Successful Business Leaders Revamping The Future Profile Vol2

Simon Vumbaca: An Expert Legal Practitioner, Navigating Commercial and Corporate Matters with ASV Law

Founded in November 2011 with Simon Vumbaca in the leadership role as a Managing Partner, ASV Law has been alleviating the most pressing challenges faced by the leading international corporate and commercial clients with key consulting solutions.

It is not incorrect if we introduce Simon Vumbaca as an experienced lawyer and dynamic leader as he is spearheading this London-based international law firm successfully and taking it to a higher altitude.

Citizen of the world, Simon is a dual qualified Lawyer, Commercial Litigation and Corporate Law Solicitor. He holds over 25 years of experience handling and resolving complex commercial cases internationally previously heading up several international legal teams.

Backed with skills and knowledge, Simon”s career can be defined as aiding people who need guidance and support in legal issues. As a dynamic leader and a visionary, he has resolved many complicated cases and what he brings to clients is worth much more than just legal advice. The strategic approach to any issue he brings has a compounding effect on the future of the client’s business.

ASV Law & Service Portfolio

ASV Law is an established international high-profile law firm that delivers innovative legal advice to global Clients. There is an award-winning team, dealing with very high value claims as well as corporate an commercial advice to elite Clients with an aim to resolve problems and add value to people’s life.

The firm specialises in complex cross-border and multi-jurisdictional work and has significant expertise in specific sectors of the law: Commercial and Civil Litigation, International Arbitration, Sports Law, Technology, and IP. In practical terms though, they cover corporate law, commercial and construction litigation advice, international arbitration, and sports/entertainment law. Here, English, Italian, Spanish and French speaking lawyers enjoy significant worldwide success in Commercial and Civil Litigation.

Further, Simon apprised, “We believe there is always a way to add value in the resolve. We operate on the basis that what clients want is their problem to be sorted out; mostly they don’t care how. It is for us to do our best to come up with the resolve. The simple application of the law will not always end it. So we create a long-term strategy to resolve the case that tries to avoid future occurrences of the same issue, augmenting the client’s position. This is how ASV enriches the client’s position. This is also why we are super attentive when taking new cases.“

The Decision to be a Lawyer

What really influenced Simon Vumbaca and attracted him to the law was the application of the logical to reach the illogical, or was it the other way around? The law offers the path to so many professional options that it was the logical step for him. He knew he liked the intellectual challenge of litigation. The idea to structure a strategy using what facts you have and the law to protect a client was a natural exciting matter. The more he practised it the more successful he became.

Maintaining an Unbreakable Faith with Clients

“Given our focus on results, naturally we attract high performance and result-driven organisations and individuals such as HNWs, overseas royal families, global conglomerates, elite sportspeople, and sports club owners. I come with an energy and desire to make a real difference to my clients. My approach is always strategic and focuses on adding real value that impacts immediately and lasts into the future. This is why my clients return to me time and time again. This is also why we are very careful when we choose and accept instructions. Experience has taught me that if we over-deliver and do what said at the offset, delivering the results agreed, trust or professional respect is created. We are also very discreet and confidential about our business and our client’s one”, asserted Simon Vumbaca while talking about his strategies on maintaining an unbreakable faith with clients.

Hiccups on the Way & the Secret Sauce

The challenge was maintaining a caseload that allowed Simon Vumbaca the correct level of time to focus on each client. ASV hand-picks its clients as Simon and his team’s focus is to augment a client’s position by creating a strategy for the case that adds an advantage they continue enjoying into the future. Many ASV clients return to them for further strategy-led legal advice because they are their primary focus and they improve their position. A ‘legal’ response is fine but what Simon does is create fulfilment and value in
the client’s professional life immediately and into the future long after the case has concluded.

“In being honest in my assessment of the cases, not being afraid to say no, delivering and being committed. I don’t judge people and how situations come to be. I focus on impact, consequences and resolve – these are the factors that empowered me to grow”, shared Mr Vumbaca.

Road ahead

ASV Law has developed an innovative approach to legal services, focusing on resolving and adding value, from strategy to tactical implementation. They created a Strategic Alliance Partnership Programme with strictly selected firms in different jurisdictions to deliver the global legal services their clients require around the world, adding value to their business. They remain the central point of contact that manages the strategy and coordinates local implementation of it with local partners.

A Piece of Advice for Entrepreneurs

Work smart, utilise and learn from the skills and knowledge of people around you, keep an open mind all the time and question yourself. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake as this is a learning point.

Jewels in the Crown

AI 2020 Leading Advisor Awards – Leading complex cross-border Litigation and Arbitration Lawyer of the Year
Advisory Excellence 2020 – Certificate of Excellence
Corporate NTL 2020 Litigation Law Firm of the Year, England
Spears500 – Top Recommended 2020
Global Law Experts 2021 Recommended Experts

Favourite book

“Lao Tze’s Tao teh Ching was the first book that really inspired me. Derived books such as the I Ching also impacted me. Many other books had some inspirational parts, but the Tao teh Ching illustrated to me how simplicity and completeness could be reached in one sentence. Right, wrong and other values change with society and times they are contemplated upon. The way of things and universe does not change and brings a degree of clarity that I like to revert to when things get confusing”, said Mr Vumbaca on asked about his favourite book.

Favourite Quotes

“Nothing comes from nothing”
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.”
“What the caterpillar calls the end, the rest of the world calls a butterfly.”- Lao Tze, Tao Teh Ching

John Yanyali: Magnificently Driving Successful Ventures

John Yanyali is the man behind multiple successful business ventures. John began his entrepreneurial journey by investing in the agriculture, education, construction, and marine industries. He further expanded into the Smart Industry, with a focus on the energy, finance, infrastructure, transportation, and security industries. He presently holds over 15+ years of experience in different industry verticals.

John is a visionary with a positive mind and a can-do attitude. In 2007, he formed a partnership with a California-based technology company that specializes in electronics manufacturing services. In 2008, he expanded his portfolio by partnering with Elektronet, a digital technology provider focused on Smart Industry. With his involvement, Elektronet soon became the largest manufacturer and developer of custom hardware and software systems in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2016, John launched Jova Digital, a North American provider of intelligent revenue management services. Currently, he is the General Partner of First Drop Ventures and serves on the executive board of Duuple.

When asked about his inspiration behind his journey John apprised, “Successful people have always inspired me. I’ve always believed that becoming an entrepreneur would allow me to become a part of a network that has already established great businesses. I was fascinated with the concept of finding the next profitable idea and changing people’s lives. Watching someone with nothing grow to become a successful businessperson was enough for me to save up money to start my businesses.”

A Glimpse of Duuple- The Challenge-based App

Duuple empowers individuals, brands, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to create their goal-based challenges. With a mission to provide a fun platform for social innovators and organizations to empower each other and their communities, Duuple provides a platform for users to donate to causes and advocate for issues that matter. Through user-generated videos, users participate in social good along with cheers, energy, excitement, prizes.

The user-created challenges provide discoverability and virality – with an immediate call to action for fun and social good amongst friends. Whether it is just friends competing with each other or a charity raising funds, it is a fun and interactive way to challenge your network and share hilarious and engaging content. Over the past few years, social networks have been turning a simple act into a movement – especially when aligned with charities and social initiatives. Thus, it’s an innovative way to challenge your friends while stepping out of your comfort zone into a world of good.

Overcoming Challenges Like a Leader

Start-ups like Duuple face lots of challenges from creating an app that users can connect with, to getting enough funding for development. It is easy to get overwhelmed and lose focus of where one’s energy should be directed.

It is no secret that there are thousands of mobile apps, on the market. Start-ups are coming up with new apps each day and the biggest challenge for John and his team was creating an app that stood out from the rest. Once they figured the strategy, they had to jump the hurdle of market penetration to gather enough data to prove the concept. They made it a priority to align themselves with their users; What do they need? What problem is Duuple solving for them? How easy is it for them to recommend Duuple to other users?

Funding is another great challenge that start-ups face. It may cost an average of $200,000 to develop a usable app and push it to the market. Most start-ups get stuck at the funding stage, with a great idea for an app but with no capital to catapult their dream forward. The strategy for funding Duuple was approaching the right investors. They communicated the three-prong approach, which includes individuals, non-profits, and brands, Duuple offers with the investors to create challenges for fun or social good.

Suggestion for a More Balanced and Equal Industry

Companies need to empower leaders who are more in tune with the workforce and recognize the importance of cultural factors such as pay transparency, the availability of family leave, and the freedom to be creative in helping employees thrive. While leaders think culture is important, most of them are not prioritizing it. Industries need leaders who are armed with an awareness of both the perception gap and the barriers to building more equal cultures. They can “say, do and drive” the behaviors and policies that will close the gap
and overcome the obstacles in their organizations.

A Day in John”s Life

“My days are not rushed. Instead, I take time to rest, recharge and make decisions carefully. I go to bed early; I get up early. Once I am up, I take some time for myself. I like to read the news while I drink my coffee and eat my breakfast. When I am ready to turn to business, I devote all of my focus to the companies I invest. I set my first meeting at 10 a.m. The first meetings of the day are the ones that require the most brainpower. Anything that”s going to be mentally challenging, that’s a 10:00 a.m. meeting. At the end of the day, I try to avoid making decisions. To be as effective at making decisions as possible, I also prioritize sleep. I get eight hours of sleep unless I”m traveling in different time zones. For me, I need eight hours of sleep because I can think better, have more energy, and be in a better mood”, said John while talking about his daily routine.

Favourite Book – The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro

A Seasoned Leader Looking Ahead to Succeed

A lot is happening! Now, Duuple has become one of the most entertaining mobile apps that will soon be expanded globally. The company has an ambassadors program coming up that will allow the company to create its own influencers. Additionally, they have an augmented reality feature, which is almost ready to be released – and it will take engagement to the next level.

Overall, Duuple is on its way to becoming one of the most successful apps in its genre!

Awards and Milestones

One of the most memorable milestones was when Duuple hit 1 million downloads. Everyone on the team was so excited. This victory was celebrated with teams across three time zones for a whole day. Additionally, the company received the best mobile app award, the best design award, and the most innovative mobile app award. The co-founder and CEO, Abby Frimpong, was also recognized for her impact in the industry and for her efforts in leveling the playing field for female entrepreneurs.

Advice for Entrepreneurs

John’s message for young entrepreneurs is, “Challenge your comfort zone. You can’t achieve anything if you are always afraid of stepping outside. You need to prepare for financial shifts, so start small and snowball it.”

Jene Park: A Fashion Entrepreneur, Walking the Untravelled Path to Success with her Brand, Recycled Karma

Jene Park, a passionate, fierce, and customer driven fashion entrepreneur, transitioned these motivation steering words into reality by launching her brainchild brand, Recycled Karma, in the global fashion industry.

Recycled Karma is a vintage and classic rock & roll inspired premium streetwear fashion powerhouse, designed in Los Angeles, California. The company partners with the most sought-after, iconic and instantly recognizable artists that include AC/DC, David Bowie, Pink Floyd, Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin, KISS, Blondie, Joan Jett, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, The Black Crows, The Police, Poison, Duran Duran, Wham!, Woodstock and many more. They create products of impeccable quality, and the coolest, most stylish looks, at an affordable price point.

However, just like any other entrepreneur, she too experienced her share of challenges. But she chose to remain unfazed and rather things in her stride. And, despite all the difficulties, everything from learning English to overcoming cultural differences, she achieved the current position of a woman-owned and operated fashion brand by believing in her dreams. Undoubtedly, it was a roller coaster ride but was indeed worth the pain as she is one of the leading fashion entrepreneurs. Jene Park is funny, young at heart, down to earth, accomplished, badass CEO. She was born and raised in South Korea, and later she emigrated to LA at age 29 with dreams of making a life of her own.

Jene’s Biggest Learning from Initial Days“After completing FIDM, I started working for the women’s contemporary fashion powerhouse BCBG, the only company I wanted to work for. I learned the two most important things in my career from the owner of the company, Max Azria: “Hard work and Perseverance”. Don’t ever give up, and no matter what keep pushing and chasing your dreams. Following his advice, when I run into obstacles I know the only way I can overcome them is by truly believing that my dream can come true through dedication, perseverance and hard work”, state the leading lady.

Hurdles on the Way & Clientele

Recycled Karma is a young company, only 3 years old, and during half of that time, they had to overcome a pandemic. Despite that, the company is experiencing massive growth, almost doubling revenue each year. The biggest challenge is managing the cash flow to support the production so they can fulfil the orders, and investing in infrastructures like warehouses and employees. They are lucky to be experiencing tremendous growth even during the pandemic, but the team is definitely going through some growing pains.

Recycled Karma serves a variety of customers from high-end boutiques, speciality chain stores, and department stores as well as direct to consumers through e-com. The fashion industry is super competitive and a brand must offer a product that is unique and desirable. With that mission, they design and make the coolest and highest quality tee-shirts in the fashion industry. The edgy and fashion-driven collections are elevated by speciality washes and a distressed worn look, making them as soft as cashmere and super-luxe. Not only that, with on-time delivery and the best customer service, the company is quickly conquering the market. Over 90% of our customers are repeat customers, wanting the product season after season.

Contributions towards Environment

“The fashion industry is one of the most environmentally damaging industries. I feel the industry leaders must do our part (even if just starting small) to change the way we make and consume our products. That is why my priority has been to create a fashion collection with function and purpose and to help the environment at the same time by giving consumers fashionable but sustainable choices. Our green label tee-shirt is literally made from five recycled water bottles and post-industrial cotton, all of which are sourced domestically here in Los Angeles. My vision is to form a group of like-minded companies and produce a full range of sustainable and green product lines”, Jene shared.

The Successful Journey

While talking about the factors that lead her towards success, Jene says, “All experiences, good or bad got me where I am today. I had my fair share of failures and mistakes throughout my career, some big and many smaller ones. When that happened, I always just get up and try again. I fell 10 times and got up 10 times. There’s no giving up and I am not afraid of failing, it never stopped me from trying. I was lucky enough to have had so many amazing and wonderful people who helped me throughout my career; my partners, customers, bosses and co-workers that I have worked with. Together we learn from each other. I am still learning every day, especially from young people. They do things so much differently than I do and I am fascinated by it and am learning their ways to viewing and solving problems. But among all the wonderful people, there is one person I owe all my success is my husband Steve. I could have never done what I have done without his relentless help and support.”

Recent Milestones

The wholesale grew from 200 POS to 2000 POS from 2019 to 2020.
Jene Park launched e-com in Jan 2020 and grew sales 30x by Dec 2020.

Advice to the Future Leaders

Working and running a fashion company requires lots of stamina and physical strength to manage the extensive travel schedules and the grueling workload. So eat well, sleep well, stay fit and don’t take anything personally.

What’s Next?

The long-term goal of Recycled Karma Brands is to conquer the world with the best t-shirts in the fashion industry, with a focus on vintage-inspired, impeccable quality, with the coolest design. Currently, they offer products in the US, Canada, France, Germany, Spain and Japan, but starting next year they are going to open up to more international markets targeting 35 to 40 countries by 2025. They are also planning to expand the product line beyond t-shirts and offer an amazing product range to men and kids, and eventually open their own flagship stores in major cities in the US and around the globe.

Favourite Book:

Becoming by Michelle Obama, an intimate, powerful and inspiring memoir by the former First lady whose story inspires us to do the same!

A Combination of Passion, Motivation, and Experience: Meet the Excellent Legal Practitioner, Liliane Mubanga

Afierce action-oriented and passionate lawyer, Liliane MUBANGA puts her leader hat on spearheading Thambwe-Mwamba & Associes, a dynamic and progressive law firm based in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. 16 years ago, the optimistic visionary joined Thambwe-Mwamba & Associes as a Senior Executive to help those in need of legal advice on the lines of finding the silver lining in the dark clouds.

Liliane MUBANGA registered at the Bar of Kinshasa/Gombe in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has been a member of the Bar Council of the said Bar for a term of 4 years. She is also the Mining and Quarrying attorney with the senior partner, Maitre Alexis Thambwe-Mwamba. Besides, she has had training in OHADA; Hydrocarbons; Public Procurement; and Insurance, among others. In academics, Liliane Mubanga holds a Degree in Law, with a specialisation in Private and Judicial Law from the University of Lubumbashi, she has completed other trainings for which she is also the holder of a Certificate of speciality in insurance law, a Certificate of competence in oil rent production sharing law and a Master’s degree in International Commercial Law.

Thambwe-Mwamba & Associes: Providing Innovative Law Solutions

Thambwe-Mwamba & Associes emerges as one of the most influential names for legal support. The firm covers legal advice in various areas of law but more particularly, in business (creation of companies, drafting of deeds, special contracts, Due-diligence), Mining, Insurance, Real Estate Development and Management, Real Estate Investments, Labour law (they assist both employers and employees) and also Family law (divorce, succession and filiation).

This professional firm is home to seven expert lawyers and offers integrated services. These seven attorneys bring with them a rich background in different industry verticals. It empowers the team with the adroitness and the expertise to address matters concerning different fields like banking, general trade, construction and hotel industry, mining, and many more.

The proficiency and skilfulness of the team have been entrusted by a large number of people. With its excellent support and legal service, the team stands out among the rest of the players in the markets. Even if Thambwe-Mwamba & Associes remain a human-sized unit in order to better serve the clients.

“Our law firm with a human face combines the ability to imprint a personal mark in the relationship with the client, and the professionalism in the handling of business,” apprised Liliane Mubanga.

“Our commitment to our clients is unique because the client is at the centre of our approach, which consists of getting to know them better, understanding the specific nature of their case, and assessing their needs in order to better assist, advise and guide them”, she further added.

Mindful of the ever-growing complexity of legal matters with the globalisation of markets and business, which require an ever-increasing specialization of lawyers, the members of the firm keep on deepening consistently their knowledge of preferential matters, thus maintaining its multidisciplinary vocation. The synergy of the skills of the members, reinforced by those of external consultants recognized in their specialties, enables the law firm to master a broad range of areas of law.

Reforms by the Government

During the period 2001 to 2014, in addition to the institutional reforms that were undertaken by the governments, these were also supported by economic reforms that had the implementation of the global development goals as their foundation. These reforms were structural and were accompanied by infrastructure programmes, the strengthening of the banking system, the improvement of governance, which led to the reform of state-owned companies, and the liberalisation of the energy and insurance markets.

These liberalizations have led to a change in legislation; in this context, the law firm can cite the mining code in 2001, which has been amended to date, the investment code with the creation of the national agency for the promotion of investments, the law on energy, the hydrocarbons code, the insurance code, the new business law (Ohada law), the law on telecommunications, the law against money laundering and terrorist
financing and the creation of dedicated agencies, the law on subcontracting……;

Hurdles on the Way

There has been a definite impact as a result of changes in legislation, especially on business law; the creation of companies has become flexible; this has encouraged the creation of new companies and a competitive market and net banking has developed following the strengthening of the banking system. After the instability of 2015, there was an economic rebound, good growth with a double-digit growth rate, however,
there was a slowdown following the political instability which calmed down after the elections and the handover of power between the elected president and the outgoing one.
Then came the Covid-19 pandemic which put a damper on things. It is the new challenge for doing business and the traditional challenges of corruption, the development of new solutions, and price stability.
The government is making efforts to ensure that the recovery is effective with or without Covid-19.

A Piece of Advice for Companies

The companies must reinvent themselves and propose new solutions to get out of the pandemic and then, they must take advantage of the legal tools set up in DRC (new laws, liberalization of the economic sectors such as insurances, energy, telecommunications, and new technologies) in a market of more than 80 million consumers and with the presence of country relations. Thus, it is necessary to rethink the implementation of tools to facilitate exchanges; in particular re-launching the chambers of commerce with different countries such as the States of the European Union, Asia (China, Japan, UAE and others), the African countries, the USA, Great Britain.