Women Are Not Just Influencing The Market – They Are The Market
Arif Anis
Author, speaker and C-Suite consultant, Arif Anis is an international human capital expert who has the privilege of coaching top corporate leaders, heads of states, movie stars and CEOs from Fortune 500 along with a few of the most powerful men and women from 'The Time's and Forbes' list of Most Influential People in The World. Arif has extensive linkages with global leaders, multilateral organisations, institutions of higher learning in the fields of policy-making and opinion formation, peace building, lobbying and impact generation. As director of a UK based think-tank, he contributed to global peace initiatives including peace building between India and Pakistan and participated towards building the Olympic Truce legacy in follow up of London Olympics 2012.
What is your mission and the projects you are running to achieve them?
My mission is living with purpose and while enabling and empowering the people around me to be the best one can be! One’s mission is not always easy to find or pursue. When you find something, anything you’re passionate about, and you make it your life’s mission, you will find great joy and rewards in the work you do. Otherwise, it is not living but merely surviving.
Why and how did you find your passion for empowering women in business?
I consider myself lucky for having opportunities to meet a few of the strongest women in leading roles. Be it Hillary Clinton, Malal Yousaf Zai, Angelina Jolie, Prime Minister Theresa May, or Naomi Campbell – I coudl always see a trajectory when a woman makes it big.
I am of Pakistani origin and I met some incredible women along the way there. Pakistan, in reality, is an amazing place beyond the stereotpical media portrayal. It is a land of strong, independent women who have made a difference for themselves and their families. My mother is a very strong woman and she hugely impacted the family. My wife, who is a professional consultant on a break, is making a huge difference inher own way.
Contrary to males, what I have observed, is that one successful female can turn around the whole family. Entrepreneurialism does bring freedom, choice, independence, and the power to pursue one’s dreams. For that matter, I want to see more females in business and to succeed. I am particularly impressed with women’s focus as they are not distracted like men. There are so many amazing success strories around us where one focused and determined woman
How do you think that we can get the best out of women in business?
The entrepreneur’s life is celebrated for the grit and fortitude required to navigate it successfully, yet the lifestyle seems a more common choice as people increasingly freelance, run their own businesses, or work as consultants today.Women entrepreneurs see the world through a different lens and, in turn, do things differently. This is reflected in the kinds of businesses they start, whether it’s Coco Chanel, who learned the trade of a seamstress as a child, Estée Lauder, who turned a passion for skincare and make-up into a beauty empire, or Oprah Winfrey, whose media business focuses on helping women to reach their potential.
According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, there are 126million women operating new businesses and another 98million at the helm of established ones. Yet we face a huge equality gap. In only seven countries – Panama, Thailand, Ghana, Ecuador, Nigeria, Mexico and Uganda, do women take part in business at rates equal to men’s; in some countries, they barely take part at all. Even when women are active business owners, they do not reach their potential: Women own almost three in ten American firms, yet employ only 6% of the country’s workforce and account for barely 4% of business revenues.
To get the best out of women, first comes access to capital. When it comes to finance, women face particular hurdles, from a lack of collateral to discriminatory regulations and ingrained gender bias. Small loans can make a big difference.Secondly, nascent businesses need support to flourish. Mentoring could make a huge difference and most women don’t have that support, which helps explain why around the world they see fewer opportunities for entrepreneurship than men.
Thirdly, women need entrepreneurial education. Winning business concepts are just as likely to be conceived at the kitchen table as in the garage or at business school, but research shows women doubt their capabilities and fear failure more than men. Training can equip women with the confidence to see bold ideas through. Goldman Sachs’s 10,000 Women programme, for example, provides women with business and management education. Eight out of ten of the programme’s graduates have boosted revenues; nine out of ten have paid it forward by mentoring other women.And women entrepreneurial networks – they can make a huge difference for women.
Where is your project with women going to be in the next 5 years?
I am currently working on launching a Soft Skills University for women. Well, men or women the importance of soft-skills cannot be understated. However, for particular reasons, I find women making the most of the soft skills and rising to the top. I think it can inspire and change many lives.
What is happening on a global scale with women in business and what does the future hold for us, you think?
Interestingly, since the dawn of human kind the business landscape was a man’s world. Times are changing! Today, women are wielding more and more power on both sides of the business transaction. First, let’s look at some facts from the consumer side. The latest researches show that in family purchases that involve two adults (a woman and a man) women make:
94% of the purchase decision on home furnishings
92% of the purchase decision on family vacations
91% of the purchase decision on home purchases
80% of the purchase decision on healthcare
60% of the purchase decision on family cars
51% of the purchase decision on consumer electronics
It’s clear that in many cases, women are not just influencing the market; they are the market.
So I see more women CEOs breaking the glass ceiling and taking the current percentage of 11% to 50% or higher; more women presidents and prime ministers and more women in power as the time of Power Puff Girls has come. Even the rise of Trump in the USA can’t slow it down. Future belongs to determined women.
Richard Tan is the Chairman of Success Resources, a hugely successful global company founded with a good friend in 1993 and now in business partnership with his wife Veronica. It specialises in personal and business development and has some of the biggest names on its stages including: Tony Robbins, Robin Sharma, Les Brown, Robert Kiyosaki, Kim Kiyosaki, Randi Zuckerberg, Mary Buffet and many more. They hold around 500 events each year and have had ten million attendees to date. Richard tells us about his earlier life and influences, an incredible turnaround and recovery against the odds in 1995, and the principles he lives and leads by.
Can you tell us about your childhood and upbringing?
I grew up in a "red light" area in downtown Singapore. My dad ran a small business, and my mum provided for the household by working and taking up odd jobs. We were not rich but I never lacked anything. I do know that my parents loved me and that they did their best to give me everything they could afford. There are two groups of young friends that I hung out with. One group of friends was from my "red light” hooligan neighbor, whom I learned to smoke and play pranks with. The other group of friends were from my school, whom I studied with. I was fortunate that my school teacher and friends exerted a bigger influence on me and got me interested in learning.
What has carried through with you to this day of what you learned in your formative years?
In my teens, I signed up to be a youth volunteer. It is a non-profit youth organization, where we had to organize programs and activities for the youth. To fund these, we had to raise our own money. I learnt to work on a shoestring budget, get things done for free, cut wastage, and optimize whatever resources we had. These were priceless experiences that I still apply in running Success Resources today.
What were your first jobs in life and your first business as an entrepreneur?
My first job was in a store of an electrical engineering firm. Every morning, vans with workers would come by to collect the materials to bring to the construction sites. I would then be pretty free and have nothing much to do until the vans returned in the evening. I asked my manager to allow me to assist in the construction site after my work was done in the store. My routine would be working early in the morning in the store and then go to the construction site. One day, when we returned to the office in the evening from the construction site, I saw the firm's estimator was still working. He was working overnight on a tender. I asked if he needed any assistance. He was happy and taught me how to estimate the amount of material for the tenders.
My work then started in the store early in the morning, then onto the construction site with the electricians, and working through the night with the estimator, to close the tender. I became an all-rounder in the firm. I become the only one who had the experience in the store, on the site, and knew the cost of the project. In just a year, I was promoted and the supervisor that I used to report to, now reported to me. That was my first job.My first business venture was selling an anti-slipflooring chemical, which I lost money on and got into debt.
What life and business lessons did you learn from these experiences?
I learnt that failure is not the opposite of success, but failure is part of success.
How did you meet your wife and business partner. Veronica? How would you describe your personal and business relationship?
I met Veronica in church, in a bible study. Our personal and business relationships are very military-like. I am the "General" and she is the "Major". The staff and my children are the “Soldiers”. I make all the general decisions and she makes all the major decisions.
You started Success Resources with Patrick Liew in 1993. What was the inspiration behind that?
I started Success Resources by accident more than by inspiration. My good friend, Patrick Liew volunteered me to assist at a conference run by a charity organization, of which he was the chairman. After the conference, a presenter came to me and said, "you are a very good organizer, why don't you do it full-time?" That is how I started Success Resources with my friend Patrick.
Can you tell us more about your first huge National Achievers Congress in Hong Kong in 1995 and how you managed that during a very difficult time with your health?
In 1995, I had a major illness, colon cancer. After the surgery, I had to go for a six-months period of chemotherapy. At that time, we had seminars in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines. One month prior to the events, the event in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines sold very well and we had an almost full house. However, the event in Hong Kong had only 300 registrations. The reason why the event in Hong Kong had only 300 participants was because back then, the team in Hong Kong could not work together. They were from different countries and cultures and could not simply work together. We had booked the Hong Kong Coliseum, which has a capacity of 6,000. I could either choose to cancel the seminar, or move forward with the event with only 300 participants in a venue that could take 6,000 people.
Up till that day, I had never cancelled any event under any circumstances and I was not going to let this happen. I went and asked my doctor to transfer my Chemo Treatment to a hospital in Hong Kong, which she reluctantly agreed. I would then start working early in the morning and knocking on doors from the top floor to the ground floor of the buildings, to sell the seminar tickets. The team in Hong Kong was inspired that the 'boss" came all the way down to Hong Kong, while undergoing chemo treatment, rolled up his sleeves and went from door to door to support them. They were motivated and started producing results in order to fill the room. In just three weeks, we were able to fill the Hong Kong Coliseum with a full capacity. The lesson here is that your team will only go as far as you will go. If you are only willing to work eight hours per day, don't expect your team to work nine hours a day. If you set just a one million dollar sales target, don't expect your team to sell two million. Your team will only go as far as you go.
How have you overcome failures and challenges and what is the main driver that has seen you through all of them?
I am very fortunate to have a very supportive wife standing by my side with encouragement. This is of great help when I am faced with obstacles and challenges. I have a great team behind me. We work though the challenges together.
How did you build great relationships with so many of the world’s top speakers who are now part of the Success Resources family?
Actually to tell you the truth, it is my wife Veronica who is handling all the speakers relationships. They seem to naturally want to communicate with her.
How do you see the role of women in business and as speakers on the big stages, now and in the future?
Women – I believe that women usually do it better. I believe that women make better business decisions than men do, and are more hardworking. By nature, they are more careful and more approachable, too. The world needs more women speakers. However by nature, more women prefer to be supportive from behind the scenes, than to be up in the front speaking. I believe this trend is changing as I can see more and more women are stepping up to be trainers and speakers, sharing their passion in their messages.
What are your latest business ventures and where do you see Success Resources in the next 5 to 10 years compared with today?
My latest venture is SuccessLife, the World’s Leading online community platform for Premium Personal and Business Development content. SuccessLife will be the Netflix of Business and Personal Development. It will be the largest community of online subscribers and a content provider, which can be accessed anytime, anyplace,on any device. In fact, we are in the process of the Initial Coin Offering, to raise $50M to acquire content, so look out for SuccessLife.
People Are Capable Of Re-Inventing Themselves at Any Time
Bernado Moya is a Neuro-Linguistic Programme Practitioner, with a business delivering NLP courses. He is also the founder and creator of The Best You, specialising in personal and professional development. In this interview, Bernado tells us about the importance of family to him and the challenges of balancing that with being a committed entrepreneur. He has learned from experience that business has its ups and downs and the essential value of having resilience and the ability to reinvent yourself. We also learn more about his interests in travel and motorbiking.
What can you tell us about your childhood and upbringing and how that has influenced you?
My parents were Spanish immigrants that met in London and I was born in London. My Dad was a head waiter and my Mum was a chef so I was brought up with food, quality food and working hard, and then also getting together with family and friends on weekends. So it was a very family orientated, Spanish environment that I got brought up in and what it has meant is my love for food and my passion for kind of working hard really, and understanding the importance of family life and the family upbringing.
Who is your family today and what are your personal interests?
Unfortunately, my Dad died when I was 15, but my Mum is around luckily and I have a brother. I also have three great kids. My two sons are working, one has a business and the other one is working in yachts. They both live a great life and they’re great people. My daughter, well she’s amazing too. She’s just finished University so we’ve had a family life where we’ve spent a lot of weekends together surrounded by family but yes in an environment where I suppose where they’ve seen me work hard. I’ve worked very hard and maybe I missed out on some opportunities with them but I think they’ve had a great upbringing and they’re great kids so I’m very proud of them. It’s my legacy.
The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.
What were your earlier career or business ventures and what did you learn from those experiences?
Well, I have been in real estate off and on doing different things from timeshare to running my own real estate. I had up to 23-25 employees so selling and engaging with clients has been something I’ve done from an early age, since I finished in the army at the age of 19. But I would say that it’s provided me a great life but also challenges. I lost my business twice, once when I was 26 and then again at the age of 38-39 which is where I pretty much re-started all over again. From my experiences, I’ve learnt that I’m very resilient, I’ve learnt that I can re-invent myself as needed and work hard to create something new. I’ve been very passionate about everything that I’ve done, I’ve always had big dreams and I’m still on a journey.
As an entrepreneur, how much is it in the nature, in your genes and how much is it instinct and nurture, do you think?
Well, I think there’s a special type of person that has to have that within them to become an entrepreneur. I understand that not everyone wants to build their own business and I understand that people are happy to live an easier life, less stressful. Becoming an entrepreneur is very challenging, it’s something that you’ve got to be prepared to put more hours than you can imagine, be prepared for failure, be prepared for disappointments with staff and employees, be prepared for people not to buy into your products but also it has amazing rewards. If you understand your business, if you understand your customer, if you really study marketing, sales, and how to build relationships with your customers, if you build something that’s unique, that inspires people, it’s a very rewarding job.
I’ve had three children, but I know that my businesses have always taken a very important part of my life and I’m aware of that, yet it’s something I’m proud of. I’ve always done my best and I would prefer to at least know that I’ve tried than not ever even attempting it. So I’m very happy with being an entrepreneur and the rewards that it has given me in my life.
What attracted you to become involved with NLP?
It was Paul McKenna’s book ‘Change your Life in 7 Days’. It was packed with NLP techniques and it was the first time I read about Dr Richard Bandler and Neuro-linguistic Programming. I remember that after reading the book I asked a friend of mine who worked with Paul Hay, I would love to do the course. I did the ‘7 Day Practitioner’ and I remember at the end of the course I knew that I wanted to do something different. I wanted to do something with more meaning and I felt that NLP could provide me that, and would provide me with the set of skills that I needed.
Can you tell us more about NLP and how it works?
Neuro-linguistic Programming is the study of excellence. Richard Bandler, the Co-creator, looked into how did successful people do what they do? How do people that have phobias overcome them? How did they leave those phobias and fears behind? So he put those techniques together and he packaged them. Neuro, stands for the head linguistic set of skills, language patterns that we use and the programming set of skills and strategies. Part of NLP is simply allowing you to think. It gives you a set of skills to become a better communicator, more confident, to be able to become more motivated, and to understand how you can change how you feel by simply thinking differently. If you think differently you feel differently, if you feel differently you act and behaviour differently.
Why do you believe that continual personal development is so important for everyone?
I think the older we get the more we understand the importance of investing in ourselves. When we’re at school we take learning, not everyone, but I think generally we take it as a burden, something that we have to do. I think with age we understand how important it is to really be at our peak and how we can become a better version of ourselves; how we can think better, how we can communicate better and that’s what personal development brings you.
You know people are looking for love, they’re looking for ways to increase their self- esteem to become more confident, to become happier. And you do that by learning from the best, from reading books, from attending talks or attending Expos and being surrounded by positive people that can provide you inspiration. If we think of ourselves as a device, as a phone, we’re always looking at the latest version or downloading the latest update and software. But when it comes down to us, we’re always reluctant to upgrade our own software. We need to be permanently pushing ourselves and reading the best, not just because we need to, but additionally the world needs it too. The world needs inspiration, it needs leaders that can help and inspire the newer generations but also can make the world a better place.
You have two Expos in early 2018 in London and Long Beach California – can you tell us more about these and what to expect?
It is our third Expo in London, that’s on the 16th and 17th February and in Long Beach on the 24th and 25th March, which will be our first run in the US. The Expos have grown and doubled in size every year and the reason being is because there wasn’t any personal development experience like this. It’s an opportunity to meet all these fantastic inspirational speakers, brands, companies and organisations that are dedicated to improving people’s lives.
It’s a great format. We have loads of workshops, 8 or 9 seminar rooms with more than 140 speakers. We have a variety of other activities, like the Inspiration Zone, where we teach people how to overcome phobias, learn how to dance Salsa, and walk on glass. We have the Yoga and Meditation Zone, fresh juices, we’re screening some amazing documentaries with some fantastic partners; Netflix, and Sky. There is so much going on at these Expos and we’re very excited about them.
What are your favourite places in the world from your travels and why?
I have travelled and I would like to travel a lot more. I loved Vietnam, it was beautiful. One of the things that I like doing and have done quite a few times, is I’ve gone with friends on motorbike tours, which have always been amazing and very appealing to me. I’ve also been to Madagascar, South Africa, and Canada. I’ve done a few small trips around the US, but I have many future plans. I want to travel the whole of South America. I feel that travelling is a very important part of life and I believe that as The Best US Expo starts licensing around the world, it’s going to be something that’s on my plate and I’m looking forward to it.
What words of wisdom would you give to our readers, either already successful or aspiring to success?
One of the beauties, I think, of personal and professional growth, as we’ve seen it many, many times, is that people are able and capable of re-inventing themselves at any time. I would always say that it’s never, ever too late. I always insist on that, it’s never ever too late to become who you want to become, to become the best you. You’ve just got to take action and start today, start now. And be resilient, just be prepared. Life is going to throw things at you. It’s not what happens, it’s how you deal with what happens that’s the important bit. You can have a bad day, you’ve just got to wake up the next morning, take the dust off, brush yourself and get on with it. So keep going, never give up, never allow anyone to say it’s too late and then again surround yourself by positive people. I love the hash tag ‘no negativity’. I follow that through, I’m not interested in working or being surrounded by any negative people in my life.
How do I move my business to the next level and manage growth?
I have a health and consciousness retreat business that has got through many challenges in the first three years, and I have learned many things along the way. It is now on a six-figure income but how do I go about taking it to the next level with expansion? New retreats in new locations globally? What do I need to know and do about hiring and managing people, and getting the right systems and processes in place? How do I manage the growth and what would you say are realistic expectations to have over the next three years?
In Thailand, there is a well-known expression “Same-same but different…”. This phrase, so applicable to many situations, is the first thing that springs to mind when considering your business question. But before we get into the detail, “Congratulations!” for making it to year four in your start-up. Starting any business is an arduous task that requires sacrifice, commitment, faith and absolute patience. The first question to ask yourself is if you want to be like every other retreat or how you want to stand out with distinctive and relevant USPs – “Same, same but different…”.
Your new business venture is timely, as many of us reconsider how we work, what and how we eat, as well as attitudes towards ethical and sustainable living. To the best of my knowledge, networking has progressed on from the golf course into the spa. Many business deals are now done at high-profile health retreats, where top CEOs, agents, networkers and industry leaders take time out to do some ‘blue sky thinking’, deal-making and healing. So you have a fantastic opportunity!
As you consider growth within your business, you need to think about your WHY and WHERE. Why are you doing this business? Do you want to build and sell? Do you want to create a Social Enterprise and give back? Do you want to organically build the business into a Holistic Educational Programme or do you want to become a zeitgeist centre for forward-thinking?Where are the territories where you have a key opportunity? There is a kibbutz in Israel, that has since created a hotel and beach resort, situated right on the shores of The Dead Sea, that is renowned for being an international expert on irrigation – growing mangoes and grapefruit in a seeming barren space. They often receive telephone calls from all over Africa and other lands where water reserves are sparse.They have become industry experts, unbeknown to them.
You also need to think about the HOW, i.e. if you are considering expansion within other locations, do you want to use a Franchise model? Have you done your due diligence and research into other areas and local feasibility studies? There is the well-shared documented of a responsible high-street food chain selling sandwiches who launched in Tokyo some years ago. They launched without doing their homework and with no PR campaign to educate the Japanese public to the joys of the humble sandwich. The store closed very quickly, within just 18 months, because the Japanese, at the time, didn’t eat sandwiches. They entered the market, forgetting the fundamentals.
The above example clearly demonstrates where ‘glocalised’ business does not work. Regardless of how companies operate online, through faceless banking or email transactions, there are always the human and cultural implications of business growth to consider. How you open a spa in the UAE will certainly not replicate a spa in Arizona. The socio-cultural aspects of Emirates’ living will dictate certain requirements e.g. separate spa areas and times for men and women, dedicated areas for prayer as well as menu options.
The WHO focuses on staffing and people. Some international hotel chains try and replicate a ‘same-same’hotel experiences, regardless of whether you are in Addis Ababa or Budapest. The ethos is that they want to become your preferred and trusted choice of hotel wherever you travel for leisure or work, the world over. And much of that experience, over and above aesthetic pleasure and culinary consistency, is based on staffing and how you are treated. I know someone who recently went to a mid-range resort in Marrakech and stayed in a hotel where the staff were exceptional. When she then went to the supposed ‘best’ hotel in Marrakech, she found the experience disappointing. If you look after your people, they will look after your business. Words that Sir Richard Branson often cites about his Virgin brand.
Find local fixers, who speak the language, who can help you source good people, either through agencies or training schools, who want to work and grow with you as a business. Incentivise people to stay, look after them and they will look after you. It isn’t rocket science but one too many businesses falls by the wayside thinking that staff are just there to do a job. You don’t want every person to be good at the same thing: you need leaders; you need systemisers and fantastic automated processes (with emergency procedure back-up); you want to have people-people, admin people, social media whizzes, as well as great marketeers and a team that is engaged, that you like.
Innocent drinks used to have personalised breakfast bowls for all staff. This encouraged people to come into work just that bit earlier. It gave teams time to engage and interact on a less formal basis. In short, teams wanted to come to work rather that felt obliged to come to work, just to pay bills. A minute detail but as I always say: “The devil is in the detail…”.
In terms of business growth, I would advise you against taking too much risk in the first five years, and enter in to new territories one by one, rather than all at the same time. Don’t spread yourself too thin, let alone allow cash flow, a key factor in business growth, to dry up. If you are working in different countries, make sure you are getting the best transfer deals on FOREX and that you and your team have sought expert advice in each territory to ensure you are complying with local fiscal, HR, legal, Border Control and business compliance procedures. As an example, all too many Brits fall into the trap of thinking that a new life in the Spanish sun is going to be full of Sangria and sunbathing. Unfortunately, many people are buying businesses in Spain (and elsewhere) without understanding the language and falling foul to mis-information, too much trust vs knowledge and business failure.
In terms of realistic expectations for your new business, I refer back to my initial point about your ‘WHY’. If you are clear on why you are building this business and consider that each new site will take 18 months to grow, conservatively, aim for one new site to be launched every 18 months. Unless you find an investor or business angel with considerable expertise who wants to help grow your business in a more dynamic rather than organic way, choose caution and manage your own expectations. Regardless of whether you opt for a ‘same-same’ experience the world over or unique retreat stays in each territory, NOW is your time. The world is ripe for holistic experiences and change. Be the same or be different. But always be true to yourself.
Women Bring an Empathetic Skill To The Business World
Adam Strong
Adam Strong is without a doubt, the man to be talking right now in the world of business development.As an ultra-high personal productivity authority, a former elite athlete, author and entrepreneur, he has evidently mastered the art of productivity and high performance. I got the pleasure of speaking to him and asked him to tell us more about what drives him, the challenges he has faced, his future plans and more!
You’ve been named a ‘serial entrepreneur’ as you run five businesses.How do you keep the balance in your life while maintaining such high productivity?
The first word that Adam says after a moment of pausing is,“Focus”, adding, “I would say that focus is an important factor.” Adam adopts a segmenting approach to his time management, where his day is made up of thirty-minute divisions. “Allocating my time according to my priorities also helps a lot, as I make sure to put more time towards businesses or projects that need more attention at that given time.”
Leveraging was another aspect that Adam spoke to me about.“Leveraging people is a great aid, be it interns or staff to delegate responsibilities, because I believe that it’s important to empower and manage people in this way.” Adam told me that he also uses applications and programs for keeping track of what needs to be done as well as organisational purposes, as, he says, “it helps makes life easier.”
You are a great advocate for supporting women; can you tell us more about why you choose to do this, and the importance of this in today’s world?
“I think that women in business are often better than men. Women have great attributes and bring a lot of different skills to the business world. One of which is the empathetic skill, which is important, especially in business because it creates a human feel.This in turn then helps to grow trust between those relationships involved in the business, something that I believe is essential to the success of a business.” I learned from Adam that twenty of the top Fortune 500 companies have a fifty percent balance of men and women on their board of executives, and he then mentioned that if this support of women in business is good enough for these successful and most profitable companies then its good enough for him too and should be advocated!
What gives you a sense of purpose to live the life that you do?
Adam states that he is a very results driven individual, and that being able to get results for people gives him purpose. He is especially inspired by the idea of “helping people to become unstuck in business”. He told me that it gives him a sense of satisfaction to empower people who are struggling, that we all desire happiness, and that he keeps doing what he does for his family and clients.
You seem to have merged your love of athletics and health with high achievement in business.What advice would you give to those trying to find their passion?
Adam begins by talking about having clarity, and asking a series of questions that he says one must ask themselves.
“What is the goal?”
“What is it you want to achieve?”
“What is your purpose?”
He then continues on to stress the importance of conditioning your mindset on a regular basis.He personally reads personal development books for at least thirty minutes a day to help with this. Another essential point he discusses with me is learning from successful people, as well as always making sure that you do something that you’re passionate about. Building a team around him to help and being able to leverage off of each other’s strength has been important. “Do things with speed. Having a speed of implementation and just executing at a faced pace is very crucial”. Adam then concluded; “You should never chase the money, always have a higher purpose and you will reap the rewards.”
What advice would you give to women looking to pursue a career similar to yours?
“Be prepared- there will be ups and downs. When you’re down just step away, refocus and move onto the next thing, and when you’re up, keep going. Running a business is not an easy thing, and if someone has told you otherwise, it’s a lie.”
Perseverance was another key piece of advice that he mentioned, along with belief in oneself. Consistency is crucial to work smart and not hard and delegate your weaknesses and leverage people’s strengths. The final piece of advice he gave was on coaching; “Coaching is like oxygen, a very vital part for yourself and your team, as it creates this culture of growing all together.”
What has been the most challenging aspect you have faced in your career, and how have you worked through it?
Adam revealed that he suffered from the all too familiar mental struggle of transitioning from doing what you “should” be doing to doing what you want to do. The ways in which he overcame this challenge was through guidance and support from his coach, as well as having perseverance.Having a commitment to himself and his clients was a great driving force in overcoming this barrier, and most importantly, Adam said that he had to have a “belief in himself in what he was doing.”
Who has been your role model and has supported you on your journey?
“JT Foxx is a great role model. He has gone through a lot of hardships and seems to understand how a lot of people in business feel. Also, Jason Gilbert, my current coach. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be as successful as I am now.”
What plans do you have for the future?
“I am very excited that my consultancy company will be scaling up and recruiting new coaches and consultants, as they will then help more people and more businesses. I will be setting up business and health retreats, that will help business owners accelerate their results through the knowledge and experiences from other successful CEOs and coaches. I want to create further business opportunities through elite networking and partnerships. I would also like to advise and invest in more growing companies, so they can see higher returns and work with shareholders and investors to eventually exit, and to execute some plans that I have with my partner”.
York Zucchi is a Swiss born investor, and entrepreneur in Africa since 2007. He was previously at Goldman Sachs where he contributed towards the global financial meltdown. He has started numerous businesses (healthcare, IT tourism, academia, etc.); some failed and some succeeded. He is passionate about entrepreneurship, Africa and coffee and believes that the right mixture of these three will make Africa the continent to be for the next 20 years. He gets featured a lot in the press (Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur Magazine) but doubts anyone actually understands what he really does for a living. Amongst his recent accomplishments: the world’s first TEDx talk on the business of primary healthcare (http://bit.ly/1JRY0CL), started the Tinder for Businesses – an initiative to match opportunities to businesses all over the world (now already in 57 countries – www.JoinTheEquation.com ) and in July 2017 he is going on a two year Africa trip to write the ‘Entrepreneurs’ guide to doing business in Africa’.
Can you tell us a little about your entrepreneurial journey and women entrpreneurs in Africa?
I am a 42 year old male who has worked in 11 countries, got fired 5 times, quit twice, just before they could fire me, and made money in 2 businesses. My last post was at Goldman Sachs, then I started 7 businesses, 6 of which failed (the 7th – together with my business partner Anke – is now active in over 57 countries) and yet I enjoy each and every single day. I mention all this just to make the point that I have been – relatively speaking – around the block, flirted with Mr Bankruptcy and danced with Miss Success – so have seen a few things (rough guess, ca. 3,000 businesses over the last 22 years). I certainly don’t know everything, but have seen a few things on the road, and one of these things is that in terms of women entrepreneurs – especially in Africa where I have resided since 2007 – the landscape was historically barren. It was a partcularly male dominated world. I said ”was”. It is changing and changing fast.
Are more women taking space in the business field today? And why is that do you think?
I asked my business partner Anke: She says there are more men than women, but she thinks it is a generational topic, as she is observing a shift in the millennials. New role models and changing generations, access to higher education, and a new understanding of the important role of women in society. Within one or two generations there will be an equal share of men and women in the entreprenuerial ecosystem in Africa. And I agree with her. The world is waking up to the incredible potential that is embodied in women. Anke suggests that changing role models make it more acceptabble for women to be in business. Additionally, the increasing costs of living means that the traditional role of women in the home is being replaced by the pressure to create new income, hence new breadwinners. It depends quite a lot on the enabling environment in which women work. Germany is very different from Italy which is very different from Nigeria and to Korea. But the trend is towards more women coming online in terms of becoming entreprenuers.
Could you give female entrepreneurs some advice on how they can grow themselves and their business?
I agree with my business partner Anke when she suggests that there is no difference between a female and a male entrepreneur. Nevertheless, as she says, women should learn to be bold, brave and proud of what they can do and don’t be shy and don’t hold back. Take a leap of faith. Often the best lessons are learned out of screw ups and setbacks. This is inevitably painful and a very scary prospect, especially if you are about to quit a relatively secure job for the uknown wilderness of entreprenuership. There is no hard and fast advice I can give in business aside from that income must be greater than the expenses. But there are some principles that just seem to be recurring amongst successful ventures that I picked up over a few years of doing business around the world. Agree or disagree, I hope they will get your thinking juices going.
24 The rules of business
Income must be greater than expenses in the mid to long term. No exceptions, unless you have a wealthy uncle who is part of the FFF investment trio (friends, fools or family).
Your best source of investors are your clients.
Start with a basic easy to deliver service offering and then grow as you get more clients.
Don’t just shoot for the stars: develop a nice modest business that pays the bills to start with.
Watch out for that little voice called “hope” – it can lead you to fall off the financial cliff.
Surround yourself with people who – plainly speaking – are making waves. It is more comfortable to hang around with like-minded friends and business people, but if you want to grow, swallow your pride and hang out in the lion’s den and leave the penguins on ice 🙂. Hang out with men and women who support you as a woman and as an entreprneuer.
Learn to differentiate between what you need and what you want. A fancy phone, nice laptop and an office is a want.
Whatever you do, always, always, always, tap into the selfishness of whom you are sending your proposal to. What’s in it for them first and foremost. You don’t sell for you, you sell for what they need/want.
Never forget that we all respond better when it is relevant to us. When something speaks to our core. To our selfishness.
To really understand what makes a person tick. However you really need to learn the power of listening. Learn the art and power of really listening to your users and clients. Don’t listen to friends who think they know what a client wants (usually they don’t).
The “once we have a million users we will monetise it” business works in probably only five thousand out of one million businesses. If you read this and got excited about your prospects, go and attend a refresher course in stats.
If the muck hits the fan, ignore everything that is a distraction and focus on the core issue of the problem.
You will have limited resources no matter how successful you become. Watch those margins!
As you grow, putting out fires will consume 95% of your time. Just try each day to put 5% of you into making progress to your goals.
Don’t give away equity to every person that promises to add value. Give it to those who work for it, pay or it or sweat for it.
Make sure you have a financial person (your sister, accountant, CFO etc) who protects you from yourself. Put a safety net between you and the money you are making so that you can’t risk it all on the next best idea that creeps into your head.
Stay positive. Even when things don’t work out well.
Focus on the solution and not the business model. The solution is what you are trying to find – the business model you can (and should) change regularly.
If you can’t figure out how to make money out of your business idea, start small but do start. If after a while you still can’t figure it out, it is not a business but a hobby. Hope you can afford your new hobby 🙂
You will face financial duress (multiple times probably). Write on a BIG board in your office “KEEP OVERHEADS AND FIXED COSTS TO AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM AND LOVE VARIABLE COSTS”. You’ll thank me later.
If only you had an investor is NOT a business model.
NPOs (Not for Profit) organisations still need to make a profit. The only difference between them and a ’For Profit’ is how they share or invest that profit.
You have the responsibility to try and leave the world in a little better state than you found it in. Don’t forget it. As citizens of this wonderful egg-shaped thing called earth it is our duty to improve life for all – humans, fauna and flora.
Try and enjoy each day. In entrepreneurship it is the journey that counts. The destination doesn’t exist – it is constantly changing. Enjoy this beautiful, scary, exciting, uncertain, powerful, fulfilling, roller coaster called entrepreneurship.
Why is it important for you to empower women in business?
For me, women are just better business persons in my experience. Business is a juggling act that requires a careful balancing of many elements which taps better in the multi-tasking talent of a woman than the singular attention span of men (as a generalisation of course). Women have a different way to run a business which is more sustainably oriented than the typical male transaction orientation.
As a man, a businessman in particular, what are your thoughts around more women getting empowered and successful in business, and how will this change the future in business?
My business partner Anke is a woman. My girlfriend Tamar is an entrepreneur. My best friends – from the multiple restaurant entrepreneur Ansel to healthcare impresario Dr Mashadi, are women entrepreneurs. I am surrounded by phenomenal women entrepreneurs in different stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Women have always been entreprenurially minded – despite the suppression by men over the years, especially so in relatively male dominated cultures as found in Africa.
In the last eight years particularly, I have witnessed a renaissance of women entrepreneurs: it is almost as if the world suddenly woke up – as a generalisation – and decided that 50% of the world’s population is full of talent and potential. I don’t know if it is thanks to the internet, thanks to great women and men taking a stand for equality or if it is because men finally realised the idiocy of suppressing this incredible pool of entreprenurial talent. What I am confident in saying is that – in my experience – women will probably be better entrepreneurs than men. I generalise grossly of course, but in my dealings with women they are better planners, negotiatiors and can take the pain that the entreprenurial journey inevitably brings much better than men can. The sh*t that women had to deal with for so many years – from glass ceilings to income gaps for the same work, to the inaccesibility of ”boy’s networks” only made women stronger, more resilient, and fitter to deal with this amazing roller coaster called entrepreneurship.
My colleague at Goldman Sachs did a study a few years ago (2003 – http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/investing-in-women/research-articles/womens-work.pdf ) which showed the impact of women in business on the global economy. The results were staggering. If there was ever more proof of men idiocy to raise the tide for all boats, it is to be found in men’s barriers and hurdles that we put in place to make it more difficult for women to participate in the economy. Here’s to the incredible power of women everywhere! Here’s to an amazing future.
York Zucchi can be found on Linkedin and Instagram and as YPZ on Twitter. Blog: https://yzpafrica.org
About Anke
Anke Schaffranek is a German born economist and since 2014 economic pirate and entrepreneur, working around the world. Before, she worked for almost 9 years as in-house consultant for a big pharma company, managing large scale, complex and bottom-line impacting projects with a strong focus on emerging markets, building the foundation for her entrepreneurial journey. Her heart and her passion are with entrepreneurship in frontier and emerging markets and her vision is to create a sustainable SME landscape, which is interconnected and trades freely, contributing to sustainable economic and social welfare.
When we asked Mateusz to describe himself he replied “I am the Father of Adriana and husband of Iliana”. It is obvious that he is a man that respects women. Mateusz is a famous psychologist in Poland but well known all around the world. He is also a PhD economist, scientist, internationally working educator, author, entrepreneur, 7 languages polyglot, wrestler, and as he says, he is also a “heavy coffee user”. In this fascinating interview to learn more, not only about him but about yourself as well.
How did you start your career as a psychologist?
I became a psychologist quite late in my career, because my first steps were connected with theatre – my father is an actor and I would spend years practicing acting as a child. As Poland was a communist country back then, we all believed in education being our salvation from problems, so I learnt a lot and was good in my class. My friends wanted me to help them in private curricula and this is how I started teaching. Mostly I focused on foreign languages. These three pillars – acting, education and foreign languages connected synergistically and I became a trainer, teaching soft skills – emotional intelligence, motivation, etc. After that, when I was already pursuing an international career and had an established business, I studied psychology and became a psychologist.
Suffering in different forms. Seeing my parents divorce and being unable to communicate effectively with each other. Experiencing poverty and realising how destructive it is. Being bored and unjustly treated at school by teachers. Disappointment which came from social rejection when I made money and became more famous. Health problems in which medical solutions were not enough. My ego driven shadows, when the archetype I created controlled me and I was unable to free myself from cultural and family mental boundaries.
Hatred and ignorance I see and feel on a collective level in different cultures, destroying, loving, and the evolving potential of all these unconscious human beings who do not know anything else. My story is not positive thinking based, that everything “will be ok”. It is not an American dream come true where from zero I become a hero, even though outside it looks this way. It a lifetime process of being hit, falling, standing up, recovering and learning and going forward till the next hit, but this time harder. The more I realise my dream, the harder my life becomes. But it is not my dream anymore. It`s everybody`s dream, to self-realise, be free, confront demons, and become more of who they want to be. If I treated it as “my dream”, I would have no motivation to keep going forward.
Who has been your role model?
Myriads of trainers, scientists, artists, teachers, business people. All of them have something special and out of the ordinary. So I respect people who are more clever than I am and learn from them.
You have just launched a course about emotional intelligence. How important is for people to develop their EI?
Statistically, EQ is three times more sought after than IQ on the professional market in the US. Some jobs or activities are based purely on your ability to manage emotions and behaviours – sales, management, parenthood. Without adequate emotional control you will not get or maintain a job, solve life problems, confront issues adequately.
What are some tips that you can share with us in order for people to improve their EI?
There are four pillars of EQ. One is self awareness – you need to know what you feel and how it influences your behaviour. The second is regulation – how you get to choose what you feel and how intensively. Third is about motivation, which is how to start, continue and finish given tasks. The fourth is empathy – the ability to feel what others feel, separate it from yourself, and react to it accordingly.
In your view what makes people stop achieving their dreams?
Fear and pain are connected with it. The bigger the dream you want to achieve, the bigger the nightmare you have to go through. People wanting dreams without the suffering is like using a very sharp knife with the premise that it will never cut your fingers. But it will. So people want an attractive fiancé but do not want competition from the desiring eyes of others. They want money but do not want greed that comes with it automatically. They desire big business, yet do not want to have problems with employees. They would like fame but without the hatred and gossip. But it does not work this way. You need heavy dumbbells to build big muscles.
From your experience as a psychologist, what is the difference between men and women in following their career?
Depends on the culture and macro-region. Crisis of masculinity is already visible in Western cultures where with the death of patriarchy, manhood only starts being shaped in a more complete version of humanness (embracing masculine and feminine traits). The discovery that emancipation is not about swapping traditional roles but about freeing oneself from limiting cultural belief systems is an important factor. Work life balance and the need of it is prevalent, and success starts being less important than happiness. Traditionally, men have always based their self-esteem on external results, mainly stemming from work. Women value themselves additionally by different factors, like family. These questions demands a deeper answer and it can only be delivered by a laser approach towards certain cultures to avoid generalisation. There will be a time in the future of there being no difference from a financial, emotional and intellectual standpoint between men and women following their careers. Yet it is a long way to go before we all get there.
What is your opinion about women leaders and entrepreneurs?
Let`s get science into it, knowledge is more important than opinions. And it clearly shows that employees look for the traits in leaders which traditionally belonged to women: building relationships, being empathic, using intuition and feelings in the decision making process. So it is a fact that women leaders are sought after and necessary. Of course leadership will always be also based on assertiveness, goal setting, and logical reasoning, which traditionally has been connected with masculinity. But is it not finally time to stop judging people by gender and focus on competences and wisdom in the first place? Personally it does not matter if my employee is male or female, Caucasian or Asian, Catholic or Buddhist, etc. What I care about as an entrepreneur is that they do their job. So my opinion is that we need to be humans with both masculine and feminine aspects embraced in our personas. Yin yang is a circle and only then it`s a whole.
You are also the author of many self-help books – what is the formula of the process of writing and publishing a best selling book?
Get your content first, so that you know what to write about. Decide on the length.
Find a good publisher who will sell it for you. Sign a contract. Start writing, combining these four pillars:
Education – because it gives value.
Practice – because then people can use this book to achieve something.
Entertainment – include interesting stories and examples so that people will actually enjoy it.
Science – so that you base it on some research to give it more authority.
What are three main tips that you would share with women who read this interview – what would be your tips for those who are still searching for meaning and creating a successful life?
Create yourself – imagine yourself three years from now and see in your mind`s eye what you look like, where you are, what you do, who the people around you are. This is planning.
Operationalise it – ask yourself which actions need to be taken to achieve that plan. Make a list of specific behaviours.
Put it into action and get feedback. Adjust what is necessary. Measure your progress.
Simply put, create your life in which you are the best version of yourself, have what you want, help others and make the world a better place.
Baybars Altuntas is a global entrepreneur, best-selling author, angel investor, columnist, star of the Turkish version of the television show Dragons’ Den, Chair of the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF), President of the Business Angels Association of Turkey (TBAA), President of Deulcom International, Vice President of the European Trade Association for Business Angels, Seed Funds, and Other Early Stage Market Players (EBAN), and the World Entrepreneurship Forum’s Ambassador to Turkey and South East Europe. He was recognised by the European Trade Association of Business Angels (EBAN) and received the Best Individual in Europe Globally Engaging with the World Entrepreneurial Ecosystem award in 2014, 2015 and 2016. He was the only entrepreneurship guru to be granted a special audience with US President Barack Obama at the White House at the first Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) in 2010.
Baybars was a speaker at the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum on 1st November in London, UK. Ahead of this occasion, Baybars Altuntas has conveyed some very important messages for women entrepreneurs and proposed an interesting business model that will ease access to finance for entrepreneurs worldwide. Here in this exclusive interview for Global Woman magazine, you can learn more about the angel investment system and raising fund for your business.
Baybars Altuntas with the Founder of Global Woman, Mirela Sula after his speech at the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum in London, November 2016
Baybars Altuntas with the Founder of Global Woman, Mirela Sula after his speech at the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum in London, November 2016[/caption]Baybars Altuntas with the Founder of Global Woman, Mirela Sula after his speech at the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum in London, November 2016[/caption]Baybars Altuntas with the Founder of Global Woman, Mirela Sula after his speech at the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum in London, November 2016[/caption]
What is the biggest challenge of entrepreneurs today?
In the past, inventions were important for the economic development of societies. In the 21st century, however, it is not invention but innovation that counts. In those earlier times, entrepreneurial skills were not needed to get an invention to the market because it was a seller’s economy, where customers were ready to buy anything new. Times have changed, and the rules of the game have changed. Today’s inventors need more than just a clever idea. They need a complex set of skills to move their innovative idea into the market and to ensure it succeeds. Ours is the age of the entrepreneur (the buzz word of our century). The current, highly competitive economic environment means that scaling up businesses demands special skills of entrepreneurs, who are obliged to secure financing as quickly as possible. Yet finance alone is not sufficient to create global success stories. The entrepreneur needs not simply finance, but the best finance.
What is ‘the best finance’?
The best finance is a miracle that happens when one is able to combine money, know-how, mentorship and networking. This is perhaps better termed smart finance. Consider the various sources of finance available to entrepreneurs: Beyond basic bootstrapping, there are corporate ventures, angel investors, crowdfunding platforms, accelerators, VCs, banks, public grants, co-investment funds, business plan competitions, technology transfer offices, family offices, private equity investors and stock exchanges. With the notable exception of angel investors, all these sources provide only money, nothing more.
The only true sources of smart finance are angel investors, who are able to influence a country’s economic development by providing more than just money to entrepreneurs and SMEs. They contribute their own know-how, provide mentorship, and share their own networks in contributing to the businesses they invest in. They are thus the main drivers of innovation and the natural leaders of the world’s early-stage investment markets.
In 2015, more than 300,000 angel investors invested more than $25 billion in start-ups in the US, and more than 310,000 angel investors invested more than 6 billion Euros in Europe. The estimated total global market size of angel investment is over $50 billion every year. Angel investors support entrepreneurs in starting up, and they support SMEs as they scale up their businesses, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs worldwide every year. The World Business Angels Investment Forum invites all governments and policymakers to take advantage of the know-how, mentorship, and networking of qualified angel investors and to convert public money to smart money by establishing close collaboration between public institutions and private resources such as business angel networks, corporate ventures and VCs. As a global organisation, the World Business Angels Investment Forum is bringing together key players of the equity markets to discuss the benefits and challenges of achieving successful growth for businesses and to explore additional possibilities for empowering the world economy.
Why is it so difficult to raise funds for women entrepreneurs nowadays?
In the wake of the global economic crisis, it was far from easy to reach out for any kind of finance, smart or otherwise. The World Business Angels Investment Forum focuses on developing innovative financial instruments for entrepreneurs and SMEs as a part of its global agenda. To focus on the ‘smart’ factor in innovation in the context of entrepreneurial ecosystems, the World Business Angels Investment Forum directs its attention to developing smart investors, smart finance, smart exits, and smart entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. By working together across borders, with a common vision, and with these smart dynamics in mind, we are well placed to bring about positive change in the global economy. As the Chair of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, I invite all delegates of the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum to join our global efforts to ease access to smart finance to create more jobs and more social justice worldwide. Your efforts to convert the world economy to a smart economy in cooperation with the World Business Angels Investment Forum will be highly valued.
Why is the work of WBAF so important for women entrepreneurs?
The 2008 global economic crisis produced an economic environment that resulted in unprecedented challenges for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs seeking access to finance. It was clear that an entirely different way of working was required, a new approach to solving qualitatively different problems. The WBAF provides an international platform where all stakeholders can join forces to drive change, with a particular focus on linking the best entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs with smart finance opportunities afforded by qualified angel investors and institutions that work in cooperation with angel investors.
How do you differentiate yourselves?
As a global organisation, the WBAF is unique in its focus on a ‘smart’ approach to transforming the world’s economy to a smart economy — one that we believe will produce more jobs and more social justice. The Forum provides an open environment where key players from equity markets around the world can freely discuss the challenges businesses face in achieving growth and explore ways to empower the world economy. The Forum is also unique in its focus on five dynamics, all of which embed the ‘smart’ concept.
Smart Finance
We help ensure that policymakers, entrepreneurs, startups and SMEs fully appreciate the importance of smart finance, which can be provided only by angel investors.
Smart Investors
Different countries may face different challenges, yet as the world’s economies are no longer isolated, their problems are not necessarily country-specific. Solutions therefore need to be sought in the wider, international ecosystem. Virtually all types of finance sources beyond simple bootstrapping — corporate ventures, angel investors, crowd-funding platforms, accelerators, VCs, banks, public grants, co-investment funds, business plan competitions, technology transfer offices, family offices, private equity investors and stock exchanges, can easily be tapped for smart investing if they are paired with the right qualified angel investors and if they look beyond local financial ecosystems.
Smart Exit
In a country’s economic development process, an increase in the number of new business ideas is closely related to exit opportunities. We therefore invite stock exchanges to pursue more practical ways to increase liquidity for early-stage investment markets and we encourage corporations to set up their own corporate ventures that will invest in smart entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. We focus on the long term, not the emergencies of the day. We understand that real progress takes time and sustained commitment, and that real success is not measured in terms of immediate results.
Smart Entrepreneurs, Start-ups and SMEs
Identifying the right entrepreneur, start-up or SME is crucial for any investor. On the other side of the coin, it is also crucial for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs to receive investment from the right team of investors. We encourage entrepreneurs to target funds from smart investors, such as angel investors, or from financial sources that cooperate with angel investors. The WBAF believes that investment readiness training programmes can turn entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs into smart sources of innovation.
Converting Public Money to Smart Money
The WBAF draws the attention of policymakers to the risks posed by financing entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. If finance is not backed up by know-how, mentorship and good networking, an investment can easily lead to the border of the proverbial valley of death. The WBAF therefore invites governments and policymakers to develop strong angel investment schemes to be used alongside public support for entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs. Policymakers should also develop smart policies to convert public money to smart money in cooperation with qualified angel investors. By working together across borders, with a common vision, and with these smart dynamics in mind, we are well placed to bring about positive change in the global economy.
President Obama greets Baybar Altuntas of Turkey at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. President Obama announced in his speech that Prime Minister Erdogan and Turkey will host the next Entrepreneurship Summit in 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)President Obama greets Baybar Altuntas of Turkey at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. President Obama announced in his speech that Prime Minister Erdogan and Turkey will host the next Entrepreneurship Summit in 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)[/caption]President Obama greets Baybar Altuntas of Turkey at the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship. President Obama announced in his speech that Prime Minister Erdogan and Turkey will host the next Entrepreneurship Summit in 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)[/caption]
What does WBAF do to find a solution for the challenges of women entrepreneurs start-ups and SMEs?
In addition to conferences, talks, meetings, and debates, the WBAF gives importance to taking concrete steps that fuel the growth of the world entrepreneurial ecosystem. Examples of practical solutions include:
The World Business Angels Investment Fund
The WBAF is in the process of establishing this special investment fund with the participation of members and partners of the World Business Angels Investment Forum, with the aim of providing financing for high-growth companies, start-ups, scale ups, entrepreneurs, and SMEs. The fund will cooperate with corporate ventures, venture capitalists, public institutions and angel investor networks throughout the world to create co-investment funds that will leverage the investment market sizes, both locally and regionally.
Global CEO Alliance Club
The CEO Alliance brings together the best corporate CEOs to increase their awareness about angel investing and to give them an opportunity to invest jointly with qualified angel investors. CEO Alliance members can thus boost their investment skills in a short period of time. With this initiative, the WBAF wants to pave the way for CEOs to become qualified angel investors, which will lead to an overall increase in the number of angel investors worldwide.
Exclusive Investment Events
The Forum organises investment events where members, investors and executives of the World Business Angels Investment Fund meet with the best high-growth companies, start-ups, entrepreneurs and SMEs for investment purposes. These investment forums are organised either independently or in conjunction with the WBAF Annual Conference or the Global Collaborations Summit.
World Excellence Awards
With its Excellence Awards, the World Business Angels Investment Forum looks beyond borders. It seeks to promote and nurture start-ups, angels, and a dynamic business community throughout the world. From business angels to policymakers to academics, the Awards salute those who stand out in imagining, discussing, and shaping the future of an entrepreneurial World. Given the diverse challenges the world is facing in the twenty-first century, it is important to recognise that entrepreneurship can have a major impact on our future, offering new ways to increase economic opportunities and to foster social justice. The World Business Angels Investment Forum aims to contribute to that impact by driving positive changes that will facilitate entrepreneurship. Fostering entrepreneurship whose effects can be felt in both economic and social arenas is a hallmark of the World Business Angels Investment Forum.
WBAF International Investment Academy
It is the position of the WBAF Academy that when investors have had the advantage of training in the best practices of negotiating deals for early-stage investment, they are in a better position to ensure good returns on their investment. With this in mind, the WBAF offers a wide variety of training programmes using a range of input (case studies, panel discussions, and presentations, to name a few), all of which encourage active participation and interaction on the part of those attending. The WBAF Academy serves not just business angels; all types of stakeholders are welcomed, ranging from entrepreneurs and SMEs to banks and stock exchanges to incubation and acceleration centres. The ultimate goal is to contribute to the development of skills and expertise and to foster the kind of creative thinking that leads to innovation and eventual success in the ever-changing market environment of the 21st century.
SME Scoring
Another specific area of interest of the WBAF is SME scoring. The WBAF sees the benefit to the world economy of a well-developed SME scoring system. We believe that such a system will accelerate the investment process and that investors will facilitate finding suitable entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs to invest in. The WBAF is ready to cooperate on initiatives and action plans to develop a valid, objective and reliable SME scoring system that can be applied globally.
What is the WBAF approach to key challenges?
We focus on key strategic challenges, including filling equity gaps, encouraging stock exchanges to create more liquidity, involving chambers of commerce to increase the number of angel investors, encouraging corporations to set up their own corporate ventures, fostering cross-border investments, and fostering entrepreneurial ecosystems by providing innovative and workable solutions. Entrepreneurs are expected to produce a demo in order to seek funds from angel investors and others, but they often lack the financial capacity to develop the demo. With this in mind, we need a solution to fill the equity gap at the seed level. We invite seed funders, crowdfunders and public support groups to cooperate to fill this gap. This equity gap is generally up to $50,000. Start-ups who receive angel investment face a finance challenge at scale up. If, for instance, they need to raise $1 million, the possibility of raising that amount from angel investors is slim because angel investors do not invest over $1 million. Yet VCs do not invest below $5 million. This is the second equity gap. We encourage the creation of co-investments between angel investors, VCs, corporate ventures and public funds to fill this gap.
Stock exchanges should open their doors to scale ups and develop innovative solutions for scale-ups and SMEs who seek funding. Chambers of commerce should be converted to sources of angel investment financing, given that angel investors are usually chamber of commerce members in their own country. But we believe that a campaign to develop awareness of angel investment systems should be created for chambers of commerce worldwide.
Corporations should be encouraged to set up their own corporate ventures, which will bring together open innovation, intrapreneurship and investment, all under the same umbrella. We believe that more corporate ventures in local economies will mean more innovation and more exits, which will in turn produce more entrepreneurs, start-ups and SMEs to create new jobs. The WBAF says ‘Hello’ to entrepreneurs and ‘Good-bye’ to borders. Globalisation of smart finance should be encouraged by fostering cross-border investments. We support the entrepreneurship ecosystems of local economies by providing innovative solutions that lead to an increased investment market size in a healthy way.
What lessons from your own experience can you share with fervent but fledgling women entrepreneurs?
First of all, they should understand the difference between ‘wannapreneurship’ and entrepreneurship. They need to be aware that ‘wannapreneurship’ comes before entrepreneurship, but it means nothing without taking a step towards the entrepreneurship stage.
Secondly, they should also differentiate invention and innovation. With an invention that isn’t marketable or doesn’t sell, they will never have money to deposit into their bank account — they will have only patents to hang on the walls of their office to prove their intelligence. If, on the other hand, they can sell their invention, they have become not merely inventors but also innovators, and this can lead to the entrepreneurial stage and healthier bank accounts.
Thirdly, I would like to draw attention to the important difference between raising investors and raising investments. In many cases, entrepreneurs and start-ups try to raise investment funds when in fact what they really need to do is find an investor who will provide know-how, mentorship and networking.
Fourthly, fervent fledgling women entrepreneurs should pay attention to getting investments from the right teams, and by the same token, investors need to be sure they are making investments in the right teams. Securing money from an angel investor team can carry your project all the way to Silicon Valley, whereas getting money from an individual investor might carry you only as far as the next street.
Last but certainly not least is a specific skill that needs to be developed: how to convert idle capacity in the economy to cash to generate finance for their potential businesses.
What are the essential skills that a successful woman entrepreneur must be armed with?
Women Entrepreneurs must possess 3 important skills. They have to be:
Able to actually see opportunities, not just look at them. So smart eyes are very important for an entrepreneur.
Keen and discriminating listeners, to differentiate between legitimate and irrelevant criticism. Entrepreneurs will hear many comments, both positive and negative, as they start out in their businesses. Smart ears are therefore critical for the entrepreneur.
Able to sniff out money before setting up their business. In this respect, entrepreneurs need smart noses.
Can you explain in broad terms the essence of your unique system that you call ‘The map to success: Your rise to entrepreneurship’, and tell us the conditions for this system to work successfully?
In my opinion, the journey to entrepreneurship resembles the four seasons of the year. The first season is the level of ‘wannapreneurship’. The second season is the stage of starting a business. This stage has three important sub-steps: innovation, entrepreneurship, and marketing and sales. The third season is the growth stage, which comprises branding, institutionalisation, and franchising. Lastly, the fourth season is the maturity stage: leadership and angel investment. In the absence of a business angel network, I encourage entrepreneurs to become, in effect, their own business angel by applying the CICIC technique. What they have to do is apply the CICIC technique to initiate the business and then follow the rising map of successful entrepreneurship. The combination of these unique systems is called the Altuntas Principle of Doing Business From Scratch.
Why do people keep reading your bestseller Off the Bus, Into a Supercar?
As the son of a teacher and a retired army officer, I would never in my wildest dreams have thought that the company I started without a penny to my name would become a multi-mullion-dollar business. Or that the president of the United States of America — in the land of entrepreneurs, would invite me to the White House to talk about entrepreneurship, or that the Turkish prime minister, leader of the 16th largest economy in the world, would hand me a letter to deliver in person to President Obama.
I couldn’t have imagined that I would one day be on CNN International commenting on President Obama’s Washington summit or that I would be one of the 110 Dragons from 22 countries on the most important entrepreneurship TV show in the world, Dragons’ Den (Shark Tank in the US). I had no money, no one to help me or back me up in the beginning, but all those things really happened. I wholeheartedly believe that our beautiful world is one where dreams are capable of becoming reality so long as we work towards the realisation of those dreams. I wish for everyone to be able to look at the world in the same optimistic way as I do, to see the bigger picture in the same frame. If the son of a teacher and army officer can achieve huge success, then I am sure that you can too, but probably much more easily. In the final analysis, I am saying that if I did it my way, so can you! And the to-do list in my book is an excellent reason for people to keep reading my book.
What was your key message to the delegates of the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum on 1st November 2016?
While addressing thousands of university students all over the world for a number of years this is what I learned: almost all university students mistakenly believe that a person must have a family member, a friend in an influential position or a strong network, or that you must be rich in order to be successful as an entrepreneur. I had nobody who was in a position to exert influence on my behalf, nor did I have family fortune or a network. So my message is, do not think like university students.
Would you have believed these things possible if you saw them in your dreams?
I would say again that I had no friends or family backing me up, no money, and no network at the time. I could have easily just resigned myself to my situation with a “the heck with this world” attitude. But I did not. I believe wholeheartedly that our beautiful world was created to convert everyone’s dreams into reality. As long as you dream and continue dreaming.
Can you tell us your steps in the entrepreneurship journey?
I am here to give you the key details of each step of the entrepreneurship journey. I have noted down what l did in each step by giving examples from my life story and l want you to write down what you have done in each step so that you can determine the level of your entrepreneurship. As a matter of fact, I want you to write your own entrepreneurship story. I did it! You can do it too! I have grouped all the steps from beginning to end that an entrepreneur will take during his or her entrepreneurship journey. l refer to those steps as the rising map of successful entrepreneurship and l have given hundreds of speeches all over the world on this topic. This map that l produced for world-class entrepreneurs is also used in workshops, and in training programmes of many universities.
My way of doing business can be summarised as Converting Idle Capacity Into Cash™, which has been examined by many academicians and featured in internationally refereed professional journals in management; it is referred to as the Altuntas Principle by academic researchers. I am very happy to be not just a real role model for entrepreneurs but also a source of inspiration for academicians to study and discover unique and beneficial methods for entrepreneurs. I am here for the readers and followers of the Global Woman Entrepreneurship Forum because I would like everyone from 7 to 77 to look at the world from my perspective, to see what I see in it. At the Forum on 1st November I will explain with all frankness how I did this. I hope that you realise that you are no different from me in many ways. If I was able to do it, so can you and probably a lot better and easier than I did!
I will tell you how I managed to accomplish so much in a short time. I will explain to you what you need to do to become a successful entrepreneur and build your own business. I hope my advice will shed a light on the subject that will help you find success in building your business. By the way, I would be pleased to hear from Women Entrepreneurs from all over the World. I’d like to answer their questions about making money, setting up new businesses, becoming their own bosses, creating new jobs, and even becoming millionaires. I’ll conclude my remarks with a favourite quote from Henry Ford that I believe captures the importance of mindset in becoming successful: ‘If you are saying that you can do it, I totally agree with you! If you are saying you can not do it, I totally agree with you.’
Follow me on Twitter and find me on Facebook. Get in touch with me to start creating new jobs as soon as possible.
About the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF): The World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is an international organisation aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from start up to scale up, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide. It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups, and SMEs. The Forum interacts with leaders in all areas of society, first and foremost in business and political spheres, to help assess needs and establish goals, bearing in mind that the public interest is of paramount importance. We engage a wide range of institutions, both public and private, local and international, commercial and academic to help shape the global agenda.
The WBAF holds that, with the participation of individuals and institutions from multiple sectors and from all parts of society, real progress can be achieved.
John Rubinstein has taught A level maths for 30 years and is the Principal of Woodhouse College in North Finchley, an outer suburb in north London. Woodhouse is a high performing sixth form college for 16-19 year old students, co-educational with around 60% female and a broad multi-cultural intake. John shares with us his background and interests, an insight into daily life as the Principal, and his concerns about underfunding, the dated education model being fit for purpose in today’s world and the future prospects for the UK economy post-Brexit.
Tell us about your childhood in Hull, your parents, and what shaped you into who you are today.
My dad was a history professor at Hull University. He was also a keen walker and was for a time national chair of the Ramblers Association, so we spent many a weekend and holiday walking over dales, moors and hills. After my parents divorced, we would see my dad on alternate weekends, often going to see Hull City play, hence my lifelong passion for football in general and Hull City in particular. I am still a keen walker, and last year I did the coast-to-coast walk, over 200 miles from the Irish Sea on the west of Cumbria to Robin Hoods Bay on the coast of North Yorkshire. My mother was a social worker, who worked very hard supporting local people in need. She remarried a local writer, Alan Plater, who was quite well known at the time (he wrote Z Cars and The Beiderbecke Connection, amongst other things), and they moved to London and bought a house just off the Holloway Road, which is where my mother still lives today, just down the road from me in Crouch End. I never imagined I would come down south and thought I would stay up north all my life, but my girlfriend got a job down here so I followed her down, only to split up 6 months later. I never made it back up north.
My partner Caroline is someone I have shared 27 years with, and I have learned from her that relationships with other people are the secret of life, the meaning of life.
Who have been your greatest influences in life and why?
My friend Mark, my next door neighbour from when I was 5 onwards, taught me a lot about life. He taught me to appreciate music and he taught me joy. He is still my best friend 50 years on. My partner Caroline is someone I have shared 27 years with, and I have learned from her that relationships with other people are the secret of life, the meaning of life.
You have a first class honours degree in pure mathematics, and have taught A level maths for 30 years. Is a mathematical mind in the family genes or unique to you? What drives your interest in maths?
Music ran in our family. My grandfather was a composer and led an orchestra in Ohio (my dad is American), and many of my extended family are American. But there's a few mathematicians now too: my daughter just graduated with a first class maths degree, and my nephew is a mathematician too. Maybe music and maths are related?
Why do you believe that maths is important and how is it relevant in our everyday lives?
I don't really. I see maths as fun, as a game. I am very much a pure mathematician. Just as English literature doesn't have to justify itself, neither should maths. Thousands of people do crosswords and sudukos and other puzzles every day just for the fun and the challenge of it, and that's why I love maths. But there's no denying that the study of maths makes you smarter. Want to get smart, kids? Read a lot and do maths, that's the answer.
Can you tell us a little about your out of work and family life, and your personal interests?
I live in Crouch End, north London, with my partner Caroline and three children, although one is now interning with a start-up company in Liverpool. The kids all went to local schools, and the two girls both came to Woodhouse College. I run a lot – I have done the Crouch End 10 kilometre run now for 13 years in a row. I enjoy half marathons but have only ever done one full marathon (London) because they take up too much training time.
You were a part time Ofsted inspector for 14 years. How would you describe the changes you have seen in that time and your view of the future direction in education?
Massive changes have taken place. At first, inspectors judged the quality of teaching. They wanted to see all-singing, all-dancing performances. Then there was a change of emphasis from the teacher to the students, and inspectors tried to measure learning instead of teaching: that's not easy to do, of course. Stare at a student listening to the teacher: are they actually listening? Are they learning? So now there has been another shift onto progress. How much progress are students making compared with their starting level? That's a good thing, and liberating for teachers because they can teach in any style that's effective, but it is still hard to measure. Statistics are always open to misinterpretation and abuse. But I do think that Ofsted inspectors are good people who mean well, most of them. The future of education is less certain. Sixth forms, whether in schools or colleges, are criminally under-funded and that is leading to the loss of minority subjects, like languages, and a lack of support for vulnerable students. The current obsession with grammar schools is a red herring.
We have lots of girls doing chemistry, biology and maths, at least 50%, maybe more. Lots of girls want to be doctors and pharmacists. But physics remains male-dominated.
Why do you think that there is still a gender difference in educational and work choice decisions, with boys still the big majority favouring maths, physics, engineering, science and technology and what can be done to shift that balance with many more girls taking up those subjects and careers?
We have lots of girls doing chemistry, biology and maths, at least 50%, maybe more. Lots of girls want to be doctors and pharmacists. But physics remains male-dominated. I guess schools need to do more to make physics/engineering careers appealing and accessible to girls. But I also think physics is badly taught in many schools, and that deters more girls than it does boys.
Please give us a little insight into the daily life of being the Principal of Woodhouse College
A little bit of everything, every day. I have a lot of contacts with students. I still teach A level maths, and have a lesson most days, and I am currently a form tutor too. I wander around the college talking to students, and my door is always open – every day, students come and see me, asking advice about university choices or permission to put on an event. Sometimes they come because they are upset; I get through several boxes of tissues a year! I spend a lot of time with staff too, and I really enjoy my meetings with the senior team. They are very serious, highly focused, but we have a laugh too. I like planning change. For example, I am currently working on next year's timetable: we are increasing the amount of time per A level subject per week in the classroom and also expanding extra-curricular opportunities, and I am working out the best form that might take, which is challenging, detailed and fun
How do you see the future of further and higher education and the transition from education into employment?
I am pretty depressed following Brexit. It is hard to be optimistic about the prospects for the UK economy. Everything seems to be fixed until 2020, all our funding rates and the way education works, but everything could change in 2020, or sooner if there's an election.
Are we equipping and educating students today with the right knowledge and skills for a fast changing technological world? How is the education system adapting to the changes and what more needs to be done?
At the moment, our education system is still pretty much the same as it was 50 years ago. We still have exams based on writing essays, based on memory of learning over two years. We don't reward creativity or teamwork or emotional intelligence or any of the qualities that are increasingly needed in the new world. Many of our students are smart and funny and quick, but these are not academically prized talents. The trouble is that exams are, on the one hand, more important than ever as a means of deciding who gets the top university places and the top jobs but, on the other hand, less fit for purpose than ever. And schools are measured by exam performance so they teach to the exam more than in the past. The whole system needs a radical shake-up.
The world is being shaken up with some momentous changes coming. How do you see the future, the role of women, and is it bright?
Girls, women, are now doing better than boys in almost every sphere in education. They mature faster into impressive young adults and they seize opportunities. Despite the continued tide of misogyny, women are marching on, and I am cheering. Men have messed up this world good and proper; if there is any optimism, surely it is female.
When we ask Bernado what he has been doing for most of his life, he answers “I am an ongoing project that was started 52 years ago. Project "Bernardo" continues today, and I'm more interested than ever in learning and developing”. Bernardo is fifty-two but it seems that he has the curiosity and energy of a 26-year-old!
He has been an entrepreneur for more than 32 years and a husband for nearly 30 years to his wife Julia. Bernardo became a parent 25 years ago and he is a father of three: He has two sons, Max and Lucci, and Gigi is his daughter. If we were to try and describe Bernardo in a few words, it would be, honest, loyal, very motivated and driven – and one who creates his own path and vision. He usually feels comfortable interviewing other people for his magazine, The Best You, but here he is sharing his story for Global Woman magazine in this exclusive interview.
You have created a global platform for self development – how did it start?
It started with a book, curiosity and having lost it all. The book was Change Your Life In 7 Days by Paul McKenna; the curiosity came from starting to ask myself, when I was thirty-something, "surely, there must be more to life than working in something that doesn’t have a true meaning?" I thought there had to be more to life than just working, so I set out to find out what my true meaning was. That brought me to NLP training and to Dr. Richard Bandler. Back then I was running a real estate company. Then, when I lost it all to a property crash in Spain when I was 40, I decided to start all over again. I did that by founding NLP Life Training and 5 years later The Best You.
You have achieved a lot of success but have also faced many challenges on your journey; How have they impacted on who you are today?
I personally think we are very lucky. A lot of people all over the world have real, life-long struggles. They have lived all their lives in places with no electricity, in poverty, with no running water, refrigeration or internet. They have poor health care and live hard lives, or they've been brought up in war zones. So, in the West, our challenges or what we think are challenges, really aren't so bad. My first real difficulty came when I was 15, when I lost my father. Since then I suppose I have convinced myself that life throws things at you, and it’s your choice how you deal with it and if you let it affect you or impact you negatively or not. My grandfather was still alive and he tried to step into my dad’s shoes. I can only imagine what it must be like to lose a son. Unfortunately, he passed away six months later. So, I suppose that from an early age I discovered that my family and I were on our own. My uncles and aunts carried on with their own lives and my mum was left alone to bring us up and work very hard to do so. I stepped up and tried in a very small way to fill my dad’s shoes.
My first real difficulty came when I was 15, when I lost my father. Since then I suppose I have convinced myself that life throws things at you, and it’s your choice how you deal with it and if you let it affect you or impact you negatively or not.
Over the years I have discovered that I have had to do that in different ways many times. So, what I know is that I am resilient, that I keep going. I understood and learned early on that change is good and also necessary, and I have never been scared of re-inventing or improving myself. I have had many very hard days, but I have always brushed myself off and started all over again.
What are the most important events in your life that have influenced your personality?
Apart from the death of my dad, and the responsibilities I took on those early years, I would say losing all my money twice was a wake up call to work smarter. The first time was at the age of 26. My son was six months old, and my wife was pregnant again, when there was a real estate crash. I had a moment when all my savings were in a box of Roses chocolates, and I literally used my last 100 pesetas. That was a wake-up call. There was a moment when I thought what that last coin meant. Basically from then on, I started working in Timeshare and eventually real estate and I built my wealth all over again. The second time I was 38. That was much more of a challenge as I had accumulated more wealth, several, cars and properties, I was living the life, and the second real estate crisis caught me completely unprepared. It meant a time for big decisions, starting all over again, moving to England, and starting something new, promoting seminars while I left my family in Spain.
How do you remember your childhood?
I had lovely and loving parents. I was born in London and lived here until I was nine. My parents were both immigrants, who worked as staff in the homes of very wealthy people. Because of that, we used to travel all over Europe: Austria in winter, Venice and Spain in the summer. Then my parents moved back to Spain. In Marbella, I had a very nice, easy-going time. I lived in a lovely villa where my parents worked, so I have always lived in great properties and surrounded by wealthy people. My parents paid for me to go to private schools – so yes, I was fortunate. I had lots of fun growing up and I enjoyed all the pleasures a place like Marbella had to offer.
How was your relationship with your parents?
It was great with both. Unfortunately I did not get to know my dad well enough. They were both hard working. My dad was a maître d', so he had vast knowledge of good wines and good food. My mum is a chef, so I was brought up in that environment. I remember from a very young age, helping, shopping, drying dishes, washing cars. They met in England, and they brought us back to Spain. My mum is a force of nature, an amazing character that worked very hard to support us and educate us – especially after my dad died. She's old school Spanish from Sevilla!
You were born in the UK and then moved to Spain and then back again to London – how would you describe this transition?
I was lucky because when I left the UK I was fluent in English. It took me a bit of time to become fluent in Spanish but I then became completely bilingual. When I left Spain at the age of 40, even if I hadn't worked in the UK, I was lucky that I could speak the language and knew how to get around. It made me think about how difficult it was for our parents who came as immigrants to this country with no knowledge at all of English. It must have been so difficult. So for me, the most difficult thing was to leave my family in Spain for the first three years and to commute back and forth. To be honest I never thought in a million years I would have left Spain to work in England! But you do what you have to do! I miss Spain and I wish I spent more time at home – that’s my plan in the coming years.
How did you manage to keep the balance between family and your career?
Well, my wife has always been great at making a nest. We have moved many times, but home became home very quickly! I have always been very business-driven, In Spain life is different, there is more sunshine, more outdoor activities. It's true that I missed out on quite a few things – like when my boys were teenagers. I am sure it wasn't easy for them, but they are all great, independent and very hard-working. I am very proud of them, they are my real legacy to the world. When I work, I work very hard and long hours – but I do try to holiday or travel more and plan to do a lot more in the future. I really would like to dedicate my future years to learning and doing new things, and to speak around the world. To live life to the full!
Bernardo with his wife Julia
What is the role of your wife Julia in your career?
She is my "Consigliori" – my advisor. I share all my ups and downs with her; especially the downs, unfortunately for her. We have had a few. She has always been a part of all my dreams, my visions, my successes and my failures. As they say, behind every man (great or not!) there is a strong woman.
You now lead very successful enterprises – what is the goal and the plans that you have for the future?
It’s exciting times at The Best You. We have many exciting things on the go. It started with NLP and launching NLP Life Training 10 years ago, then five years ago I launched The Best You Magazine. This year we promoted our first EXPO. It was the first personal development EXPO in Europe. We have our second one planned on the 4th and 5th March 2017, and we are very excited about it. We will have 8 seminar rooms, the main stage, more than 112 workshops, 140 exhibitors and we are hoping for more than 6000 visitors.
During the evening of the EXPO on the 4th of March we will run our first Best You Gala and Awards dinner for the most inspiring professional developers and personal growth leaders. I think it's important to recognise people who've made a contribution to helping others, and to celebrate that. I'm sure it's going to be fantastic. For the last four years we have been recording our seminars and interviewing so many great people, and with all that content and the content of other partners, The Best You TV channel and E-Learning Platform will go live in the second quarter of 2017. So our plans are to get into the U.S. market and provide inspiring stories, events and products all over the world and in many languages.
What would be your message for all women entrepreneurs?
My message is we need you. The world needs you, Men have been in charge for far too long. Women bring something very unique to business. Of course, it's too corny to simply say "they are more empathetic, more caring, they are loyal" and so on. But my experience with women entrepreneurs is they often bring something different to the role. Perhaps it's a different perspective, a different way of looking at things. Perhaps it's a different experience of life from most of the men. I don't know, but whatever it is, when I am always pleased to meet a great woman entrepreneur and hear what she has to say. To encounter her drive and her passion is all part of the reward of working in business.
My personal belief is that thanks to the era we live in with technology at our disposal, we have not only the opportunity but also a duty – a social, personal, professional and global responsibility to make the world a better place. Getting more women into business, getting more people taking control of their lives is part of that – and then going beyond that to make others' lives better. So, working with women and seeing women empowered is all part of the industry I work in.
But, whether we are talking about men or women, I believe we all have to find our purpose, we have to find out what our mission in life is, what we want our legacy to be. Don't just live, really LIVE!
