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Leading

Well-being

Leading Global Well-being Diplomacy

PROF.NABHIT KAPUR

MFounder, Peacefulmind Foundation

illennials and Gen Zs make a big part of today's working world. Though anxiety and other mental-health issues are felt by people of all ages, the most aﬀected are the young generations. Moreover, these unresolved feelings can migrate from your daily activities into your workplace and life. Invariably, it becomes more important to address the root causes of stress and ind helpful ways to empower yourselves.

Breaking the stigmas and taboo around mental wellness is a passionate global advocate and crusader of mental health, Prof. Nabhit Kapur. His path-breaking work and relentless endeavors have created waves of transformation in several parts of the world. Nabhit's eﬀorts are focused towards mental health advocacy, well-being diplomacy, international aﬀairs, diplomacy and global peace.

Mr. Kapur is a successful author, TEDx speaker, globally recognized mental health professional and entrepreneur. He is also the founder of Peacfulmind Foundation and World Leaders for Mental Health — his initiatives created with the intention to promote well-being diplomacy. He says, “With time and experience, I did diversify my passion from one corner to another and now to a more macro level where I am actually analyzing policies and terms of global mental health.”

As a Nobel Peace Prize 2022 Nominee, he has been able to stir up conversations around mental health and psychological well-being with over 70 global leaders and policymakers. He also serves as a senior advisor to the governments of Somaliland and Liberia. He fulills these responsibilities in the capacity of an Advisor to the Vice president of the country. Diplomatically, his functions also extend as a high-ranked representative to the International human rights foundation in Spain, a

well-recognized institution with over 800,000 followers globally.

HIS DISTINCTIVE & DYNAMIC JOURNEY

Nabhit's path towards success hasn't been easy. He irst learned about psychology in high school and later received an honors degree in applied psychology from Amity University and a postgraduate in counselling and psychotherapy from IBMS Chittoor.

“With my organization of the World Leaders for Mental Health, I have been able to bring 70 + political leaders and policymakers on the board so that we can brainstorm and discuss about the policy surrounding mental health and psychological wellbeing.”

Along the way, numerous setbacks in his life routed him towards lifelong lessons which enabled him to introduce impactful improvements in many regions of the world. This was charged with his extraordinary vision, tireless determination, and enthusiastic ambitions.

Mr. Kapur was the only independent Indian candidate for United Nations Secretary General elections 2021. Although Nabhit couldn't secure a nomination in the UN elections, he and his team did not lose heart. In fact, they are more committed and driven than ever to

make their next nomination in 2026 a striking reality.

Nabhit is always ready to take on any challenge head on and is grateful for his team including his oficial spokesperson who has never left his side from the beginning, Mr Ashutosh Pattanyak and the new policy adviser, Mr Parth Raman. He adds, “We will be enlarging the team with a few more research associates on the ground who will help us to make our vision a reality.”

He has absolute faith and trust in his team's competence, and this pushes his conidence to grow because of the productive changes that he aims to bring on a larger scale. Hailing from a non-political background, his focus is to curate a vision that will impact all the global stakeholders.

According to him, “mental and psycho-social well-being demands and deserves attention and robust initiatives.” Nabhit has distinguished himself as a compassionate, persistent, tireless and devoted advocate of well-being diplomacy. In fact, he takes up every opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of mental health — at both macro and micro levels— particularly in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

REVOLUTIONIZING MENTAL WELLNESS

As a diplomat, Nabhit takes pride in his ability to be a person of adaptability. Cultural barriers have never been a hindrance to him because he has taught himself to embrace every aspect of every culture — Indian, Western, African,

Middle eastern — gracefully. Moreover, he has committed to sellessly serving the communities, especially the vulnerable ones in the context of making mental health a household name.

During the months of March and May 2020, Nabhit successfully trained nearly 154 Volunteers who were named PMF COVID-19 envoys. The vision was to accelerate their reach through digital platforms by engaging in psychological wellbeing help. Nabhit also created history by being the irst-ever person in New Delhi to initiate this distinctive concept for which he was featured by Forbes India in April 2020.

While the country was battling the second wave of COVID-19, Nabhit did not back down. It was his undeterred leadership that encouraged PMF to curate mindful counseling sessions for more than 1500 people, including the Delhi Police.

Nabhit also initiated the "Free stress management center" on World Mental Health Day in October 2019, a collaboration of PMF and Municipal Corporation of Delhi which speciically catered towards employees' well-being and work life balance.

Yet another heartwarming step that Nabhit took was in 2021, when Afghanistan was in dire straits. He chose not to become a mere spectator and instead took initiatives for their improvement. After coming across the whole scenario, he called the people who were from Afghanistan residing in India and assured them of complete support.

He and his peers made sure to help the victims in every way. As the founder of the Peacfulmind Foundation, he guaranteed psychological aid and special counseling to Afghans along with various helplines to make their lives less chaotic which is indeed an invaluable service to mankind.

EXCEPTIONAL PROPONENT OF MENTAL PEACE

Standing strong and clear on the ideology “with great power comes great responsibility”, Nabhit drives immense inspiration from this. As a diplomat, he prioritizes his time and eﬀort to understand the issues and thereafter work towards a strong redressal mechanism.

Born in the country of fearless leaders who challenged injustice and inequality like Mahatma Gandhi — the light bearer of peace around the globe, and Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru — a dynamic leader who taught the Asian Subcontinent about peace and diplomacy; encouraged Nabhit to ight in the face of adversity and transform several lives.

His diplomatic past propels his futuristic vision around the binding and practice of The United Nations Charter, Universal Declaration of Human Rights, The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, The Hague Conventions, and all possible codes and regulations.

Additionally, his experience as a diplomat also enabled him to coin a new terminology called well-being diplomacy. This is a relatively new development in the diplomatic arena as this is his sincere attempt to innovate the traditional essence of diplomacy.

“Mental and psycho-social well-being demands and deserves attention and robust initiatives.”

This is especially important because of the consequences of a global pandemic. Consequently, this will only promote building coalitions to unify their voices for peace and eventually, a prosperous and sustainable future.

As a relentless change-maker in uncovering the stigmas attached to mental illness and well-being, Nabhit hosts prominent global policy makers and encourages discussions around its resolutions and impact. Rooted by his nature to serve, he has provided several initiatives with his invaluable assistance in areas such as collaborations, humanitarian assistance, education, and peacebuilding.

EMPOWERING THE FUTURE OF DIPLOMACY

Nabhit has an endless list of notable recognitions to his name, including the Ghana Peace Award awarded by the Ministry of Interior. During his time in Nigeria, he was presented the

African Peace Laureate by the African Union and African Child foundation in 2018. Moving ahead in the same year, Sri Lanka's Centre of Peace studies also honored him with the Peace Ambassador.

Later in 2019, Nabhit added another feather to his hat by garnering the Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Award by the Tamil Nadu government, India. Thereafter, he received another honorary as the Leader in Mental Health Advocacy by Rashid Center for determined ones, UAE in 2019.

Further, in 2020, he was commissioned as Colonel Highest civilian honor by Government/Governor of Kentucky State, USA. In 2021, he was recognized by the international association of world peace advocates UN ECOSOC as the Peace ambassador and a peace fellow. Impressively, he is also nominated for the 'Nobel Peace Prize 2022'.

Nabhit's achievements and accolades are a courageous reminder of his ambition and persistence as a leader, and he aims to contest for the UN elections in 2026, again.

Additionally, his appointment as Honorary Consul of Republic Ivory Coast ( côte d'ivoire) for Chandigarh, India to facilitate more fruitful relations between 2 nations is underway. He says, “My vision has always been the well-being of one another at both micro level and macro level.”

Advocating Supportive Leadership

Trent Richards CEO,

Metrix Coin

Great leaders start with a clear vision and then ind a way to inspire and motivate their people to turn that vision into reality. This requires an understanding of what your team needs in order to work at their best, the ability to communicate with others clearly and eﬀectively, and the intelligence

to aim high, remain lexible, and create the right processes for your business.

Trent Richards, CEO of Metrix Coin Ltd, also strives to live by the same philosophy and enjoys inding the best people for the job at hand and acting as the most robust support for them to achieve growth. He believes that by simply deining the end zone for each project

undertaken, collective success can be achieved alongside establishing a trusted leadership role that ensures that the end goal does not get out of reach.

Trent has worn several professional hats in his professional journey, spread across a number of verticals that ultimately led him to currently leading a digital currency company. Exeleon exhibits the same through this exclusive feature.

THE WILL TO BE A LEADER

Trent can distinctly remember one school morning where he saw a man pushing a cart and dropping oﬀ a local newspaper to each household. His curious mind started to wonder how long it would take for the man to deliver the newspapers and back to the reill stack to pick up the new ones. He arrived at the most common deduction that it would take long for the man to walk to the reill stack, deliver again, and then return to his delivery run. Soon, he started

seeing the same man regularly on the way to school and back home delivering the papers.

That observation ignited a spark in Trent's mind to do the same job, but only had the papers delivered to his home. Perceiving the situation, he then recruited ive of his friends to provide 20% of the total supply with the same push bikes on the way to school. He recalls, “We met at my house at 7.30 am, and each added their stack to their custom bikes, and all arrived at school before 8.45 am with the entire delivery round completed. They each received 10% of the total

payment for the delivery round.” These short rounds of clever work generated a lot of good, early income for Trent.

As a few years went by, Trent understood that he did not like the school and only wanted to participate in it as required by the law. He was more inclined towards doing business. “I could see that school taught people how to get a job and how to work for 40 years and survive their retirement years inancially if they were lucky. I wanted to learn from business leaders who created the jobs, not working the jobs,” elaborates Trent.

Hence, when Trent was 17 years old, he started his business in the holiday industry, illing up empty hotel rooms with people for a discounted holiday. And before he could understand any better, the business transitioned into a fullledged marketing company as he surveyed his customers whilst they relaxed on holiday.

Subsequently, he only saw continuous growth in his entrepreneurial adventures, following his stint with the holiday industry. Trent turned to real estate, wherein he established a company selling investment property, followed by setting a Mortgage Broking Business, Financial Planning Business, Accountancy, Insurance Agency, Property Development, Land Acquisition Company, and Call Centers. The names on the list kept growing with a few 'fun' companies, including Nite Club, V8 Supercar Racing Team, Helicopter Aviation, and much more.

While this was all going well, years later, one of Trent's investments started to fall apart. The situation and Trent's will of seeing this investment through led him to become the CEO of Metrix Coin.

LEADING A DIGITAL CURRENCY FIRM

Over the few years of Metrix Coin's operations, the team at the business started to fall apart, aﬀecting the overall sustainability of the project. For Trent, the situation demanded either of two things; join the team as a volunteer to turn it around or let the investment go in vain.

To Trent, the irst option seemed a better choice. “I decided to reach

out to the team, who I knew very well over the years with many deals done between us. I came on board initially as a Business Development Manager and very soon after took the reins as the CEO,” details Trent. “I believe that since I have been the CEO, we have seen a signiicant turnaround in the project. We have

now listed on multiple Centralized Exchanges as well as created a wrapped version of MRX allowing us to list on many Decentralized Exchanges as well.”

For Trent and Mendix Coin to grow much, he has had to learn a lot about this continuously expanding

A Bright Future

Trent has had a remarkable journey of the last two years, committing thousands of hours to his business, to his project. He is immensely proud of the current working team environment observing the enormous amounts of greatness the irm has achieved so far.

And for the future, Trent wants to grow the ecosystem of the irm, including Wage Street Gaming, MetriVerse NFT platform, Metrix Name Service, Metrix Alarm Clock, Web3 Development, and the in-progress Metrix Dollar DAO DeFi platform, to grow, even more, it has in the past couple of years.

All in all, Trent has lined up quite some things for the company and perceives the future to be bright.

and evolving space. While his earlier entrepreneurship ventures had 600+ staﬀ members employed in over ive countries, his present team comprises community members around the globe. None of these people are paid for what they do. For Trent, this factor alone changes all the existing corporate ways of thinking and working. “The learning is simply ongoing!”

Trent also has quite a diﬀerent style for leading the company from the front. He says, “Most CEOs meet on a monthly or quarterly timeline to plan the future Road Map and monitor their team's performance. I am personally the exact opposite to this and do not believe in simply sitting on a board to make conversation.” Hence, he proactively extends his skills to take on other

projects as well. His interest extends to cash low management, business development, team development, inter-project communications, partnerships, and much more.

Extending on the operational front, Trent believes that the real-life cases of his projects separate one from the other. And in the digital currency world, partnerships play an essential role in the space, which at the moment has worked splendidly for his business. For instance, the collaboration with Coins Paid allowed the irm to accept MRX, BTC, and ETH from external sources. The irm also removed the Paypal integration to strengthen the case for cryptocurrency further.

A GUIDE TO TRAVERSING THE DIGITAL CURRENCY LANDSCAPE

Being in the industry for over two years, Trent warns aspiring and emerging business leaders to stay vigilant against scammers. The current space occupies a chunk of people trying to scam other people. And businesses in this realm spend a lot of energy and resources on these scammers across all the platforms. The newcomers must be wary of such nuisances while conducting business operations in the space.

INTERVIEW WITH NORA & ELIZABETH SHEILS

Co-founders | Rock Paper Coin

We were out to drinks commiserating with each Q.

What according to you makes for an inspiring leader? How do you integrate the same thought into your leadership?

Successful leaders can have many diﬀerent qualities but one that always stands out is empathy. At the end of the day, a leader is only going to be successful by inspiring and supporting the team they are leading. Serving those who work for you irst is a very important attribute for eﬀective leadership.

We absolutely love a quote from Jim Collins from his book, Good to Great: “Look, I don't really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people oﬀ the bus, then we'll igure out how to take it someplace great.”

This really sticks with us. As a startup, there will always be new ideas and directions for where to take the company. By having a team that works well together, respects each other and believes in the core of the product, we will work to igure it out together and drive the direction of the company as a team.

Q. Q.

What was the idea behind the formation of Rock Paper Coin? What does the name of the company imply?

other about constantly chasing down contracts, printing contracts, writing checks and—not kidding—even faxing paperwork. We wanted to save the other Bridal Bliss planners time, so we set out looking for a platform that would work not only as a CRM but allow collaboration between three parties. After two years of trying out various event software to no avail, we concluded that nothing of the sort existed — so we decided to build it.

We struggled on the name for months and couldn't settle on the right one. We loved many names, but wanted it to be catchy, have a memorable nickname and represent what we were building. Nora and I were playing rock paper scissors to narrow down our list of names and that is when it hit us: Rock, Paper, Coin . We also liked that the rock could represent an engagement ring, paper for contract and coin for invoicing / money. But the name itself was generic enough that we could grow to serve clients outside of the wedding industry at a later point.

What is the approach taken by the company in ensuring optimal client satisfaction? What makes Rock Paper Coin stand out from the crowd?

The customer experience is of utmost importance to our team. From an initial touchpoint throughout the lifecycle of our users, we are there to support, listen and assist. As we are fairly new having just launched at the end of 2019, our goal is to make RPC a useful tool for the entire industry. So, while we do have a

future roadmap of new features, we are also taking user feedback into account and using that as a guide as well. Not to mention, that is one of the user perks of getting in on software early! Our account managers check in regularly with users, are very approachable and have even forged friendships with many of their accounts. Unlike some of our competitors, we are not here to turn and burn. We value our relationship with our users and continue our support throughout their time with us.

Looking back, what would you have done diﬀerently when starting the company?

One of our biggest mistakes early on was complicating the sign up process. In an eﬀort to get all of the necessary information from vendors upfront, we ended up driving away some potential users with our excessive questions. We quickly revamped our sign up page and reduced the friction by about 70 percent, so new users could quickly login and poke around the site. It is not until they want to take more action that additional information is needed. At that point, they are committed and answering a few more questions (so they can get paid) doesn't feel like such a hindrance.

How's the work culture like at Rock Paper Coin? How does the company ensure employee growth and satisfaction?

We are a female-led team and many of our employees have been with us since the inception of Rock Paper Coin. This is their baby as much as it is ours! That being said, we have a variety of diﬀerent personalities between our development, sales and customer management teams. While COVID has certainly thrown a wrench into things and made having a positive company culture more dificult than ever, we diligently work on team camaraderie.

From Zoom games (Drawerful, Jindo, etc.), to surprise deliveries (Cookies, Pizza Night, Sugarwish, Cocktail Courier) to diﬀerent team building activities, we love getting creative and inding new ways to engage our team outside of work-related tasks. A group that works well together and appreciates each other is very important to us. We have regular check-in's with each team member to

ensure they feel supported and have the tools they need to succeed. We also want to make sure they are having a positive experience and, if not, come up with a solution to ix it.

What was the impact of COVID-19 on the company? What measures did the company take in tackling the same?

Our platform launched at the tail end of 2019, mere months before the entire country went in lockdown from COVID. The event industry was literally halted and, still, many states have yet to resume events for more than a handful of people. So, while our transactional numbers are much lower than we expected at this point, our new user sign ups are through the roof. Many professionals had the downtime during what would have been their busy wedding season to take a step back and audit their company and their systems. It was clear that if a wedding pro had not embraced technology into their company yet, they were losing business. Especially now, in our touchless world! Clients need easy access to their clients, a quick way to pay their invoices, and streamlined communication.

In an eﬀort to help wedding professionals during this stressful time, we halted all subscription fees. As many vendors weren't transacting, and likely just sending addendums or cancellation contracts, we wanted to make their lives easier with a platform to simplify and exclude the fees which may cause more stress.

What has been the biggest roadblock during your journey? What has been your biggest learning? (Both Answer)

NORA: My biggest roadblock has easily been being a non-technical co-founder. I know the wedding industry like the back of my hand. I've lived and breathed it since 2002! I know how couples think, I know how to manage a team, I know how to sell and I know how to execute in stressful situations. However, I don't know how to code and I don't know the irst thing about being a software developer! There was quite a bit of blind trust in our original development irm and many late nights looking up unknown development terminology to have a better Q.

understanding! It has been a wonderful, and humbling experience.

ELIZABETH: Looking back and at where we are today, the biggest roadblock (which also became the biggest learning experience) was around fundraising. If you are entering into technology, it is so important to fundraise money well before you think you will need it. Fundraising was one of the most stressful pieces for us, as we waited longer than we should have. We were two newbies in a big world and an unfamiliar industry with no clue where to begin. We spoke with countless advisors who oﬀered great advice on who to talk to and where to go, but never about when to start. If we could do this all over again, we would have saved ourselves quite a bit of midnight oil if we had just started the process earlier.

Fundraising is an incredibly dificult and humbling journey. You have to talk to dozens, if not hundreds of people before you ind one who aligns with your company goals and sees the potential. It is very easy to get discouraged and forget the mission of the company. But this is part of the journey. The hardwork and perseverance in fundraising really does pay oﬀ - but start early and don't run out of money.

What would be both of your advice for aspiring women leaders and entrepreneurs?

NORA: Don't let tech or your dreams scare you! Elizabeth and I entered a male-dominated industry with little to no experience, but we had grit, perseverance, hustle and a little swagger. We had determination and, when someone said “no,” we said “but ohhhhh, yes.” Don't be intimidated by something you don't understand. We never stop learning, so continue to educate yourself and spend time networking. It's true what they say: it's not what you know, it's who you know . Early on (and even now), we spent so much time talking with anyone that would give us the time of day. I was so in awe of how many people took the time to help educate us, give us advice or simply just learn about our platform, and I hope to pay that forward one day. Lastly, surround yourself with a team that shares your vision. I cannot stress how amazing it is

to work with a co-founder. Lean on each other — when one is down, the other is likely up and so the story goes. You bring in diﬀerent areas of expertise, which leads to a more well-rounded senior team!

ELIZABETH: Find yourself a business partner. The entrepreneur journey and road is very bumpy and, frankly, it can be lonely. This goes for all entrepreneurs, but especially women in technology. You are often working long, hard days and nights. Having a partner or co-founder makes this so much easier. You are both burning the midnight oil and chasing the dream. I am not sure we would be where we are today if we did not have each other. Being able to share and divide responsibilities, commiserate, celebrate and grow is much easier with someone than going at it alone. In a male-dominated industry, it is hard to see yourself in many of the tech leaders in the world right now, so with a business partner, you are helping by clearing the way for each other. Whether you know it or not, you will gain inspiration from each other, which is what will keep you going when things get tough.

Q.

Moving forward, what does the future look like for Rock Paper Coin? What other avenues or areas does the company hope to explore in the coming future?

We are excited about our future and what lies ahead. For the foreseeable future, we are dedicated to helping bring technology to the wedding industry. We have new features being released every two weeks and, hopefully within the next year, it will be more of a one-stop shop for small to medium-sized businesses. By allowing these businesses to come under one platform for their business needs, Rock Paper Coin takes the burden oﬀ working with the suppliers to save them time and money.

Finally, what do you think is the most important trait for a leader and why?

We addressed this in question one, but it's worth rehashing — empathy is truly going to be key and go a long way for any leader. Being able to relate and understand others is essential in life and business.

TY Crandall

BUILDING ENTERPRISES BY SIMPLIFYING BUSINESS CREDIT

Inspiring leaders don't just “manage” their teams. By recognizing the strengths of individual team members, a true leader empowers them to use their abilities in professional as well as personal lives.

Eﬀective leaders also detect and help overcome weaknesses in their employees. By providing access to necessary tools, resources, and expertise of experienced team members, they enable promising employees to compensate for their weaknesses and convert them into strengths.

Most importantly, a clairvoyant leader promotes education and learning opportunities, always encouraging teams to collect and utilize the latest domain knowledge available. As a result, they always stay one step ahead in their industry, promoting and rewarding outstanding accomplishments. How does a leader ensure all this? The best way to facilitate success is to be the change that one wants to see.

Ty Crandall, the Founder and CEO of Credit Suite, attests to this fact. A role model to his company members,

he uses his own personal experience to help his team members overcome hurdles and grow.

Ty's deining trait is his focus on empowering his team and making its members self-suficient. Under him, Credit Suite team members come up with their own unique solutions to the problems they face. Ty stands on the twin pillars of innovation and adaptability: he asks his employees to try new things, be open to failure, learn from mistakes, apply their learning to new ideas, and take calculated risks that are necessary for professional growth. He claims, “I was brought up to not get frustrated with a problem unless you have found a solution.”

FAILURE IS ANOTHER TERM FOR EDUCATION

Every leader has faced setbacks. Ty is one of the few who has turned failures into epiphanies, and epiphanies into tireless, intelligent work.

When his mortgage company was decimated along with the whole industry in the 2008 economic crisis, Ty lost almost everything in his

business and was pushed to the brink of personal bankruptcy. It took an adverse emotional toll on him. But as he saw many others struggle simultaneously, he realized that the potential to turn things around was not outside but inside him. Struck by this epiphany, Ty started helping people ix the damage that the economic crash had inlicted on their consumer credit. As his new company grew, so did the number of clients who sought help with their business credit.

Coming to their aid, Ty started collecting knowledge on business credit building, learning everything he could. Even though there was a paucity of information, what he did ind on the subject was astonishingwith business credit, business owners could separate their liability and be exempted from personal liability for business debts.

Ty knew at once that this knowledge would save others from falling into the same predicament as he had during the mortgage crisis. In turn, he set out to become an expert on business credit and started teaching others what he had learned using platforms like YouTube.

Before long, he had gained a massive following of entrepreneurs who wanted business credit. To help them in their endeavors, Ty formed Credit Suite.

CREDIT SUITE: EDUCATOR, TRAINER, AND GUIDE

Ty is crystal clear about his company's mission: “At Credit Suite, we consider ourselves an education company.” He is proud to supervise one of the leading providers of business training, focusing on how businesses can gain capital.

Credit Suite stands out from its competition by ensuring three unique things: companies improve their fundability to become more lendable, get business credit for their EIN that's not linked to their SSN, and access all legitimate funding options in one place via 1,000+ funding sources.

Ty understands that customer satisfaction is the lifeblood sustaining his business. Therefore, Credit Suite constantly solicits clients for feedback and asks what supplementary support they might need. Accordingly, it improves its services at a consistent pace.

A ROLLERCOASTER RIDE

Looking back at his entrepreneurial journey, Ty states that it has been a topsy-turvy “rollercoaster ride.” He has seen his share of lows and has reached the heights of success. What keeps him going? He doesn't just do his job, he follows his passion.

In the initial years of Credit Suite, Ty used to work “16+ hours per day, 7 days per week.” But to him, it was like “having fun and playing all day!” Along the way, Credit Suite has faced

uphill battles and adverse challenges. Although Ty's team members have been pushed to their limits, now they thank him for those experiences: working through sleepless nights has turned all of them into excellent, spirited professionals.

On a personal level, experience has strengthened Ty's conviction that he can learn his way out of any situation. Today, he imparts his knowledge to his new team members, helping them grow personally and professionally. He also learns from them, always encouraging them to voice their opinions on company operations. In his thrilling entrepreneurial journey, he has learnt to be humble and take useful advice, no matter where it comes from.

A CULTURE OF PREPARATION

Lasting leaders are those who strive never to make the same mistake twice. The failure of Ty's mortgage taught him a lot about recessions and industry killers. Since then, he has been preparing Credit Suite for any unforeseen economic downturns.

First and foremost, Ty created and stored a recession version of every PowerPoint training Credit Suite has produced. Thus, Credit Suite already had an entire vault of content it could easily deploy during a recession. Ty's precautionary preparation was aptly vindicated during the COVID-19 pandemic; instead of reeling under

economic pressure, using these PowerPoints Credit Suite immediately started training business owners on how to accumulate capital in a changing economy.

Combining the PowerPoint guides with exponential increases in live streaming and measured cost cutting, Ty has ensured Credit Suite's success even during an economic shutdown: “we increased our proit margins and sales, because we were able to reach out to many more people with our new customized training.”

Learning from each mistake in his career, Ty has converted them into the scaﬀolding on which rests his present success. What he values most today is a culture of

preparation and improvement. He claims that if a company consists of people who are equally passionate about the values its leader espouses, there is no limit to what it can accomplish!

SIMPLIFYING BUSINESS CREDIT

Going forward, Ty aims to empower entrepreneurs who devote themselves to innovation and excellence. He strongly believes that business leaders who bring unique ideas and great work ethic deserve adequate funding and banking credit support.

Through Credit Suite, business owners can better understand their fundability and the requisites regarding credit approval. Ty asserts, “we are dedicated to simplifying the

way in which business owners build their business credit, and we are focused on inding funding programs/lending sources which can help entrepreneurs gain capital, even when they don't qualify for conventional inancing.”

For aspiring entrepreneurs, Ty has some sage advice: “you should expect everything to take twice as long as you estimate and cost twice as much money.” If one is prepared for the worst-case scenario, life will bring pleasant surprises instead of disappointments. Furthermore, Ty underlines the need to maintain access to money before one actually needs it, “because that's when lenders are more likely to lend. By being inancially prepared, you can take advantage of more opportunities.”

CEO Credit Suite

& A Q

More often than not we align leadership with terms like power, control, and authority. However, the deinition and the resulting perception of the world leader has gone through a radical change over the years.

A Ivan Gowan Q&A

True leaders understand that their success is intimately tied to the work of the collective; of the entire team. One example of such a leader is Ivan Gowan, who makes sure to lead a team that understands and echoes his vision, mission, and strategy. In an exclusive interview with Exeleon Magazine, we ind out about the journey and the beliefs of this innovative leader.

What makes for an eﬀective leader? How do you integrate the same in your leadership?

It is very important to set out a

mission, vision and strategy in clear language that the people you are leading understand. This should be linked to the initiatives you are driving and show progress towards your mission. It is very important to spend time ensuring your team understand their role in helping achieve the company's goals and the steps they need to take to deliver. It is also very important to take on board feedback from your team and adapt to ind eﬀective solutions.

What has been your role as a leader since being appointed as the CEO of Capital.com.?

My role has been very varied, from deining strategy and communicating it internally and with external media, work closely with our product team on their roadmap and investments in product, work with our legal

and compliance teams to successfully obtain new licenses including our FCA license here in the UK and help drive our international expansion, establish banking and PSP relationships, working with our growth team to create and promote campaign messages, marketing payback and helping the team focus on areas of greatest growth.

How is technology changing the Fintech industry?

AI is changing the role of lots of people in diﬀerent industries. At Capital.com we have built a highly scalable, real time trade analysis platform we call eQ that helps our clients to understand weaknesses in their trading strategies and provide context sensitive personalized education. It is extremely innovative and uses behavioral inance research

to identify clients trading biases and help them to become better traders through education – raising awareness of patterns of behavior they may not be aware of. We see that clients who read our eQ messages trade 10% better than those who do not.

What has the journey been like for Ivan Gowan as a leader?

I was part of a great team in my previous role and lead the development of IG's IT systems during a period where we expanded very aggressively internationally and when trading was moving away from traditional desktop applications to browser and mobile phone based.

stimulation and growth in my career. I have been very fortunate to work with cutting edge technology and growth minded innovative people throughout my career. My irst two roles in technology consulting irms gave me a great early exposure to a range of businesses and the ways that technology could be used to drive growth and new business models. This coupled with highly technical degrees positioned me well for the enormous change that the internet brought about.

What has been the biggest driving factor for you as a leader and entrepreneur?

A desire to build great products and

much scope for disruption and blockchain will be a big disruptor throughout the 2020's.

Capital.com claims to make the inance landscape accessible, engaging, and useful. How does it ensure the same?

We focus on ensuring our services are easy to understand and provide a lot of education. With so much inancial data available we put enormous eﬀort into ease of use and accessibility for a wide audience. We believe people are not born as traders, but you can learn to become one. With an award winning platform widely recognized for great design and UX this forms a key part of our strategy.

“A desire to build great products and services has always driven me.”

At Capital.com, we have built award winning platforms on a very modern technology stack that is very cost-eﬀective and scalable. My experience in capital markets providing leading trading services to high value clients has helped make the transition a lot easier, along with being able to leverage my extensive network in the industry.

Looking back, what would you have done diﬀerent when starting out?

I have always focused on interesting work as a primary source of

services has always driven me. To engage with clients, understand their needs and desires, and deliver products and services they love.

What would be your advice for some of the aspiring leaders in the Fintech industry?

Find a niche that is growing and surround yourself with great people. Make sure you are addressing a real client need and move fast. It is extremely important to remain nimble and respond to changes in the market and your clients – whether you are in the B2B or B2C space. There is still so

How does Capital.com facilitate leadership and innovation among its employees?

We have a highly skilled team of people focused on UX and design who help digest feedback and pain points from clients and create hypothesis and solutions to ind innovative ways to solve their problems. They work closely with our other departments to continue to challenge the status quo and come up with great solutions. This can be challenging in a heavily regulated industry and takes a lot of time and attention to do detail.

What has been the biggest roadblock during your journey? What has been your biggest learning?

There have been lots of scale up challenges. Hiring great people is extremely important and dificult to get right all the time. Obtaining our FCA license, banking and PSP relationships was a big challenge that we achieved in October 2018. Delivering a lot of things for the irst time in a new and growing company is much harder than it sounds sometimes.

How do you plan to take Capital.com forward? On a personal front, where do you see

yourself standing in the coming years?

We are pursuing growth and continued investment in Capital.com. The UK market remains our largest market. We will continue to invest in our platform to meet the needs of our clients with a broader product range (we already oﬀer 2500+ markets to trade) and enhanced features.

Having experienced personal loss I live life day to day, appreciative for what I have. I work hard, always learning and try to inspire those around me. Who knows where I will be in 5 years' time.

Finally, what do you think is the most important trait for a leader and why?

In today's age with rate of change only increasing it is crucial to keep learning and looking for emerging trends and directions. Technology is cannibalizing a lot of industries and jobs. We need to be aware of these changes and help our people adapt and grow with so much change around them. This can be very stressful for people and we need to play a part in helping them become excited about the future.

ABOUT THE LEADER

Ivan Gowan is the CEO of Capital.com, a Fintech company which is on a mission to make the world of ﬁnance more accessible, useful, and engaging. Ivan is also the Cofounder and CEO of Currency.com.

The innovative leader began his journey as a software developer and has been always intrigued by the latest technological advancements and innovations. With his strategic understanding and technological expertise, Ivan has spearheaded Capital.com towards becoming an awardwinning platform.

ERNA GRASZ

Read how Erna Grasz found victory from ﬁnding opportunities in problems and brought-forward a change in Africa and beyond.

Asante Africa Foundation educates, enables, and empowers youth to recognize their talents and skills while developing their conﬁdence to go and do great things. We cultivate life-long learners and critical thinkers who are willing to put their creativity to the really tough problems faced by their families and communities.”

Erna Grasz: Opening Doors to Opportunities

Sometimes, the right knock on the door at the right time matters the most. There is no dearth of talent and brilliance, but one frequently lacks the opportunity. Without a proper chance, fading away into oblivion is all too common. A dedicated leader like Erna Grasz, the Co-founder and CEO of Asante Africa Foundation, came to know about this the hard way, through her experience.

Erna has made this knowledge her stepping stone. This inspired her to ﬁnd a platform that would celebrate talent. Erna chose education as her means to do so, one which is known for its ability to usher in equality. Her persistent nature empowered her to create Asante Africa Foundation with two other great human beings, Emmy from Tanzania and Hellen from Kenya. Since her graduating days in electrical engineering, she has

known what it takes to thrive and she incorporated that resiliency in taking this organization forward.

Adapt. Adopt. Achieve.

Erna and her colleagues started their journey with the intent to reduce poverty. The idea was noble and grand, and they found out that education is the way that could serve the purpose. For that, they had to chalk out plans based on their experiences.

They believed that young people are the greatest untapped resource in the world and everyone has a role to play in opening doors, connecting dots, and creating new opportunities. The process they followed then is still valid and evident in their other projects.

The ﬁrst step is “to clear the fog.” Erna believes this has a huge impact on teams and individuals. This is to allow them to gear up with the information and then develop options to make a move simpler and eﬀective.

Erna believes in adaptability to cope up with diverse struggles. She also favors authenticity as that helps her in forming bonds with her colleagues and strive for a common goal.

When it comes to demographic challenges, she is open to adopting local ways of working. In their early days, she was nudged into adopting this style by her friend Emmy. Now, Erna looks at it as 'the inside-out solution.'

She personally experienced and knew that, “If the solutions are not coming from within the community, the skills are not being developed and it will not survive long term.”

The success she has achieved so far is the outcome of “perceiving challenges as opportunities and empowering others to join the journey.”

From a Struggler to an InspirerAnne Muli

After working for many years in diverse ﬁelds with people hailing from diﬀerent ethnic origins, Erna chose a

“The world you’re exposed to today, is giving you tools to tackle the challenges of tomorrow.

little girl from Kenya, Anne Muli, as her inspiration. The ﬁrst time Erna met Anne, she was in the 8th grade and was selling roasted corn with her father in a rural town of Kenya.

Erna admired Anne's determination to study. She was not just selling corn to earn a livelihood but for her school fees as well. She knew in her heart that Anne deserved better. She deserved an opportunity to be on the same pedestal with others of her age belonging to the aﬄuent class.

Anne was provided a scholarship through Asante Africa Foundation. Today, Anne has graduated from University. She helped her father in building a home and sponsored the studies of her younger sisters. And she did not stop there. She is now an inspiration for many young girls and teaches them how to become an entrepreneur to earn their own livelihoods.

It was “her belief in herself, and her ability to remain humble while lifting those around her” that moved Erna beyond words.

What Helmed the Helmsman?

In Erna's words, “change” has been the only constant for her. Since the early phase of her career, this intent to change has driven her ahead. And, she has not given up on any chance to improve broken or ineﬀective systems and to create something that has not been achieved before. This she branded as the 'new normal.'

In many ways, her eﬀorts helped in setting up new perspectives. She nurtured them out of chaotic

conditions. This gave her the name “organizer of chaos.”

This intent to change things led her to found Asante Africa Foundation, where she saw herself as an accelerant who will pave ways for change in the lives of talented and potentially forgotten children. She plays a dual role as a risk-taker and a risk-mitigator. As the former, she knows the only way forward is little steps that will help in proﬁting incrementally. As the latter, her job is to keep her team focused on the real purpose of educating children, strengthening youth resilience, building life skills and cultivating the next generation of changemakers today.

Why Asante? What is the Asante Africa Foundation?

Erna always believed in the untapped opportunities of the African continent. She and her co-founders felt that it is time to honor the goodness of the African continent for all the brilliance, talent, and resources it provided. Their gratitude is reﬂected in the name of their foundation 'Asante,' which in Swahili means 'with great gratitude'.

600,000 Lives Impacted

“Asante Africa Foundation educates, enables, and empowers youth to recognize their talents and skills and to help develop their conﬁdence so that they can go and do great things. We cultivate life-long learners and critical thinkers who are willing to put their creativity to the really tough problems faced by their families and communities.”

It was their way of saying, “Thank You, Africa.”

The primary goal of the Asante Africa Foundation is to create a structure that “educates, enables, and empowers youth to recognize their talents and skills and to help develop their confidence so that they can go and do great things.” Erna and her colleagues believe in cultivating “lifelong learners and critical thinkers” who are ready to put their creativity to find effective solutions for crises their families and communities face on a regular basis.

The outlook Erna and her colleagues share is pretty practical. They know the reality on the ground and they have chalked out plans for their learners. That is why Asante Africa Foundation's graduates are trained and prepared to adapt to emerging opportunities, resource constraints, and technology advances.

It has opened leadership opportunities during the trying time of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. Local teens are taking up charges to present facts and real information via radio programs, designing aﬀordable face masks, and distributing hand washing soap. Their constant vigilance is also making sure the orphans and elders are getting food for the week.

In Erna's words, “We have built a skilled, geographically-

distributed organization while planting 600,000 seeds along the way.” She hopes that they will emerge as “young changemakers in East Africa.”

Charged by the Unknown

In Erna's opinion, it is the unknown that provides her the energy. Hurdles are not new since she started as a 'misfit' in a male-dominated electrical engineering field. But now she believes in creating an ambience that allows 'misfits' to thrive together. Her words impact and reverberate when she says, “If I can't fit the traditional mold, I will have to shape my own mold.”

The 'pay-it-forward' model is gaining acceptance globally and it is creating educated, empowered youth to tackle the challenge of developing the most precious resource on earth, the human resource.

With the Asante Africa Foundation, she is making an impact. The coming decade will see Asante Africa Foundation youth “cultivating their own impact, utilizing their skills, and expanding their knowledge.”

Erna’s vision: “Educating Children/Transforming Worlds” is working.