The 10 Powerful Leaders in Business

2020
Volume-10
Issue-03
AHMED
R.ALI
THE
10POWERFUL
L E A D E R S
IN BUSINESS
www.insightssuccess.com
Ahmed R. Ali
President & Founder
Factors to Eliminate
Employee Retention
Challenges
EmployeeCare

Even though this question is quite common,
its essence in the business world has never
been more pragmatic. Leadership is a
diverse concept with vivid interpretations. Some
people use it to derive their purpose in life and
some still try to find a meaning for their life
through leadership. A true leadership is where your
peers are not just associated with your work, they
are associated with you. They relate to you on a
deeper level, not just on professional grounds but
emotional as well.
While some people believe in ‘keeping things
professional’ between their colleagues, many
people go above and beyond to help their
coworkers and subordinates, just to set a good
example. It has become quite a challenge, a leader’s
dilemma to be exact, fostering and maintaining
relationships in the workplace. But the list of issues
does not end here.
In this VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex,
ambiguous) times coupled with the ongoing
pandemic, leaders are directed towards facing a lot
of challenges in their respective businesses. As the
effects of pandemic are not limited to any particular
industry, business leaders across different verticals
EDITOR’S DESK
How important is
Leadership in Business?

are facing somewhat similar issues when it comes
handling and managing their daily operations.
It is true that challenges are a part of business but coping
through its pressure and getting the job done is a task,
not many can follow. A sense of true leadership is
required to take the ‘entrepreneur-ship’ sailing through
the VUCA waves of challenges. Emphasizing on the
essence of true business leadership, we are portraying
‘The 10 Powerful Leaders in Business, 2020’ in the
latest edition of Insights Success.
On the cover page of this month’s issue is Ahmed R Ali,
the President and Founder of Tista Science
Technology Corporation who is leading the business
with a persistent attitude. Read in detail about his
journey to prominence.
The cluster of names for this edition includes Akash
Agarwal, Co-founder CEO of Sahaj Software
Solutions. He had been serving the IT industry for more
than 2 decades proficiently. Another name in the list is
Alvin Ea, Co-founder and CEO of Haulio, who is a
leader spearheading a revolutionary collaborative B2B
platform in the container trucking sector. Edward Van
Leent is one of the pioneering leaders who is making a
difference in the Data Centre Training and Audit Industry
for a long time. As the Chairman CEO of the EPI
Group of Companies, he is transforming the company
from a data center design solutions provider to a full-
fledged data center services company. Another one of the
successful entrepreneurs who thinks differently and is
always looking to solve problems with innovative
solutions is Gary Olsen. He is the Principal of GHO
Group and is considered as one of the Thought Leaders
in the media and technology industry. Also, read what
Chad Burmeister, the Founder CEO of ScaleX.ai.,
has to say about the dynamics of leadership in an
interview with Insights Success.
Few of the honorable mentions for this month’s edition
are Adam Belsher, Marc Inkol, Nick Wagner, Jim Kelly,
and Jason Austin.
We have a CXO from 20Four7VA talking about creating
a strong brand identity. Do give it a read. To know what
is going on inside a powerful business leader’s head,
take a look at this month’s latest edition of Insights
Success!
Sneha Sinha

16
An Avid Sales Person
a Profound Leader
Chad Burmeister
How to create a strong
brand identity: 5 must-know tips
22
08
Cover Story
Interview with Insights Success
CXO
Ahmed
R. AliAn Example of Dauntless
Innovation
Branding Tips

20
A r t i c l e
Factors to Eliminate
Employee Retention Challenges
Employee Care
32
CONTENTS
30
26
A Budding Trailblazer
of Logistical Arena
Alvin Ea
A Leader Who Changed the
Data Centre Training and
Audit Industry Forever
Edward Van Leent
Inspiring Leadership,
Delivering Simplicity
Akash Agrawal
A Conﬁdent Creative
Entrepreneur In Pursuit
of Innovation
Gary Olson
34

sales@insightssuccess.com
October, 2020
Circulation Manager Tanaji
Research Analyst Eric Smith
Editor-in-Chief Sumita Sarkar
Anish MillerSenior Editor
Kelly, JennyBusiness Development Executives
Managing Editor
Sherin RodricksBusiness Development Manager
Sneha Sinha
Art Design Head Asha Bange
Art Design Assistant
Deepanjali Jena
Visualiser David King
Paul BelinCo-designer
Art Picture Editor
Priyanka Rajage
Marketing Manager Joseph D'souza
Technical Consultants Pratiksha, Aditya, David
Technical Head Jacob Smile
Assistant Technical Head
SME-SMO Executives Gemson, Renuka
Digital Marketing Manager Alina Sege
Assistant Digital Marketing Manager Amol Wadekar
Copyright © 2020 Insights Success Media and Technology Pvt. Ltd., All rights reserved. The content and images used in this magazine should not
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Sales Executives Alice, Joe
Amar Sawant
Assisting Editors Abhishaj, Darshan

Management BriefCompany Name
Marc Inkol
President
Greensill
greensill.com
Gary Olson
Principal
Haulio
haulio.io
Magnet Forensics
magnetforensics.com
Adam Belsher
CEO
Sahaj Software Solutions
sahaj.ai
Akash Agrawal
Founder and CEO
Alvin Ea
Co-founder and CEO
EPI Group of
Companies
epigroup.com
Ghogroup
ghogroup.com
Explorer Research
explorerresearch.com
Maryland-based
Jason Austin
Co-founder
Edward Van Leent is one of the pioneering leaders who is
making a difference in the data center training and audit
industry for a very long period of time.
Marc Inkol has twenty years of rich experience in working for
tier 1 companies which he is leveraging to spearhead the
operations of Explorer Research.
Gary Olsen is a person who thinks differently when it comes to
solving problems with innovative solutions.
Jason Austin leads Greensil which is one of the leading
providers of supply-chain finance.
Alvin Ea is a dynamic leader who is spearheading a
revolutionary collaborative B2B platform in the container
trucking space.
Adam Belsher with his company Magnet Forensics is on a
mission to protect the innocent and seek justice through
enabling necessary tools to combat the increasing crime rates of
today.
Catherine vanVonno
President, CEO
Cathrine vanVonno talks about creating a strong brand identity
in her article that Insights Success has featured as a CXO for its
esteemed readers.
Akash Agrawal is serving the IT sector for more than two
decades dedicatedly.
Edward Van Leent
Chairman and CEO
Scalex.ai
scalex.ai
Tistatech
tistatech.com
Akash Agrawal
Founder and CEO
Chad Burmeister
CEO
Ahmed R Ali
CEO
Chad Burmeister sheds some light on the dynamics of
leadership in the exclusive Interview with Insights Success.
Ahmed R Ali is leading the business technological innovation
with a persistent attitude.
The10
POWERFUL
LEADERSin Business

Cover Story
Ahmed R. Ali
President Founder

AHMED
From day one,
TISTA has been
about our people
“
R.An Example of Dauntless Innovation
ALI

product of his own experience and through gathering
strength from distress. He says, “Learning how to lead is a
never-ending journey, and every leader’s path varies with
their experiences and the people they meet. I began my
career in the US Navy, where I was heavily influenced by
exceptional leaders and through my interactions with both
military and civilian personnel throughout the world.”
Mr. Ahmed R. Ali has continuously pursued relevant
educational opportunities, including a B.S. in Information
Systems Management, an M.S. in Cybersecurity, an MBA
with a concentration in International Business, and several
executive level education programs.
In his words, “Leadership requires knowledge; leaders who
not understand subject matter related to their business
cannot influence successful outcomes or communicate
intelligently with others. Even with my education, numerous
personal and professional relationships, and more than 30
years of military, federal government, and civilian
experience in engineering, information technology,
cybersecurity, and project and program management, I still
gain new insights in effective leadership every single day.”
Today Mr. Ahmed R. Ali has not only grown to be resilient
but also to be an unapologetic leader. “In the first three
years, TISTA’s revenue was approximately $200K with only
3 employees, and fifteen years later, the company has now
exceeded $200M in annual revenue, with over half a billion
dollars in contract backlog, and nearly 700 full-time
employees,” he shares.
The Extended IT Department
With a growth-mindset and learning attitude, TISTA is at
the pinnacle of achieving everlasting success. While these
factors contributed to the company’s growth, we wanted to
know what gives it a competitive edge. TISTA has gained a
hroughout history, one consistent trend among
Tsuccessful people is the ability to persevere; the
ability to stand up and take a step forward during
times of crisis or adversity. In many ways this quality is
unnatural. Human instinct is to seek security, retreat, or
sometimes, lash out against hardship. What I have found is
that perseverance is both a learned trait and a choice,
developed through experience and by purposefully
choosing alternative paths. It is a series of bumpy steps
rather than a steady incline, but over time and by learning
from both good and bad choices, it is refined into the
foundation for strong leadership. Leaders, and individuals
aspiring to lead, believe in themselves and persevere to
reach a desired result when other strategies fail.
Ahmed R. Ali, the President and Founder of TISTA
Science and Technology Corporation attributes his
success to his persistent attitude. He says, “Starting the
company was a passion and dream of mine, but when I
started, it was a very challenging period. I was a one-
person company for approximately two years, working as a
sub-contractor to a large business on a Department of
Defense contract. I took a huge pay cut when I started my
company, and I took a lot of risk that put my family in
potential financial jeopardy, but I was determined to work
hard and succeed.”
However, this is not the only distinctive feature that makes an
irreplaceable leader. His journey to prominence revolves
around a fact; the path to exceptional growth, change, and
performance requires assertive action. He adds, “Leadership
skills are most effectively learned through overcoming
adversity. When faced with a challenge, leaders do not wait
for a solution to appear—they assess the problem, break it
down into manageable components, and identify potential
solutions.”
Mr. Ahmed R. Ali’s entrepreneurial journey began while
serving in the United Sates Navy for 6 years. Upon
completion of his active duty naval career, he worked in the
private industry for several years for both small and large
businesses, and as a government employee. His technical,
management and leadership experiences with the military,
private sector and government agencies prepared him for
future entrepreneurship and the innovation economy.
Shaped by Experiences
The journey to becoming an effective leader is not an easy
one. Addressing the obstacles that came along the way,
shaped Mr. Ahmed R. Ali into the leader he is celebrated as
today.
The charisma of Mr. Ahmed R. Ali is exemplary; he is a
Cover Story
“AT TISTA, WE VALUE
OUR PARTNERS AND
THIS ETHIC HAS
SUPPORTED OUR
LONG-TERM SUCCESS
IN THE INDUSTRY
“

reputation for delivering innovative and
cutting-edge solutions, providing
exceptional customer service, and hiring
highly qualified subject matter experts.
TISTA’s primary competencies include
Agile Application Engineering, Data
Engineering and Analytics, Integration
Engineering, Test Automation, Quality
Assurance (QA) and Quality Control (QC),
Infrastructure Engineering, Cybersecurity,
Program and Product Management, and
Emerging Technologies (such as Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning, Robot
Process Automation (RPA), and
Blockchain).
With numerous capable competitors in the
industry, having a single line of product or
service offerings is a considerable
weakness. Therefore, TISTA offers a broad
range of competencies that focus on
customer service, employee retention,
continuous improvement through
knowledge sharing across programs, and innovative
solutions to both technology and process challenges
that hinder other companies.
Supporting over twenty Federal Agencies as a prime
contractor, TISTA has been exposed to and developed
a wide range of expertise in the fields of
Cybersecurity, integrated DevOps and DevSecOps
solutions, Health Informatics, and Fraud, Waste, and
Abuse (FWA) detection and mitigation in support of
federal agencies.
Most notably, TISTA’s leadership has made Quality
Management one of its core competencies, which has
resulted in many industry awards and recognition.
Over the years, TISTA has been listed multiple times
on the Inc. 500/5000 list of fastest-growing companies
in America. In both 2019 and 2020, programs
supported by TISTA received FedHealthIT Innovation
Awards. And in 2020, TISTA was ranked #4 by the
Washington Business Journal as one of the largest
veteran-owned companies in the Washington
metropolitan area. “We are a trusted partner offering
high quality, cost-effective services,” shares Mr.
Ahmed R. Ali.
Promoting Organizational Growth
Although TISTA has experienced tremendous growth
during its 15 years, its mission has not changed: to
deliver the highest quality IT services and innovative solutions
to its government customers. The company accomplishes this by
continuing to improve and mature its processes, strengthen and
expand its core competencies, and develop and leverage
emerging technologies and trends to provide the innovative and
efficient solutions that its government customers expect and
deserve.
“Combined with our service and product lines of business, we
expect to grow to a billion-dollar company within the next
decade,” states Mr. Ahmed R. Ali. Enabling this achievement
involves detailed strategic and tactical plans, both short- and
long-term, based on the accumulated knowledge and expertise
of Mr. Ahmed R. Ali, the TISTA leadership team, and active
participation of the entire workforce in their respective areas.
The guiding principles driving TISTA’s growth strategy are
consistent with Mr. Ahmed R. Ali’s goals when he founded the
company:
• Being passionate and focused on customers and associates.
This passion also drives TISTA’s community involvement.
• Continuous learning. TISTA’s associates love to learn, so it is
important to provide growth opportunities. The company has
partnered with colleges and universities that align with its
goals of supporting veterans, technologists, and leaders.
Sustaining Competency and Innovation
Entrepreneurs and business executives around the globe know

that it is only through continuous innovation that success
can be achieved, and Mr. Ahmed R. Ali is no different. He
believes that innovation is a perennial management
challenge. “The 2020 pandemic has been a time of great
challenge for all of us. I’m thoroughly humbled in the way
that our associates have exemplified leadership,
perseverance, and adaptability during this time. We have
shown what we are made of. We are innovative during times
of change and challenge,” comments Mr. Ahmed R. Ali.
TISTA’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a full
corporate-wide transition to a remote work-from-home
model in March 2020. Despite more than 90% of personnel
previously working in offices, this transition was conducted
over a single weekend, with full operational capacity both
at the corporate level and across all programs the following
Monday with a 100% remote workforce.
While some individuals acquired different responsibilities
under the virtual model, TISTA had not a single layoff, and
has continued to expand with dozens of new associates
joining the company since this past March. Not content
with just a transition, TISTA found new methods of
enhancing transparency, communication, and collaboration
through feedback and knowledge-sharing technologies.
“Productivity has increased, and customer satisfaction of
our pandemic response has been overwhelmingly positive,”
says Mr. Ahmed R. Ali. Going further, TISTA established
an entire team responsible for supporting both TISTA
associates and their communities, and developed an online
and mobile-accessible COVID-19 Tracker app that
consolidates multiple data sources on confirmed COVID-19
cases in the U.S.
Under the leadership of Mr. Ahmed R. Ali, TISTA has
integrated best practices and structures that promote
ongoing innovation while sustaining its existing
competencies. The company aligns its services with
customer missions and actively engages with customers to
consistently solve customer problems, provide transparency
and proactive risk mitigation, and deliver measurable cost
and time efficiencies.
TISTA’s innovation and engineering teams, components of
TISTA’s Office of the CTO, continuously perform
technology market analyses and are prepared to inject new
innovative solutions or augment existing solutions as it
encounters customer problems.
TISTA fosters two classes of innovation to sustain its
competencies. Delivery Innovations are those that align
with current competencies managed within the core
business units, where usually the innovation would offer
rapid returns by improving an existing capability or an
operation of the business.
New Growth Innovations focus on proactively identifying
challenges TISTA has not yet faced, and conducting
ground-breaking research, solution architecting, pilot
implementation, and thorough testing. Results of both
Delivery Innovations and New Growth Innovations are
provided to our customers in the form of white papers,
demonstrations, and proposals.
“We mindfully combine and enhance our existing
competencies by employing viable technologies. TISTA, as
an organization, promotes an innovative culture within our
workforce where we adopt techniques such as design
thinking, and continuously groom our competency maturity
level to differentiate us from companies that offer business-
as-usual solutions,” comments Mr. Ahmed R. Ali.
ForeseeingtheFuture
Mr.Ahmed R.Ali’s journey and his persistence act as the fuel
that inspires people to achieve specific goals, no matter how
unlikelyor difficultthepathmightbe.
“In the past four years, TISTA has quadrupled in size and
become a solid mid-size business. We have nearly 700
associates who have entrusted TISTA as their employer and
committed to advancing the missions of our federal
government customers. However, perhaps surprisingly, our
goal is not growth for the sake of growth. TISTA does not
employ salespeople to attract customers or sell our
services. Instead, we have historically grown through
demonstrating phenomenal success on increasingly
challenging service delivery programs for our customers.
When a potential customer has a requirement for
information technology services relevant to TISTA’s
expertise, we provide a draft solution, and explain our prior
experience achieving successful outcomes. When we are
selected to implement the solution, it is not a ‘successful
sale’—we view it as a responsibility and align our
company’s resources to ensure our associates can deliver
results that exceed our customers’expectations. Growth is
earned, not given. If TISTA were to fail at service delivery,
we would deserve neither growth nor customers.”
– Mr. Ahmed R. Ali.
No matter what the future holds, it is clear that TISTA, under
the leadership of Mr. Ahmed R. Ali, is scaled for continuous
growth while ensuring that it continues to offer superior and
customer-centricsolutions.
Cover Story

The 10 Powerful Leaders in Business

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Apowerful leader is someone who leads from the
front and does not manage with an iron fist.
Understanding yourself is the first key to great
leadership – how can you lead others if you do not
understand yourself to the core of who you are,” believes
Chad Burmesiter, the Founder CEO of ScaleX.ai.
Chad has a successful career in building high-velocity sales
teams at companies including Cisco-WebEx, Riverbed
Technology, ON24, ConnectAndSell, and RingCentral. He
was the Founding Chapter President of the AA-ISP Silicon
Valley Chapter which was voted two years in a row as
“Chapter of the Year”, Director of AA-ISP Frontline Friday,
and Colorado Chapter President to help advance the
profession of inside sales to the next level of
professionalism and performance.
Chad is currently on the team who launched the Denver
Enterprise Sales Forum. He has been voted Top 25 Most
Influential Inside Sales Professional by the AA-ISP 10 years
in a row (2010-2019).
Chad is also the author of two books called SalesHack and
more recently ScaleX.ai, Multi-Channel Sales Acceleration,
Powered by Artificial Intelligence.
In an interview with Insights Success, he shares some
valuable insights of his journey and how he continues to be
at the forefront of inside sales and high-velocity selling
strategy and execution.
Below are the highlights of the interview:
Brief us about your journey and tell us why and how
you chose to venture into your respective industry.
As a child, I was very interested in magic. When I could
show an audience a magic trick, or even in a one-on-one
setting, the pure joy and amazement of the other person was
a real thrill to me. I was also extremely competitive. When
asked, “do you hate to lose, or love to win?” the answer is
both for me. I guess I started selling when I was under 10
years old because I would sell suckers on the bus to school.
I became sure that sales was for me while studying abroad
in New Zealand. In a marketing class at Lincoln University
in Canterbury, I came across this page which led me down
the path of sales.
Please describe in brief about your company and its
services/products.
ScaleX is the leading provider of Pipeline as a Service.
Since launching in December 2017, ScaleX continues to
double every year – thanks to our team of Pipeline as a
Service Experts including sales, marketing, operations, and
client success.
What were the challenges you came across in your
career as a business leader?
Understanding your why is the first key to becoming a great
leader. As Robert White, author of Living an Extraordinary
Life, asks, “What is the purpose of you?” and “Why are you
here on earth”? For John Denver, after a four-day workshop
with ARC International, he came up with these lines – I am
a song! I live to be sung! I sing with all my heart! As a
leader, we need to connect with our purpose and when we
do – the hand of God comes into play, and can become an
unstoppable force of change for you and others.
CHAD
BURMEISTER
An Avid Sales Person A Profound Leader
“
INTERVIEW WITH INSIGHTS SUCCESS
www.insightssuccess.com16 | October 2020
CHAD BURMESITER
Founder CEO
ScaleX.ai.

What unique ideas have you implemented as a leader of
your company that makes it different from competitors?
ScaleX.ai lives at the bleeding edge of technology. While
other companies find a niche, and stick with it, the world
changes. And these niches get exposed to competition, and
the effectiveness of the “magic trick” goes away, because
everyone else learns how to perform the same “magic”.
What worked in 2017, does not work as well in 2020. An
example – ScaleX Introductions uses AI to determine who
the influencers are in your network that could make
valuable introductions on your behalf to your top prospects.
With AI, this exercise takes 8-12 minutes on a network of
10,000+ connections. A human would take months to
nd
perform this task (especially when you look at 2
connections on LinkedIn – for every 10,000 first
connections, a person usually has 1M or more second
connections). Emailing influencers to introductions yields
70-80% open rates, and 10-30% reply rates. Add video, and
watch out, even better yield.
What is your take on a positive work culture within a
team or an organization and how do you bring positive
work culture within your organization?
I am lucky, my parents must have done something right,
because I look at the world as a cup overflowing with
possibilities. So generally, I’m a positive person to be
around in the virtual world of selling that we live in today. I
tend to look for positives in people, and align them in a role
that they can thrive in. When there isn’t a fit, rather than
prolong the bad situation as many leaders would do, I’ve
gotten better at identifying the issue early and “failing fast”.
What used to take me six months to a year, I can now
identify in 1-2 months, or better yet, before they are hired –
by leveraging partners like Score More Sales and their sales
profiler tools and methods.
How do you keep up to date about the technological
advancements and changing market trends in your
industry?
We invent the change, and we live it for and with our
clients.
How do you strategize on scaling your career and your
company in the future?
Remember Robert White’s advice on discovering the
purpose of you, mine goes something like this – there are
86,400 seconds in a day, invest them wisely!
What would your advice be to the aspiring
entrepreneurs and business leaders of tomorrow?
Find mentors – a few of them. Perhaps a financial mentor, a
marketing mentor, and most important, a mindset mentor!
www.insightssuccess.com October 2020 | 17

AkashAkashAkash
AgrawalAgrawalAgrawalInspiring Leadership, Delivering SimplicityThe very core of leadership is to make an impact,
leave footprints, and to pass on its eternal flame to
the ones born from it. What good are leaders if
exploiting people is their agenda, and what good can
leaders not do when the power of positive persuasion is
bestowed upon them? Coming to the kind of leadership
that’s required to run a company right from scratch to glory,
it could be safely said that Akash Agrawal, the
Co-founder and CEO of Sahaj Software Solutions, is an
ideal representation.
Akash has been in the IT industry for over two decades now
and displays the same level of proficiency. He started his
career with some of the major global IT Services
Companies like HCL, Infosys, Aditi and ThoughtWorks. He
started off as a Java developer and went on to do projects in
the ERP space. Akash has played the role of Managing
Director and COO for ThoughtWorks India and grew the
company’s India operations from 250 people initially, to
about 850 people by the time he left.
In 2014, Akash started Sahaj Software Solutions along with
four of his colleagues from ThoughtWorks. “The idea of
Sahaj was very straight forward, we wanted to create a
company which is all about its people and tries to reduce
exploitation of its people and clients. At the same time we
realized that in the last 20 years, very little innovation has
happened in the IT services space,” states Akash.
Considering this as an opportunity, Akash and his team at
Sahaj, used this opportunity to create a disruptive and
innovative IT Services company, which came up with its
own unique delivery methodology, backed by a strong
people culture.
Exhibiting Expertise
The Sahaj Software delivery model reduces wastage in
software delivery by more than 50%. The company delivers
complex technology projects and products much faster and
with a minimalistic, but high powered technology team.
Broadly, Sahaj is a premium technology consulting
company and offers Custom Development, Product Design
and Technology Advisory.
AkashAgrawal
Co-founderCEO

Sahaj takes pride in delivering simple
solutions to complex business needs.
Akash evidently comprehends that
designing and developing a simple
solution needs in-depth understanding
of clients’ problems, the ecosystem,
years of experience, knowledge of the
best practices in order to come up with
intuitive designs and technical choices,
and finally like that of an artist, a
knack for drawing the best solutions.
All these requirements most certainly
need a different set of people, and what
better an example than team Sahaj?
The Sahaj team collectively has the
experience of taking multiple start-ups
from an idea stage to market stage in
about 2-4 months. Such product design
and development engagements start
with a short 2-3 day discovery, ideation
and product design exercise, followed
by service / experience design going in
parallel with development, managed in
short iterations that are typically 1
week long. Each iteration ends with an
evolving version of the working
product, facilitating feedback at the
end of each stage.
Sahaj helps its customers make
appropriate technology and process
choices. It also helps them define their
technology roadmap for new business
strategies, new product architectures in
the evaluation of existing or new and
innovative product ideas to assess the
technical robustness of existing
solutions. The company’s
recommendations are based on years of
collective experience, its passion for
solving complex problems as a team
and passion to find simple solutions.
Staying Inspired, Staying Successful
Akash’s goal in life is to keep learning,
experimenting and building something
that can inspire others. Whereas, his
biggest source of inspiration is his
partner, friend, the guardian of his
values and mentor, his wife Nidhi.
“She has been a perpetual source of
inspiration for me. Her ability to keep
fighting all odds, keep calm when in
deep trouble, ability to think out of box
and above all motivate people around
at all times, has been the biggest
inspiration for me,” Akash expresses.
There have been times in Akash’s life
when he felt lost or broken in his
journey. His approach towards
surpassing such times has always been
going back to the drawing board and
trying to rehash everything, and also
the ceaseless support of his wife.
Success for Akash is not the growth of
the company or the idea, but in the
growth of people who believe in that
idea. According to Akash, a leader is
just not about the idea but more
importantly about the people who
believe in the idea. Akash knows, if the
people who are on the journey have
learnt, and grown then that’s success.
“A leader’s best asset is the ability to
influence and inspire others. If a leader
is not able to inspire others then that’s
job half done,” says Akash.
Bequeathing Excellence
In his advice to the budding
entrepreneurs, Akash states, “I am still
in the learning process of
entrepreneurship, but one thing that I
can say is have an unwavering belief in
the team that you build for your
venture. Spend good time in making the
right choices when you build the initial
team. In my mind entrepreneurship is a
team sport. Every member of the team
has an important role to play in the
game. And also play to enjoy the
experience and not only win it.”
Concluding his perspectives and
opinions on leadership and inspiration,
Akash talks about the future roadmap
for himself as well as his company. He
says, “Ten years is too long a time.
I believe in taking life as it comes.
However, I do see myself helping
young leaders and playing more of an
advisor and a coach kind of a role in
the years to come.”
Akash and his team of experts aim at
redefining the entire premium software
services space and establish Sahaj as
the Market leader in that space. After
establishing the company in India, US,
now they are looking at setting up an
entity in UK and also have Singapore
next on the cards.
“A great leader
is one who
inspires others
to be a leader,
to believe in
something and
lead others, to
grow others and
to create a
movement.”
The10
POWERFUL
LEADERSin Business

HOW TO CREATE A STRONG BRAND IDENTITY
5 MUST-KNOW TIPS
Catherine vanVonno is the CEO and
President of 20four7VA, one of the fastest-
growing virtual staﬃng companies in the
world today. She is passionate about helping
small business owners scale by giving them
access to reliable and highly trained remote
talent. She is also deeply invested in
providing employment opportunities for
skilled individuals from around the world.
Get in touch with her on LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Whether you lead a large multinational or a
mom-and-pop store with only a handful of
employees, developing a unique brand
identity should be top of your priority list.
Strong and consistent branding communicates your
values, story, and message. If done right, your brand
identity should not only attract an audience and keep you
top-of-mind but turn leads into paying customers.
What is a brand identity?
First things first: while the words “brand” and “logo” are
used interchangeably, these are two different things. A
logo may symbolize a company, individual, or
organization, but it’s just one (visual) element of a brand.
On the other hand, a brand is the collection of qualities
that fuel people’s ideas and feelings about something. In
short, it’s how people feel or think about your company.
When you take steps to develop a specific image of your
company — a process we call branding — you create a
brand identity.
A brand identity is the set of tangible elements — logos,
colors, tone of voice, typography, and messaging — that
convey a particular image of a brand. The more robust,
more consistent, and more specific these elements are,
the better the chances that the brand will leave a lasting
impression and compel your audience to engage with
your company.
Why do I need a brand identity?
Marketing experts say that the average person is exposed
to between 4,000 to 10,000 ads daily. Social media
platforms have made it easier to create brand awareness,
but with millions of companies clamoring for views,
consumers are drowning in content. Worse, studies say
that you only get about 20 seconds to make an
impression online.
The battle for attention may be more challenging than
ever, but the truth is that digital marketing remains one
of the best ways to reach prospects and drive sales.
The key to successful marketing is building a brand that
communicates your unique perspective and value
proposition. No matter how good your product or service
is, without a cohesive brand identity (and an excellent
online experience), people will gloss right over you and
move on to the next thing.
With that said, here are five must-know tips for creating
a unique, strong, and memorable brand identity.
Tip #1: Know thyself.
Creating a brand image starts with looking within. This
means conducting a brand audit and identifying your
main value propositions, values, and mission statement.
These form the very essence of your brand identity. By
analyzing your data, you will gain a clear understanding
of who your audience is and be able to map out your
customer journey.
You also need to know who you are competing with for
market share, what strategies they are implementing, and
how you can set yourself apart. Conduct an in-depth
competitor analysis to find out where you stand.
Tip #2: Creativity and data work hand-in-hand.
Once you’ve laid the foundation for your brand identity,
it’s time to work on the creative elements. This is where
it really pays to get help from professionals.
While business owners know their company’s internal
workings more than anyone else, they’re not always in
the best position to tell how they’re perceived from the
outside. When business leaders wonder why their
marketing efforts aren’t paying off, this is usually one of
the reasons.
Building a brand identity is about developing the look,
feel, and voice on which every single piece of marketing
Branding Tips

collateral your company produces will be based. It’s a lot
of creative work, which involves both subjective and
objective choices.
When making design decisions, leaders sometimes forget
that the design is for their target audience, not for them.
Try to avoid this. Instead of letting the highest-paid
person in the room make the final creative choices or
going with the majority opinion, gather data, follow best
practices, and validate your choices through
experimentation.
Tip #3: Be you.
That said, you must also never forget that your brand
identity is all about your distinctive experience.
Your brand must reflect who you are as a company. For
this reason, you should be careful about following trends
and monitoring your competitors too closely. Keeping a
finger on the pulse of marketing in your industry is
essential, but don’t rely on convention all the time. Be
aware of what your competitors are doing but don’t copy
their strategies or content.
The only way to build lasting relationships in the age of
tech-savvy customers is to be authentic.
Tip #4: Use all available platforms.
Building your brand identity is a long game. To succeed,
you need to utilize all the marketing channels available
to you. The more platforms you use, the higher the
likelihood of reaching a wider audience and
strengthening your brand.
Develop robust marketing campaigns for email, social
media, print, and television. Create a PR strategy and get
your company featured in podcasts, videos, and
publications. Partner with influencers. Communicate
with your audience directly on LinkedIn, Instagram,
Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Most of all, make sure
that your website is on-brand, optimized for mobile,
loads quickly, and is user-friendly.
Tip #5: Build, measure, learn.
No matter how good your initial plans may seem, they
must adapt to change. The market is continuously
evolving, and, along with it, so must your battle plan.
To remain competitive, you need to continuously
analyze, recalibrate, and ensure that you’re still attracting
and offering value to your customer. Fortunately, modern
marketing tools give you the ability to monitor your
existing strategies and test new ones.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to rebrand. Large corporations and
small businesses alike have found that rebranding — a
logo tweak, a new slogan, or a change in demographic
focus — can lead to substantial growth.
Final thoughts
Developing a brand identity takes a lot of work, but it’s
work that undoubtedly pays off. The last thing any
business owner wants is to lose potential customers
because their branding is all over the place. Take care not
to substitute analysis and reflection with half-baked
gimmicks. Even paid PR opportunities won’t work if
you’re leading your audience to a website that doesn’t
accurately reflect your company’s spirit — and doesn’t
convert.
Take the time to figure out who you are, who your
customers are, what they need, and what they think of
you. The learning alone will be well worth it.

ALVIN EA
A Budding Trailblazer of Logistical Arena
With the vision of saving time
and resources for hauliers,
while improving visibility
and reliability for end customers, one
entrepreneur thought out of the league,
and crafted a brand new eco-system to
overhaul logistics operations.
Alvin Ea is that trailblazing leader who
is on a mission to bring value to the
various stakeholders within the
container trucking space. He is the
Co-founder and CEO of Haulio,
which provides a revolutionary
collaborative B2B platform to get
containers moved.
Mesmerizing Entrepreneurial
Journey
Alvin started his logistics profession
through his family business HUB
Distributors Services, a local SME 3PL
firm in Singapore since 1988. He
decided to start the company’s
container haulage arm in 2013, and
from there built it up from scratch –
from a fleet of 1 to 15 trucks – in the
span of 3 years.
“The process was painstaking, as I
built it through the traditional way. It
wasn’t easy meeting the expectations of
customers and juggling the demands of
an unpredictable job that lacked
operational stability,” asserts Alvin.
After years of toiling in the traditional
logistics industry, Alvin understood the
importance of technology and observed
the likes of eCommerce companies
changing the entire landscape in
ridiculous speed.
He was very happy with the
remarkable growth of his company but
wanted to do something different. He
was tired of trying to make a change to
solve his own company’s daily
struggles, when in actual fact these
problems resonate with the rest of his
other “friendly competitors”. The
turning point came when Alvin met
Sebastian Shen, the co-founder of his
company, who had the same grand
vision as him – to change this
traditional industry through
technology.
Haulio’s Offerings
Alvin’s company offers a web-based
platform that bridges the information
gaps across the industry today by
simply matching demand to supply.
“Due to the consolidation of vessels
upstream and increasing vessel sizes,
there is an increased volatility in spikes
and troughs of shipment. Haulio helps
to even out haulage resources through
the sharing of resources,” added Alvin.
As the CEO of Haulio, his goal is to
maximize haulage resources through
industry level sharing to improve job
productivity and asset utilization. He
also gives equal emphasis to add value
to end customers by providing real-
time visibility and reporting of fleet
operations.
Further, Alvin continuously pushes his
team to read widely and to document
their learnings. He wants each of them
to grow with Haulio – be it as a UX
researcher, a product designer, a
software developer or a marketer.
“I hope that through Haulio, they will
build and develop into professionals in
their respective fields,” stated the
CEO.
Alvin’s Biggest Feat
Alvin considers his biggest
achievement till date with Haulio is the
validation of the work that he is
contributing. He cannot emphasize
enough about the role that the trucking
community plays in the industry and
by seeing the impact that they have on
the industry regardless of the size of
the customer, is what drives him
forward.
“A notable achievement would be
getting one of the largest Port
Operator in the World to be our
investor and client where we managed
to develop on a project that was once
their “Innovation of the Year” and
servicing a contract with them from the
start of our incubation till today,”
stated Alvin.
Viewpoint on Leadership and
Entrepreneurship
Alvin believes that a leader should lead
by example. As the leader of the
company, “I represent the core values
that the company stands for and the
best way to set the culture is to be the
one who display the values within,”
added Alvin. Moreover, walking the
ground and getting to interact and
know more about his colleagues is
another way which he uses to influence
employees in a positive and interactive
manner.

For budding entrepreneurs, Alvin has a piece of advice.
He says, be the change you wish to see in this world.
There is no problem too big to solve. He has already
stepped into a highly fragmented industry like haulage
to try and make a difference. According to Alvin, there
will be many walls and obstacles that will come your
way, just learn to deal with them, one at a time. It
always seems impossible until it’s done, reflects Alvin.
Alvin’s Take on ‘Challenges’ and ‘Future Outlook’
Alvin considers that the biggest obstacle that occurs in
most of the businesses is of longer conversion cycles.
He explained, to effect reformative changes in the
traditional industry like haulage needs longer time as
more time is needed to change the mind-sets and
business processes.
Furthermore, he added, there are also many
stakeholders and departments involved, each with
differing agendas - the challenge will be to get
companies to fully adopt the changes and move towards
a digital platform for the booking and execution of their
daily Container Haulage requirements.
On recalling his future lookout about the industry, Alvin
said many interesting things. “I see Haulio as the future
of haulage – this is what haulage SHOULD be. Haulage
today is still stuck in the 80s, and this needs to
change,” concluded Alvin. “I hope that in 10 years,
haulage will be digitalized, with Haulio leading or
partnering with others, to bring this change.”
I AM CONNECTING
CONTAINERS TO
CONSUMERS FOR
THE BETTERMENT
OF EVERY
STAKEHOLDER
AlvinEa,Co-founderandCEO
The10
POWERFUL
LEADERSin Business

Edward
Van Leent
Exceptional leaders are
dedicated, honest, and
confident. They have an
indomitable will to overcome
insurmountable odds and lead their
team towards success and deliver
services which add value to their
customers. Such leaders are
inspirational, possess excellent
communication skills, and have an
innovative streak. One such pioneering
leader with an undeterred will to
succeed and make a mark in the
industry is Edward Van Leent, the
Chairman and CEO of the EPI
Group of Companies (EPI).
Edward pursued his education in
economics, electronics, and electrical
engineering. After leaving school, he
gained work experience in designing
chips and printed circuit boards. From
there on, he joined the world of
Computer Aided Design and Computer
Aided Engineering (CAD/CAE).
Eventually, he moved into high-
availability computing environments,
through which he entered into the data
center domain. Then, Edward was
hired by EPI to setup the Asia business.
Two years later, he ascended to the
position of Chairman and CEO of the
company. Edward turned the
organization around from a data center
design and built organization and
transformed it into a data center
services company. From there, the
company quickly grew into the largest
data center training and audit
organization in the world which
currently has nine offices covering all
continents and having a large partner
network.
Conquering Challenges to Attain
Excellence
Under Edward’s visionary leadership,
EPI overcame many challenges from
being an unknown company from
Europe trying to establish itself in Asia
and other continents, as well as moving
from a design and built company into a
data center services company. As a
result, the company had to transform
completely in terms of their
positioning, services, marketing,
processes, competences, and so on. “I
was lucky in that in one of my previous
organizations, we had to move the
company from a hardware
organization into a solutions-based
organization which had a major
impact,” says Edward. The lessons
learnt there made it easier for him to
carry out the transformation at EPI.
Ensuring Development with
Effective Communication
Edward believes that direct
communication is essential to make
sure everybody understands the big
picture and comprehends the reasoning
behind the decisions he makes. He
says, “I always find that if you make a
decision and indicate to the staff why
you made it, highlighting both the good
and bad reasons it makes it easier for
them to understand and accept the
decision”. Edward believes that the
challenge is always when one has
information which they cannot disclose
yet, for some reason, and they have to
take a decision without prior
explanation to the staff. It could lead to
the staff not fully understanding why a
decision is made.
A Result-Focused Entrepreneur
Edward has a clear perspective for
himself and his team. He is focused on
the goals and objectives of the
company. He says, “I believe it is one
of the most single important thing to do
being in a management position which
is to make sure that everybody
understands where the organization is
heading and what is expected of
everybody and what role they play in
the total scheme of things”. Edward is
of the opinion that it is important for
everybody to understand how they
contribute to the overall success of the
company. “I am blessed with having
an amazing team”, he adds.
Edward’s source of Inspiration
Edward believes in making the most
out of life and to always do the best
one can. He takes inspiration from his
previous managers as well as Lee Kuan
Yew, the founding father of Singapore.
Edward moved to Singapore in 1997
and he admires the country for the way
it transcended from where it was to
where it is today. He says, “Lee Kuan
Yew changed this country in a mere 30
years from what people called at that
time “a swamp” to a first world
A Leader Who Changed the Data Centre
Training and Audit Industry Forever

“It is not about
hours people
work but it is
about the
output/value
they can create.”
country and keeping harmony in a multicultural
environment. He was a focused leader and although not
everybody always agreed with his ideas and way or
getting things done, the results of his achievements speak
for itself”. He gathers inspiration from various videos
where Lee Kuan Yew provides his amazing insights and
views on life and the world. Edward believes that Lee
Kuan Yew was, without a shed of doubt, an amazing
leader putting Singapore on the world map and one the
world will probably never find again.
Remarkable Accomplishments
Throughout his illustrious career, Edward has achieved
many noteworthy landmarks. There are many
accomplishments which he fondly looks back at from a
work perspective. He has achieved various accolades
throughout his celebrated career. These include getting his
first management job, winning his first big award – the
‘Chairman Achievement Award’ at Mentor Graphics, and
achieving the position of Chairman and CEO at a
relatively young age. “The ultimate position of being a
CEO is which so many aspire but yet so little people
realize what it entails. It has been a very exciting and
rewarding career and life”, he says.
Advice to Budding Entrepreneurs
Edward recommends emerging entrepreneurs to focus and
work hard to achieve the desired goals. He suggests them
to listen to customers and always look at how to help
them with their business. “There are three steps every
entrepreneur should think about. First of all, have a good
strategy, make sure you have an operating model in place
to execute the strategy and finally, make sure you hire the
best people you can to make it all work”, Edward
concluded.
Edward Van Leent
Chairman and CEO
The10
POWERFUL
LEADERSin Business

For any company, ﬁnding
talented and productive
employees is like a dream come
true. While ﬁnding good employees is
one thing, keeping them is another.
Employees have various reasons due to
which they switch companies.
Retaining good employees has become
a challenge for all companies.
It is natural that employees want to
grow. Peoples’ needs and wants from
their work change with time and the
Factors to
Eliminate
Employee
Retention
Challenges

situation. The definition of a good job
has changed these days. People not
only expect good salary and financial
benefits, they also expect professional
growth. Like earlier times, people
aren’t staying in the same job and
position for ages.
In current times like these, it has
become essential for employers to
retain good employees. The good ones
are the ones that the company can trust
to help them during the hard times.
Well, now the question is, how do the
companies retain the employees? This
is quite a challenging task. It is said
simply, but to execute is difficult. Here
are some factors to be considered by
employers to reduce the challenges of
employee retention:
Compensation Packages
Employees always seek equitable pay
for their work. As a result, the first step
towards this is to enhance the
compensation packages. The company
can have compensation packages that
include salaries, insurance, a retirement
program and employee leave. An
employer can give a larger portion of
employees’ health insurance premiums
or introduce a new bonus program
based on their performance. However,
any business needs to ensure its
compensation and benefit packages are
in line with those of the competitor
companies.
Recognition
Recognition is a very important factor
to consider. If employees don’t feel
appreciated they tend to seek
acknowledgment elsewhere. An
employee recognition program can
have a significant impact on the ability
to retain top employees. Most
organizations lack this feature of
recognition, which makes the
employees feel unappreciated. In the
case of a risk analysis in such
organizations, the top employees are at
the highest retention risk. The process
of hiring new and good employees is
tedious. To avoid such circumstances
companies must invest time and energy
in forming recognition policies.
Self Development
Skill development is another major
factor. Employees quit a job when they
feel there are no more opportunities
left for them in their current company.
Skill and talent development is a basic
need that people wish for from their
jobs for self development. It also helps
them increase their personal and
professional opportunities. As a result,
implementation of self-development
programs is an effective tool to
increase employee retention rates.
Funded education programs, in-house
training, offsite training, seminars, skill
development conferences, etc. are
things that attract employees to stay.
Hygiene Factors
Job satisfaction is one factor that
employees of all sectors and income
brackets seek. Hygiene factor is one
main element that can cause employee
dissatisfaction. The hygiene of the
company must be maintained in order
to retain employees. Every company
must revise their hygiene policies
every now and then. The hygiene
factors mainly include work
environment, the company policies or
particular physical aspects of the job.
Limiting the physical or emotional
dissatisfaction for employees must be
the main aim of the employers. A
company may introduce environmental
safeguards and associated audit
programs to best protect the health of
the employees.
Small things like those stated above
can keep the employees morally sound.
The company can retain its employees
by just doing a few simple things that
are usually overlooked. Simple care of
the well-being of the employees can
also influence them in their decision to
stay in the job. If such things are done
then employee retention can become
easy to an extent.
- Shreevarshita Gupta
Employee Care

he successful entrepreneurs are not just the
Thardest working, they are the most
innovative. One of those successful
innovative entrepreneurs who think differently is
Gary Olson. He is one of these tech- savvy
entrepreneurs constantly looking for innovative
solutions to solve problems. Just like every
entrepreneur, he also has a different story about why
he decided to start a business. Let’s take a closer
look at his insightful story and remarkable aspects of
his life.
Start of Something Extraordinary
Gary has always been interested in new technologies
with an innate curiosity on understanding how
things work. He never thought his engineering
degree in computer design would lead to his career
in the media industry and then become the basis for
his interest in bridging the gap between broadcast
and computer technologies. His father was a small
business owner. This guided Gary to work for
himself and become his own ‘Boss’. Gary is one of
the few people who never worked for anyone else in
his professional career. Currently, he is a Principal
of GHO Group and leading the company as
strategist, designer and project manager for a variety
of communication and information technology
projects.
Gary is considered one of the Thought Leaders in
the media technology industry and provides services
as an IP Broadcast Media Technology Designer.
He is a successful author with his book ‘Planning
and Designing the IP Broadcast Facility - A New
Puzzle to Solve’ an industry standard. He regularly
publishes articles providing knowledge and
Gary OlsonA Confident Creative Entrepreneur
In Pursuit of Innovation
Gary Olson
Principal

education to the media industry with a
considerable following reading his
articles on ‘The Broadcast Bridge’ and
LinkedIn, including webinars and
online courses.
At the beginning of his career, he
solved interesting challenges that
typically bring together computer and
video technologies. He was involved
in the efforts to introduce Teletext into
the US market and was the part of the
team that created the first interactive
satellite video conference network and
launched the first satellite business
television network. Gary was part of
the team launching the first video fiber
network for Teleport communications.
When he was asked to design a new
televised shopping network, he saw
this as the opportunity to start his first
company entering the world of
entrepreneurship, designing and
launching a new satellite and
television cable networks.
About GHO Group
The GHO Group is an independent
consulting firm that specializes in
planning and designing media
production facilities for broadcast and
cable companies, corporations,
educational institutions, and cultural
organizations. It provides unique,
practical and cost-effective solutions
to the challenges faced while building
new facilities or implementing new
technology strategies. GHO builds the
bridge between technology and
business, converts vision from its
initial concept to final implementation
whether it is traditional media, a Web,
smartphone, eBook, portable media
player, or anything in between.
His Mantra of Success
A strong leader builds a strong team
and such a leader always keeps the
goal in the mind. As a leader, Gary
recognizes the strengths in people and
encourages and empowers their
development creating a strong team to
solve problems. He says, “One of my
responsibilities on many of my
projects is to help the new senior
management with change. I explain
that a large organization is like a
pyramid, if you are at the top you can
see what’s happening across the
organizations and manage.” He
continues, “If the pyramid is upside
down because the manager is also
doing everything they are crushed by
the weight of the organization. My
colleagues embrace the concept and
became successful change managers.”
Gary has also faced challenges, but he
turned his hard hitting challenges into
powerful victories. For him, building
the first commercial television
broadcast networks in six Central
European countries was challenging
as well as a ‘once in a lifetime
experience’.
His best piece of advice to budding
Entrepreneurs “Entrepreneurship is
doing everything that needs to be done
to be successful. Behaving like an
executive when there’s no real
business is a recipe for failure. Not all
entrepreneurs make good CEO’s.
Know your own strengths - maybe the
right thing to do is hire one.”
Gary on Future of GHO
The company is going through a
changing phase now, moving into
artificial intelligence and into a new
industry sector of Public Safety and
National Security. It is applying
extensive media knowledge to an
industry overwhelmed by video and
struggling to analyze it for useable
information in the prevention of
incidents and attacks. GHO is looking
forward at the role artificial
intelligence will play in the industry
and how other industry sectors are
using media requiring broadcast
knowledge and expertise to assist
them as they produce more and more
media.
“When you are asked
if it can be done, always
say YES, then figure it out
and get it DONE.”
The10
POWERFUL
LEADERSin Business

The 10 Powerful Leaders in Business

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