BUSINESS APAC TOP 10 CEOs OF 2020

BREAKING THE
STEREOTYPE

CULTURAL
DISPARITRY

MUHAMED
FAROOQUE
A RESILIENT ENTREPRENEUR TRANSFORMING
THE BUSINESS MANAGEMENT LANDSCAPE
 TOP

Witnessing the leadership growth

T he decade has witnessed a major transformation in the leadership style. While the 2010s
were struggling with the economic crisis, the 2020s is dealing with the global health
crisis—both demanding a revamped version of leadership. Also, our team at Business
APAC understands the futuristic approach of leaders from all over the world. This understanding
has helped us in acknowledging their unique vision for the present and future businesses. Our
magazine issue, “Business APAC's Top 10 CEOs of 2020,” focuses on showcasing the brilliant
leadership of featured clients.

In this magazine, you will witnesses the unique business stories and leaders who have successfully
thrived in the difficult times of pandemic. Also, we have highlighted the unique
solutions/services/products offered by the companies. On the cover story, you will Muhamed
Farooque, CEO of Excelledia. He began his entrepreneurial journey in 2007. His resiliency has
helped throughout his career and soon started a successful venture at Excelledia in 2010. It is a
business-performance management company specialized in people, process, and technology (digital
innovation).

Elsewhere in the magazine, you will find Amrinder Arora, Suresh Asrani, and Gomathi Shanmugam
who have an excellent hold on their leadership skills helping their companies to constantly grow
while others struggle in difficult times. Also, you will find the unique characteristics of each leader
that will stimulate the leadership qualities within you.

Our writers have penned down two interesting articles in the section “Breaking the Stereotypes”
and “Cultural Disparity” respectively enhancing your understanding of women leadership. These
articles will help you to create a unique perspective on leadership.

Shubham Biradar
Editorial Coordinator
 Publisher : Archana Ghule
Editor-in-Chief : Vikram Suryawanshi

Editorial Coordinator : Shubham Biradar

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Utkarsh Deshpande
Sanyukta Muley

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Shubham Ghodke

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 CONTENTS

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18 24

28 34

20 30
BREAKING THE CULTURAL
STEREOTYPES DISPARITY
‘WOMENTREPRENEURS’ DOES CULTURE REALLY
REFUSING TO STAY AFFECT THE
IN THE SHACKLES OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP,
CONVENTIONAL NORMS OR IS IT AN EXCUSE?
 TOP 10 CEOS OF 2020

Muha
Farooque
A Resilient Entrepreneur transforming the
Business Management Landscape

‘‘ We never fail, we win or we learn.

Both ways it's about gaining for
everyone involved.
‘‘
10
Cover Story

11
amed
 TOP 10 CEOS OF 2020

‘‘ Machines Learn on their own

by analyzing data. But it's your strategy
that dictates how to successfully
‘‘
apply Ai in the real world.

12
Muhamed Farooque
CEO | Excelledia

13
‘‘ Ai will have its
greatest power
and impact when
everyone can access
it & when it's built ‘‘
with everyone's
benefit in mind.

1. What propelled you to step in the management 2. What are the prominent services in Exelledia's
consultancy field? repertoire?

After failing in the first business, I always wanted to go
back and establish a successful business. I had set a goal
to serve people to enable social and economic
development. The biggest inspiration to set this goal was
my father who taught me how to serve when he was with
us. Moreover, another reason to choose and stay in this
industry is the amount of learning you will have every
day by addressing the internal and external business
challenges.
As a leading business improvement and management
consulting firm, we help businesses establish, improve,
and excel in their business processes and improve the
bottom line. We specialize in workforce development
through training and coaching services. Moreover, our
digital innovation services help our clients to digitize,
robotize, simulate, and augment their business services
using advanced technology solutions such as Artificial
Intelligence, Robotic Process Automation, and
Augmented &Virtual Realities.

14
3. How did you upgrade the company's service
portfolio over the years?
We have established our business portfolio based on
client needs across industries. We started by offering ISO
and Lean Six Sigma Services, and added consulting
services within a year. The portfolio started growing with
the addition of Strategy, Governance, Risk, Compliance,
Internal Audit, and People Assessment Services. We
have established a digital innovation team with a strong
workforce specialized in the design and development of
digital solutions to continually enhance our service
portfolio. The most recent addition to the team is a group
of highly qualified data scientists and experts on virtual
and augmented reality domains. Besides this, we have
also established an excellent research team to stay
focussed on innovation.
4. Would you like to share some remarkable
achievements from your journey that you cherish?
Throughout our journey, we have won plenty of business
recognitions and awards, but the smile on our customers'
faces is the biggest award we cherish. This is always
made possible by my extremely talented and skilled
workforce. We have failed in projects, we have accepted
and moved on to learn and win from those failures.
5. What do you make of this unprecedented pandemic
situation? How did you and your team adapt to the
new normal?
It has been a great opportunity for us as we are
specialized in digital innovation. We are leveraging our
expertise to help and guide our clients through this
difficult situation by building them digital platforms
based on their needs. We have also started motivating
our customers to design and build digital assets using
their organizational knowledge.
Furthermore, this has been new learning for every one of
us who never wanted to go digital. We have been
working remotely well before the pandemic started,
hence the shift to remote working was not a significant
issue for all of us. Delivering training online, however,
was a major issue that we solved by developing a highly
interactive and playful learning management system
which is currently in use. Our digital innovation team
made it possible in such a short time.
6. What projects are you currently working on? Are
there any cutting-edge services/ solutions we should
anticipate in the near future?
Isorobot is our recent technology innovation which is an
EMS (Enterprise Management System) software to
manage Governance, Risk, Compliance, Strategy,
Internal Audit including its entire Business Process
Portfolio. This is being used by private and public
organizations across the globe. We are currently in
process of introducing Artificial Intelligence features to
Isorobot.
Besides this, we are working on a number of AI solutions
to the market which will be launched to the market by
the second quarter of 2021 as part of our AI Center of
Excellence (CoE) Initiative. We have also designed an
AI CoE framework for any organization across the globe
to start working on AI initiatives.
Moreover, we are also working on launching a global
innovation engine named dezign space. Our vision is to
make innovation available to everyone everywhere
through zero cost prototyping and testing. Through this,
any common man will have access to test every bright
idea and bring them to life.
7. What keeps you motivated and committed to
your goals?
For me, my team is my biggest motivation. We, at
Excelledia have a great team based in different parts of
the world. We believe in helping each other when we
have difficult and challenging situations. Challenges
every day keeps me motivated. I love problems and
welcome the opportunity to address every challenge.
Motivation is all about learning by doing. I spend a lot of
time reading through Google, listening to YouTube
videos, and reading through Harvard Business Review.
However, motivation through a video or a session won't
last long. We need to identify the source of our
motivation and keep working hard on those.
15
18
In conversation with Dr. Amrinder
Arora, we explored his unique POV
towards the HR industry and how he
with his team is building HR products
for the modern world. He has also
highlighted the response of
BizMerlinHR towards the chaos caused
by COVID-19. Here are the snippets,
1. What are your views on the current
havoc of the COVID-19 situation?
The COVID-19 situation is
unprecedented, and all of us are simply
trying to deal with it to the best of our
abilities. On a personal front, I'm
optimistic about the situation. While it
presents numerous challenges, it also
presents an opportunity for businesses
to rethink the dynamics of the work
environment, given the remote working
forced upon by social distancing norms
of COVID-19. And while many would
want for things to return back to pre-
COVID times after an effective vaccine
is available, things are unlikely to go
back to the same old way of doing
things. Rather I expect an efficient
compromise between office and remote
working.
The Covid situation also taught us that
for an organization to stay afloat and
working, it has to depend on the strong
HR software that would ensure
compliance at all levels of employee
journey in the organization. And if the
organization is not up-to-date with the
technology, the current times might
warrant investment in the right HR
technologies that will allow them to
stay ahead of changing workplace
dynamics and evolving HR policies that
is bound to impact all aspects of HR
from hiring to onboarding of new
employees to conducting performance
management to talent management.
2.In regards to COVID-19, how have
you innovated or leveraged the
solutions of BizMerlinHR?
BizMerlinHR offers a distinctive bouquet
of innovative products that inhabit unique
features. Our goal has always been to
maintain productivity, and especially in
such unprecedented times, we leveraged
some key features like,
Ÿ Send Announcements to Keep
Everyone in the Loop
As the COVID-19 situation evolves
with each day, it is often more
appropriate to make announcements
for a group rather than sending out an
email.
Ÿ Sick Leaves
We allow you to track sick leaves
related to the coronavirus – you can
create a new leave type and policy.
Ÿ Integration with Zoom for ease of
interviewing candidates - This is a life
saver and time saver for the talent
acquisition team.
Ÿ Check-Ins to allow for online
coaching of employees
Ÿ Custom Reports
With the changing needs of your
organization due to COVID-19, you
can document and create custom
reports for the information that is
most relevant to you.
3. Did you undertake any special
measures to ensure productivity?
BizMerlinHR team is structured on
ownership and responsibility of their
work. Each team member is responsible
for their line of work and their delivery
schedules. Obviously such great
autonomous structure comes with a lot of
trust and respect for each other. But
nonetheless, remote working has raised
the need for innovative tech solutions to
ensure the smooth transition of work.
Consequently, as most of the employees
were working from home we needed a
system to track remote working hours.
This Time Tracking approach has helped
us to keep track of the working hours.
Apart from Time Tracking, we have
inbuilt integrations with Jira, which
makes project management easier,
especially with remote workforces.
Furthermore, we also scheduled
regular check-ins. These check-ins
make remote work much easier and
more effective. Having a 1-1 session
with the managers, ease some of the
anxieties that have arisen because of
this unpredictable situation.
4. Has the outbreak affected the set
goals for the year?
The focus of our product development
team has always been to offer a solution
that has a strong foundation in
technology and stays versatile enough
to adapt to the latest technology trends.
By far we have been successful in
offering our customers the best in-
store—despite the crisis— and we aim
to continue to do so.
5. Is there any outlined roadmap for
2021?
Yes, for the year 2020 and 2021 we are
aiming to strengthen the customer
experience by developing on AI and
NLP. For now, BizMerlinHR remains
entirely focused on human capital
management solutions. However, within
this solution space, there are numerous
sub solutions where you will continue
to see BizMerlinHR play increasingly
substantial roles.
Further, due to increased synergy
between our partners and BizMerlinHR
HCM, we will be strengthening and
streamlining our integrations with
Microsoft, Amazon, and Atlassian.
6. Lastly, is there any advice you have
for aspiring business leaders?
If you believe in your vision, you must
accept setbacks and challenges even if
at that moment they look
insurmountable. As you grow, the
challenges always grow with you, and
you are then able to laugh away the
challenges of yesterday and are ready to
take on the bigger challenges of today.
19
 BREAKING THE STEREOTYPES

WOM ENTR

20
REPRENEURS
REFUSING TO STAY IN THE SHACKLES
OF CONVENTIONAL NORMS
C
urrently, there has been a rise in the number of
“womentrepreneurs” as compared to the traditional
times. Female entrepreneurship took 20 years long
run in order to leap from 26% of business ownership in
1997 to 40% business ownership in 2019.
We are entering into a whole new decade and yet there are
around 55 GDI companies who have never had women on
their boards. However, this total was only the result of the
information provided by large organizations. The smaller
companies are less tending to add women to the boards.
Women remain to not have a seat at the table and a
significant voice in the boardroom.
Although female entrepreneurship and the formation of
female-owned business networks is steadily rising, there are
numerous challenges and obstacles that female
entrepreneurs face. One major challenge that they face is
traditional gender-roles that are basically internalized by
society. The data depicts that men outnumber women in
terms of the most prestigious positions at firms. Other than
dealing with the dominant stereotype, female entrepreneurs
are facing several obstacles related to their business
investments too.
Constant Uphill Battle with No End in Sight
Female entrepreneurs have to face stereotypical attitudes on
a daily basis. In this business scenario, the customers to
suppliers or even the banks can be the constant reminders
for the entrepreneur that she is different. Rarely this
reminder is in a positive way, in the form of praising her for
being a successful entrepreneur (being a woman). These
gender stereotypes affect the workforce attitude too,
because the employees tend to have mixed expectations
towards a female entrepreneur.
The statistics explain that women face higher requirements
while submitting a proposal for venture capital financing.
To explain this more clearly, in a study it was proven that
financial evaluators see women without any technical
background as less capable than males who similarly have
no technical background. Women only had an advantage
over the male counterparts when they had a technical
background, and were evaluated as more sociable with
better leadership skills. This draws us to the conclusion that
a woman has to have a higher qualification than male
entrepreneurs, and also require both technical backgrounds
with a higher social capital i.e. strong social ties in the
industry, only then will she be recognized as a legitimate
entrepreneur. Thus, this makes it quite clear that for
investors to trust her entrepreneurial abilities, they need to
see a higher potential in her as compared to her male
colleagues, likely due to gender stereotypes.
Not Just the Boardroom but Also the Workforce is
affected
Where women are still struggling hard to attain a place on
the boards, the workforce ratio is also equally affected. For
instance, tech companies are highly prey to this workforce
diversity. It was observed that several tech companies
employed very few women. In 2014, tech giants like
Google, Facebook, Twitter comprised about 70% of men in
the workforce. The percentage of women's participation,
however, was raised to about 31.6% in 2019, which
accounts for only 1.6% rise in the five years.
21
 BREAKING THE STEREOTYPES

The current scenario demands to employ a diversified respect.

workforce. The gender-diverse workforce is vital for the
improvement of productivity. Creating a balance between
genders might be the real driver of superior performance
that mostly all business leaders are yearning. A study
suggests that gender balance among the leaders correlates to
higher stocks and greater profitability. The mixed-gender
boards outperformed the all-male boards, which also settle
the debate of why the results of hedge funds supervised by
women overtake hedge funds headed by men.
Demand for Womentrepreneurs Is Greater Than the
Supply
The social capital of an entrepreneur can be defined by the
networks they have access to, and the private equity
funding they receive is heavily influenced by the
entrepreneur's social capital and also if it overlaps with that
of venture capitalists. Women seem to be disadvantaged
when in search of private equity funding. The research on
gender discrimination in venture capital funding states that
the demand of skilled women entrepreneurs is higher than
the supply. Contrary to conventional wisdom, there were
women who were not financed through growth capital,
despite having the necessary skills to build a high-growth
business.
Supporting the women-helping-women agenda, many
successful female business owners or Angel investors have
started backing the 'for women, by women' enterprises by
investing in it. Whether the idea is big, small, completely
ironed out, or still under consideration, these investors help
to set up the business from the ground up. As Hillary
Clinton said, “Investing in women is not only the right thing
to do, but also the smart thing to do.”
To conclude, entrepreneurship is declared to be a male-
dominated field, and it might be tough to surpass the
orthodox views. The leadership gender gap is obstinate and
ubiquitous but resolvable. People blame the social customs,
caste restrictions, culture restraints, and other norms the
reason for women lagging behind men. Cleopatra or Queen
Elizabeth make it quite clear that women are not new to
leadership. Apart from these two, many other women who
led the civil rights or started education reform movements
count as transformational leaders too. Nevertheless, female
entrepreneurs have evidently more to acquire in comparison
to their male counterparts and are striving to break the
constraints of the conventional norms.

However, women entrepreneurs are launching ambitious

businesses in the high-tech industry in order to expand their
social networks. Despite of many challenges in the industry,
they are still making their pitches more relatable to the
male-dominant VC industry. Regardless of the conservative
norms, women have been creating good social networks.
Women have their networks a lot different from that of their
male equivalents and are not coinciding as much with
financial networks.

Feminist Entrepreneurs Entering Commercial Markets

Hearing the word “feminist” raises quite some voices

among the people. While some support 'feminism' there are
many who get offended by the term. Despite the entire
backlash, feminists have made their debut in
entrepreneurship. A feminist entrepreneur is an individual
who smears feminist values and approaches
entrepreneurship with the aim of improving the quality of
life and also the well-being of girls and women. The leaders
are creating many 'for women, by women' enterprises,
which is an amazing initiative to promote women in
leadership. These leaders are entering the commercial
market with the focus to create wealth and social change,
based on the ethics of cooperation, equality, and mutual

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THE WOMEN
IN LEADERSHIP

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34
1. What motivated you to join the
family business?
I was born into a traditional business
family. My childhood experiences
revolved around the business which
motivated me to join the family
business. Also, I was inclined towards
international trade. It would be more
apt to say that the industry chose me.
2. How did you further upscale the
already successful company?
From an export business of agriculture
products, it gave me an exposure to
foreign travel. I used to carry the
exotic food products back to India, and
always wondered if we could buy
them from India as well. There was
some availability, but the genuineness
was always a concern. What started as
a small experiment, turned out to be a
complete business. We are happy that
today we represent over 27 Top
International brands from countries
like the USA, Spain, Italy,
Netherlands, The United Kingdom,
Singapore, etc.
3. Was it easy to shift from your
comfort zone of retail business to
trading with international brands?
Prior, the business was majorly
exporting agriculture products. In
1997, we diversified into imports. In
the initial days, our business was
majorly in five-star hotels and
limited restaurants in metro cities.
Gradually, we moved to restaurants
in Tier 1 & II Cities, and also started
to experiment with international
cuisine. A big shift was in the retail
business, which today contributes to
over 60% of the company revenue.
We were the first company to
officially launch top international
brands in India.
5. Would you like to share any notable
highlights from your journey that
you're proud of?
In 2015, we launched our Private label
brand “Abbie's”. Now, the company
operates 5 offices in India and has
active business interests in UAE. We
were awarded Company of The Year
by CEO Magazine and our brand
Abbie's was awarded the Emerging
Brand of the year award recently.
6. How will you describe Suresh
Kumar & Co.'s USP as?
We, as an organization, always strive
for Excellence. As an ISO 9001:2008 &
ISO 22000:2005 Certified company, we
have vowed to stick to our Quality
Policy. To enhance customer
satisfaction, we source our products
from internationally renowned
suppliers, with a well-known brand
with highest quality standards all efforts
are made to continually improve the
effectiveness of the quality management
system. All our products are from
reputed companies from around the
world and come with our personal
assurance of quality.
7. How have you and your team
adapted to the changes put forth by
COVID-19?
Personally, I feel that this pandemic will
become a way of life, at least in the
foreseeable future. We all are pushed
towards online-based marketing, this
has been observed all over the world.
Observing the current situation, we
have ramped up our online presence and
today are the largest direct sellers of
gourmet foods in India on online
channels. This ensures our customers
get their essential food products in the
safest way possible. Just recently, we
have launched the “Nutrition Plus”
range of Neutraceuticals products which
offer products to boost immunity.
Another aspect which needs urgent
attention is the safety of our employees.
Being in the distribution line, WFH is
not practical. We routinely sanitize all
our premises and social distancing is
also followed. Alongside, we follow all
possible precautions to ensure the safety
of our team members.
8. Are there any upcoming business
products/services we should be
aware of?
We are working to consolidate our
position on online platforms. We
are also in process of launching our
own eCommerce portal and app.
Additionally, there are talks going
on with some reputable global
brands for their entry in India.
9. How do you seek motivation? What
is your motivational mantra?
Maintaining a healthy routine keeps
me motivated. I am an early riser and
spend 2 hours every morning
working out in my home gym and
practicing yoga. Also, spending time
with my grandkids keeps me in a
positive frame of mind. I like
biographies and am currently reading
“The Everything Store” based on Jeff
Bezos/Amazon.
10. What will you advise the aspiring
entrepreneurs?
The current business scenario is very
motivating, I see several
entrepreneurs are entering the market
with new business ideas. I would
always advise youngsters that the
business is not a sprint but a
marathon. Someone who's running
next to you may not be your equal.
Who knows on which lap is he
running and which lap are you on.
Have patience and give it your 100%.
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