#tjgong Entrepreneur Series

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I got the opportunity to talk to Harriet Kariuki - Co-Founder of The Afrijob Network. * The Afrijob Network's mission is to bring top talents from worldwide to team up with fast-growing startups in Africa, increasing awareness of Africa's vast entrepreneurial opportunities.

After completing her Bachelor of Arts at Harvard University, followed by Master of Arts at Yenching Academy of Peking University, she returned to Kenya to work as a management consultant. She got the opportunity to interact with African startups and government organisations. This experience gave her insight into the challenges that the entrepreneurial ecosystem faced in raising funds and hiring top talents. This awareness eventually led her to start The Afrijob Network.

Harriet comes across as an active, affable, ambitious, characterful, confident, independent, logical and a valiant person.

The Afrijob Network - Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Mutembei Kariuki - Co-Founder of Fastagger. *Fastagger provides image annotation services to AI-driven companies. Their goal is to accelerate AI applications by providing access to high-quality data enhanced by human interaction.

Mutembei had worked in various geographic locations – USA, India, Austria, Brazil, Philippines, Japan and Kenya under designations such as National Vice President - Talent Management, Global Coordinator (Asia) and Social Innovation Manager before he co-founded Fastagger. Fastagger was among the ten African startups selected for the 2020 cohort of the #Africa4Future aerospace acceleration program run by Airbus and GIZ, and supported by Co-Creation Hub.

Mutembei comes across as an active, affable, confident, courageous, curious, determined, methodical and a prudent person.

Fastagger - Website | LinkedIn

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Stefan Lindberg-Jones – CEO & Owner of Ginger Camel, a film, animation and photography production company based in Qatar.

Stefan has worked for major media businesses like ITV, Sky, OSN, Aljazeera, to name a few. Stefan also has a couple of successful podcast series under his belt - Doha Heat and Your Onion; his latest podcast -Stefan Lindberg-Jones - Work, Rest & Play.

Stefan decided to start Ginger Camel in 2011 when he realised a significant gap in quality film production, animation, photography & digital media services in Qatar.

Some of the businesses that have benefited from Ginger Camel's quality production services include Ooredoo, Qatar Foundation, The Commercial Bank of Qatar and Vodafone Qatar. The company has also won a few awards along the way, like the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Dolphin Award in 2014.

Steve comes across as an adaptive, characterful, courageous, considerate, dependable, passionate, patient, persistent, pragmatic, prudent and a self-disciplined person.

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Steve Sosebee – Founder and President of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). * PCRF was established in 1992 by concerned humanitarians in the USA to bring injured and sick children for free medical care that they could not get locally. PCRF has sent sick and injured children for free medical care and sponsored hundreds of volunteer medical teams from all over the world to treat tens of thousands of ill and wounded youths in local hospitals. PCRF also built several paediatric cancer departments in Palestine and has several significant programs and projects to help support the development of a sustainable health-care system there.

The desire to start PCRF was born in Steve in 1989 when he was working as a freelance writer for The Washington Post Report on Middle East Affairs; he went to meet a 10-year-old boy named Mansour, who had lost both his legs, his right hand and an eye. Steve decided to ask his friends and contacts for help to bring him and his sister, who also had an injury, to the US for treatment. The whole experience of seeing the children's lives changed gave him great satisfaction.

Steve comes across as an active, affable, adaptive, attentive, compassionate, dispassionate, encouraging, generous, Gritty, hopeful, humble, integrous, passionate, patient, pragmatic, reliable, respectful, steadfast, unselfish and a valiant person.

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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G’day entrepreneurs, hope everyone is safe and well.

I would like to wish each one of you a safe and happy holiday season. Hope you get time to take a break from work and spend some quality time with family and friends.

I will see you all in the new year with more insights and learnings form entrepreneurs around the world.

Thank you for your encouragement and support during 2020; happy holidays!

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Sony Gabriel - Co-founder and CEO of Menerva and Geetha Ramaswamy - Co-founder and CTO of Menerva. *Menerva provides custom data analytics solutions to organisations, which helps them to make informed business decisions.

Sony is currently based in India and Geetha, is based in the US, they have been friends for more than 30 years; and started Menerva in 2016. In 4 years, they have grown into a 30 member team. Menerva creates custom software for businesses that automates, organises, and centralises data; they are focused on product development as well and have launched two products in the market - TRaiCE and TRaiIN.

Sony's focus is on the customer side of the business, and Geetha on the technology side. As a team, they come across as people who are adaptive, affable, ambitious, confident, cooperative, courageous, dependable, determined, diligent, disciplined and organised.

Menerva - Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Charles Liu - Founder and CEO of Cubic Promote. * Cubic Promote is a leading supplier of promotional items based in Australia. The business provides products to organisations, businesses, charities, local councils, as well as State & Federal Government departments.

The idea to start Cubic Promote was born in Charles when he had to take leave, due to an injury at work. Being at home, one day, he paid close attention to a promotional pen sitting on his table. He started researching on how the various processes came together that resulted in the creation of the promotional pen. This curiosity was the start of his journey with Cubic Promote.

Charles comes across as an adaptive, affable, alert, ambitious, attentive, creative, curious, dependable, disciplined, encouraging, gritty, hard-working, orderly and a valiant person.

Podcast - Google Podcast | Apple Podcast | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Danny May – CEO & Co-founder of Lingmo. * Lingmo International is a world-leading provider of cloud-based Artificial Intelligent translation software and voice recognition technology.

Danny decided to start Lingmo after an incident in China; the app he was using to translate English to Chinese while liaising with a police officer, to explain to him that his passport got stolen, did not do the job according to plan. The app ended up translating “Hello, how are you?” to “Hello, I love you.” This incident made him realise the importance of developing an app that understood the nuances in dialects and also that which did the translation in real-time.

Danny comes across as an active, adaptive, affable, creative, confident, curious, disciplined, gritty, hard-working, diligent, pragmatic and a committed person.

Podcasts - Apple | Google | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Segun Temitope Omisakin, Co-founder of DevFund. *DevFund is a technical funding partner and an on-demand interim CTO service provider.

Segun completed his bachelor’s and master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and worked for several years in Nigeria and the UK, before coming to Australia. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and wants to help Australian entrepreneurs by providing technology solutions.

Segun comes across as an active, adaptive, affable, courageous, ambitious, passionate and a warm person.

DevFund - Website | LinkedIn | Twitter

Podcasts - Apple | Google | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Nick Bendel, Managing Director of Hunter & Scribe. *Hunter & Scribe is a small business marketing agency that specialises in content, websites and design.

Nick studied media and communication; and has worked as a copywriter, journalist and as an editor in his previous roles. He has also authored two books - Crush Them With Content: How to Use Content Marketing to Beat Your Rivals & The Debt of Ricardo: A Most Unusual Novel.

Nick is on a personal journey to have lunch with 500 strangers in 5 years; and so far, had lunch with 138 people.

Nick comes across as an adaptive, ambitious, attentive, courageous, disciplined, friendly, hard-working, persistent, prudent and a purposeful person.

Hunter & Scribe - Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter | 500lunches

Podcasts - Apple | Google | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Meghdut Roy Chowdhury, Founder of Technopreneurs' Surrogate Ventures Pvt. Ltd. * Along with the world-class co-working space, they also offer a mentorship-driven incubation programme.

After completing his Masters at HEC Paris, Meghdut went back to India to build on the lessons he learned overseas.

In the interview, Meghdut speaks about the lessons that Indian and Western entrepreneurs could learn from each other. He also talks on the entrepreneurial journey of his father, who is the chairman of Techno India Group.

Meghdut comes across as an active, adaptive, ambitious, characterful, creative, confident, curious, enthusiastic, independent, dynamic and a purposeful person.

Technopreneurs' Surrogate Ventures Pvt. Ltd. - Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Meghdut Roy Chowdhury

Podcasts - Apple | Google | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Wisam Costandi, Founder & MD of Informatica Qatar. * IQ provides innovative, high-quality technology solutions, and Extra Low Voltage System and Security Integration. The business primarily focuses on large-scale projects, such as airports, stadiums, and medical campuses.

Wisam landed in Qatar on the invitation of a trusted family friend and started IQ in 2008.

Wisam comes across as an alert, ambitious, characterful, disciplined, gritty, industrious, logical, persistent, purposeful, steadfast and a valiant person.

Informatic Qatar - Website | Facebook | LinkedIn

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Layana Franco, Founder of Swap-a-Porter. * Swap-a-Porter’s vision is for people in Australia to reuse clothes instead of buying new ones. A sustainable model, as the clothes are recycled, which extends their life. In Layana’s own words – “ My mission is to show people all the untapped value of preloved clothes through a virtual swap experience that is convenient, fun, and free.” Currently the swaps take place on Swap-a-Porter’s Instagram platform.

Layana came to Australia to do an advanced diploma in Business; learned the English language while she was here. She started Swap-a-Porter during April 2020.

Layana comes across as an active, adaptive, affable, creative, enthusiastic, passionate, persistent and a warm person.

Swap-a-Porter - Website | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Sahithi Divi, Co-founder of Impact Scientist. * Impact Scientist is a platform that delivers content aligned to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 5 of Gender Equality, through online, onsite and consulting partnership channels. They are focused on the economic empowerment of women at the village level.

Sahithi and Impact Scientist's Co-founder, Suren, believes that economic empowerment is the key to achieving gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth.

Sahithi comes across as an adaptive, creative, compassionate, gritty, logical, pragmatic, respectful, courageous and a warm person.

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Mateo Palacio Gómez, Co-founder & Director of charityBay. * charityBay allows you to auction off your cherished items and direct the proceeds to your favourite charity of choice. With thousands of registered charities available to choose from, your contribution can make a difference to those closest to your heart.

Mateo and his friend (Co-founder), realised that a lot of useful items in Australia were ending up in landfills, damaging the environment; they also learned that a good number of charities were financially struggling. They started charityBay with the aim of solving both these pain points in the Australian market.

charityBay was part of ‘First Gens 2.0’ pre-accelerator, a joint initiative by Catalysr and ygap in Melbourne this year. charityBay is currently part of ygap’s First Gens Accelerator program.

Mateo comes across as an adaptive, alert, determined, disciplined, encouraging, organised, persistent and a purposeful person.

charityBay - Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Arpan Debasis, Founder & CEO of Medicento. * Medicento is a Health Tech Start-Up in the pharmaceutical space; redefining the supply chain for seamless flow of pharmaceutical and healthcare products, using a data-driven approach. They intend to change the healthcare ecosystem by introducing demand (pull-based) flow of medicines and healthcare, rather than push-based; thus, optimizing inventory, delivery model and minimizing expired products. Their smart AI based inventory management system would segregate products based on the demand of the market, thus decreasing stock in period, and generating better revenues.

Arpan’s journey with Medicento started when he noticed shortcomings in the healthcare system when he had to take his dad for treatment to a hospital in his hometown.

Arpan comes across as an active, adaptive, ambitious, courageous, determined, friendly and a persistent person.

Medicento - Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Shihab Muhammed, CEO & Founder of SurveySparrow. * SurveySparrow is an Omni-channel Experience Management Platform that bundles Customer Experience and Employee Experience tools such as NPS, Offline, Chat, Classic, and 360° Surveys which are mobile-first, highly engaging, and user-friendly. Its conversational user interface (CUI) allows users to create and share compelling, mobile-responsive surveys; and has over 20,000+ customers in 149 countries. Clientele includes Grant Thornton, DiDi, PaySafe, Deloitte Digital, SAP, and Siemens.

Shihab’s journey with SurveySparrow began when he realized how disengaging conventional email surveys were; he decided to make the whole process chatty, easy-to-use, and appealing.

Shihab comes across as an adaptive, courteous, dependable, diligent, disciplined, encouraging, gritty, humble, organized, pragmatic and a warm person.

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Aseel Tayah, Founder of Bukjeh. * Bukjeh is a community art project on the theme of the “bukjeh”, a sack or swag in which refugees collect their few belongings for their journey. Culminating in a public installation and series of short performances, Bukjeh shares the stories of people who are displaced. It’s a space to ask questions, listen, and connect.

Bukjeh was part of ‘First Gens 2.0’ pre-accelerator, a joint initiative by Catalysr and ygap in Melbourne.

Aseel comes across as an active, adaptive, friendly, creative, confident, determined, energetic, enthusiastic, gritty, persistent, supportive and a warm person.

Bukjeh - Website | Facebook | Instagram

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Anna Wright, CEO and Founder of BindiMaps. * BindiMaps completely changes the way people with vision impairment access indoor spaces by removing significant barriers to navigation. BindiMaps is a mobile app that locates users precisely in indoor spaces. It employs a simple, natural-language audio system to describe where users are and what’s around them and the best way to get to their chosen destination. BindiMaps does this using a network of Bluetooth beacons, sophisticated mapping and route-guidance system, and smartphone sensors.

Besides running BindiMaps, Anna also works as a Senior Lecturer at UTS and is the only academic in the UTS Business School to hold both Accounting and Taxation practising certificates.

Anna comes across as an adaptive, courageous, curious, dependable, disciplined, encouraging, friendly, liberal, logical, patient and purposeful person.

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Nessar Khan, Director & Co-founder of Kratos Energy Pty Ltd. * Kratos Energy is working towards making green energy accessible and affordable for all. Kratos gives people the option to select green, energy-efficient appliances for their homes and offices to reduce their carbon footprint. The founders of Kratos are graduates of UOW and are committed to providing eco-friendly products and solutions for the global market.

Kratos is a resident company of iAccelerate, a business accelerator and incubator program run by the University of Wollongong.

Nessar came to Australia as an international student in 1985 to do his Bachelor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Wollongong.

Nessar comes across as an adaptive, affable, alert, ambitious, courageous, dependable, determined, disciplined, industrious, independent and an organised person.

Kratos Energy Pty Ltd - Website | Facebook | Kratos at iAccelerate

Podcasts - Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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Got the opportunity to talk to Wim Hartog, Managing Director of WILA Innovations. * WILA Innovations is the Australian distributor for several disability products like Vicair pressure care products, VELA office and active chairs, VELA medical chairs, Focal arm supports, Obi robotic feeding device, Handimove hoist systems and the TiPY one hand keyboard.

Wim travels extensively and is focused on expanding WILA Innovations business across Australia.

Wim comes across as an active, ambitious, gritty, industrious, resourceful, persistent and a resolute person.

WILA Innovations - Website | LinkedIn | Facebook

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Got the opportunity to talk to Niv Atar, Co-founder of Dinidae. * Dinidae is a platform dedicated to supporting social enterprises and not-for-profits; 50% of profits go back to sellers for different programs and initiatives to support them, like marketing, business advice and creating networking opportunities. Each store on Dinidae is led by a social impact mission, which includes funding cancer research, youth suicide prevention, providing employment opportunities to marginalized communities to name a few.

Niv came to Australia in 2016 and was part of Catalysr’s 2020 accelerator program.

Niv comes across as an active, benevolent, curious, determined, diligent, encouraging, friendly, honourable, organised, pragmatic and a rational person.

Dinidae - Website | LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram

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Got the opportunity to talk to Vinod Jose, Founder of Konglo Ventures. * Konglo Ventures is an investment firm with its registered office in Cochin, India, and Philadelphia, USA. Their focus is to invest in early-stage startups with high growth and scale potential and cash flowing residential properties.

Vinod graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Calicut and also completed his MBA, majoring in finance, from European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. He has worked in various roles including as Process Lead, Senior Principal, Head of Finance to name a few, in India, Germany, Switzerland, and the USA.

Vinod comes across as an adaptive, affable, ambitious, courageous, independent, logical, open-minded, persistent, and purposeful person.

Exited portfolio – Profoundis acquired by FullContact

Konglo Ventures - Website | LinkedIn | Vinod Jose on LinkedIn

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Got the opportunity to talk to Goutham Bandaru, founder of OfficeFlow. * OfficeFlow is a simple native desktop app to manage email accounts, cloud-based apps, and to streamline workflow.

Goutham came to Australia to do his masters at Deakin University in 2016; and was part of Catalysr’s 2020 accelerator program.

Goutham comes across as an adaptive, ambitious, courageous, curious, friendly, logical, open-minded, purposeful, and sincere person.

Goutham Bandaru's interview on YouTube.

OfficeFlow - Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | LinkedIn - Goutham Bandaru |

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Got the opportunity to talk to Scott Lee, MD of The Unspoken Pitch. * The Unspoken Pitch brings clarity to complex ideas and produce visual storytelling in multimedia formats to keep businesses ahead of the curve in today’s digitally focused fast paced media environment. The Unspoken Pitch has worked with SMEs and multinational corporations including AMP, Westpac, the University of Sydney, and McDonald’s to clearly communicate their ideas and achieve market success.

Scott graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Sydney and went on to work as an architectural draftsman, ASLP associate with Apple Sydney and also as an account director with a leading web design/development business in Australia, prior to starting The Unspoken Pitch.

Scott comes across as an alert, ambitious, characterful, creative, confident, gritty, industrious, methodical, passionate, persistent, pragmatic, reliable and a resolute person.

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Got the opportunity to talk to Joy Abdullah, Strategic Marketing Specialist, Co-founder of 3MinuteMarketing. *3MinuteMarketing brings you short, snappy and effective actionable marketing tips, in 3 minutes, every week. Tips that are simple, strategic and effective, that which you can use immediately to get growth.

Prior to starting 3MinuteMarketing in October 2019 with Nick Bendel, Joy worked across 9 industry verticals for close to 32 years in positions such as Group Brand Director, Strategic Planning Director, Chief Marketing Officer, Head of Strategic Planning & Corporate Affairs to name a few. He has worked in countries such as India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong; and collaborated on projects in far more countries.

Joy comes across as an active, affable, alert, confident, encouraging, passionate, reliable and a warm person.

3MinuteMarketing - Website | YouTube | Joy's LinkedIn | Joy's Twitter

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Got the opportunity to talk to Devan Sabaratnam, Co-founder of HR Partner, a cloud based HRIS (Human Resources Information System) designed for Small & Medium Businesses. HR Partner provides a complete HR program that can stand-alone or work alongside specialised packages.

Devan is a keen musician; learned about rock and roll and started playing the guitar while at high school, and formed his first band while at school. After high school he studied full time to be a commercial pilot, and gained his licence in 1985. As flying jobs at the time were scarce, he ended up working at a local IBM dealership. That is where his love of computers and computer programming started. Devan has been involved in the entrepreneurship space for over 3 decades.

Devan comes across as an active, characterful, creative, considerate, cooperative, curious, encouraging, friendly, humble, industrious, integrous and purposeful person.

The interview with Devan was conducted on the 30th of June 2020. Devan’s own words - “ I am proud to have done this interview with Tony on what would have been my dad’s 90th birthday. My father was always my hero and my inspiration, and I would like to dedicate this interview to his memory."

HR Partner - Website | LinkedIn | Twitter | Facebook | Devan's Blog

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Got the opportunity to talk to Usman Iftikhar, who is the CEO of Catalysr, an award-winning pre-accelerator for early stage startups. Usman came to Australia in 2013 to study Masters of Engineering Management at the University of Wollongong.

Even after having a master’s degree, Usman found it challenging to get meaningful work in Australia. He realised that, if he was struggling to find meaningful work in Australia even after having an Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) level 9 qualification, there would be many others who would be in a similar position. With this in mind, he co-founded Catalysr along with Jacob Muller in 2016, with the mission to empower and enable migrants and refugees in Australia to start their own businesses and create their own futures.

In 2018, he was named Commonwealth Young Person of the Year and he received the award from Prince Harry.

Usman comes across as an alert, creative, compassionate, confident, dependable, gritty, industrious, open-minded, resolute and supportive person.

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Got the opportunity to talk to Simon Kerrigan, who is the Managing Director of Guide Healthcare. Simon is a physiotherapist and had around 6 years of work experience behind him, when he started his venture, Guide Healthcare.

Simon is a people person who is focused in looking after his staff and clients, to the best of his ability. He, along with his team is working hard to make the physio experience more enjoyable for their clients.

Guide Healthcare want’s to "give-back" to their clients, through social justice initiatives which allow clients to have access to the best equipment, the best clinicians and the best services.

Simon is passionate about delivering programs which go beyond basic assessments and reviews, pain management treatments and manual handling training.

Simon comes across as an active, adaptive, characterful, creative, disciplined, encouraging, generous, hard-working, open-minded, purposeful and respectful person.

Guide Healthcare - Website | LinkedIn | YouTube | Facebook | Twitter

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Got the opportunity to talk to Sandra D’Souza, Founder & CEO of Ellect. Sandra is passionate about social entrepreneurship and has more than 20 years of work experience in various roles across diverse business sectors. Sandra has also authored a book titled “Social Media for Baby Boomers”.

*On International Women’s Day 2018, Sandra launched Ellect to address the gender gap in businesses with its global procurement marketplace and certification program. This unique digital marketplace and certification program offers businesses the opportunity to work towards gender balance. Ellect is aligned with United Nations Global Goal no. 5 – Gender Equality to be a purpose driven business where part of the proceeds fund known gender equality projects.

Sandra comes across as an aspiring, caring, conscientious, considerate, courageous, optimistic, passionate, principled, and prudent person.

Social Media for Baby Boomers - on Amazon

Social Media for Baby Boomers: How to translate your decades of knowledge and experience into social influence

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Got the opportunity to talk to Haitham Al-Haidari, Co-founder and CEO of Modaris. Haitham is an engineering graduate from Texas A&M University in Qatar; and prior to starting Modaris in 2015, he had worked as an English teacher, graphic designer, sales engineer and in few other roles, which has honed the entrepreneur in him.

Modaris is an EdTech company that connects students and tutors; and has its presence in Qatar, Malaysia, Turkey and Australia. Modaris was the winner of the “Most Innovative Startup” at QITCOM, Qatar in 2017; and was one of the 2019 Red Herring Top 100 Asia Winners.

Haitham shared how Modaris fast-tracked the development of the platform when COVID-19 hit the world. He also shared how being married to Modaris’s Co-founder, Yasmin Kassem, has been an advantage in Modari’s establishment journey.

Haitham comes across as an aspiring, cordial, calm, creative, decisive, empathetic, prudent, purposeful, rational, and resourceful person.

Modaris - Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

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Got the opportunity to talk to Cyril D’Silva, who is the Executive Chairman of Millenium Kapital Ltd. Cyril started his entrepreneurial journey at a young age in Singapore; and over the years has led businesses in Indonesia, Sierra Leone, UK and Australia. Cyril’s many years of global experience has been primarily in capital raising and strategic investing.

Cyril is currently focused on establishing Millenium Kapital Ltd., a company based out of Perth. MKL is a boutique Private Equity Firm.

*MKL has acquired 100% of the shares of Millenium Kapital (Africa) Limited in Sierra Leone, who have lodged the licence application for the mining tenements in the Zimmi area. These mining tenements are well-known to contain the much sought-after Yellow Canary Diamonds that carry a great premium over other yellow diamonds. MKL has also entered into a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with Green Gem Investments (GGI Corp), who are based in Colombia, South America, to acquire their portfolio of emerald projects.

Cyril comes across as amiable, ambitious, astute, capable, decisive, emphatic, far-sighted, focused, strategic, determined, methodical and pragmatic.

Millenium Kapital Ltd - Website | LinkedIn | Cyril's LinkedIn

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Got the opportunity to talk to David Reidy, who is the founder of uCare. David is an experienced project lead developer and is skilled in mobile development, software development, Swift, Kotlin, PHP and SQL. David has more than 29 years of teaching experience.

David is currently focused on developing uCare, a platform that aims to improve communication between care providers and families of residents/clients. uCare wants families to have the peace of mind of knowing that their loved one’s are being well looked after. uCare is nearing completion and is ready for final testing before release.

David comes across as an affable, considerate, determined, methodical and pragmatic person.

uCare - Website | LinkedIn

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Got the opportunity to talk to Doreen Brown, the owner of Doreen Brown Consulting and Founder of Elevate Your Cause. Doreen is a digital marketing consultant with a focus on Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Doreen shared about her entrepreneurial journey; the decisions she took earlier on in her business, which helped in the consistent growth of her brand. Doreen’s focus is on quality rather than quantity; she takes onboard a limited number of new clients every month; which ensures that each and every client gets the best possible outcome. She also shares about the changes she made to accommodate the challenges brought on by COVID-19.

Doreen comes across as an empathetic, honest, confident, focused, reliable, consistent, conscientious, persistent and disciplined person.

Doreen Brown Consulting is rated 5 stars on Google.

Doreen Brown Consulting - Website Google Podcast Facebook Instagram LinkedIn YouTube

Elevate Your Cause - Website Google Facebook Instagram LinkedIn

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Got the opportunity to talk to Mr. David Fevaleaki, the Co-Founder of Back Picker. David has worked in the mining, construction and farming industries across five states in Australia before starting Back Picker with his Co-Founder.

The focus of Back Picker is to create a transparent community that will allow employers to find the best fit for their workplaces and allow job seekers to feel safe and supported while they search for employment.

David comes across as a friendly, honest, frank, persistent and sincere person.

Back Picker Website Facebook LinkedIn Instagram

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Got the opportunity to talk to Adam Chalk, the owner of Buddha Bowl Cafe; the cafe is rated 4.8 stars on Google. Adam shared about his entrepreneurial journey and the lessons learned while running his vegan cafe in Newtown. He also shared about the challenges he is currently facing due to COVID-19 restrictions in NSW, Australia. Adam is passionate about veganism; and is easy-going, friendly and generous.

Interview was conducted in May/2020.

Buddha Bowl Cafe Website Google Facebook Instagram

#tjgong Entrepreneur Series: Recent Episodes

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