The Business APAC ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS of 2019

AUGUST 2019 EDITION

usiness
www.businessapac.com

BUS INESS
LEA DERS

Dr. CEO & Founder | ARIIX

TEACHNEST AGILE LEADERS

Is “Pedestrian Detection Systems” A New Traditional Leadership Style Versus
Replacement For An Attentive Driver? Modern Day Business Approach
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 Business Leaders 2019

Endless As the great American author, John C. Maxwell quotes, “A great leader’s courage to
fulfill his vision comes from passion, not position.” The creative and innovative minds

zeal is a of this tech-innate business world must too have a stupendous amount of zeal to bring
their vision into reality despite of complexities and ranks. From aspiring to well-
established entrepreneurs, every single leader has to face numerous set of challenges at
must- unexpected intervals. So what makes them come back every single day and begin
afresh?
have Zeal is the fuel that drives them to overcome hardships, constantly motivate their team,
quality in build remarkable products, and persuade customers to buy their offerings. Therefore,
passion was, is, and will always be the key differentiating factor between successful

every entrepreneurs from the rest.

Our latest magazine issue, ‘The Business APAC Zealous Business Leaders of 2019’
business features stories of passionate business leaders who have created a mark for themselves
in the modern world. We have dived into their passion, optimistic attitude,
leader! professionalism, or nature to discover what turns a person into a successful business
leader.

As we leaf through their journeys one by one, we get to know about their professional
and personal backgrounds, career defining moments, the APAC region’s scenario, and
the rationale behind establishing their companies. On a lighter note, our curious minds
asked them to recommend one motivational movie that every leader should watch. To
find out their enlightening answers, read their complete quest to success in the featured
articles.

For more business and tech industry updates, visit our official website or follow our
pages on various social media platforms.

Stay inspired and blessed!

C O N T E N T S C
o
v
e
r
S
t
o
r
y

10
Fred
Cooper
 Alakh
16 Gargiya

S
20
Janak
18 Sheth

A R T I C L E
Technest
Is “Pedestrian
Detection
Systems” A New
Replacement For
An Attentive
Driver?

Karanjit
24 Singh
Agile Leaders
Traditional
Leadership Style
Versus Modern
Day Business
Approach

26 Kris
Canekeratne
32
Naveed
30 Sherwani
Making
Life More
ENJOYABLE
And Rich
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS

Cover Story

August 2019 businessapac.com

Dr.Fred Cooper
CEO & Founder | ARIIX

If we just work on one person at a time, just

solve a problem for one person at a time, then
we are making a difference. And at the end of
the day, making a difference in someone's life is
really all that matters.

businessapac.com August 2019

 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS
A Trailblazing Leader Offering Industry-
First Resources To Keep Individuals On The
Leading Edge Of Network Marketing
D irect selling is a retail channel used by global
brands and small-to-medium enterprises to
market their products and services to consumers.
Moreover, it is an excellent option for those who want to
gain extra cash, establish their personal business, or whose
circumstances do not allow periodic employment. Many
direct selling companies quickly enter and exit this industry
because either they are underfunded or they lack the
expertise and training. The representatives who are working
for these companies are the ones mainly affected by this
state of affairs.
Dr. Fred Cooper, CEO and Founder of ARIIX, is one of
the world’s leading experts in the management of direct
selling companies and is passionate about helping others.
Through ARIIX, he is restricting the number of casualties in
this industry via a unique mergers and acquisitions strategy
and making an effort to create a
new kind of opportunity
that puts the
representatives
first.
If you love what
you do, you live an
enjoyable life. It's really
not something you have
to maintain, it's just
something you are.
August 2019
The Foundation of ARIIX
Fred Cooper is a respected leader with a talent to create
lucrative opportunities on a global scale. He is the original
founder of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the University
of Utah and has shared his expertise in business by teaching
as a professor at the university. Being a true innovator and
direct sales forerunner, Fred perceives opportunities where
others don’t and has the unique ability to create
revolutionary business models that benefit the independent
business owner—like the industry-first and patent-pending
ACTIV8™ Compensation Plan. Due to his remarkable
contributions, he has earned the title of “Top CEO in the
World” by Business for Home, the leading industry
publication.
The direct selling industry piqued Fred’s interest while he
was teaching an advanced statistics class to an accountant
whose firm conducted business with a publicly traded
multilevel company. The Founder realized that the math
was too complicated for them to understand—they required
a professor’s help to answer their math questions. He
realized that it was a once-in-a-blue-moon opportunity for a
math teacher to get a complicated, real-life story problem
where he/she has to calculate statistics, finance and math all
in one setting in one story problem. It was a challenging
task, but Fred was hooked. While solving the issues, he
came to realize that working for a direct selling company
really expands one’s perception of the different types of
business possibilities that are out there. He understood
the big picture and decided to bring ARIIX into
existence. This is how Fred and other ARIIX Founders
created an environment where individuals can win
and the average person has a chance to succeed.
Bright Future in the Direct Selling Industry
As a global business leader and entrepreneur, Fred
believes that the direct selling industry is a
boundless landscape where any individual can
become successful. Typically in an organization,
not everyone gets to be the CEO, and even if they
businessapac.com
 Cover Story
could, there is always competition. Since there is
only one position at the top with the best salary,
everybody aims for that position and performs
their best to get a promotion so they can advance,
increase their paycheck and move up the
corporate chain. “It’s a pretty standard formula
and you can generally pick out which folks are
going to experience success in their career.” On the
other hand, in direct selling, there is no such thing as
right resources, you can still
a standard formula to determine which person is
going to be successful. There have been plenty of times
when even a person with very little education and no
background in the industry has achieved success.
Vast Growth and Opportunities in the APAC Region
According to Fred, the direct selling industry is thriving,
and many opportunities are emerging for companies. The
ARIIX team aims for slow and steady growth—an upward
trajectory that’s backed by a firm foundation. “That’s why
it’s so phenomenal right now to see this increase year after
year,” comments the company’s CEO, Fred Cooper.
Further, the visionary leader believes, “What sets us apart is
that we have a solid business model that continues to
attract independent business owners.” ARIIX has been in
Japan for seven years, and still it is counted as one of the
best opportunities in the country. Since 2017, ARIIX Japan
sales have grown by 47% and independent representatives
have increased by 18%. Already in Q3 of 2019, new
representatives have increased by 55% and sales are up by
32% as compared to Q1 of 2018. Likewise, ARIIX
officially marked its presence in the Australian market and
witnessed growth of 37%.
Building Stronger Bonds with Representatives
“I think most people will tell you they love a region when
they are making money there, but for us at ARIIX, it means
opening our home to individuals who are partnering with
us,” comments Fred, ARIIX CEO and Founder. The
dynamic leader has witnessed that the Asia Pacific region is
very social. He has formed friendships with Japan’s
successful young representatives. These representatives are
treated like superstars if they are seen having face time with
one of the owners. Fred and the ARIIX team value that part
of the culture and try to support it whenever they can,
spending time with business builders and attending local
trainings and events. Fred shares, “To give you an idea of
how successful this region is, on July 4, 2019, ARIIX
celebrated its eighth year in business with more than 7,000
businessapac.com
If you've got the right plan
and the right staff and the
ride the wave's momentum
long after it's crashed.
attendees in
Yokohama, Japan. With
recent record-breaking sales
stemming from this region, Japan offered the perfect
location to host ARIIX’s eighth birthday bash.”
An International Opportunity Company Offering
Diverse Solutions
ARIIX is a unique and disruptive international opportunity
company that creates superior, exclusively branded
products marketed through independent representatives. To
foster healthy living, the company develops toxin-free
products through collaboration with world-renowned
experts in the health, wellness and fitness industries. It has
built a strong global presence and offers award-winning
tools, a patent-pending multiline compensation plan, and a
supportive business-building experience, which attracts
direct selling companies from all over the world who wish
to join forces with ARIIX. The ARIIX opportunity and
brands are available in Australia, Canada, Greater China
including Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan, Japan, Kazakhstan,
Mexico, the Netherlands, UK, France, Belgium, Ireland,
Israel, Italy, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland
and the United States.
Being an international opportunity company, ARIIX
partners with famous nutrition, health and lifestyle experts,
bringing brands that are on the leading edge of what science
and nature can offer. The company develops innovative and
efficacious products that fulfill a market need. It offers a
August 2019
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS

diversified product offering with brands that stand on their own and work
together. ARIIX utilizes a “house-of-brands” philosophy that allows
representatives the freedom to choose the products they wish to align
with—the products they are excited to grow their business with.

Fred’s Proudest Career Moments

Being the industry’s most seasoned executive, Fred has acquired prestigious
recognition and acknowledgments which he believes are his proudest career
moments. He was presented with an honorary professorship during the
master’s degree graduation ceremony of the University of International
Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing last September. He was one of only
40 American recipients of an honorary professorship at UIBE since its
inception and the only American recipient in 2018. Now, he is counted
among an elite group of international leaders that includes a Nobel
Memorial Prize winner, a United Nations official, and the
President of BMW China Automotive Trading. This is not all.
Fred was also invited as a consultant to the Chinese Academy
of International Trade and Economic Cooperation (CAITEC).

Making a Difference in Society

“The Blind Side,” starring Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and

Quinton Aaron, is Fred’s favorite motivational movie. Why?
The film is about an affluent family that steps in and cares for
a homeless African American teen. Inspired by the real-life
story, Fred wanted to make a difference in someone’s life.
Hence, his family is now the legal guardian of a 16-year-old
boy who was previously living on the streets. From this
personal and highly gratifying experience, Fred has learned
that helping others doesn’t have to be complicated, and he
is ready to offer aid to others. Fred also cares about his
employees and representatives, and takes a personal
interest in each one’s success. This compassionate leader
believes the world can be a better place if we help others
lead the life they were meant to live. “If we just work on
one person at a time, just solve a problem for one person
at a time, then we are making a difference. And at the
end of the day, making a difference in someone’s life is
really all that matters,” says the CEO of ARIIX.

August 2019 businessapac.com

 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS
Alakh Naresh Gargiya:
A Pathfinder To Small Retailers, Accelerating
Their Businesses With Pay1 Services
T he journey from IIT bombay, JP morgan to
an advocate of small businesses
Acquaint us with your journey in the retail sector.
Unlike metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, I spent my
early life in a comparatively smaller and heritage city of
India—Ajmer. After completing my graduate studies in
IIT Bombay, I spent about 8 years in investment banking
in JP Morgan and Barclays across various landscapes of
the country. More than a decade later in 2017, I revisited
my city Ajmer. I was surprised to witness a whole
different world where I saw the evolution of every
industry, beaming with growth and development.
However, I found this one sector—the unorganized retail
sector, which had hardly made any advancements and
was still operating in a conventional way.
The mom and pop or Kirana stores in India constitute
95% of the retail market of the nation. Every street and
corner of the rural, urban, and rurban areas have these
stores standing upright with the dukaandars (local
sellers) selling all possible items required on a day to day
basis by any Indian household. However, there was a
wide gap that needed to be bridged and I felt a sheer
need to solve the problems that dukaandars faced. Thus
the decision to turn this huge unorganised retail sector
into a more organized one was my first step towards
empowering the small stores across the nation, through
Pay1.
Mission to Restructure India’s Un-organized Retail
Sector
Tell us about Pay1’s mission and vision.
Pay1 follows a sincere mission to empower micro-
entrepreneurs and make them more independent. It
August 2019
strives to replenish them with services that help to
improve their financial status, gain more profits, and
stabilize their income. We are committed to an all-
inclusive vision to create a huge, undisturbed network of
dukaandars and organize their sector. Likewise, given the
growing digitization in our country and to bring our
vision and mission into reality, we also believe in
educating these small shop retailers. We aim to bring
them a step closer to the digital world which will further
scale up their businesses and take them to the desired
heights.
Helping the Retailers Boost and Grow their
Businesses with Pay1 Offerings
What type of products and solutions is Pay1 offering?
Pay1 offers an array of different products and services to
the mom and pop stores of India. These stores are widely
present in every Indian city and village. Thus, to serve
and help these small lifelines of cities and villages, we
have approached more than 1000 cities with 3 lakh
merchants on our platform.
Starting with Pay1 Digi, which is a service that helps in
easy Cash withdrawal and Smart Payments. Pay1 Digi
provides solutions such as AePS, mPOS, Link Based
Payment, and UPI. Then we have Pay1 merchant, a
one-stop solution for all recharges, bill payments, money
transfer, and PAN Card services. Similarly, our B2B
platform, Travel enables retailers with an opportunity to
earn more money by providing travel booking services to
their customers. The last one from our bouquet of
services is Shop 1—a platform that strengthens retailers’
logistics capabilities and offers access to trending and in-
demand products.
16 businessapac.com
The never ending zeal of our dukaandars
What part of the business inspires you the most?
The small retailers in the country strive continually to
increase and expand their businesses. The thing that
amazes me the most is the endurance they possess
regarding their business in spite of the increasing
dominance of other big players in the sector. Their never-
ending fight with the colossal business companies
motivates us to facilitate them with the necessary
services. Thus, seeing them work so hard inspires us to
provide them with the best of services which will further
ease their operations and assist them in increasing their
business. Helping the retailers boost and grow their
businesses is what keeps me going and impels me to
come up with new solutions and greater services from
time to time.
There is Nothing More Beautiful than Empowering
People
Which has been your proudest career moment till date
and why?
Pay1 Aaghaaz, which was organized last year, was the
most fulfilling event and my proudest career moment till
date. In spite of the weather Gods not being in our favor,
there were about 80 to 100 distributors present for the
meet. The word Aaghaaz translates to “the beginning”
and the objective of this event was to initiate a
communication platform where we could understand our
‘
‘
Pay1 is a retail tech
platform focused on
empowering the
unorganized retailers
of India.
Alakh Naresh Gargiya
August 2019
distributors better, tackle their issues directly, and also
educate them about our upcoming services.
Pay1 Aaghaaz has drastically helped us to closely
interact with our clients and mend the direct
communication gap. Getting to talk to our distributors
and knowing how we, as a team, have been able to
impact their lives in a positive way, was the greatest
reward any company can ask for. There is nothing more
beautiful than empowering people and uplifting them
using our knowledge, zeal, and efforts.
Perseverance and Sheer Hard Work can Lift you
Towards Success
According to you, which motivational movie should
every business leader watch and why?
There are a couple of movies that prove to be a tub of
ice-cream in your gloomy, down days. But my absolute
favorite ones are Chak De India & The Founder. These
movies teach us that success is not the end goal but a
journey in itself. A person who believes in himself, his
dreams and goals can achieve them with consistent hard
work and unrelenting perseverance.
CEO, Pay1
02
17 MM 2019
businessapac.com
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS
Janak Sheth:
A Quality-Focused Leader, Developing New
Directions For The Pharmaceutical Industry
A chieving Goals with an Intense Desire and
Working towards Success
Tell us about your early career influences. What made you
choose to work in this industry?
I was born in India but moved to East Africa with my
parents and did schooling in Kenya and Tanzania. I came
back to India for higher education and made it to IIT Delhi
in Chemical Engineering. During my study at IIT, I made
up my mind to start my own pharmaceutical business and
since my family had no experience in business, I decided to
take experience and started working in a pharma company
to gain experience although with the lowest salary. Soon,
my dedication led me to Indonesia as a Project Manager. I
saved sizeable amount of capital of my company as I
designed multi-stage distillation columns for them. At the
time when my company was purchasing an Italian
technology, I convinced them to use my own researched
technology instead and which resulted in savings of around
INR 60 Lakhs per annum.
Based on these developments, I got approval from the
management to redesign and install the new plant based on
my own research. This gave a tremendous boost to my self-
confidence as it all worked out well at a tender age of 23. I
worked on that foreign pharmaceutical project in Indonesia
for 4 years and gained enough experience as a project
manager and later as a production manager. With an intense
desire to start my own business, I left the job and took a
loan from the government to establish Century
Pharmaceuticals Limited.
Fighting Bad Times without Compromising Customer
Satisfaction
Enlighten us about the journey of Century
Pharmaceuticals?
Since the beginning, it was clear that we should
manufacture and sell products that meet customer
August 2019
expectations. Profit was never the end objective. We wanted
a business that could cater to increasing customer needs and
especially make products which were safe and without any
side effects. At the start of Century Pharmaceuticals,
building a customer base was challenging as we had no
business experience.
It was a time when we were highly stressed as our sales
performance was not enough to pay the term loan interest
and instalment payments. However, with a clear mission to
make good quality products, we stood strong and never
compromised our quality products over short term profit.
Soon, our efforts and promise to offer quality products
came to our rescue and we started gaining loyal customers.
In a short span of 3 years from the production date, we paid
back most of the term loans much ahead of the schedule
and later, also paid back the very low interest bearing seed
capital loan 2 years ahead of its schedule. Since then, our
company is debt free and stands tall in terms of quality
products.
Supplying High-Quality APIs to Leading Pharma
Companies
What type of products and solutions does Century
Pharmaceuticals Ltd offer?
We are a pharmaceutical active ingredient manufacturing
company (APIs) that manufactures the raw materials for
several verticals of the pharma industry. We supply to all
the leading pharmaceutical companies who formulate to
make medicines such as Pfizer, Abbott, Cipla, Glenmark,
Macleods, Aristo, etc. Being their partner in business, we
really enjoy working with these reputed pharma companies.
Our offerings range from Antibiotics, vitamins, anti-
coagulants to ophthalmic products. We are also audited by
several organizations such as ISO, ZED and also GMP by
regulatory bodies in India and overseas.
18 businessapac.com
Working on Developing Pure Products Free from Side
Effects
What are your thoughts about the present pharmaceutical
industry?
The pharmaceutical industry has come of age from the time
we began in 1980. Since then, there have been lots of
improvements in the manufacturing processes with an
ideological shift from high purity of products to
concentrating on impurities. Thus, there is a dire need for
making products safe for use with reduced side effects by
eliminating the impurities in the products manufactured. At
Century Pharma, we dedicate most of our development
efforts to work on products that are pure and free from side
effects. Our approach is to go natural as far as possible.
That means we are heavily emphasizing on ayurvedic
products made from herbs and plant extracts for our
veterinary product range.
I believe in the idea that Biotechnology can offer the
greatest hope for new molecules. At Century
Pharmaceuticals, we are working on a patented technology
for a recombinant protein which works on a novel targeted
therapy and also assures no side effects. Currently, we are
working on high-end novel molecules and if the tests go
well, we could have the first biological novel molecule from
India. In the meanwhile, since we have a top-end research
laboratory, we are presently conducting experimental
studies on stem cell rejuvenation therapies which also
promise a future of medication without any side effects.
‘
‘
Instead of running
after profits,
work towards meeting
and exceeding
customer expectations;
success will inevitably
follow you.
businessapac.com
Thriving Forward with Exceptional Rewards and
Achievements
How do you manage to keep the motivation to strive for
excellence?
After each milestone is achieved, we set another milestone.
This milepost-driven approach gives us satisfaction and
maintains our standard of excellence. We try to exceed the
requirements of our clients to remain ahead of the
competition and ensure that our customers are always
satisfied and happy with our services. In recent years, we
have hardly lost any satisfied customer! This keeps us on
our toes and we remain self-motivated.
The proudest moment of my career was when Lockheed
Martin awarded a Gold Medal to Century
Pharmaceuticals Ltd. for our novel recombinant protein
molecule on Asthma and Allergy. Under their India
Innovative Growth Programme, Lockheed Martin
recognized our project as the Best Biotechnology Research
Project in India with the highest potential. This award was
based on their detailed research about the potential of our
molecule in the USA.
Janak Sheth
Managing Director
19 August 2019
 ?
TECHNEST

Is
“PEDESTRIAN
DETECTION
SYSTEMS”
A New Replacement For An Attentive Driver

A ccidents have been one of the major causes of

sudden deaths. To remedy the situation, technology
is trying to upgrade the systems and bringing some
aid to the crisis. The recent technology update is the
pedestrian detection systems, which automatically apply the
brakes if a dangerous situation arises on the road.
Autonomous cars are equipped with such a system that
features cameras linked to the sensors in the front
framework. These devices can respond to a dangerous
situation much faster than a human can. The solution
seemed effective but many still question the technology.
More about the Pedestrian Detection system
The system uses advanced sensors to detect human
movements ahead and alert the driver. Some may
automatically apply breaks. Stereoscopic cameras mounted
behind the rearview mirror and radar has become operative
at detecting the more refined movements of people.
However, the systems are more effective at slower speeds.
Pedestrian Detection may not always be an option to avoid
a crash, but this feature can help reduce the speed enough to
make the impact more survivable. As research develops,
infrared technology will be the new addition to improve
performance, especially at night.
Some of the key factors driving the growth of the market
studied are the growing prominence on the safety of
passengers and pedestrians due to the rise in the number of
accidents and the increasing demand for the best vehicles.
Besides, factors, such as difficulty in detecting pedestrians
during bad weather conditions, may delay the growth of the
market study. In recent years, the automobile industry has
motivated its R&D work for improving the night vision
systems. This has further led to improvements in advanced
driving assistance systems, with the upwelling demand for
nighttime pedestrian detection systems.

August 2019 20 businessapac.com

Low number of leading providers of advanced driving
assistance systems in the emerging markets and the rise in
the number of autonomous cars are reasons for the
opportunities in the market.
Numerous strategies applied to the Pedestrian
Detection System
Ÿ Holistic detection- Detectors are programmed to scan
the whole frame and search for pedestrians in the video
frame. The detector would respond if the image features
inside the local search window meets the criteria. The
methods use global features such as edge template.
Similarly, others use local features like the histogram of
oriented gradient descriptors. The performance,
however, can be affected easily by background clutter
and occlusions.
businessapac.com
Ÿ Part-based detection- Pedestrians are manufactured as
collections of parts. A part hypothesis is firstly
generated by learning local features, which include
edgelet and orientation features. These part hypotheses
are then joined to form the best combination of existing
pedestrian hypothesis. Part detection itself is a difficult
task, though this approach is attractive. Execution of
this approach follows a usual procedure for processing
the image data that consists of first creating a densely
sampled image pyramid, computing features at each
scale, performing classification at all possible locations,
and finally carrying out non-maximal suppression to
generate the final set of bounding boxes.
Ÿ Patch-based detection- Recently 'Implicit Shape
Model' algorithm was introduced by combining both
the strategies of detection and segmentation. The model
comprises of three steps: During the training process, a
codebook of local appearance is learned. Thereafter, in
21 August 2019
 TECHNEST
Ÿ the detecting process, extracted local features are used
to match against the codebook entries. Final detection
depends on the obtained improve hypotheses. The
benefit of this method is that only a small number of
training images are required.
Ÿ Detection using multiple cameras- A new method was
suggested which may make use of multiple cameras to
detect multiple pedestrians. To achieve this, the ground
plane is partitioned into uniform, non-overlapping grid
cells, typically with a size of 25 by 25 cm. The detector
creates a Probability Occupancy Map; which provides
an approximation of the probability of each grid cell to
be occupied by a person.
Benefits and limitation of the Pedestrian Detection
system
A human can sense when there is something in the road and
apply brakes immediately—but new technology can't
always pick up on these objects. With all of the new safety
progressions making driving safer for pedestrians and
motorists, it is important to note that there are limitations.
These limitations comprise the lens sensor's articulation of
the actual object and/or person, the size and height of the
person, time of day, weather conditions, and rapid response
based upon the individual's speed of movement. These are
problems that create obstructions for those developing
autonomous cars. In some cases, humans cannot always
stop quickly enough when something comes on the road. If
pedestrian technology can be fine-tuned to avoid items and
people on the road, it will bring the best of both worlds
August 2019
together—human judgment and fast operating technology.
Due to the constant differences of overpowering conditions,
pedestrian detection technology must continue to be
accompanied by cautionary and safe practices of the driver
to reduce collisions.
Testing responsibilities after the system installations
As a tester, one should always pay attention and scan the
road ahead looking for pedestrians or any obstructions.
Understand how your car system works to exactly know
how you will be warned if the system detects a pedestrian.
Also, how the car may response i.e. automatic braking or
would slow down to lessen the impact. Systems like
Pedestrian Detection are not a replacement to an attentive
driver. Being a driver sometimes even you can't expect what
a person, especially a child might do. A computer can't
predict this either. Among the most dangerous times for
pedestrians and drivers, twilight and dusk are one of them
as the vision is greatly reduced during these hours.
To summarize, initially, the majority of the consumers did
not adopt the systems, due to the high cost and lack of
awareness. However, with the new regulations passed by
the government and proven safety benefits, many are
incorporating this technology. Nevertheless, being very
dependent on the system may result hazardous, one can't
rely on technology alone. With an autonomous car in
progression, the pedestrian system would not be far away.
Humans should embrace the technology usefully rather than
loathing it fully with responsibility and later complaining
that it failed them.
22 businessapac.com
a billion clicks to help
a billion people
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS
Karanjit Singh:
A Transformational Leader, Inspiring And
Defining Change In The Modern Business World
I n today’s tech-driven world, organizations are
leveraging the latest technology trends and
innovations to address tomorrow’s business
challenges and deliver best of breed solutions. The result
is most clients become digitally mature and set their
roadmaps in place to gain a competitive edge. According
to IDC, the global information technology industry is
slated to reach $5 trillion in 2019, a growth of 4%. With
the growth in mind, most enterprises are shifting towards
strategic IT where IT plays a key role in driving strategic
objectives such as customer acquisition, market share, and
brand awareness.
Numerous remarkable players in the IT industry are using
their extensive experience to inspire and motivate their
teams to innovate and create change that will help grow
and shape the future of the company. Karanjit Singh,
CEO Kellton Tech Solution Limited(India), is one such
dynamic and highly-respected leader who has built his
reputation on his ability to expand into new territories,
target new customer markets, and tap into sales and
delivery channels. He has more than 25 years of
experience in product development, engineering
management, delivery, product management, pre-sales,
and implementation support.
CEO Spear heading Kellton Tech’s Success in the IT
Industry
Every inspiring leader has a challenging journey filled
with making mistakes, learning from failures, guiding
people towards achieving a common objective, and
climbing the staircase to success. Karanjit also has an
eventful journey that has taught him invaluable lessons
August 2019
and has enabled him to see opportunities in everything
and anticipate the unexpected quickly.
This dynamic leader holds a Master’s degree from
National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE),
Mumbai, India. Throughout his career, he has held
significant leadership roles with responsibilities that
includestrategic planning and analysis, operating model
transformation, leadership development, mergers and
acquisitions, investment management, and corporate
development functions.
Presently, as the CEO (India) of Kellton Tech,Karanjit is
driven by the company’s vision of delivering “Infinite
Possibilities with Technologies” and becoming the trusted
partner for building world-class solutions for clients,
transforming the way they do business. He has also been a
distinguished speaker at various events and is a part of the
industry body councils of NASSCOM.
Under his leadership, the company has been awarded and
recognized four times by Deloitte in his Technology Fast
50 India list, won two honors at National Awards in IT
Excellence in 2016, recognized as the “Emerging IT
Company of the Year,” and listed on the Forbes Asia’s 200
Best Under A Billion.
Providing Cutting-Edge ITSolutions and Services to
Diverse Industries
Kellton Tech is a publicly listed, CMMI Level 5, and ISO
9001:2015 certified global company with offices in the
US, Europe, India, and Asia-Pacific. The company has a
proven track record and a great reputation of helping
24 businessapac.com
companies craft unique IT solutions, provide cutting-edge
technical consultation, and integrate business-changing
systems. The company’s vision “Infinite Possibilities with
Technology” emphasizes on the fact that we provide
infinite possibilities to our clients, helping them do
business faster, smarter, and better than ever before.
Since its inception, the company has grown and expanded
into a prominent global IT solution and services provider.
Currently, it has a global workforce of 1500 employees
who work with clients from start- ups to Fortune 500
companies, delivering sustainable business value. The
company caters to a wide range of verticals such as BFSI,
Travel, Tourism & Hospitality, Retail & E-commerce,
Media Entertainment, Energy & Utilities, Healthcare,
Manufacturing, Chemicals, Construction, Distribution,
Food & Beverage, Non-Profits, Oil & Gas, and Real
Estate.
Forecasting Growth in the Indian IT Industry
Over the last few years, the Indian IT industry has grown
tremendously and is expected to generate250,000 jobs in
2019 as compared to 105,000 jobs in 2018. Moreover, the
total export revenue of the industry is expected to grow 7-
9 percent year-on-year to $135-137 billion in the current
year. Karanjit believes that Banking, Financial Services,
‘
‘
We, at Kellton Tech,
don't focus on
technologies; we
focus on solutions,
whatever technology
it takes.
businessapac.com
and Insurance (BFSI) will remain a major revenue
provider for the Indian IT industry. Further, he adds that
in the coming future, the adoption of modern technologies
such as IoT, AI-ML, AR/VR, SaaS, PaaS, Big Data
Analytics, Robotics, and more, will enhance the growth of
this sector. The CEO and his teams are striving to adopt
and accelerate the use of disruptive technologies as part of
its offerings.
Revolutionizing the Industry withNext-Gen
Technologies
While working in the IT industry for over 25 years,
Karanjit has witnessed the digital transformation and its
impact on the business landscape. He believes that the
current market trends are the first wave of the next
Industrial Revolution. Technologies such as AI and ML
are still at an infancy stage and have not reached their full
potential. He further shares his insights on this scenario
by adding, “No one truly knows what the future would be,
but it would surely see the industry-defining shift in the
adoption of digital technologies.” Besides this, he also
believes that business sentiment will affect how the
industry will react to current and future conditions.
Karanjit Singh
CEO
Kellton Tech Solution Ltd.
25 August 2019
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS
Kris Canekeratne:
Leading 24,000+ Talents To Empower Clients
With Streamlined IT Infrastructure
V irtusa is among leading IT services companies,
employing over 24,000 talents across the world
and empowering corporates to leverage the
capabilities of technologies. Although founded in 1996,
the partial story of Virtusa began many years earlier when
Kris Canekeratne, as a child, was left curious and amazed
by the power and potential of a computer. Kris
Canekeratne, the Co-founder and CEO of Virtusa, shares
how influenced he was when he used an early model of an
Apple computer in his school. He was unaware of the
capabilities of that machine but was impressed by its
simple word processing functionality and was instantly
drawn to know more about its power. It was then he
realized that he will study computer science, as it was not
him that chose computer science but computer science
chose him.
Kris continued to learn passionately and understood that
only the best universities of the world can fulfill his curious
mind. As for every big thing to happen, every piece needs
to fall in its place, Kris feels that he is very lucky that his
parents supported his dream of studying in the USA. He
left Sri Lanka with a heart full of dreams and a bag full of
blessings. He acquired B.S. in Computer Science from
Syracuse University in upstate New York. A year after his
graduation, Kris’s entrepreneurial journey started when he
co-founded INSCI Corporation, a supplier of digital
document repositories and integrated output management
products and services.
Virtusa: A Vision of Streamlining IT Infrastructures of
Organizations
Kris co-founded Virtusa in 1996. At the time, he shares that
August 2019
the software industry was mired in coding inefficiencies,
high costs, and lengthy software release delays.
Regretfully, these challenges didn’t appear to affect one
vertical but all the areas, including financial services,
banking, media, transportation, and many other sectors.
Kris had long admired the efficient processes used in
manufacturing and the automobile industry and he
envisioned the same sort of platform efficiencies for
software development. Kris and his teammates worked
towards addressing these problems and have enabled
companies from a wide range of industries to streamline
their IT resources. “What has impressed me the most and
what continues to inspire me is seeing the look of wonder in
the eyes of a CIO/ CTO and their teams as they witness
firsthand a solution we’ve presented to a problem that has
plagued them for years—when they see that a streamlined,
digitally engineered process is not only doable but that it
also improves operations as well as the customer
experience,” shares Kris.
He further adds, “When I see that look I know we’ve done
our job. I also believe the job is not done. We will continue
to explore, invent, and deliver on the next generation of
software and system efficiencies.”
Dedicating Awards to the Team
Kris has been conferred by various awards and
recognitions and is greatly admired by industry
professionals. It is not a secret that these acknowled
-gements are results of great leadership qualities,
revolutionary vision, futuristic approach, and inspiring
work-ethics. But Kris is too generous to keep the
26 businessapac.com
titles for himself and shares them with his fellow Virtusans.
“I know that I am just the representative of over 24,000
other people who are working tirelessly to deliver for our
clients and push to the future. So, when I am lauded with
awards for entrepreneurship or as a business leader, I
know that recognition is really about them, not me,” he
defended.
However, we can only imagine how difficult it would have
been to start a company and make it a family of 24,000+
people. And how difficult it could be to lead it on a global
front. So, we decided to ask Kris how he manages all these
things. On which he asserts, “I try to have a healthy
balance of work, family and play—it wouldn’t be possible
for me to succeed otherwise and without it, I would
certainly lose my professional zeal.” He further admits that
being at the helm of a publicly traded company can be
overwhelming if you let it. For Kris, the key has been to
hire the right people and trust that all of them, at every level
of the organization, share a common vision to do their best,
every day. He feels grateful for the terrific decision makers
and thought leaders at Virtusa.
Unleashing the Capabilities of the Team
With a mission of helping their clients realize the
transformative capacity of technology and its ability to
create more value for more people and the vision to be the
‘
‘
We understand that high
performing organizations are
100% predicated on having
high performing people and
to achieve that you must
innovate and invest
constantly in the culture
and workplace.
businessapac.com
leader in that task, Kris and his team have already gained
dominance in the digital engineering space. Kris however
knows that they still have a long way to go. And he knows
that the key to remain a leader in the future is to empower
the 24,000+ Virtusans around the world to keep
innovating, inventing, and doing whatever it takes to
deliver more value for their clients and their customers.
Kris strongly believes that it is the team efforts and how
they can achieve the best from their employees really
matters. When asked about a movie that every leader
should watch, he mentioned Moneyball—the true story of
baseball’s Oakland Athletics’ GM, Billy Beane. Kris takes
a lesson and advises all others to learn from this story of the
underdog, thinking outside-the-box, ignoring naysayers,
and using data and technology to have a material impact on
the outcome and on the lives of the people involved. By
mentioning this movie, it is clear that Kris emphasizes on
optimizing the available resources and empowering the
team to utilize them in the most efficient way to bring the
outcome nobody would think is/was possible.
Kris Canekeratne
Co-founder & CEO
Virtusa
27 August 2019
We create the technology
to connect the world
From networks to software, services to devices for communications
service providers, industries, public sector and consumers

www.nokia.com
 ZEALOUS BUSINESS LEADERS

Naveed Sherwani:
A Veteran Of The Semiconductor Industry,
Empowering Innovation Based On Silicon

T he Formation of a Remarkable Personality

Tell us about your early career influences that shaped

your personality today.
I think I am one of the most fortunate people in the world,
having received exceptional guidance from my parents and
teachers. The incredible support of my parents is the prime
reason behind my success today. They were extremely
dedicated towards education, and this helped me a lot in
life. Likewise, one of my teachers— Dr. David Klarner,
taught me to figure out what I want in life. He suggested I
make a skill matrix comprising of skills and knowledge and
the essential qualities that I possess and lack. That skill
matrix further enabled me to identify the gaps in my
knowledge and improve accordingly. Today, if anybody
asks me about how they can achieve something in life, I
encourage them to draw a skill matrix and ask them to self-
evaluate that. I think Dr. David Klarner made it very simple
to understand where I am right now and where I want to go
and how can I use the skill matrix to go there. I would also
like to convey my gratitude to Dr. Vishwani Agrawal and
Dr. C. L. Liu, both of whom played a crucial role in guiding
and pushing me to achieve more in life.

‘
‘
In life, I follow a
simple rule—I
work only on those
projects that I
am passionate
about.

Naveed Sherwani
CEO, SiFive

August 2019 30 businessapac.com

The Keen Logical Nature of People is Driving the
Semiconductor Industry
How was your experience in the semiconductor industry?
When I joined the industry in the 1980’s, it was the sector
made of people who were very mathematical, logical, and
engineering-oriented. Even in today’s fast-paced business
environment, the remarkable progress in the semiconductor
industry is due to the nature of the people who are very
keen on utilizing their logical or mathematical skills to
develop something useful and innovative.
In my professional career, I have a long track record of
founding numerous startups. Previously, I have worked at
Intel and founded around nine companies including Open-
Silicon in Bangalore and Silicon Valley. After I left Open-
Silicon, I joined as the CEO of SiFive, the company that
later acquired Open-Silicon.
One can Make a Difference with a Passion to do it!
What drives you to innovate and lead a company like
SiFive?
Passion! In life, I follow a simple rule—I work only on
those projects that I am passionate about. I follow this
practice in my profession, personal life, and in charity
work. Anybody who knows me well understands that when
I am not interested in something then I am simply not
interested. However, if I have a passion to do something, I
put my heart and soul into it. Thus, if I am working on
something that I am passionate about, I do it with full
dedication and ensure that it will make a positive
difference.
Mission to Democratize Silicon-based Innovation
Worldwide
Enlighten us about the journey of SiFive.
SiFive was formed by the inventors of the RISC-V
architecture and makes semiconductors based on RISC-V
technology. The Custom SoC Division (Previously: Open-
Silicon) of SiFive designs these semiconductors. We are
dedicated to providing a cloud-based solution for cores,
blocks and chips, which will be available anywhere in the
world. We are currently operating in two businesses—the
first one is selling the IPs and the second is to design and
manufacture silicon chips.
We want to democratize innovation based on silicon,
because today, silicon-based R&D is restricted to a few
cities in the U.S., a couple of cities in India, and China. We
see a world where the innovation based on silicon will take
place in hundreds of cities. In order to enable such mass
innovation, we have put it on the cloud and are actively
businessapac.com
educating
people on how to
contribute and participate
in this noble cause. We
believe that SiFive will
change the world with its open-
source offerings because it will
allow the introduction of innovative
products and new services in the market.
Further, to spread the awareness and foster
education about SiFive’s technologies and
advance deeper collaboration within the hardware
community, we have organized a SiFive Tech Symposium
tour in most of the APAC countries. Starting from Tokyo on
June 11th, the tour will be held in the leading cities of APAC
like Daejeon, Pangyo of South Korea (17th – 18th June),
Hsinchu of Taiwan (18th June), Singapore (19th June), and
Sydney, Australia on 21st June 2019.
My Net Earning is all the Top Teams that I have worked
with
What are the proudest achievements of your life?
The RISC-V architecture is receiving significant attention
from all over the world. For instance, the government of
India recently realized the potential of RISC-V, and has
become the world’s first country to declare it as its national
ISA. The country has also launched the Shakti Processor
Program at IIT Madras to develop applications using the
RISC-V open-standard architecture that makes designing of
processors cheaper and more secure. The RISC-V
architecture provides full control to the users due to its
open-source capabilities. With SiFive’s support, one doesn’t
need to depend on expensive repository architectures
anymore.
This growth is fascinating! In a short span of 12 months, we
have made huge progress in the valuation of SiFive. It has
gone up by 11x and we have raised over $125 million and
also added 400 new people to our workforce.
Another one of my proudest achievements is working with
my fellow colleagues. When someone asks me what is the
greatest thing that I’ve earned in life, I say, “My net
earnings is all the top teams in the world that I had worked
with, and currently working with, because I have achieved
so much with them.”
31 August 2019
 AGILE LEADERS
Traditional Leadership Style
O
ne of the excellent contributors in the field of
leadership, Steve Jobs had a unique style of
bringing out the best in people. He used to
challenge his team by letting them try their best to
convince him about their great ideas that eventually
led them to give positive results. This signifies him as
a visionary as well as a great business leader. But what
makes Jobs an example of an ideal leader. Let’s take a
tour down the history to understand the traditional
leadership style versus the modern day business
approach.
Where do traditional and new leadership qualities
collide?
For the last 100 years, humanity has adapted
technological, social, and economic reforms willingly
August 2019
and unwillingly. Some sociologists convey that the
human race has achieved many great needs while
some of them are now recognized as disruptive as well
as ahead of time. Integrating traditional leaders into
the new technical world is the most challenging part
of any leading organizations today. Studies have found
that these leaders consistently face some of the
following challenges.
Ÿ Impossibly high expectations: There are cases
when people have been motivated by impossibly
high expectations that influence performance at
work. In addition, management techniques such as
discipline, punishments, or threats in order to
maintain unquestionable regulations are the tactics
of traditional leadership. Also known as a directive
or command-and-control leadership has roots in
the industrial revolution. This outdated dated
model enabled businesses of ruling companies to
“hire, train, monitor, and deploy people according
to their needs whereas the new and progressive
model of leadership has unique requirements that
are very important for organizations’ success such
as inclusion, fairness, and social responsibilities.
32 businessapac.com
 Modern Day Business Approach
Ÿ Developing managerial effectiveness: Traditional
leaders may have their motives correct but they
usually fail in their execution process. The most
common challenge they face today is developing
the relevant skills such as time management,
strategic thinking, decision-making, prioritization,
and getting up to speed with the job. And even in
the midst of these challenges, many organizations
are not satisfied with their leadership programs.
Ÿ Class systems vs. Social equality structures:
Companies established during the industrial
revolution were structured purposely with the
contrast of people based on class systems. Here,
groups at the top were generally provided vast
advantages over other groups. Old leadership
model currently being practised at some
organizations is not much ensuring employee
satisfaction with their jobs. Only few high ranking
positions are getting the rewards while making no
room for lower executives. Progressive leadership
model does not allow this and often seek to abolish
the class systems.
Ÿ Leading the team: The most important role under
any leadership program is team building, team
development, and team management. In the
traditional model of leadership, information is
restricted and often passed down to those who
“need to know”. Employees are often misguided
about how their company is doing. Progressive
leadership creates a healthy culture meaning
company should be transparent to each and every
employee.
People always ask what leaders actually do. Are they
leading a team or in charge of a large organization or
businessapac.com
just trying to lead their own life? If all of the above
questions are affirmative then how do they actually
execute them? What are the desirable practices of
leadership? On a continual basis to be able to have the
right amount of influence and impact, leaders apply
the following 6E’s in their work lives or in any role in
which they are leading other people.
Ÿ Envision: Great business leaders envision a
compelling, different, and vibrant future than the
current scenario. They have an alternative clear
view of what the world could be like tomorrow
than it is today. They share their vision with others
and take time to sit and think, what should
tomorrow look like for team, for business, and for
the organization. The thought process behind this is
to envision a bigger picture of the future than it is
today.
Ÿ Enlist: As leaders are developing the vision,
enlisting other people is necessary to share their
voices, perspective, and dreams. The most
important leadership lesson in the world is that
people support what they create. If people are
involved in the ideation of a vision, figuring out
what is that they are about - what do they stand for
and where are they going––a great leader enlists
what others think and feel about their idea.
Ÿ Embody: Leaders always embody their message
about what they stand for and what is the
significance behind it. The basic line is integrity
and how they are behaving. People don’t believe in
the underlying message unless they believe the
messenger. Therefore, it’s the leaders who stand for
and demonstrate and portray what an organization
should really believe.
33 August 2019
 AGILE LEADERS

Ÿ Empower: Here, empowerment means to give people the decision-making authority and the trust to be able to
work towards the vision. To allow them the autonomy, strength, and input to equip them with the knowledge,
skills, abilities, technologies, and training to succeed as they march together with the leaders to achieve
something extraordinary and phenomenal.

Ÿ Evaluate: The hardest thing leaders do is to evaluate the key people who are with them through their
contributions, skills, and outcomes. Evaluation is an everyday job for leaders to collect honest, direct,
immediate, and constructive feedback from people.

Ÿ Encourage: Leaders are always motivating, inspiring, and uplifting people on a daily basis. Giving their team
members a helping hand, listening to their opinions, and fuelling their confidence is what leaders do. For
teams, leaders are the guiding light at the end of the tunnel. Whenever challenges arise in a turbulent sea,
leaders stand solid to guide their teams.

Traditional leadership is about control, rules, regulations, and boundaries while modern business approach is
about freedom of thought, room for creativity, value of outcome, and a warm welcome for new ideas. Leaders
living in 21st century but following traditional leadership styles are unable to make an impact and influence their
team members. They try to burden them with age old rules that don’t sit well with the millennial generation. In the
end, employees go in search of a leader, a company, and a mission that can restore their lost faith, confidence and
outlook. This is what modern business approach is all about. Making people, your people; making your vision, a
united goal.

August 2019 34 businessapac.com

 usiness

usiness
Fiserv is a global leader in financial services technology solutions. We're helping more than 12,000 clients worldwide create and deliver
experiences for a digital world that's always on. Solutions that enable today's consumer to move and manage money with ease, speed and
convenience. At the point of thought.
 The
Speed
of Life
www.ntt-global.com

creating a
connected
world