Influential Business Leaders in Asia Pacific 2021_profile

Christopher M. Carter: Building Meaningful Business Relationships

With almost 30 years of experience in the SAP industry, Christopher M. Carter founded Approyo to provide full SAP service technology with extensive capabilities in hosting and managing services, upgrades, and migration of its clients, running any SAP-supported core functionality. With more than a thousand SAP environments under management around the planet, Approyo supports businesses from production to landscapes to migrations onto SAP S/4 HANA.

As an SAP partner, Approyo offers its solutions as a service to its clients and partners across the planet. While many Managed Service Providers are likely to provide several forms of ERP systems to expand their services portfolio, Approyo only deals with systems related to SAP directly. While the organization offers integrative services with several other ERP providers like Microsoft Azure, AWS, etc., Approyo’s primary focus is still on SAP.

The Steadfast Leader

Chris attended The Georgia Institute of Technology during his college days, where he found his love for technology. After graduating, he shortly started working with SAP and later worked in a California-based start-up, where he was responsible for running day-to-day sales and marketing activities. He then served in multiple executive positions in the SAP ecosystem. At this point of time, he founded his own business, which was sold at a later stage. After selling his company, Chris retired for a few years until one of his old friends called him to inform him about the latest release of SAP HANA. Soon after that day, he was convinced to dive back in and flew to Germany to start working and learning about SAP HANA. Later in December 2013, he founded Approyo to provide global leadership for SAP directives.

Greatest Accomplishment

As the organization’s leader, Chris is proud of the team he has been able to develop at Approyo. Chris and his team have brought in some of the best talents on the planet by expanding the firm’s reach into Brazil, the UK, Spain, and India. Presently with offices being developed in several other parts of the world, Approyo no longer must worry about resources, as it ensures the company has the right resources for its clients anywhere at any time.

Chris says, “It’s a game changer for us, and it’s a great accomplishment for our team these men and women are our incredible staff members, and we’re blessed to have them here.“

Tackling Challenges

Chris is 100% up for tackling challenges. He considers himself fortunate to be controlled and prepared to lead Approyo to new challenges and heights. He says, “I have an incredible staff around me who supported my decisions and helped me make those decisions so we could accomplish greatness for our customers. It’s all about them and my staff we want to support our customers in their needs that’s why we did some of the most unprecedented support activities during the pandemic to help them, and we will continue to support them on a global stage.“

Chris feels his biggest failure was the fact that he had to put one of his companies into a bankruptcy situation; although it came out of the situation fine, it was a very sad, challenging, and heartbreaking time for him. However, he came out of the situation with a lot of knowledge and understanding of several things and what he could do differently.

Leadership Principles

Chris’s primary leadership principles;

As the organization’s leader, Chris trusts his team to make the necessary decisions to support customers and keep them on a proper lifestyle, as they don’t want interruptions.
He believes in training his staff and increasing their skill sets as he wants them to become the next managers or executives of Approyo.
Lastly, he wants Approyo’s customers to sleep well at night. Chris wants them to have the ability to lead the lifestyle or workstyle they deserve, and they should not have to worry about the landscapes of their systems, people, and applications.

Implementing New Ideas

Approyo is implementing its AI-based monitoring and support tool on every client the firm acquires. This tool provides the opportunity to proactively understand what’s going on with the system and how it will run in the coming weeks. This also provides valuable information on how security is being enacted in case of any vulnerabilities. It is a true AI tool that helps the company by providing everything it needs to be proactive and hyper-aggressive in supporting its clients.

Picture of the Future

Chris says, “Our future, I feel, is quite bright. We have plans with our AI-based tools to support and provide the managed services and details companies need to run their SAP and other landscapes with our managed service provider organization. We also feel that our best-in-breed SAP migration and support will continue to revolutionize the ecosystem.“

By combining Approyo’s tools, people and processes, Chris feels that the company is second to none in this ecosystem, and it’ll continue to strive to provide for our clients on an ongoing day-in and day-out solution basis.

Natasha Makhijani : Pioneering innovative new approaches to executive search

Natasha Makhijani is not your average headhunter. As CEO of Oliver Sanderson Group, Makhijani is pioneering innovative new approaches to executive search while breaking down barriers as a purpose-driven Asian woman business leader.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree from City, University of London and a Master’s from DePaul University in Chicago, Makhijani began her recruitment career on the Graduate Scheme at Hays in 2000.

“Among a team of 200 I was the only female, so I had to learn to hold my own in a very traditional maledominated culture,” she recalled. “I learned about everything from blue and white collar in the logistics and supply chain space, all the way up to operations directors, logistics directors, and supply chain directors.”

Fast-tracked into management roles, she achieved four promotions in four years and took a team from billing £10,000 to £80,000 a month. In her words, Makhijani grew “from a baby recruiter to a senior manager.”

“I absolutely loved Hays. It was a really great training ground, and for me it was the foundation for my recruitment journey. I was a top biller, and I had found my niche.”

From Hays she moved to Michael Page, and quickly gained recognition as a “super biller”. Working on a hybrid desk across permanent and interim leadership roles, Makhijani was given responsibility for growing Michael Page’s Public Sector division from its offices in London. She was the company’s number one biller in HR across the UK, and her success was rewarded with a place on the high-flier’s trajectory. But Makhijani always felt that there was another path for her career and having set up executive desks at both Hays and Michael Page, she set her sights on establishing a business of her own.

Natasha said: “I come from a very entrepreneurial community, and I always felt that there was something more out there. People questioned whether it was the right thing to do, but I took the risk. I knew it was the right thing to do, and I have never looked back.”

Oliver Sanderson was born in 2011, and what began as one lady and a laptop has grown into an international business at the cutting edge of executive search. “I left a great job, sold my car to consolidate my savings, and set up an office in the dining room,” she recalled. Within a couple of years she had built an international executive search firm with a dedicated research team. “Things have snowballed – we’ve made exceptional progress.”

Oliver Sanderson has built up a strong track record in recent years, having placed CEOs and senior leaders at FTSE 100, FTSE 350, and Fortune 500 companies. Specialising in both permanent and interim executive placements across a wide range of sectors, Oliver Sanderson provides clients with an end-to-end executive search process, harnessing the experience and creativity of its research team to solve complex recruitment challenges.

Oliver Sanderson’s Permanent Practice offers end-to-end executive search and consultancy. With a team of experienced consultants and researchers, the firm breaks the mould by providing a genuinely consultative and bespoke partnering model, helping clients achieve their ambitions by attracting, developing, and retaining high calibre business leaders.

A typical executive search process begins with abriefing, and Makhijani’s team prides itself oharnessing its experience and market insight to fully understand the unique challenges and business needs of its clients. Following the briefing, Oliver Sanderson’s research team typically carries out a multi-faceted search of the marketplace using a range of innovative resources. In addition to the traditional methods of targeted mapping, profiling, and headhunting, Oliver Sanderson draws from its pioneering mobile apps.

New technology has been central to Oliver Sanderson’s rapid growth, and Makhijani is a pioneer of digital innovations in executive search and recruitment. She co-founded Snapp CV & Snapp Resume, the world’s first mobile job board with voice technology capability and Amazon Alexa connectivity. The app currently has a database of over 25 million candidates in the UK and the USA, with over 250,000 positions listed on its mobile job board, and its directors are looking for Serious A funding as they look to expand further into the USA and India.

After the success of the Snapp suite, which includes Snapp Resume US & Global, Snapp CV UK, and Snapp INView video interviewing software, Makhijani recently launched a dedicated Oliver Sanderson Executive app. Designed and created by her in-house tech team, the app provides digital solutions at every stage of the appointment process, featuring introductory candidate and client profile videos, fingerprint and password-protected online NDA signatures, digital candidate packs, integrated job applications, and video interviews.

With digital platforms increasingly prominent in the executive search and recruitment industry, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way with its Executive app and integration with Snapp CV, harnessing the power of modern technology to discover and connect with the next generation of business leaders.

A series of world events has brought diversity and inclusion to the forefront of the corporate agenda, and
Makhijani has drawn from her unique experiences as an Asian woman CEO to build an inclusive culture at Oliver Sanderson. “Being a BAME woman CEO in the recruitment industry has not been easy, but I’ve always seen it as a strength. I have always been unique, slightly different. Most importantly, I have had to be extremely assertive to get where I am today.”

Makhijani is passionate about tackling diversity and inclusion challenges with her clients, and is currently
establishing a charity with a team of industry leaders to address a range of issues related to race equality, disability, and gender.

In addition to the launch of her new charity, Makhijani has an ambitious vision for the next five years.
Planning an expansion in Oliver Sanderson’s Europe and U. S. operations, she is open to new investment opportunities to support these ambitions. The launch of the company’s new JustInterims division is central to her plans. (Justinterims.com)

Recognising the need for strategic interim leaders to help steer businesses through periods of change, the team identified the value of a dedicated executive interims division. JustInterims at Oliver Sanderson now specialises in finding high calibre business leaders for interim appointments, particularly in interim Board Practice, Business Change, Organisation Development, and HR Transformation projects.

“The only certainty in business is change,” Makhijani observed. As her firm continues to expand and evolve, Oliver Sanderson is poised to remain at the forefront of an evolving industry.

About Oliver Sanderson:

Oliver Sanderson is an executive search firm with a difference, combining experience and expertise with innovation and fresh thinking.

The firm specialises in finding talent at board and senior leadership level for FTSE 100, FTSE 350, Fortune 500, and PE-backed businesses. Placing permanent and interim positions across a wide range of sectors, Oliver Sanderson has built up a strong track record of c-suite appointments.

With its suite of digital apps and its powerful diversity and inclusion work, Oliver Sanderson is leading the way in discovering the next generation of business leaders.

Ahmad Moradi: Taking Businesses on Higher Latitude through Integrated Video Solution

Ahmad Moradi, Founder, and CEO of NETSTAIRS, is a visionary knowledge engineer with 40+ years of experience.

He has done a Ph.D. in AI and holds exceptional business knowledge and life experience. With hands-on expertise in human interaction, organizational behaviour, art, science and technology, Ahmad has introduced many new business models, products and technologies throughout his journey.

Presently, he is focused on AI-based Interactive Video, WebRTC, Health IT, ICT, software, hardware, Fintech, Media, Tech Biz, Distance Education, Banking, Condo-Hotels & Global Projects at hand. As a “Knowledge Engineer”, he used decades of hands-on AI experience and knowledge engineering to build methodologies, strategies, and algorithm around monetization, reduction of carbon footprint, lowering costs and increasing efficiency, As a consultant, he delivers know-how and technologies that enable real-time broadcast, collaboration, and communications serving the masses.

Ahmad Moradi has enjoyed being a pioneer in introducing many “First” throughout the years. He has assisted with strategic vision serving Governments, Politicians, Telecom, CDN, Cable, OTT, DTH, Industries, Verticals (Health, Legal), Media, TV, Entertainment, Global Brands, Ad Agencies, and Enterprises in various parts of the world.

As per Mr Moradi, Real-Time Video Communications is the genesis of an insightful digital transformation to the digital economy, by connecting creative minds, machine intelligence, while embracing human diversity around the world.

The Beginning of an Innovative Story

The inception story of NETSTAIRS began in 2000; it is the brainchild of Ahmad Moradi, who is one of the leading pioneers in video-based technologies on the global level. Since childhood, Ahmad Moradi has been in love with video technologies and their mechanism.

While working in Silicon Valley Ahmad collaborated with UNLV (University of Nevada, Las Vegas) professors and designated MBA students to create and join forces with a few mathematicians, delivering visually lossless imaging algorithms. After working on DCT (discrete cosine transformation) theories and infusion of wavelet the ories, he came back to South Florida in 2000 and started NETSTAIRS with pioneering and introducing Cybermercial video email, a desktop email utility program.

While active in ICT, he studied Greek Philosophies, Zoroastrians, Bhagavata Purana, Bhagavad Gita, Bible, Torah, Zohar, Sufi, Rumi, and other old scriptures. It inspired him to reach a higher frequency of thoughts.

While talking about the leadership he mentioned that managing dread, individual evil presences, self-questions, and difficulties both at home and work is a piece of each human’s battle that affects our everyday lives. One must pick admirably. A leader must consider both at the smaller scale and large scale level with obligations of his/her actions. Treating colleagues and friend networks/partners with “Absolute Love” without bias encourages all to hoist.

A Glimpse of NETSTAIRS

Presenting interactive video and WebRTC services to the world, NETSTAIRS.COM, Inc. has culminated into one of the most sought-after companies offering middleware media broadcast and communication servers for the advertising and entertainment industry that seek Web-enabled unicast and email delivery communications. The aim of the company has been to become the leading source of multicast streaming & group video communication to Broadcasters, Publishers, Telecom, Government, Enterprises, TV Networks, Education, Advertisers and SMB. NETSTAIRS has been assisting brands to modernize their online presence via CAPEX and OPEX real-time communications technologies where privacy and security are the hallmarks of its services.

Service Portfolio

ICDN : INTERACTIVE CONTENT DELIVERY NETWORK
IMHS : INTERACTIVE MANAGED HOSTED SERVICES
ICPT : INTERACTIVE COST PER TIME
ICPS : INTERACTIVE CREATIVE PROGRAMMING SERVICES

Advance Solutions

The company brings integrated Interactive Broadcast, Collaboration & Communication solutions with the assured quality that helps its clients to fulfil their need for real-time group interaction.

PIXEL SERIES: Made with pure HTML5 designed to provide not one but many virtual rooms where could be customized for clients’ use with a variety of services.

ZIMZIM: Made for 5G to take Broadcast, Collaboration & Communications to the Next Level. Using ZIM ZIM real communication gets a new easier and quality dimension.

Wall of OZ: A video wall containing several multicast video streams. The Video streams are placed together and are easy to manage in all shapes and sizes.

Interactive OTT: Solutions that help you to connect with the audience in real-time while broadcasting content.

Co-operative Team

The NETSTAIRS team(s) comes from a different set of cultures and diversity. They help each other to manifest and overcome the challenges at every level of the work. They do not compete but try to excel themselves. This is about the higher self. Creating a sense of purpose in which they could become the next leaders in their own endeavours while embracing them to learn from their own experiences, they strive for excellence.

Feathers in the Cap

Recognized as the company of the year 2019, by business connect.
Ranked 7 amongst the top 10 fastest growing media and Entertainment Company by mirror review.
Recognized as one among the“10 Fastest- Growing Media & Entertainment Solution Providers to Watch in 2018 by the technology headlines.
2016 Technology Innovation Award (UK and US) by CV Magazine.
Most Innovative Digital Media Infrastructure world. Company – USA & UK – Best Interactive Loyalty Card: iCPT
Hottest Florida Company Awarded by Lead411

Road Ahead

NETSTAIRS is releasing https://icdn.video as “SHARE A LINK” supporting all browsers connected to leading CDN. ZIMZIM tied to ZOOM and LETSCAST (AI Stream) shall allow real-time events stream to large interactive audience. In Summer 2021, LENZ ZOOM will be introduced, made for group video messaging & collaboration with screen casting, planned recording and live streaming services. NETSTAIRS also helps companies adapt Wall of OZ made for fan-based multicast video streaming. With the introduction of AI Video Services, NETSTAIRS believes the future lies with Real-Time Communications as the genesis of an insightful AI digital makeover guiding companies to learn and adapt to digital economy, by connecting creative minds, machine intelligence, while welcoming human diversity around the world.