FOUNDING MEMBERS
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Hendy Setiono
Owner of PT. Baba Rafi
Hendy Setiono, the owner of PT. Baba Rafi Indonesia (the...Hendy Setiono
Owner of PT. Baba RafiHendy Setiono, the owner of PT. Baba Rafi Indonesia (the culinary franchise business from Indonesia), established approximately seven years ago. He founded the business as a student of a university when I was 20 years old. The business, from the beginning until now, has developed to a great extent with three franchise brands, that are Kebab Turki Baba Rafi, Piramizza, and Ayam Bakar Mas Mono. Having a capital of ca. Rp. 4.000.000,- (four million rupiah), he set up the company with his wife. At that time, he didn’t understand the franchise model of business, but being an entrepreneur enabled him to learn a lot about it.
From the brands, now he have around 750 outlet across Indonesia and Malaysia:
1) Kebab Turki Baba Rafi, there are more than 650 operating Outlets in Indonesia and Malaysia,
2) Piramizza with more than 75 operating Outlets in Indonesia,
3) Ayam Bakar Mas Mono, 15 Grilled Chicken Restaurants operating in Indonesia.
Now, there are about 1500 employees in his company, having a various educational background ranging from elementary, junior and senior high school, bachelor to postgraduate. His first franchise brand was Kebab Turki Baba Rafi, and it was the pioneer Kebab franchise in Indonesia.
To run the business in Indonesia, one of developing countries in Asia, he is focused on working out marketing systems, quality of operational systems that already exist, applying the better warehouse system, and also improving the quality of human resources. Now, when his company has 750 outlet across in Indonesia, their next target is to go international and enter the new markets.
In addition, the company often receives entrepreneurship awards not only nationwide but also international ones. As the result, his franchise brands are always in the spotlight in the country and abroad. A few years ago, his business expanded abroad to the neighbour country - Malaysia. And in the nearest future, they will go to other countries.
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Jack Sim
Founder, World Toilet Organization
Mr. Jack Sim is the founder of World Toilet Organization...Jack Sim
Founder, World Toilet OrganizationMr. Jack Sim is the founder of World Toilet Organization (WTO). Not having a university degree did not stop him from starting his own business at age 24. At 40, having reach financial independence, he retired from his business and dedicated his remaining years towards humanitarian causes that can give real meaning to his life.
Mr. Sim established the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) in 1998. He adopted the mission to raise the standards of public toilets in Singapore and around the world. Hence, with a dream to have a world body to unite various toilet associations, Mr. Sim founded the World Toilet Organization (WTO) in 2001 and the World Toilet College (WTC) in 2005. With members from 56 countries, it serves as a platform for knowledge sharing, public education, pooling of resources, and development of sanitation initiatives.
WTO names 19 November as World Toilet Day, a day widely celebrated by the world annually to advocate the importance of good sanitation.In 2004, Mr. Sim was awarded the Singapore Green Plan Award 2012 by Singapore's National Environment Agency (NEA) for his contribution to Environment. He is also an Ashoka Global Fellow and Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum.
He was named by Asian Development Bank as a Water Champion and by Time Magazine as Hero of the Environment 2008.
In 2009, he joined the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as a master student in Public Administration. He is now in the process of founding a new BOP HUB, a world trade center attracting entrepreneurs to the poverty market to serve the population of 4 billion people at the Base of Pyramid.
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Inderjit Singh
Entrepreneur and Member of the Parliament of Singapore
Mr. Inderjit Singh is a serial entrepreneur and a member...Inderjit Singh
Entrepreneur and Member of the Parliament of SingaporeMr. Inderjit Singh is a serial entrepreneur and a member of parliament.
After working in a multinational company for 13 years he left to start two companies. Both are successful companies today. United Test and Assembly Centre ( UTAC), which Inderjit founded in 1998 is today one of the largest companies in the world offering semiconductor assembly and test services. Since then he has gone on to start a few other companies, all being global companies.
Mr. Singh is the foremost champion of entrepreneurship promotion in Singapore and he is currently the deputy chairman of the Action Community for Entrepreneurship (ACE), a Singapore national movement. He is the deputy government whip in parliament, is a board member of the Nanyang Technological University where he chairs the committee focused on entrepreneurship and innovation. He also authored a popular and sell out book called “The Art and Science of Entrepreneurship”.
He is an engineer by training and also holds an MBA.
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Birame N. Sock
Founder and CEO of Third Solutions
Birame N. Sock is the Founder and CEO of Third Solutions...Birame N. Sock
Founder and CEO of Third SolutionsBirame N. Sock is the Founder and CEO of Third Solutions, Inc, the leading Digital Receipts company in the US considered to be building the “Next Big Thing”. Based in Miami Beach, FL, Third Solutions recently launched the first multi-merchant digital receipts service, operating as MyReceipts® which electronically aggregates receipts from participating merchants and presents them to consumers via the company’s website and partner channels. In recognition for her work at Third Solutions thus far, Ms. Sock received the 2010 North American Cartier Women’s Initiative Awardand has been featured in Marie Claire Magazine, the Miami Herald, Forbes and the South Florida Business Journal. Third Solutions was also recently noted as one of the top 25 Women Led Startups to Watch by Fast Company.
In 2002, Ms. Sock founded Musicphone, Inc., a Wireless Entertainment company and successfully led the Company up to its acquisition in July 2007 by Gracenote, Inc., a recognized California-based Digital Media company. Musicphone was the first to launch a Wireless Music Recognition service called MusicID with AT&T Wireless (now the New AT&T) and Virgin Mobile USA in 2005. Ms Sock had led negotiations that led to key agreements with major record labels including Universal Music Group, Warner Music Group and others. In 2005, Ms Sock served on the Board of CKX as an Independent Director and Audit Committee Member. CKX is a publicly traded company listed on NASDAQ (“CKXE”) and engaged in the ownership, development and commercial utilization of entertainment content. With CKX, Ms Sock was involved in very high profile acquisitions including the purchase of Elvis Presley Enterprises, 19 Entertainment/American Idol and the Muhammad Ali brand. Ms Sock quickly became the lead Digital Media strategist for American Idol working on the launch of AmeircanIdol.com and negotiating key deals with major exclusive sponsors such as AT&T. As a result of her successes as an entrepreneur with a strong focus on new technologies, Birame Sock has appeared on CNBC and Good Morning America, has spoken at many leading digital entertainment events and has been quoted in several articles in the New York Times, Billboard Magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle. Prior to Musicphone, Ms. Sock was Vice President at SetNet Corporation, a Wireless Messaging company and worked as a Senior Programmer for Nortel Networks, Inc.
Ms Sock is considered a visionary with a strong technology background giving her the ability to develop new ideas from conception to deployment with top companies. She attended the University of Miami where she pursued a Bachelor of Science in Broadcasting and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. She is fluent in French, English, Wolof and conversational in Spanish. Ms Sock currently lives in Miami Beach, FL where she enjoys playing tennis and spending time at the office coming up with new ideas. -
Mooryati Soedbyo
Founder & President, Mustika Ratu
Ms. Mooryati Soedibyo the world’s only known self made n...Mooryati Soedbyo
Founder & President, Mustika RatuMs. Mooryati Soedibyo the world’s only known self made noblewomen turned a successful entrepreneur. She was born from the privileged Royal Javanese family, raised inside the Keraton (Javanese Royal Palace).
Ms. Mooryati Soedibyo, the founder of Mustika Ratu, already Indonesian manufacturer of herbal cosmetics and natural supplement, derived from cultural heritage, based on research and Technology.
Stimulated by the wealth of natural resources of Indonesia, e.g.: one of the mega – bio – diversity country in the world. Rather than setting for comfortable and respectable social status, she set up al business home made herbal health supplement called “Jamu” a Javanese health care terminology for wellness and excellence.
She has created more than 250 items of herbal supplement product and 300 items of natural cosmetic that are being merchandised over the counter. Besides Ms. Mooryati Soedibyo is very successful in her franchise business ventures of “Taman Sari Royal Heritage SPA” and a concept in transferring Javanese philosophy or health and wellness of the body mind and spirit set up successfully in the regions locally and abroad e.g.: Canada, Japan, Republic of Czech , Bulgaria and many in Malaysia.
The company are estimated having more than four thousand labours in the corporation, income of around US$38.5 million and gain estimate profit after tax of 12%.
She has been Deputy Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia and Senator-member of the regional representative of Jakarta Capital City Government between 2004 and 2009.
In 2007, she has received a Doctorate degree from University of Indonesia in Strategic Marketing.
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Steve Strauss
Writer, Speaker, Entrepreneur, President of The Strauss Group, Inc
Mr. Steven D. Strauss, often called “America’s small bus...Steve Strauss
Writer, Speaker, Entrepreneur, President of The Strauss Group, IncMr. Steven D. Strauss, often called “ America’s small business expert,” is an internationally recognized author, columnist, lawyer, and speaker. He is the senior business columnist for USATODAY.com and his column, Ask an Expert, is one of the most highly syndicated business columns in the world. Mr. Strauss is also the small business columnist for AOL, American Express OPEN Forum, and AT&T. The author of 15 books, his latest is The Small Business Bible.
A highly sought after commentator and media guest, Mr. Strauss has been on CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg Television, The O’Reilly Factor, and the BBC, among others. He is a regular guest on both MSNBC’s business show Your Business and ABC News Now. Steve is regularly seen in magazines and newspapers such as Time, Inc., Entrepreneur, Success, New York, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Daily News, and scores of others.
Mr. Strauss often speaks to groups the world over, including a recent visit to the United Nations. He sits on the Board of the World Entrepreneurship Forum, and is also a speaker for the United States State Department, speaking in places such as Palestine, South Korea, Japan, Mongolia, and Jordan. He is also often asked to be the small business spokesperson for companies that wish to reach the small business marketplace, including Bank of America, Office Depot, and Capitol One.
Finally, Mr. Steven D. Strauss too is an entrepreneur. He is president of The Strauss Group, Inc: The Strauss Law Firm, Strauss Seminar Co., Strauss Syndication, and MrAllBiz.com. He graduated from UCLA, the Claremont Graduate School, the McGeorge School of Law, and was a Coro Foundation Fellow in Public Affairs. If you would like to get in touch with him, have him speak to your group, or sign up for his free newsletter -- Small Business Success Secrets! -- please visit his website, www.MrAllBiz.com.
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Alexey Strutov
Minister for Economic Development, Novosibirsk region, Russian Federation
Alexey Strukov, 37, the Minister for Economic Developmen...Alexey Strutov
Minister for Economic Development, Novosibirsk region, Russian FederationAlexey Strukov, 37, the Minister for Economic Development of the Novosibirsk region, Russian Federation.
Graduated in 1998 from Novosibirsk State Technical University, specialization in Automation and Management
1998 – 2003 Worked as an Entrepreneur
2003 – 2005 Worked in real estate development business
2005 – 2010 Head of Novosibirsk regional mortgage agency, branch of the Federal mortgage agency April 2010 – present Minister for Economic Development of the Novosibirsk region Married, has one daughter
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Pedro Tarak
Co-founder and strategic director Emprendia
Law Degree – University of Buenos Aires - LL.M Indiana U...Pedro Tarak
Co-founder and strategic director EmprendiaLaw Degree – University of Buenos Aires - LL.M Indiana University
With an environmental policy and law background, Pedro has co founded in 1985 Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has been instrumental to the development and institutionalization of several mechanisms of public participation both in Argentina as well as in different Latin American countries (eg. public hearings and free access to information regimes). He also worked extensively in policy and legislation for nature conservation, hazardous waste, environmental impact assessment, water and air pollution, environmental licensing and public institutional frameworks for environmental protection. Together with the OAS, UNDP, the World Bank and other multilateral organizations, he has extensively worked in different Latin American countries. He participated actively in the preparatory processes of the UN Conference on Environment and Development in 1992 facilitating engagement by Latin American civil society organizations and media and bridge building with business and government. He has integrated the boards of Resolve (USA), Fundación Futuro Latinoamericano (Ecuador), Fundación Bariloche (Argentina).
In 1997, he joined Stephan Schmidheiny, Swiss industrialist and founder of the AVINA Foundation, launching the first AVINA Representation in Latin America (Buenos Aires). Since then, he fulfilled different pioneering roles in AVINA both locally (in Argentina and Patagonia) as well as internationally with large scale Latin American initiatives. He has developed AVINA´s international bridge building strategy, mainly in Europe including alliances with global organizations with current or potential interest in sustainable development in Latin America. He has also been in charge of AVINA´s continental initiatives on climate change and public policies.
Pedro is Co Founder of Emprendia, a sustainable business development and communications company, member of the International Council of Guayakí, a yerba mate ecosystem restoration and social inclusion firm, International Representative of Nuevos Aires, an Argentine business association for new economies and Counselor to the President of AVINA for especial projects (eg. Tällberg Foundation) .
Currently, Pedro promotes three visions of global relevance:
- Life Regenerating Business –Ecosystems and Cultures.
- Political Sustainability as the conditioning missing pillar of sustainable development.
- The value of togetherness hierarchically above the value for agreeing.
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Haddis Tilahun
Executive Director of United Africa Group (UAG)
Haddis Tilahun has been in business for almost 20 years....Haddis Tilahun
Executive Director of United Africa Group (UAG)Haddis Tilahun has been in business for almost 20 years. Tilahun is the Executive Director of United Africa Group (UAG), a 100% Namibian owned group of companies.
From humble beginnings, UAG was established by Tilahun and his wife Martha Namumdjebo-Tilahun. This visionary Executive Director of UAG has grown it into a company worth hundreds of millions of dollars with a diverse portfolio including Financial Services, Hospitality, Property Management and Investment, and Petroleum.
In 2001, a division of the group was established, namely United Africa Hospitality, shortly after which a partnership with Protea Hotels South Africa was formed. UAG now holds 100% of the shares in Protea Hotels Namibia which is built on the collective strength of brand power and the remarkable growth of the Namibian hospitality industry.
Tilahun’s entrepreneurial drive and desire for innovation also motivated him to explore new grounds in Renewable Energy; being Namibia’s first ever IPP holder on Wind Farming. A joint partnership between Aeolus Power Generation, a Dutch investor and UAG will be instrumental in helping to solve part of Namibia’s energy crises by becoming a self sufficient, environmentally friendly and pioneering center of renewable energy in Southern Africa.
In 2010, a significant milestone was achieved with the launch of Erongo Desalination Plant in Wlotzasbaken, along Namibia’s west coast. The desalination plant, of equal shareholding by UAG and Areva was opened mainly to supply clean water to Areva’s Trekkoje Uranium Mine. Tilahun is hopeful that Erongo Desalination Plant will be a contributor in addressing future water shortages in the country.
Tilahun aims at transforming the skyline of Windhoek forever to an urban and dynamic one by partnering with some South African firms to construct ultra-modern buildings in the city centre called Freedom Square. In this complex, he will be honouring his father-in-law, the late Eliakim Namundjebo, by an iconic collaboration with the Hilton International, a leading global hospitality company. Eliakim Namundjebo Plaza Hilton will be Namibia’s first five (plus) star hotel.
On completion in 2010, the eight storey luxury hotel will consist of 160 rooms and suites, retail shops and boutiques, a casino, restaurants, bars and conferencing facilities amongst others.
UAG is one of the leading companies in Namibia that employs over 480 employees in all its subsidiaries. It has a total asset capitalisation of over N$ 600,000,000 and over N$ 228 million turnover based on the current 3rd quarter projection of 2010.
Tilahun sees very exciting times ahead for UAG by adding to its portfolio, specialized financial services, fuel services provision to off-shore operators and a Protea Hotel in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, ultimately bringing UAG’s position to the next level within the Namibian and Southern African economies.
Tilahun serves on the Presidential Advisory Council to the President of the Republic of Namibia on economic interests in the areas of employment creation, skills development and training, strategic economic activities and economic growth by way of foreign direct investments, local economic stimulation incentives and investor initiative programs.
Tilahun serves as a member of various Boards, professional associations as well as trustee for several Trusts.
Out of his busy schedule, Tilahun enjoys spending time with his family. His pass time activities include cycling, squash, golf, and discovering new innovative business ideas through reading and interacting with the relevant trend setters.
Tilahun is a family man with 3 children aged between 15 and 17.