate eﬀectiveness. Measuring Outcomes: ClientCentered Model Key TTS outcomes are focused on

measuring pre- and post-scores on clients' Life Area Survey. The Life Area Survey measures SDoH exposures, the level of exposure, and client priorities. Using a simple Likert scale, clients can self-score and selfidentify the areas they want to address in pursuit of their dreams. “Client testimonials demonstrate that our work is eﬀective and important,” Dr. Wilson says. For example, the words from Jumar, a client from Detroit who was struggling with unemployment and raising three children as a single father described his experience with TTS. Referring to the organization, he said: “We're not going to just walk you through it, we're going to attack it with you.” Testimonials from people who have moved from desperate situations to ﬁnding stability and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality-of-life fuel the TTS social transformation movement. Champions Helping Spread the Word Dr. Wilson's work is now supported by many champions. Together they are ensuring that the truth about the root causes of poverty is heard across the country. Maria Randall, a social worker at a Children's HIV Day Care Program, is one such champion. After hearing Dr. Wilson speak in DC, Maria talked to Dr. Jan Young at The Assisi Foundation of Memphis. Because of these Champions, TTS is thriving in Memphis, across multiple organizations, including United Way of the Mid South, Neighborhood Christian Centers, and Porter-Leath. Dr. Wilson says that Memphis was

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also the site of their seventh independent evaluation, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, that demonstrated signiﬁcant improvements in SDoH exposures, improved A1C levels for diabetics, and improved mental health outcomes for those with depression. Connie Chesnick, Administrator of the Division of Family and Economic Security at the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, brought TTS to Wisconsin. TTS is now integrated into workforce development, immigrant and refugee services, and child support services. Forward Service Corporation is leading TTS trainings across the state. In Hawaii, CEO Amanda Pump is strengthening TTS implementation across a wide range of community-based programs at Child & Family Service (CFS). “Recently, CFS was awarded funding from Aloha United Way to continue trainings across the islands,” Dr. Wilson says. Mary Jane Osmick, M.D., a board member of Bridges Reentry, is championing TTS in Phoenix. Bridges Reentry is expanding its partnerships and network throughout the community. Dr. Osmick has also cited TTS in her publications. In Michigan, Madiha Tariq and her team at Oakland County Health and Human Services, are leading county wide TTS integration, while David Underwood is leading a faith-based initiative in Detroit. He is engaging churches, healthcare, and education to improve health, educational, and economic outcomes for their congregation and the broader community. Shauna Batcheller is leading TTS 2-1-1 integration in South Dakota at the Helpline Center. “These are just a handful of leaders dedicated to social change,” Dr. Wilson says. “They did not plan to be leaders in social change, yet when called upon, they went beyond inspiration and took action, promoting what could be and inspiring others to join our cause.”

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VICTORIA JENKINS Founder and CEO, Unhidden

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Creating Sustainability and Style for Disabled Communities

ou may be wondering what adaptive clothing is. The fact is that this is a question for many people since it generally stems from a lack of integration with others who are non-disabled. In other words, if you are not a member of the disabled community, you will never comprehend the signiﬁcance of adapted clothes. While adaptive clothing is not for everyone, it is critical for people who have diﬃculty dressing independently or who have access needs. Although corporations still have a long way to go in terms of understanding inclusion on a larger scale, several brands are taking the lead in this area. Victoria Jenkins is a garment technologist with 14 years' experience in the fashion industry who became disabled in her 20s. She started Unhidden after a hospital meeting with a cancer patient that changed the path of her life. This is the narrative of Unhidden. She is a multi-awardwinning adaptive designer, disability advocate, author, and speaker. Victoria also has experience in luxury

goods, men's and women's tailoring, wovens, jersey, outerwear, fashion illustration, and textiles. She is a solid professional with a BA in Fashion Design from Istituto Marangoni and accessible testimonials from speaking engagements.

amazing and was something she did for a number of years before going freelance and continuing that work until the pandemic hit. She says, "It's been incredibly varied, which I think has ultimately proved to be better for me in the long run."

Starting Entrepreneurial Journey

Before Unhidden, Victoria was a garment technologist who had worked with some wonderful companies and labels. However, due to her own health concerns, it became more about survival with no plan for her own future other than paying rent—not a nice place to be! She had always wanted to be a designer, but the path to that involved internships and working for free for far longer than she was able to aﬀord-she graduated in 2008, and the landscape was diﬀerent then, not to mention a recession. But Victoria made it work and met some wonderful individuals along the way, proving that the profession isn't always as awful as people believe.

Victoria had always been interested in fashion, but the transition from working for other brands to starting her own came from meeting someone in the hospital who inspired her to think about adaptive fashion—and then the transition came when she did more research and just wasn't seeing what she felt was needed. So Victoria decided to take the plunge herself. She says, "I had lived experience. I had years of garment construction knowledge that I ﬁgured could be put to better use!" Victoria's ﬁrst paid job after university was as a pattern cutter for an online eCommerce brand—being able to pay rent and survive independently in London felt pretty

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As per her, the best recognition for her was probably doing her TedX talk; being accepted to do one was

Victoria's current responsibilities include design, social media, networking, pitching, postman, and customer service. There isn't anything Victoria doesn't accomplish, but she is ﬁnally assembling a team to work with her! Victoria usually begins her day by checking her daily journal, her to-do list, and then social media. She then attempts to follow up on leads, develop content, or write copy. She is going to use the word some very good friends and peers use to describe her because it does encapsulate how tirelessly she has tried to work to help as many people as she can—unstoppable. Redeﬁning the Industry

terrifying but proof that she had the knowledge and the voice to really say something.

likely to be poor, and she is well aware that she is still too expensive for the majority of people.

Not Just a Brand

Victoria has numerous amazing collaborations in the works, some of which will be released towards the end of this year. Victoria serves on a variety of boards and committees to increase awareness and transform the narrative on disability inclusion from one of pity to one of creative, happy positive portrayal, and to urge other companies and sectors to make better decisions regarding inclusion in the future.

Unhidden is currently made-to-order. The core range addresses a variety of access demands, including dexterity, stomas, wheelchair users and cancer patients. Everyone, regardless of size or ability, may wear the range, excluding no one. Victoria is switching to a standard model with modest adjustable choices to reduce the price because her community (1 in 5 people in the UK) is 50% more

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Unhidden is the first adaptive brand to join the British Fashion Council, was the first to sell in multiple retail outlets in London and Cambridge, has had global press coverage and has tried to ultimately do as much as possible in as many places to make people stop and think about what inclusion means and how to achieve it. Victoria is currently preparing for her first full runway show, which will be showcasing an array of disabilities (both visible and non-apparent) in September and hopes that it continues to change the narrative going forwards as well as championing other designers, brands, and people who fight for the same thing-equity. Staying Motivated and Connected For maintaining space between work and life, Victoria does have boundaries with other people on engaging with her, but she often sits and works or scrolls or contacts people outside of her self-imposed office hours. Her motivation never really wavers-until adaptive and

inclusive design is normalized and on the high street and accessible, she has all the motivation she needs. She shares, "With my new team, it's trying to keep open and honest communication and working out how to support each other—as it's so new and exciting, motivation isn't what we lack—it's time to get it all done!" Valuable Lessons Victoria shares that having faith in her own abilities and ideas has taken a while—having mentors from a variety of people helped with that. Choosing to start trading during a pandemic, after Brexit and targeting an audience that has been left out globally whilst trying to maintain sustainable and ethical manufacturing processes-she couldn't have thrown more obstacles in her own way-but there was no time like the present and her hope is that it will get easier. She asserts, "Getting non-disabled people engaged is one of the hardest roadblocks still, but thanks to a growing interest in social impact brands and better DE&I awareness, staying the course and having faith has worked for me." Views on Success While discussing her perspective on achievement, Victoria admits that defining success is difficult for her. She recalls that, because of the unpredictability that comes with freelancing and running a small business as a disabled woman, there is no disputing that success for her is predicated on financial remuneration, which she does not believe she has attained. Victoria does however also define success as knowing you're making a difference and having your work or

voice recognized, shared, and impacting other people's perspectives and lives. She states, "Being happy in your work and being excited to work is also a good barometer of success-I feel very privileged to do something I adore." Plans for the future of Unhidden Victoria's future plans include workshops teaching people how to adapt their own clothing (80% of the disabled and chronically ill community were not born that waythat's a lot of clothes going to landﬁll) as well as expanding the range, having their own brick and mortar store that is fully accessible and beautiful and a place for people to hang out in as well as shop. There are some partnerships she'd love to see come to life—the sky is the limit. There is not an area of the retail world that doesn't need an adaptive and inclusive update. Word to Woman Entrepreneurs As a disabled woman, Victoria does face challenges ultimately thanks to the people in charge and the stigma around disability- but she has hope CIO VIEWS | 25

that if even one person sees her trying and has the faith to try themselves too then that is the best thing she can achieve. She asserts, "It is harder, there are challenges- big ones- but that doesn't mean your ideas and voice aren't worth trying to put out there.” Victoria's message for women entrepreneurs is to listen to your instinct and question where the unsolicited advice comes from. She also adds, "Make sure you have some savings, invest in learning parts of what you don't know- for example, I paid to do a PR course and that has hands down been one of the game changers for Unhidden and continues to be helpful. Finally- have mentorsmore than one." She advises everyone to accept people who ask if they can help but also approach people you look up to and ask them as well- it is always worth asking and trying, shoot your shot!

KIM BUTLER Founder and CEO, Prosperity Thinkers

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A Great Leader In the Insurance Industry Inspiring People To Live Lives Of Purpose

uccess is a small word with big consequences. There is no unique or singular deﬁnition for success. Success for Kim Butler, Founder of Prosperity Thinkers, LLC is living a life of service, doing well by doing good, owning your time and talents and putting them to use in the most freeing way possible.

Leading A Company To Success Isn't An Easy Road To Take “I've always liked to hoe my row, in other words, to be the boss, set the standards, lead the way, yet with humble conﬁdence, not egotism,” says Kim. She thinks of faith as a relationship, not religion, and she relies on God to show her the way. Kim states that she'd rather rely on that and her skills and work ethic, than on a large corporation, though she's worked in that environment too. As for the foundation? It's one of her favorite words because you can build anything from a solid foundation.

Since she was in 4th grade, she's worked with money when her parents bought her a milk cow and she and her sister, Tammi Brannan sold the milk to neighbors and church friends. Then after college, while working at a bank, she simply realized that she loved helping people with their money so Kim expanded her offerings. “After 30+ years I've figured out what works and what doesn't work and so our newest brand, Prosperity Thinkers, is there to help people with Inspiration, Education, and Activation of the foundational aspect of all personal finance, which is saving, both as a verb and as a noun. The act of putting away money and the act of storing cash and liquidity,” she states. Challenges Make You Stronger The non-profit Kim co-founded with her husband Todd Langford, known as The Prosperity Economics Movement, espouses 12 Principles. One of them is Certainty and another one is Uncertainty. CIO VIEWS | 27

Challenges are like uncertainties, sometimes difficult, sometimes awesome, yet critical to a lively life. "If we didn't have them, we would be so bored!” exclaims Kim. She has had numerous legal roadblocks, made all kinds of human and financial mistakes, created messes she had to clean up, etc. Just like anyone, especially an entrepreneur, who is blazing a trail and creating from scratch. Kim explains the lessons are: 1. Mindset Matters so figure out a way to be positive. 2. Install Faith in your Finances so you can keep a solid foundation under you. 3. Treat your team like gold so 1+1 can equal 11. Meaning you get two people together with opposite skill sets and you get a multiplier effect of not just 1+1=2 or even 3 as many people say, but 11, putting the one with the other one and getting the value of the collaboration all along the way.

them for almost 30 years. Her main responsibility as the founder is to help people get results. She claims that her life before Prosperity Thinkers was mostly conﬁned, now it's expansive. Balance In Personal And Professional Life “Setting strong calendar controls and sticking to my 'oﬃce boundaries' (since I've worked from home since the internet began) enables Visioneering in all areas of life. Visioneering then makes it easy to be motivated, since you are moving towards work that you enjoy. And when you love what you do, and strive towards a “selfmanaging company” under the Strategic Coach system, everybody wins.” says Kim.

Kim's Contribution To Redefine The Industry With Innovative Ideas Kim works in a 200+-year-old industry. Mutual Life Insurance companies are some of the oldest financial institutions in North America. They create emergency/opportunity accounts for folks which are the most valuable foundation in personal finance, yet they are stodgy and slow and have been resistant to technology. “I've grown PT using these companies, yet adding in technology and a real understanding of how humans get results by communicating benefits, writing books for readers, crafting

youtube videos for watchers, and dropping podcasts for listeners so that all types of learners can beneﬁt from what I know,” she says. Her team has been instrumental in helping her create and also in freeing her up from administrative work to speak with folks in all 50 states. Responsibilities As Founder Of Prosperity Thinkers Kim, who describes herself as a person who always strives to grow, states that the best recognition she has received is having numerous employees and independent contractors who have worked with 2 8 | JA N UA RY 2 0 2 6

Future Plans For Prosperity Thinkers Kim states that she has not achieved everything she dreamed of and there is lots more to go. Her strategy for Prosperity Thinkers is 30 years of helping people with their ﬁnances and then a re-brand for another 30 years. “I love my work and want all people to love theirs. Using kolbe.com, CliftonStrengths and other systems is the best ticket to happiness and a great team,” she states.

A Global Leader Driving Sustainability in the Supply Chain at a Global Scale

colabeling is an eﬀective industry policy approach for addressing environmental issues without relying on controllable environmental legislation. Ecolabels are a way for businesses to measure performance while simultaneously conveying and promoting a product's environmental credentials. And, critically for governments, these instruments push producers and consumers to adjust their behaviour in the direction of long-term sustainability. Kelly Ruigrok, a dedicated serial entrepreneur, founded the Global

Sustainable Enterprise System, the National Sustainability Institute of the Netherlands, and Data for Good. Her enterprises have the same objective, but each has its own ecosystem of stakeholders. The objective is to make the world a better, more transparent, and freer place for children and future generations. She shares, "Anyone can do anything, just believe in yourself and ask the right questions in the right places"

world, based on third-party veriﬁed data.

The Global Sustainable Enterprise System (GSES System) is the most widely used and trusted sustainability rating platform in the

The Global Sustainable Enterprise System (GSES System®) is a wellknown platform that assists you in assessing, verifying, and certifying your sustainability performance at

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GSES Traditional sustainability reporting takes time and money. With an avalanche of complicated information and laws, understanding, measuring, and managing your sustainability performance without assistance is diﬃcult.

KELLY RUIGROK Founder and CEO, Global Sustainable Enterprise System

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the process, supply chain, and product levels. Accurate certified data. The GSES system effortlessly and cost-effectively links over 500 eco-labels and sustainability certificates and utilizes globally accepted criteria to analyse sustainability performance holistically. The platform may be used for procurement, asset management, product consumer ratings and corporate governance. A wide range of businesses, including the Province of Gelderland in the Netherlands, Univé, ABN Amro, Jumbo, Heerema Marine Contractors, and many other multinationals and corporate companies, use the GSES System as their safe haven to make data driven decisions. Making her Contribution for Greater Good Kelly's career began with the establishment of the National Sustainability Institute in the Netherlands in 2017, which provided a solid methodology framework for the creation of the GSES-System. So far, the recognition she has received has all been extremely fulfilling on both a personal and professional level. She shares, "We have a lot of shared ambitions with our clients and partners. By working together we make sustainability accessible and transparent." The team has collaborated with governments and big players in the industry like the World Expo 2020 in Dubai to help make the mega event more sustainable. And they are now

partnering with the US based Blue Planet Alliance to reach out to customers and assist in bridging the knowledge gap that exists between consumers and businesses on sustainability performance. According to Kelly, developing the GSES System was an unusual journey since the team constructed a disruptor in order to revolutionize the green-washed market. It is the only SaaS platform that connects businesses of all sizes with certifying organizations, guaranteeing that their sustainability performance is validated and trustworthy. The cornerstone of GSES is guaranteeing trust, and Kelly and her team are working on providing trust throughout the whole supply chain of products and organizations as well as guaranteeing customer trust and transparency between them and the e-commerce site from where they acquire their items. Today, GSES collaborates with over 110 nations and operates in over 70 industries. Leading Together According to Kelly, her inspiration for leading a company came from the collaborations and fruitful connections she made along the way. She says, "It is not about going fast alone, but going as far as we can together." She had a great belief in the environment she gradually created around her, which is now a solid basis for GSES, her team, and its members. The platform was created and is still being updated with the help of expert panels, since 3 2 | JA N UA RY 2 0 2 6

the entire team believes in researchbased solutions. Kelly's greatest struggle was dealing with those who underestimated her ability as a founder and CEO. Nonetheless, she embraces every obstacle and instructs her employees to do the same, since this is the only way to establish a strong and lasting business. Kelly finds that keeping her team and herself motivated is easy as they are all aware of the worth of their hard work. "I am privileged to be surrounded by fantastic partners and talented colleagues . Through knowledge sharing and trust we have already made the unthinkable possible together, and we have only just started. That makes me proud.," Kelly explains. Success for "Kelly"! According to Kelly, success is frequently judged in hard labour, and although this is somewhat accurate. She emphasizes that success is more than just meeting goals; it is also about finding answers to social challenges. This is why she established the GSESSystem: to address the issue of untrustworthy and opaque ESG ratings and tooling that are now being used. A World with More Awareness of Eco-Labels As Kelly said previously, the most important plan for GSES in the future is to narrow the knowledge gap in the certification and ecolabels, which are both trendy and

untrustworthy, as Kelly indicated previously. Thus, helping to spread awareness about the data behind ecolabels and make 1 overarching rating card per product and brand! What Client Says“The GSES System is very useful for procurement professionals, for example, to be able to make sustainable choices for the right suppliers and products.” Karin van IJsselmuide | CSR Program Director NEVI "We have adopted a wide-ranging approach to achieving our site-wide sustainability goals, underscoring our bold ambitions with grand action to integrate sustainability into all of our experiences and

operations. Our collaboration with GSES System is emblematic of these eﬀorts, supported by the sustainability commitments of our stakeholders as we work together to host one of the most sustainable World Expos in history and create a meaningful, measurable impact beyond the site and our 182-day run."- Dina Storey | World Expo 2020 Dubai "The Netherlands Pavilion's theme of 'Uniting Water, Energy, Food' contributes to more awareness and international cooperation in achieving some of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). At the pavilion, we will be showcasing how working together we can contribute towards achieving some of the SDGs, thereby reducing the

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footprint too as low as possible. We are delighted that the Dutch company GSES System has developed such sophisticated measurement techniques regarding sustainable impact that help contribute to these important goals".- H.E. Lody Embrechts, Ambassador | Kingdom of the Netherlands

LIZETTE IBARRA CEO and Founder, Latina Chief

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On a Mission to Assist Companies in their Pursuit of Building Diverse, Equal, and Inclusive Organizations

he diversity of our life, work, and cultural experiences, as well as our individual diﬀerences, drive each of us to view circumstances, opportunities, and challenges through a distinct lens, leading to various ways of thinking and making decisions. Future-proof organizations exhibit a high level of competency in their capacity to capitalize on the advantages that come from this variety of vision, thought, and viewpoint, utilizing this rich array of resources to generate greater innovation and commercial performance. As the CEO and Founder of Latina Chief, Lizette Ibarra is on a mission to close the gender and ethnic leadership gap and assist her clients in building diverse, bold leadership teams. Latina Chief is a retained executive search ﬁrm that values diversity. It holds that having more Hispanics in leadership positions is not only the moral thing to do, but also the sensible thing to do and a necessity for business success to promote economic growth. Latinos account for 19.2% of the US

population and they are awfully represented in corporate America – only 4.7% of them are part of it. Hispanics are an economic power, with 2.8 trillion dollars in GDP and over 2 trillion in purchasing power. The company's business concept is straightforward: its candidate slates include the most qualified Latinos and Latinas in each sector. The Road Leading to Entrepreneurship Being a leader or entrepreneur is one of the most challenging and interesting roads one can take. In order to handle the stage where as a mother, she needed a more flexible work schedule, Lizette realized she had to leave her corporate career. She had always believed that if other people could be successful business owners, she could too. Lizette has never experienced any kind of fear. As a businesswoman, Lizette constantly considers the worst-case scenario before making a significant

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choice. She decides to “go on” if the response reassures her that neither she nor anyone else will perish, and that nobody's integrity will be jeopardized. She asserts, "I have always liked to take the road less traveled and go against the current, because I believe it is there where the real opportunities are. Of course, I cannot say that all my decisions have been correct, I have made many mistakes that have helped me grow and do better next time. I would not change a thing of what I've done in my professional life since everything has given me one of two things: learning or satisfaction." Lizette's favorite deﬁnition of leadership says, "A leader takes people where they would never go on their own." (Hanz Finzel). Leadership has nothing to do with you and everything to do with one's impact on those who follow him or her and entrust his or her vision to lead the way. She further adds, "As a leader, you must ensure that your team and people are better oﬀ after every interaction with you.”

An Inspiring Journey towards Success Since she turned 18, Lizette has been a worker. She began working as an English teacher in a kindergarten while still in college. When Lizette graduated, she began to work in the corporate world for two fantastic firms, Eastman Kodak and Johnson & Johnson, in the fields of human resources and talent acquisition. She was given managerial responsibilities at a very young age, and about 8 years later, she decided to enter the field of executive search and management consulting since she needed a more flexible work schedule after the birth of her first child. Lizette has worked for boutiques and global search firms, as well as founded and developed two executive search firms that grew rapidly, both of them founded on women and diversity long before the term became fashionable. She has also had the privilege of serving on the boards of several non-profit organizations, which has been a transformative experience in her professional career. "I've always believed and witnessed firsthand that diversity is an imperative for company growth and for societal equality."- Lizette Every position Lizette has held has been demanding and fulfilling, but she is especially proud of having built her first business around exceptional professional women who had left their corporate jobs to become mothers or wives and were turned down by many employers when they wanted to resume their careers because they had been "inactive" for three or four years. Because she experienced that herself, Lizette hired those women, in her organization, who were dealing with similar difficulties. She created a company that provided access to these amazing ladies with impressive backgrounds. She says, "We taught them the search business, and we built

a very successful company together." Back then, remote or flexible work was not really an option in many corporations, and Lizette envisioned an organization where women could be women, wives, mothers, professionals, and human beings. She is incredibly proud of that, and now, with Latina Chief, she and her team have assisted many corporations in becoming more diverse and debunked the myth that there is not enough Latino and women leaders available to fill executive positions. Growing as Woman Business Leader For the most part, as a woman, Lizette has found more opportunities than obstacles, but it hasn't been easy. Although organizations have made good strides toward gender equality, most leadership tables are not set to accommodate minority women by default. She says, "We have to find ways to get a seat and find our voice at the table. And it is through my work that I want to help correct that imbalance by bringing more Latinas into leadership roles and empowering more women to believe they can and should have a seat at the table." When Lizette decided to quit her corporate career to find more balance and then found success as an entrepreneur, she promised herself that she would find a way to help more women climb the ladder to success. Lizette envisions a society in which the capacity for leadership will continue to change in favor of embracing empathy and exemplifying leadership in its broadest sense. ESG regulations will continue to be a key priority for corporations and directors since it is crucial to take into account the regional differences that shape global priorities. Lizette says that the entire business ecosystem will put a lot of pressure on organizations to act ethically and responsibly towards the environment, its social components (employees,

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suppliers, customers, and the community), and to uphold the highest standards of governance as a result of the acceleration of digitalization. Take on Challenges "When you face a challenge, you have two options: undertake it or walk away. If you walk away, you will very likely regret not knowing the outcome," says Lizette. She further adds that if one undertakes it, then he or she will know for sure. Lizette has faced challenges where she has found herself scared and overwhelmed to death, but in those circumstances, she turned on the volume of her intuition and her internal voice. This is a lesson that she has learned over time and through experience. Lizette has always valued the opinion and advice of the people she trusts, but early in her career, she believes it was more about seeking validation. Now, she quiets the external noise and pays more attention to her internal voice. As per Lizette, she has always treasured a piece of honest advice, but she also learned to dissect who she can trust, and after receiving input, it is then that she tunes in with her intuition. An Opportunity to Connect with People Success, for Lizette, only has an internal thermometer. She opines, "Success is not measured by your material possessions or how fancy your career or title may be. Success is being at peace, being whole, happy, and fulﬁlled with who you are. It is knowing that every day, you have done your very best and tried your very best. Success is also knowing that you can make a diﬀerence in the lives of others and that you choose to leave a positive mark." She also believes that the nature of her career has led her to interact with hundreds, thousands of people, including candidates, opinion leaders,

colleagues, business leaders, and those associated with non-proﬁt organizations. She points out that continuing and nurturing these relationships even after many years in the business is a good thermometer of personal and professional satisfaction. She opines, "The true satisfaction of my work has been having the opportunity to touch the lives of many, many people." Balancing Personal and Professional Life Not many know this about Lizette, but when she was little, she wanted to be a professional tennis player. She recalls, "I did not have the opportunity to learn the sport or even take lessons because back then tennis was not a very accessible sport in my hometown in Mexico." So, when she moved to Florida at the age of 40, she decided to grab a racket and take a few lessons. At ﬁrst, Lizette thought it was ridiculous and that she would not be able to play well, but she still wanted to give it a try; “Ever since, tennis has become a passion of mine.” There is nothing there but the court, the opponent, and Lizette's focus on the game, so it is both highly exciting and calming for her. Lizette feels that her love of tennis is her Zen zone, where she does not have to concentrate on anything but the game. It gives her balance and keeps her mind, soul, and body in check. Lizette has been playing the sport for 8 years. She now plays at a competitive level, and she leads adult mixed doubles teams. They have won local, state, and national championships. From a leadership standpoint, Lizette feels her tennis experience has also been very educational. She shares, "I must strategize for every match, study the opponent team, and select the players and positions. It very much resembles the focus I must have every

day to deliver the best services to my clients." Breaking Traditional Norms In the future, Lizette sees herself continuing to debunk the myth that not enough Latino/Hispanic talent is available for executive positions and, at the same time, assisting corporations in becoming more successful and innovative by adding Hispanics to their leadership teams. The Hispanic population is projected to grow 54% by 2027, and Latino GDP is the single fastest-growing GDP worldwide with a striking 2.8 trillion dollars. Corporations lacking Latino leaders are missing opportunities for CIO VIEWS | 39

growth, and according to Lizette, her company, Latina Chief, is there to help them correct that imbalance. Message to Aspiring Businesswomen "Find your passion, what moves you to the core,” Lizette says in her message to aspiring businesswomen. “You shouldn't have to try that hard: your passion might be right in front of your face. Your passion is unique to you, and that's the beauty of it: ﬁnd a niche within a niche and build your dreams around it!”

DR. BLESSING MUDAVANHU Chief Executive Ofﬁcer, CBZ Holdings Limited

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A Gifted Mathematician Bringing Change through Proliﬁc Leadership

any business leaders find their business direction over the course of time by maximizing their opportunities. Dr. Blessing Mudavanhu, Chief Executive Officer of CBZ Holdings Limited is one who had always focused on academics, which saw him complete his Mathematics Ph.D. qualification with flying colors. He had not considered getting into the business world. However, while treading the journey, he ended up being in business, and ever since that, he has never looked back. He shares, “I have come to appreciate that the best learning experiences are when change takes place unexpectedly or unplanned. These times have taught me to be clear about my objectives, be professional, and fight to provide platforms where people respect each other and build trust for the greater good.” For Dr. Blessing, one of his greatest achievement will always be obtaining the Fulbright Scholarship that helped him fulfill his dream of attaining his Mathematics Ph.D. qualification. Comprehensive services and values of CBZ Holdings Limited

CBZ Holdings Limited is a renowned African investment company for the last four decades. Commencing its operations in Zimbabwe, it has been listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange and is one of the leading institutions in the country. Ever since its inception, CBZ Holdings has built an wide-ranging portfolio of businesses that encompass Banking, Short and Long Term Insurance, Asset Management, Property Investments, and Agriculture. Besides this, the company also has an offshore investment arm based in Mauritius as part of its regionalization strategy. He adds, “We have 9 subsidiaries called CBZ Bank, CBZ Capital, Datvest, CBZ Life, CBZ Agro-Yield, CBZ Risk Advisory, CBZ Properties, CBZ Insurance, and CBZ Red Sphere Finance.” CBZ Holdings consists of 4 main clusters as part of its portfolio of businesses namely, Banking, Investments, Insurance, and Agriculture. These are designed to make sure that all complementary businesses are grouped together and their synergies are exploited well. Dr. Blessing says, “With this, many significant synergies have been unlocked both within each cluster of business as well as between the clusters themselves. These synergies and efficiencies

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have been further enhanced by the CBZ Group's digital strategy, which has seen signiﬁcant investment being made into computer systems as well as connectivity throughout the group.”

Keeping such customer-centric views, he states that the company is still driven by the commitment and dedication to serve the wide-ranging interests of communities at large.

Moreover, a plethora of client-facing platforms have been designed, implemented, and launched that have further enriched the business eﬃciency.

Further, he adds, “At CBZ Holdings, we will continue to play a distinguished and catalytic role in furthering the Zimbabwean Government's distinct socio-economic policies, which seek to transform the Zimbabwean economy by encouraging the economic participation of entrepreneurial businesses that form the backbone of the economy” Also, they aim to open new opportunities for all the existing as well as upcoming entrepreneurs, and sectors of the economy.

There are six core values of CBZ Holdings Limited that make the company stand apart from its competitors. All of them are explained below: Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Integrity Focusing on Customer's Needs Focusing on Staﬀ's Needs Thriving in Product Innovation Deﬁning Corporate Citizenship Working as a Big Team

Vision for CBZ Holdings Limited Talking about the vision for the company, he shares, “My vision for the company is to provide our customers with a dynamic, integrated financial service offering which we will scale up for growth in the coming years and to provide our shareholders with a profitable business.” Stating Peter Drucker's words, he strongly believes “Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the customer gets out of it.” Thus, he gives utmost importance to proffering the best to the customers so that they can derive the most value from their products/service.

Life at CBZ Holdings Limited At CBZ Holdings Limited, Dr. Blessing has a pivotal role in handling the diﬀerent business aspects of the company. He helps in shaping change and driving the business into the future. For this, he mainly provides direction, inspiration, and guidance to the employees so that they can harness their inner potential and talents and aid in channeling the growth of the company in a better way. He is also responsible for building teams that strive hard to achieve the common goal of expanding business and reach the next level of business. As the Executive director, he knows the right tactics to make his fellow staﬀ understand the vision and make the right moves to derive growth in the best way.

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Maintaining good health is crucial to keep the brain functioning meticulously throughout the day. He adds, “I run a lot in the early mornings. This gives me the opportunity to start my days early and to use the time to plan and organize my day.” Being an avid reader, he devotes most of his time to reading as much as he can. The future roadmap of CBZ Holdings Limited Being in an ever-changing world, Dr. Blessing says, “Our goal as a business is to ensure we are part of that momentum of change and digitize our financial services offerings so that they impart convenience to all the clients.” He follows Steve Cannon's words, “Customer experience better be at the top of your list when it comes to priorities in your organization. Customer experience is the new marketing.” Thus, the entire company wants to attain its goal of creating a broad portfolio of businesses that become market leaders and are also capable of generating sustainable earnings, an attractive dividend yield, and long-term capital growth. He further shares that all of them must be based on sound business principles and deliver good financial results that will ultimately transform the lives of people. In a nutshell, he plans to make a difference in their communities, both internally and, externally.

AIDEN KEEGAN CEO, Esquires Coffee

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The Best Coffee Service Esquires Takes the Lead

offee is the most popular beverage consumed in the world. Statistics say that more than 400 billion cups are consumed each year. The aroma, the essence and relief it offers in a cup, is mesmerizing, making it an important part of peoples' day to day life. Doug Williamson, a 24-year-old young Canadian man realized that people needed a place to congregate outside of the local pub. With love for coffee and the people, Doug and his close friend set out on a daunting venture of exploring this flavorsome industry. They started Esquires in 1993, in a small “strip mall” that has grown to be the leading coffee brand in Canada and New Zealand today. As young, amateurs who had nothing but passion with the power to think out of the box, Doug and his team have an inspiring tale to tell. Passion that Paved the Way Starting their first coffee shop in in a small “strip mall”, as we refer to them in Canada, Doug refers to this opportunity as his first lucky break. The small but charming center, comprised of about 30 or so retail businesses, had come under tough times and was in receivership, which

worked in favor of Doug's business plan. He grabbed the opportunity embarking a new career path without any experience. Evidently, the ﬁrst obstacle that would befall them was sustainability in the market without a name. They needed to work doubly hard to stay put in the competitive ﬁeld. With the presence of the big brands around, Doug and his team worked tirelessly to earn a position and acceptance within the community. CIO VIEWS | 45

They needed to listen to the customers and evolve to serve them and customize their design according to the taste and choice of the local community. Hard work and dedication saw them through, and they gained the trust of and respect of people living in North Delta. By the 90s they had established Esquires as a leading specialty retail coﬀee brand in western Canada.

opening Esquires franchise outlets throughout the country. Today, they have more than100 stores, but Doug is very proud to say that Esquires Coﬀee evolved from that one small store in a small suburb of Vancouver; by showing people that they valued their business more than the big brands. The Essence of Remarkable Services

Name and fame followed as the team kept working relentlessly year after year. More doors of opportunities started opening every year. There was all sorts of pressure, as happens in business, to grow and expand, but they had worked really hard building the chain and did not feel a great deal of urgency to expand for expansion's sake. However, fate had something diﬀerent in store. In 1999, a lovely

couple who were franchise experts in UK happened to visit the Vancouver Island store and cite their experience as “We fell immediately and madly in love with their energy, environment, and friendliness. We knew Brits would just adore this brand!” Well, another lucky break in the book of Esquires wrote a new chapter of success and the following years just Saw Doug travelling across UK 4 6 | JA N UA RY 2 0 2 6

Today, Esquires is a fast charging coffee brand in the U.K. and Ireland with market leading innovation around food and beverage. Today's coffee shop plays a unique role in their social interaction evoking different emotions in people. The Esquires coffee shops offer many other services apart from their refreshing coffee. They are places to meet friends, places to find peace; they are places where business is performed in an ever-increasing manner, they are places to unwind after the stresses of a busy day. They function as an extension of homes and businesses, as well as a place to escape them. Whatever the reason for visiting Esquires, every customer enjoys being in a comforting and peaceful environment where they can rely upon exceptional service and delicious food and coffee. Esquires draws on that need by providing a warm and welcoming experience while offering Organic Fair-Trade coffee, along with a range of quality teas and the latest in health focused cold drinks as well as delicious food freshly made in store. This clearly differentiates Esquires and has created a distinct goodwill with our customers who have become enduring and loyal devotees of the brand. The Expansion of the Business with Strategic Planning From moving into new markets to developing new products, franchising has given the company different avenues of growth. More specifically,

it has helped the company grow by allowing them to utilize the talents and local knowledge of their franchise owners whilst they can focus on building the brand, the supplier network, generating value and improving their systems. Additionally, having franchise owners that challenge them daily to refine their systems for maximum efficiency is a powerful way of growing, which they would not have otherwise. Indeed, franchising has its challenges as well. Assembling a team of like-minded individuals is incredibly important, as is finding qualified franchise owners that share our vision and values. However, franchising has fostered the growth of the company largely with over 100 successful stores today. Over the last number of years store growth has been steady and indeed continues to be so and in the more recent past they have also been marrying store growth to in house improvement in profitability through improved food programs and focus on procurement. While the latter does not necessarily bring about growth as such it does drive profitability in store for the people at the coal face, their franchisees. The Experts Driven by a Vision Doug started Esquires at the age of 24 along with his friend while they were still in search of a promising career path. Without any experience to begin an entrepreneurial journey was a challenging task however the suburb of Vancouver known as North Delta, is a land brimming with working professionals, students, and families of all ages, which could have been one of the factors that boosted Doug to take an unnerving step of risk. Taking calculated risks and standing strong despite the challenges has brought Esquires in the lead position today. Aiden Keegan took over from Doug in 2018 and has played a vital role in

the strategic growth of the company and having been a major contributor in the growth of the business. “Having been with Esquires, albeit in the Irish and GCC sides of the business since 2004 it sometimes seems to me that I have done little else! However, I did also spend some years in Ireland's biggest indigenous coffee chain before joining Esquires and before that in various roles across hospitality.” Says, Aiden. Aiden's roles and responsibilities as the CEO of Esquires are quite varied and cover everything from operational improvements to procurement to franchisee development as well as looking after the balance sheet. In terms of the emotions around this, it is mainly pride in the job being done by the great team, Aiden finds himself lucky to have a skilled team around him and the 'product' they deliver to their customers, the franchisees. The Vision of a Unanimous Team The team is passionate about ensuring their customers enjoy their experience at Esquires. They focus on building an emotional connection with the customers, paired with a functional solution to achieve a unique brand attachment and loyalty. Some of their key means of ensuring an exceptional experience in their coffee shops are: •

•

A commitment to third wave coffee excellence and the desire to pioneer new innovative espresso beverages that are helping to shape the future of our coffee such as our recent Black & Tonic. Freshly roasted Organic Fairtrade coffee, teas and chocolate served alongside a selection of carefully chosen healthy and freshly prepared in store food. Individually designed and immediately recognizable cafes, exhibiting our sustainability commitments, independent CIO VIEWS | 47

•

• •

character and proudly located in premium locations. Comfortable seating and readily accessible internet connections, supported by great music and magazines Staﬀ are extensively trained to ensure they value all customers and practice a personal service Constant innovation to stay ahead of our competitors and strengthen our reputation of always being “the place to be”

The Future of Esquires Esquires already operates in numerous countries around the globe including Ireland, Canada, China, Pakistan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Portugal. Franchising at its core, is essentially the leveraging of a good idea or a suite of good ideas and sharing that IP and adapting it for the market you are entering, however, for it to work one key factor must be at the heart of the business, the Franchisee. Without the Franchisee there is no franchising so their wellbeing in the business is the keystone to building any successful franchise. However franchising may change in the future, this tenet ought to remain true and adhered to. Esquires plan is to continue this expansion but in a sustainable way with strategic partners on the ground in these and new locations. Esquires started with soul, passion and love.and today, 25 years later it has made a remarkable impression on the coﬀee industry. With over 100 successful stores, Esquires has taken the lead in the market as one of the best coﬀee brands with the best service. The skilled leadership and knowledgeable team continues to work hard to stay in the lead.

CATERINA BERBENNI-REHM Founder & CEO, PROMIS@Service

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Hard Work is a Virtue, Smart Work is a Talent

hen you identify a way of performing a task with intellect over efforts, you have achieved the way of success in this fast-paced business world. Caterina Berbenni-Rehm, Founder and CEO of PROMIS@Service, started her journey with a similar approach and she mastered the smart way of business. She believed in efficiency and quality which forms the foundation of PROMIS@Service, a Cloud and Intranet eco-system of interactive tools. Caterina was positive about her vision and as she kept going, her entrepreneurial journey sped up. Leading the way with an out of the box thought, Caterina's journey is a true inspiration. In this exclusive read, Caterina shares her success mantras that motivated her to achieve her dreams. What were your dreams and aspirations while growing up? My aspiration was to do everything I had to do, with minimum effort! Whenever a task or goal was set before me, at school or, later, at work, I always looked for the streamlined

method of achieving it. My mother said I was lazy, but, which of us, these days, can afford to keep throwing time, money and effort at the work in hand? This was the beginning of my dream to offer European businesses a way of getting necessary work done in the most efficient way possible. What led you into this field of work? My emotional intelligence never squared with technology, but when I met my husband, an informatics engineer working for KPMG, he convinced me that everyone was building mere hardware and machines without considering the 'soft' side of technology e.g. human-machine interaction, cognitive science, psychology, cross-cultural aspects, multilingual communication, rules and ethics at work. These non-tangible aspects were precisely what fascinated me most.

the most valuable individual and human capital. The challenge at the beginning was to understand the multi-sector, multilayered, multinational, and multilingual requirements of the users, so we could address their problems in the best way. The major challenge here was to simplify all that complexity down to a “bird's eye view”, which meant we had ﬁrst to map the overall situation, analyzing the statusquo to get a comprehensive understanding of it. An innovation bringing a paradigm change in the delivery of new services, with high market potential, was never going to develop smoothly! It turned out to be a long and challenging, undertaking, which we would never have managed without a trusted, international team and the support of European institutions.

There were setbacks: it proved diﬃcult, for instance, to demonstrate in practice how these methods and tools could make What were the initial challenges and knowledge a 'tangible asset'; inventing setbacks that you faced? and integrating the new business models into the digital platform's eco-system was Everything we do centers on the not easy; and we experienced that where question of how to make knowledge a money can be made, certain business tangible asset, because knowledge is CIO VIEWS | 51

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Making Motherhood Wonderful with Mumzworld

eing a mother is the most wonderful feeling that every woman experiences in her life and undoubtedly, once she is a mother her responsibilities never seem to end. In the bargain of providing the best for her child, a mother makes small sacrifices that have great impacts. Hence, the bliss of motherhood needs to be celebrated with the gift of comfort and luxury. With this thought in mind, Mona Ataya a mother to three wonderful boys and a proud CEO of Mumzworld set out to bring about a change in the moms' lives. She realized that a shop that offers all products for mothers and babies from birth until their pre-teen is the need of the hour. Times are changing and so is technology. Using this to her benefit Mona established Mumzworld, a one stop shop for all mom and kids products which is the pioneer and

leading e-commerce shopping destination for mothers in the MENA region of Middle East. As we put together the successful story of Mona Ataya, we wish you bring forth an inspirational tale of a successful mother of the modern age. The Beginning of a Wonderful Story Mumzworld was born when they identified key consumer need gaps amongst the mother consumer that were not being addressed. Mona had been an entrepreneur for years and already had experience in building leading brands. When she became a mother in Dubai, she experienced firsthand the many frustrations mothers in the region were facing. In 2011 this was the ecosystem: 1. Access to quality choice of products for mothers was limited 2. Prices were significantly 5 4 | JA N UA RY 2 0 2 6

higher than global averages in a distributor led market. 3. Information about these products especially in Arabic was very limited which was not allowing this time starved, information hungry consumer to make informed decisions 4. Easy and quick access to these products was diﬃcult and ﬁnally, a tight knit community of mothers who can engage together and share and learn from one another did not exist. This very important consumer was deprived of luxury products that was not being addressed and so Mumzworld set out to solve these problems. They set out to provide the regional mother easy access to a wide range of quality products, at the best everyday low transparent prices, comprehensive information for her to make informed decisions and the largest community of mothers for her

MONA ATAYA CEO, Mumzworld

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The Services of Excellence that Savor Motherhood Mumzworld is solving a 360-degree solution to mothers in the MENA region and penetrating the regional household with a loyal customer by:

to tap into and share information with and learn from. They would offer this mother a superior online experience to empower her to make the most informed decisions for her family. Mumzworld was created behind an obsessive desire to empower mothers to make informed purchase decisions during their pregnancy and for their children from new-born up to pre-teen. They are obsessed with their customers and while the ecosystem has been very difficult for them in the first few years with slow deliveries, payment gateway issues and more, they have now grown to a size where they are self-sufficient allowing them to deliver faster than ever before with almost 50% of their 250,000 products delivered within 24 hours with Free delivery and the rest delivered within 2-3 days. They deliver unique products and services that only Mumzworld offers with exclusives that

no other retailer in the region carries. They will continue giving mothers great offerings to make her life easier in the years to come. The ecosystem was underdeveloped and for ecommerce to succeed, the ecosystem needs to support you. Couriers were slow, payment gateways for credit card were not sophisticated and customers did not trust paying using credit card online. Tech talent was scarce, and suppliers did not have enough supply to cater to very high demand. These were just some of the challenges they faced in the early days. Add to that limited funding and they had an uphill battle ahead of them. However, they overcame every challenge becoming the pioneers, the first in the field and are the largest by far. The first movers in the specialized ecommerce space in the region.

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Ÿ Offering her the best products sourced directly from manufacturers, registered distributers and retailers locally and globally they have today become the go to destination for global mother and child brands that want to reach this important consumer and to this end on board on average 300 new brands on our site every month for mothers to seamlessly search, compare and buy. Many of these brands are exclusively found on Mumzworld in the region. Best sellers, award winners, mother must haves; they have it all. Ÿ Comprehensive information is available in Arabic and English for the mother to make informed choices Ÿ Best Everyday Low prices. Our prices are the lowest on Authentic products. If a mother finds cheaper, they offer an immediate Price Match guarantee. Ÿ The largest community of mothers who engage regularly online through our blog and social channels and offline events that they host exclusively for our customers Ÿ Free 24-hour delivery on over 100,000 products and 2-3 days for the rest of the 250,000. Ÿ Easy returns and exchanges delivered direct to a mother's door. Ÿ Unique services catered just for the mother, including subscription program, loyalty, baby registries and more. At the heart of Mumzworld, is its customer obsessed mission and the largest community of mothers that has

been created through an interactive online marketplace, with innovative technology and specialized solutions for this audience. This coupled with comprehensive bilingual factual information about the products, everyday low pricing, fast and Free, delivery to 20 countries in MENA, and best in class customer service, gives moms the most convenient and tailored shopping experience around. Beyond the household name it has become, and the impressive growth it has undergone (15x in 8 years), Mumzworld is the admired vertical ecommerce brand for the regional household, on a path of continuous progression toward long-term sustainability. It has grown to considerable size and weight in the industry supply chain and has become the go to destination for global brands wanting to reach the consumer in the Middle East region. Working with over 4500 retailers, distributers, manufacturers and brands in the region and internationally, Mumzworld has over 250,000 products – the deepest quality selection in the region and onboards 300 new brands monthly. Today Mumzworld is the ﬁrst point of call for all global brands entering the region in the Mother baby and child vertical. As a trusted partner, Mumzworld has been able to provide brands with the support and access in record time to successful entry into GCC. Mumzworld focuses on bringing consumers the latest in global solutions developed Globally by innovators with quick and safe access without impacting brand core brand values and showcasing the brands at their best. This approach of value creation has made Mumzworld the leading platform for key innovate player such as Tommee Tippee, Munchkin, Chicco, Babyzen, Medela, Maxi Cosi, Haakaa, Snuz and many more. Growing a Business in the Middle East Market The competition in the Middle East is good as it ensures that you are always at your best. The team of Mumzworld respects and admires competitors who carve out niche positions and add a unique consumer value. The “copycat” competitors in the market are much smaller than Mumzworld and operate on price and low fundamentals. They are less concerned with these players as they focus on giving the customer the best service in the market. They look forward always at their customer ﬁrst and foremost.

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Middle East Best Brand Award for 2018 by CMO Asia; Forbes Top 10 Arab Women 2017, 2018 and Forbes Top 10 Arab Women Entrepreneurs Making Waves 2018; Arabian Business100 Most Powerful Arabs 2018, and Arabian Business Startup SME Leader of the Year Award 2018.

Mumzworld has doubled its topline revenue every year since they started. Importantly they are growing the business with solid fundamentals and creating true consumer value. They carry the widest range of baby and child products in the region with global brands relying on them as the ﬁrst and often the only point of call to reach this regional consumer.

A Company that Deﬁnes Success

Mumzworld is the ﬁrst and only regional women led ecommerce business, funded by 6 of the top regional institutional investors and international VC. An award winner by excellence, Mumzworld stood out in Forbes 2018 rankings as #1 on the 12 Up and Coming Companies. Beyond this, Mumzworld, has won over 200 regional and international awards since the company's inception, including: The Small Business of The Year Award 2013 and Best Kids Online retailer by Timeout Kids in 2015, 2016 and 2018;

Mumzworld is a very different brand from any other in the market. They are significantly larger across all metrics than any other mother and baby brand in the region. They reach over 2.5million mothers, have the widest catalogue of 250,000 products of which a large percentage is exclusively found on Mumzworld. They source directly from the brands and sell only authentic products. They do not engage in deep discounts after regular price fluctuations which deceive customers. Instead they carry an everyday low-

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price strategy and only discount end of season or overstock items. They offer a price match guarantee as they are very serious about their everyday lowprice strategy. Mumzworld has the largest community of mothers engaging with them daily and host seminars, lectures, a content blog and a host of educational and community events to allow mothers to engage together. They Ship for Free across the region. They are the ONLY fully bilingual mother and child on app, mobile and desktop. They offer services that are first to market such as diaper subscription, baby and gift registry and more. They are mothers for mothers. They are from the region, for the region. They are driven by an obsession to empower a mother and everything Mumzworld does is about offering these unique and relevant services for mothers. They were the pioneers and they look only at what

mothers want and need and will continue to grow a brand with strong unique and relevant intrinsic customer value. These features make Mumzworld diﬀerent from the rest of the market redeﬁning success. The Mastermind Behind the Successful Business As she grew up Mona always dreamed of being involved in projects that were meaningful, that had positive impact on her surroundings. To do things that matter and to continue to learn every day and be surrounded by smart inspirational people. She is driven by constant learning and by turning the needle on ecosystem impact. Everything else is a bi product. She is a mother of 3 boys and a serial entrepreneur. She spent 10 years in the corporate world working with large consumer good giants P&G and J&J in the US and Europe before she returned to the region to start her journey as a serial entrepreneur with a mission to create positive regional impact to a region that is home. Mona equates herself to a conductor of an orchestra. There are beautiful instruments and very talented, skilled people playing these instruments. Her role as the CEO of the company is merely to direct, encourage and ensure they are all playing to the same beautiful tune and that they wow the audience with a tune that is meaningful, unique and lets them gasp with awe when they hear it. What keeps the team of Mumzworld motivated? Well, Mona says, “Customer positive impact and creating a winning gold standard ecommerce global brand that has unique customer value, from the region. We try to hire self-motivated very smart people who are passionate about our vision as we are.”

The Global Growth of Mumzworld The Middle East market is growing and influence the business world globally too. Mumzworld is already dominant leaders in the GCC and expanding to North Africa in 2020. They will continue to expand the brand across the east leveraging best practices that they have learnt in the GCC. The market for baby & children products in the Arab world is underpinned by a young population and some of the highest birth rates in the world. The region is wealthy and tech-savvy, especially in key markets UAE and KSA with these 2 markets ranking amongst the highest in the world in mobile penetration and social media consumption. E-commerce penetration in the GCC is below the other developed regions but is starting to catch up quickly indicating enormous growth potential. Specifically, MENA ecommerce penetration in 2017 was estimated at 2.2% versus 12.8% and 11.2% for As Pacific and North America respectively so the potential for growth to catch up with global averages is tremendous. The market demographics are also ripe for opportunity. There are 65+ Cities, Only 4 cities with a population of more than 1 million, 45% of population outside the cities and 40% with no access to any retail center. This combined with the fact that there is limited retail supply makes ecommerce even more attractive. Mothers are more avid online shoppers than the general population, but they lack options in the GCC before Mumzworld pioneering this space. With important initiatives from KSA to facilitate licenses and activate affordable ecommerce enablers, Mumzworld expect this space in the Kingdom to grow from strength to strength. Following global trends, they expect to see horizontals continue to CIO VIEWS | 59

gather strength and one dominant vertical play per segment. Mumzworld is that vertical leader in the mother, baby and child segment. Mumzworld has established its leadership position in the mother and child ecommerce segment across all the GCC. Saudi Arabia has always been a very important market for them and 18 months ago they aggressively expanded setting up infrastructure and teams on the ground and anchoring their leadership in this segment in KSA. Mumzworld today offers the largest choice of products for the Saudi customer delivered very fast with superior localized offerings. Importantly Mumzworld is the only Arabic App in the region dedicated to mothers. In their customer obsessed commitment, they are ensuring that all their touch points are tailored first and foremost to this Middle Eastern customer who has unique psychographics and demographics. Mumzworld DNA is a brand from the region for the region so the brand is well positioned to understand and deliver to this customer superior service and offerings. Mumzworld has a proven execution model that has established leadership in the diverse GCC countries, and this will be leveraged for further expansion. So, Beyond the GCC Mumzworld will continue its aggressive expansion plans across MENA in 2019. Mumzworld on the ground exclusive institutional partners and stakeholders in the kingdom will also allow the brand to continue to expand its footprint and anchor its leadership.

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SUSAN EMMANUEL Founder & CEO, SE & Co

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A Dynamic & Passionate Female Entrepreneur Leading The Recruitment Industry In East Africa

usiness consulting is the act of internal consulting by analyzing and recommending solutions to human resource-related issues. HR business consultants advise management on the formulation and administration of plans and policies for human resource activities.

state that they are associated with the best notable brands in the market. “Our state-of-the-art mode of work and best human resources database made us enjoy a fair share of business in the industry,” she says.

Susan Emmanuel is the Founder & CEO of SE & Co - a proﬁcient human resource and business consulting ﬁrm established to assist companies in acquiring and developing human capital.

“I believe that the perfect lessons are the lessons learned through challenges because you get to experience unacquainted events, and solving these events becomes very motivating,” Susan says.

Having started from scratch, in less than two years of operation SE & Co has successfully placed hundreds of professionals across industries and functions in more than ten African countries. They are a start-up, but according to Susan, they can proudly

Throughout her professional journey, she has encountered numerous impediments but the most prominent one she states certainly changed her life. Susan got a new job; and she got a promotion to a diﬀerent role before her joining date. It was a completely

Challenges are experiences worth having in your professional journey

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diﬀerent sector that she never worked in before, it was very stressful but she worked day and night to sharpen her skills because she had a team to manage. “I remember enrolling in an evening course after my long working hours in order to catch up. I will forever treasure this challenge because it gave me the business I am running today. It made me believe that if we are pushed out of our comfort zone we can achieve almost everything we set our mind on,” recalls Susan. Achievements as a successful leader and entrepreneur Susan, who describes herself as an achiever or a go-getter, started her career over a decade ago as a business development professional; she had the chance to work with various brands across industries in numerous senior

positions before she became an entrepreneur two years ago. Amongst her signiﬁcant professional recognition, she has also gained the below-mentioned achievements: Ÿ She was selected to present at CEOs Roundtable discussion on Sustainable Investments projects in Africa alongside UN General Assembly, Manhattan, New York in September 2018. Ÿ Established a mentorship program

for girls in Tanzania that is providing training and career grooming for young underprivileged girls, 2021. Ÿ Participated in World Oil and Gas Summit 2018 – Johannesburg, South Africa. Ÿ Organized and lead Tanzania leadership awards (TLA 2016), Hyatt Regency, Dar es salaam Tanzania. Ÿ Participated in International Electoral Symposium – Electoral solutions for African 6 2 | JA N UA RY 2 0 2 6

Governments, Mauritius 2015. Ÿ Successfully organized various ICT summits including East Africa ICT summit 2014 & 2015. Ÿ Miss Tanzania 2009-2010 – Managed various community development projects. Responsibilities before and after becoming CEO of SE & Co At SE & Co, Susan is responsible for securing a long-term stable and predictable business operating

environment, establishing and maintaining a strong business and political network to support business growth activities, managing the key stakeholders, controlling the execution of projects, and keeping internal and external communications in line with management and business objectives. Before SE & Co, Susan worked in the oil and gas industry, ICT industry, and FMCG. Overall she was responsible for identifying, attracting, and acquiring new business to improve the organization's market position and achieve financial growth through leading the sales team, marketing staff, and managers to increase sales opportunities and thereby maximize revenue for the organization. Susan states that she has not yet achieved everything that she has dreamed of, “I am not there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. Success is a process and I am enjoying every step of the way,” she exclaims. Success is achieving a work-life balance Susan believes that success is when you achieve a seamless equilibrium between your professional and social life. Integrating all the essential aspects of your life that as work, family, leisure, health, hobbies, volunteer work, and social networks is very fulfilling, to her, this is the highest form of success. “Home is where our hearts soar and work is where our professional pangs of hunger are fed. One can't work without the other,” she states. Susan is a firm advocate of the worklife balance theory. She claims to always plan her monthly calendar

beforehand to avoid last-minute stress and missing out on signiﬁcant activities. So on her calendar, all her essential activities are prioritized accordingly and the same applies to the team. “We stay motivated through our achievements and incentives. We also maintain a very active social life,” she says. Susan's personal and professional plans for the future “As the company philosophy dictates that we want to be a cutting-edge human resources and business integration ﬁrm that positively impacts people, corporations, and government through empowering our clients with the best and the right innovative services that drive their CIO VIEWS | 63

business and careers forward,” Susan explains. Personally, she aspires to be the most successful female entrepreneur in the country. It is her passion to share her success and life journey with young aspiring female leaders through their mentorship program. To all the aspiring entrepreneurs out there Susan's advice is: It gets hard before it becomes bearable, don't give up on your dreams but make sure that they are big enough to scare you.

SUCCES BUSIN

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