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Had a chance to speak with one of the leading clean tech & mobility investors in the world today. From assisting in getting a bill passed through US congress in 2006 to increase fuel economy standards, and the very first electric vehicle incentives, to being one of the very first investors and serving as a board member for Better Place - which raised nearly a $1B to build the world's first affordable all-electric vehicle. Michael Granoff has had an interesting perspective in the world of mobility and after angel investing, eventually found his way into the VC world by founding Maniv Mobility, officially in 2016, boasting over 30 portfolio companies from 2 funds which total $144M. It was an interesting conversation about where they invest, the growth of the industry, and how they assist their portfolio companies. Also be sure to check out Maniv Mobility's podcast, "Anything that Moves."Click here for full show transcription!

Everybody wants to retire early, right? But the difference in doing it and not is by actually taking action. Lance Tanaka was an executive for some of the largest international brands, like Nike & Pepsi, which had him running operations all over the world. He had a desire to retire by the age of 45, and so he set out a 10 year plan at 35 to make it happen. He transitioned to doing what he loves, which is to truly make an impact on lives & the development of executives at large international companies, similar to him during his corporate days. The Lance Tanaka Group is based out of Hong Kong, and has accumulated over 17K+ hours of coaching over 1K executives, as well as a few thousand middle-managers, and thousands of top university students from Asia, Europe, and even in North America, from the best of the best global clients.Click here for full show transcription!

If you've ever played sports at any level, I'm sure at one point or another you've envisioned yourself one day becoming a professional athlete. Today I had the pleasure of chatting with a professional in the sports world, spanning multiple continents and dozens of countries! Michael Makaab had started as an amateur footballer, and after injuries ended his playing career, he shifted to coaching and quickly rose through the ranks - eventually coaching at the professional level. Oh, and he even worked his way up to owning the bridge construction business he started working at - and this was all while he was playing! This will come full circle with some of the projects he is involved with today, so stay tuned for that. I learned a lot here today with Mike - not so much the tactical aspect, but the fundamentals of what it takes to be a successful agent. I was excited to speak with Mike before, but I'm even more excited to see how Mike and his loyal team at Prosport International will continue to build out their holistic sports management organization!Click here to get full show transcription!

Roger Zaccar had started Commercial Insurance in 1962 in Lebanon, our guest's late grandfather. Since then the business has expanded into numerous countries across multiple continents as a strong & growing family business. Roger Zaccar had started working in Commercial Insurance in the early 2000's and found he loved the industry and business of insurance. He started Comin in 2017 and has since expanded into multiple countries, including Egypt & Greece. I was thankful to catch Roger for an interesting chat in the midst of his business travels, hope you enjoy and forgive me for the technical issues!Click here for full show transcription!

The ultra rich have people they hire to manage their money, like a wealth management firm. Flavia Becker & her co-founders had seen that the market only catered to the wealthy in her home country of Peru. There was no option for the average citizen to invest their savings and have it professionally managed. Flavia is the co-founder of Zest capital, a wealth management solutions provider that was founded in 2016. They've already exceeded $100M in invested funds, and have grown at a pace of over 100% this year! We had a great conversation on providing investment accessibility to citizens, expanding to other countries within Latin America, and on the possibilities of raising capital in the future!Click here for the full show transcription!

We’ve all heard of the success stories of entrepreneurs starting businesses in college. Martin Kenneth Lopez is one of those who actually founded his business, Tekton Labs, while still in college in Peru! With a go big or go home attitude, he had his eyes set on the USA market and obtained his first client from posting on tech message boards way back in 2007! Fast forward to 2020, Tekton Labs has scaled to over 150+ employees, all across the Americas, from the US to Chile! Kenneth talks about the growth of his business, expansion to so many countries, his steps to hire & replace himself as CEO, and now his plans for future endeavors.Click here for full show transcription!

Can you remember the very first entrepreneurial venture you had, maybe as a kid? I think mine was in 2nd grade creating little arts & craft items to hold our pencils and erasers. I'd sell them for 5 or 10 cents, literally nickel & dime'ing. Anneke van den Broek had definitely started early in the world of entrepreneurship when she started breeding & selling mice to her local pet store for 40 cents each. At the age of 6! She went on to have a successful corporate career, earned her MBA, but ultimately knew she wanted to start her own business. She takes us through how a little vacation and an idea on the back of a napkin had started the journey to building the largest privately held pet care brand in Australia, with a global presence in 9 countries. She's been recognized as one of Australia's 50 most influential women entrepreneurs, among many other awards, but ultimately she is an advocate for pet welfare and animal rights, having contributed to saving the lives of over 30,000 dogs!Click here for full show transcription!

What do you do when you're a small business waiting on your client's receivables to come in, and in the meantime you've still got to pay for your goods & services, payroll, and overhead? Well this is the same problem that Mario Jordan Fetalino, or Magellan for short, had while helping his family business. Clients would take months to pay you because of the long payment terms, causing a bind for even the most asset rich of companies. Magellan is the Founder & CEO of Acudeen Technologies in Manilla, Philippines, who is on a mission to small & medium sized enterprises with this liquidity constraint in SE Asia. They've won numerous startup competitions and are regarded as one of the fastest growing fintech companies in the Philippines! One thing that I loved was that because of their technology & business model, they are able to help not just large enterprises but even the smallest of businesses! Keep listening to hear how Acudeen & Magellan are making a life changing impact for those businesses! He also told me he makes his own beer, and even though I don't drink, I'll have to get you an update on that when we catch up in Manilla sometime!Click here to view the full transcription

I believe education & the learning process are the root of all human growth. It comes in many forms, shapes, and environments, especially in today's technology driven age. Kirsty Chadwick certainly agrees, as she has spent decades in the education field spanning 3 continents. Kirsty started The Training Room Online in 2008, which designs & develops innovative, custom e-learning material for their corporate, industrial, and private sector clients by providing solutions that use technology as a core enabler to transform the learning experience. We had a great conversation, and I think you'll be able to see Kirsty's passion for wanting to bridge the gap to the accessibility of quality education in emerging & developing markets. Click here for the full transcription

How easy is it today to call a cab if we need a ride these days, we just pull out our phone and use one of many ride-sharing apps in our country. Gaurav Biswas is looking to make it just as easy to book a truck for companies with his technoloigy enabled aggregation platform, TruKKer! If you're wondering how exactly that works and who would need this service, then keep listening, Gaurav's doing some big things in the Middle East & Northern Africa regions! Gaurav, originally from India, has lived all over the world, with a heavy focus on large scale commercial real estate projects. He takes us through the difficulties of regulation with international borders, the adaptation of the Middle East to enable technology, and how he had raised tens of millions for TruKKer!Click here for full show transcription: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QWol_r_3AvwIwamC7HeuVwjU52wJsouT/view?usp=sharing

A seasoned corporate IT professional, Ziv Nakajima-Magen, made the shift towards real estate along with his wife to start Nippon Tradings. They are a buyer's agency & portfolio manager helping foreign investors buy, sell, and manage your real estate properties in Japan! Ziv takes us through the Japanese real estate market, different asset classes, how they assist investors from all over the world, and cultural barriers that almost require a foreign investor to have a partner like Nippon Tradings to invest in Japan.Click here for full transcription: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_RfmGE2yvf2iqYWkRes1lnQ5ss7rAeXt/view?usp=sharing

Townships in South Africa usually refer to the residential areas in which non-white workers were forced to live prior to 1994 when South Africa became an inclusive democracy, ending apartheid. As you can imagine, this has had a significant impact on the lives of non-white families, from education, access to technology, and just basic infrastructure. So when you're looking to learn how to use basic technology to get into a better university, or train to get a job...but have never had much experience with using a computer and basic applications, what do you do? That's precisely the service that Luvuyo Rani and his company, Silulo Ulutho Technologies, have been providing to help train and provide resources in under-served townships. They've trained over 55,000 students, helping them land jobs, and they also serve as an internet cafe with over 45 locations across South Africa, employing hundreds, and impacting countless lives. Luvuyo has been recognized on the global stage numerous times, including South Africa's Social Entrepreneur of the year at the World Economic Forum. He takes us through his very humble beginnings, his growth since he started in 2004, and his plans for the future expansion across Africa.Click here for Full Transcription!

Running a business, a startup, or even a demanding job can take a toll on us, especially our happiness. I read a lot of books, talk to people with great advice, and try to keep improving...but it's still tough, and there are always new hurdles that come across us. So how do we "future proof" our happiness, so that we're always happy? Well, Penny Locaso of Melbourne, Australia, had left her professional career as an executive and is helping people achieve just that as a TEDx & keynote speaker, on her podcast, her recently published book, "Hacking Happiness", and her business called HackingHappy.co.Penny has been voted one of the most influential female entrepreneurs in Australia! She's on a mission to teach 10 million humans, before 2025, how to intentionally adapt, in order to future proof happiness. Keep listening because she drops some amazing wisdom and ways she's helped her corporate clients, like Google, Microsoft, Lululemon, and Coca-Cola, as well as business leaders around the world on how to "Hack Happiness"!Click here for Full Transcription!

On today's show we have Tarek El Sheriff, the founder & CEO of Zinobe, a fintech company which uses its technology & advanced analytics to provide financial products for underserved markets. Zinobe was listed in Financial Time's fastest growing companies in the Americas, and is #1 in Colombia. They have raised $30M in debt financing just this year from ex-Goldman Sachs executive, Ali Meli, and also equity in their prior rounds from VC firm, QED Investors. Tarek is a NY born, UK raised, Columbia MBA grad who started his career as an investment banker. Zinobe is the parent entity for financial products, Lineru & Aliatu. Enjoy our conversation!Click here for Full Transcription!

So I've been looking to live in various cities around the country, and world, for a few months at a time so I can explore different areas & experience new settings. A bit more than a getaway weekend, but less hassle than signing a long term lease. I know it's a tough time to be doing something like that, especially in 2020, but one company that I found to make that process a breeze is doing just that. Spotahome is reinventing the rental process by making it easier for landlords & renters to connect with their digital platform. Founded by Alejandro Artacho in Madrid, Spain, in 2014, they've already grown to over 10 cities, and raised over €80M from some of the top investors in the world, like Kleiner Perkins and the founders of unicorn giants, Dropbox, Yelp, and Uber. You'll love Alejandro's enthusiasm and energy!Click here for Full Transcription!

Health & what I consume is a very large component of my life & I would think many of you as well. The options available differ wildly between regions & countries. Changing cultural habits & mindsets that have been embedded for generations can be difficult, but Laurene Maire & her team or on a mission to offer Mexico the best products to health conscious consumers at honest prices with their company, YEMA. With a team of industry experts, they have dozens of their own in-house products in their supermarket, spanning food, personal care, and home goods. Laurene is the co-founder and Chief Merchandising Officer, who is an ex-Mckinsey & Wharton MBA alumni. She had also co-founded a successful sleep technology company, called Luuna, which her husband continues to operate as the CEO. If you're ever in Mexico City, you can check out one of YEMA's stores located in La Roma!Click here for Full Transcription!

Welcome to the VERY first episode of THE GLOBAL UJ Podcast! So excited to be sharing with you all our very first guest on the show, Kelvin Teo! Kelvin was born in Malaysia, moved to Singapore later in his teenage years, and eventually got his MBA from the Harvard school of business. He started his company, Funding Societies, with a fellow Harvard classmate - while still in school at Harvard! Investors had even asked how much it would take in funding to have them drop out of school and work on their startup full-time! To date, Funding Societies has raised well over $60M from prominent firms like Sequoia Capital & Softbank Ventures! Kelvin has been selected as one the top fintech influencers in Asia! Funding Societies is headquartered in Singapore with operations in Indonesia & Malaysia and slowly expanding across SE Asia. I think you'll really like this conversation, enjoy!Click here for Full Transcription!

Welcome to The Global UJ Podcast! A weekly podcast showcasing conversations with entrepreneurs & industry leaders from around the world, spanning every single continent. Connecting the developed to the developing, and everywhere in between. Showing that opportunities are aplenty to make a lasting difference on the world in more than just our own backyard... I'm your host, Ujwal Velagapudi, a serial entrepreneur & investor, bringing together my passion for business & curiosity to learn about the nuances of commerce within each country. Episodes will be under an hour in length, released every Wednesday, and absolutely FREE in any app that supports podcasts! Please make sure to subscribe & checkout TheGlobalUJ.com! So keep listening as we learn more about the world through the eyes of entrepreneurship!https://www.docs.google.com/document/d/1q34XCbBPNM9ySQGV8QPcow7eqQkR6srdP88towk0ah8/edit?usp=sharing