Category Archives: Business & Economy

Indian-origin Naureen Hassan becomes first VP, COO of Federal Reserve Bank of New York

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KERALA / U.S.A. :

Naureen Hassan, Indian-origin veteran of the financial services industry. (Photo | Twitter/@NewYorkFed)

As the first vice president, Hassan will be the New York Fed’s second ranking officer as well as an alternate voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

New York :

An Indian-origin veteran of the financial services industry has been appointed as the first vice president and chief operating officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

Naureen Hassan has been appointed by the board of directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as the first vice president and chief operating officer, effective from March 15.

The appointment was approved by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said in a statement.

As the first vice president, Hassan will be the New York Fed’s second ranking officer as well as an alternate voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.

Hassan, whose parents had immigrated from India, is a 25-year veteran of the financial services industry with expertise in strategy, digital transformation, cybersecurity and regulatory/risk management.

She was, most recently, the Chief Digital Officer for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management (MSWM).

President and Chief Executive Officer of the New York Fed John Williams said Hassan’s leadership background, deep commitment to fostering diverse teams, and extensive technology and financial experience will be critical to her role as a Bank leader.

Denise Scott, executive vice president of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and chair of the New York Fed’s board of directors, said Hassan’s leadership experience and operational expertise are “fully aligned” with what the search committee and he envisioned for this role.

Scott said Hassan will be taking on the role that is critical to advancing the Bank’s mission and strategic priorities.

The statement added that Hassan has served in various capacities in the financial services industry, focusing primarily on digital and business process transformation.

Prior to working at Morgan Stanley, she was at Charles Schwab Corporation beginning as a vice president of corporate strategy and ending her tenure as executive vice president of investor services, segments and platforms.

According to her profile provided by the Bank, Hassan was formerly a member of the Board of Directors at OneSpan, a USD 250MM revenue public security software and hardware firm, and Ascensus, the largest independent record keeping services provider, third-party administrator, and government savings facilitator in the United States.

Hassan also serves on the board of the California Academy of Sciences and the Cathedral School for Boys in San Francisco.

She was previously on the board of the Charles Schwab Bank and the Women’s Initiative for Self-Employment.

She holds a BA from Princeton University and a Masters of Business Administration from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> World / by PTI / March 06th, 2021

Keralite ‘racquet doctor’ to attend to Federer, Serena

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Perumpilavu (Thrissur District), KERALA / Dubai, U.A.E. :

Jasif Mustafa

Dubai:

A Keralite racquet stringer’s dexterity and craftsmanship will be in high demand at the Dubai Open which will feature top tennis stars like Roger Federer and Serena Williams.

Jasif Mustafa, the lone Malayali in the team of official racquet stringers for the championship, which kickstarts on Sunday at the Dubai Tennis Stadium, is an expert racquet mechanic.

A native of Perumpilavu in Thrissur district, Jasif is the head of the racquet stringing section of Adler Sports, one of Dubai’s top sporting goods and equipment dealers.

Professional players would restring their racquets occasionally as the strings tend to lose their tension after several games. Jasif’s job is ensuring the precise degree of tension requested by each player.

The professional stringers of Adler Sports, headed by Jasif, got the offer to be a part of the Dubai Open after they did a commendable job at the Abu Dhabi WTA Women’s Tennis Open which was held earlier this year. During the course of the 10-day event, they repaired as many as 513 racquets and their work was widely appreciated.

Jasif has vast experience under his belt as a string mechanic. He had worked at a racquet repair shop in his home town for six years before he landed in Dubai four years ago. After joining Adler Sports, he has repaired over 20,000 tennis and badminton racquets that include the ones used by ace Indian shuttlers like Kidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu.

“Jasif has a knack of executing the right tweaks. He can assess the quality of the strings just by slapping it on his palm. It is something he has picked up over the course of time,” says Pramod, a native of Guruvayoor and a coordinator at Adler Sports. 

Stringing a racquet can take up to twenty minutes for a skilled stringer. Jasif’s strength lies in his speed and accuracy. Recently, he strung a racquet in 12.33 seconds and shared the video on social media which attracted great attention from people and the media particularly in the Gulf. 

The 28-year-old is a certified stringer of Yonex, a global leader in sports equipment manufacturing. He has had the opportunity to train under Yonex stringing team head Tim Willey and Europe Racket Stringers Association chief Mark Maslowski. Jasif is also grateful to Adler Sports owner Abdul Salam for all his support. 

Challenging job

Stringing racquets is a challenging job. A stringer has to ensure that racquets are strung at the right tension based on the style of each player. Racquet tension can vary from anywhere from 30-70 lbs. Professional players tend to opt for the upper limit of the racquet tension range which offers more control, while lower tensions provide more power. Tennis strings are usually made up of polyester, synthetic gut or a hybrid of the two and the price ranges between Rs 300 and Rs 8,000.

www.onmanorama.com / OnManorama / Home> Sport / by Raju Mathew / March 04th, 2021

National Player : Oman 2020 : Interview with Ishrath Habibulla – Managing Director : Majees Technical Services

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Chennai, TAMIL NADU / Muscat, OMAN :

Majees Technical Services continues to look at new lines of business in line with the growing need for localization of services and manufacturing.

______________

BIOGRAPHY

Ishrath Habibulla is an experienced Managing Director with a demonstrated history starting up and operating profitable businesses in varied sectors including oil, gas, power, construction, automation. He is skilled in negotiation, business planning, and sales. He is also a strong business development professional. Since 2006, he has been the Managing Director of Majees Technical Services, positioning the company as a leading turnkey security and telecoms contractor, as well as flare system manufacturer. He holds an MBA from the University of Florida, US, and a BSc in electrical engineering from Crescent Engineering College.

_____________________

INTERVIEW :

What role does MTS play in Oman’s market and what is your medium-term growth strategy?
Majees Technical Services started purely as a trading organization and then moved onto services and eventually into manufacturing, mostly geared toward the oil and gas industry, targeting the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia. We continued the traditional lines of business and added newer lines under our new focus on manufacturing. We are looking to bring in skillsets that are not present in Oman. At present, we produce flare packages in Oman, but we want to take this to the next level and produce more process packages. On the digital transformation aspect, we already provide cybersecurity solutions for a number of banks. Internally, we are exploring robotic process automation. In this sense, our priorities for 2020 can be summarized as increasing the local content in our teams, exporting more, and implementing more digital strategies.

Are these avenues for growth a reactionary approach to how the market has evolved?
In the last few years, the market has moved toward the localization of services and manufacturing. There is a policy that Omani-made products must be given a 10% price preference, especially in engineering services and equipment. On the employment side, local companies are under tremendous stress because of Omanization. On the digital transformation side, although we are one of the leading telecoms and security providers in Oman, PDO is leading the charge because it established digital transformation as a unit within the company, setting new rules of engagement and pulling in companies like us who are service providers. This might lead to the development of some models that are relevant for all players.

How will Oman strike a balance between the government trying to engage SMEs and big established players?
In the last few years, a handful of companies that were once SMEs have grown, and there is currently a lack of SMEs. Young companies will grow to fill that vacuum, while the larger companies will no longer compete on smaller projects due to high costs. The marketplace will adjust itself. The bigger companies might suffer, or they might even grow their prospects and revenues. Nonetheless, there is space for new players to come in.

How do you expect the relationship between local players and foreign players to evolve?
The new foreign capital investment law will possibly allow foreign investors to hold up to 100% ownership. We welcome competition, though at the same time we have to be careful about foreign manufacturers if we want to develop a manufacturing industry in Oman. Foreign investors will be more confident in deploying capital, and the practice of having silent shareholding will also stop, which means serious Omani businesspeople will probably start investing more. Previously, Omani businesspeople were investing because the law required them to be a 30% shareholder. More active engagement between all shareholders is good for the entire economy.

What is the key for filling the skills gap in the market in a sustainable way?
It has been a challenge because we can no longer hire foreign engineers, and there are not many engineers in the local market. The private sector has to be profitable at the end of the day, which means we need to find competent people with the right skills and work ethics. We are training fresh Omani graduates and helping them assume junior management and mid-management roles in the future. We need to continue to improve the workplace and grow our presence on social media so that we can better attract young Omanis.

Where will technology have the greatest impact within your industry, and what is your definition of innovation?
The deepest impact will be on how we market ourselves. The market is still dependent largely on local clients, but that is changing. As a business, you also want to innovate in terms of new products. For us, innovation is using the latest technology to improve your processes and increase profitability.

source: http://www.thebusinessyer.com / The Business Year / Home> Oman 2020> Industry> Interview / by The Business Year, UK / UAE – 2020

J&K girls are flying high, as pilots

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JAMMU & KASHMIR :

Kaneez Fatima.

In the recent past, Jammu and Kashmir has been giving to the country several women professional pilots—young women who have struggled hard to get their wings to fly. The latest to join the club is Kaneez Fatima who became the second lady from Ladakh to become a pilot.

Talking to The Sunday Guardian, her mother Shakeela Bano said that her daughter’s success was because of her, the mother’s, struggle as she had single-handedly brought up Kaneez and provided her with the required education. Shakeela was divorced at a young age and devoted her life to bring up her two daughters.

Shakeela said that she saw a spark in her daughter and was very keen for her education. “I got myself transferred from Ladakh to Srinagar only for the better education of my daughter. I gave her my best as a single parent, I tried my best to give her everything she needed,” she told this newspaper.

She said she was satisfied that her daughters were settled in their lives and added that the burden of her bank loan for their education was no longer occupying her mind. Her elder daughter Nahida is an engineer with HAL. She did her engineering from Srinagar.

“I took a huge loan from a bank in Srinagar for the education of my daughters. Now it is all over. I have achieved what I wanted for my daughters,” said a smiling Shakeela. She said that she could get her daughter admitted to the Government Aviation Training Institute at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Kaneez, according to her mother, went through a six-year training course and subsequent flying experience.

According to Shakeela, another girl from Leh was so inspired by her daughter’s struggle that she too got herself enrolled for training in the same institute.

J&K came into prominence when Captain Tanvi Raina became a pilot. It was followed by other success stories of women pilots Ayesha Aziz and Iram Habib. The state got its first Muslim pilot Hina Masood, who is working with Air India now, and belongs to Ladakh. Like Hina, Kaneez has also joined Air India. Ayesha is flying fighter jets and has roots in Kashmir as her mother is from the Valley.

source: http://www.sundaygurardianlive.com / TSG – Sunday Guardian Live / Home> News / by Noor ul Qamrain / September 22nd, 2018

UTI appoints Imtaiyazur Rahman as full-time CEO

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Mumbai, MAHARASHTRA :

Imtaiyazur Rahman, CEO, UTI AMC (File Image)

UTI AMC board on Saturday appointed Imtaiyazur Rahman as the Chief Executive Officer. He has been the acting CEO of the company for nearly two years.

The post was vacant since Leo Puri completed his five-year term as CEO of UTI AMC. Group President and Chief Finance Officer Rahman was appointed as acting Chief Executive Officer after Puri’s term ended in August 2018.

Rahman joined the UTI Group in 1998 and is with UTI since 2003.  Working with earlier Chairmen M Damodaran and UK Sinha, he was involved in the transformation of the organisation after the restructuring of the erstwhile Unit Trust of India.

He was CFO of the company and has headed diverse functions, including international business.

“This appointment brings stability in the top management of the company especially since it is planning to launch its IPO shortly and addresses the concerns of SEBI on the CEO position which was vacant for quite some time,” UTI AMC said in a press release dated June 13.

source: http://www.moneycontrol.com / Money Control / Home> News> Business / by Money Control News / June 13th, 2020

Meet the Lady Behind India’s First Incubator for Indian Muslim Women

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DELHI / NRC :

Ruha Shadab is a doctor and a graduate from the Harvard Kennedy School where she was on a full-tuition scholarship. Shadab has worked as a doctor in low-income neighborhoods in Delhi and later moved on to work on systemic issues of healthcare, as a part of the Government of India.

LedBy, India’s first incubator for Indian Muslim Women helps them by providing leadership workshops, 360 degree advisory framework, and executive coaching.

Dr Ruha Shadab (30) is the founder of LedBy Foundation, India’s first and only leadership incubator focused on empowering Indian Muslim Women by providing leadership experiences to undergraduates and postgraduates. Launched in 2019, LedBy was incubated at Harvard University and was pre-seed funded by them as well.

Dr Ruha has been quite an achiever all her life – she pursued her medical degree, worked as a physician for a few years, then decided to join public health and worked at the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), worked with NITI Aayog and then made her way to Harvard with a full-tuition scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in public policy. At Harvard, Dr Ruha realised the need to do something for Indian Muslim women given the specific challenges that they faced, and also found the medium to address the problem.

From a religious majority to a religious minority

To understand why Dr Ruha felt the need to start an initiative for Indian Muslim women, it is imperative to understand her early influences.

While Dr Ruha is originally from India, she was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and she spent the first decade of her life there before moving to Delhi/NCR.

Narrating an incident that left a deep impact on her, which eventually led her to start this initiative, she says, “Twenty years ago, it was on Diwali that my family and I moved back to India. While driving from the airport to our home I saw every house on the way lit up and children on the streets bursting fire crackers. This suddenly took me back to the Diwali’s in Saudi and I realised how my friends there, the minority, never celebrated it in this way.” After a few years, she saw Eid in a similar light as Diwali.

She says, “In Saudi, as part of a monolithic society, one does not even think of what the minority is feeling. And then I moved to India where so many things just hit me so hard.” That is when she understood what being a Muslim woman, especially in a multicultural society like India, felt like.

It was not like there were not enough Muslim women, but they were hard to find in the mainstream.

“It was tiring, after a point of time to be the only Muslim woman in school, college, workplace. There was no one who shared a similar background as me whom I could look up to and aspire to be and that is what I wanted to change,” she says. During Dr Ruha’s stint as a clinical physician, she says, “At the hospital I worked at, I would see so many young Muslim girls with large families. Without saying it was right or wrong, what I saw was that there was an issue that needed to be addressed.”

Dr Ruha believes that there is a lot of talent in them [Indian Muslim women] but what they lack is 3 A’s: agency, access, and avenues. LedBy is looking to change that. If you have the privilege of knowing, you do not have the luxury of not doing,” says Dr Ruha.

LedBy works closely with high potential college-going Muslim women in India and provides them with three things – leadership workshops, 360* advisory framework, and executive coaching. “For all these three things we have very skilled women, across regions and religions, on-board to help the younger women realise and achieve their potential,” says Dr Ruha.

“We have been able to get coaches, mentors, and facilitators from across the globe. Being a virtual program helps breaks barriers,” she says. It is a summer program of four months in which 24 women are selected on merit. To be eligible to apply for this programme, you must identify yourself as an Indian Muslim woman, no more than two years away from completing a full-time undergraduate degree (that means, is in 3rd or 4th years of a 4-year program; 2nd or 3rd year of a 3-year program) or are in a full-time postgraduate program of one or two years duration, and physically reside in India.

For the 24 women who were part of the first cohort – what stood out were the connections that they made and the validation that their ideas and dreams received from others at the programme. While for Ammara Gul Qaisar, a student at Lady Shri Ram College, the programme “represents the power of human connections”, for Sahreen Shamim the programme allowed her a chance to delve into her dreams and find ways of realising them.

With an office based in Noida, Dr Ruha says that everything that they do is virtual and in a sense COVID-19 only helped in pushing it towards being online.

source: http://www.maeeshat.in / Maaeshat.in / Home> Entrepeneurship / January 11th, 2021

Mangaluru: Beary Chamber of Commerce & Industry felicitates Covid warriors

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Mangaluru, KARNATAKA :

Mangaluru :

Beary Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) felicitated COVID-19 warriors on Wednesday, February 3 at Hotel Ocean Pearl, Mangaluru.

The felicitation program commenced with prayer offered by Ashraf Kinara Kudroli.

Chancellor of Nitte University, N Vinay Hegde said, “When society was facing turbulent times, extending a helping hand to those in need is commendable. I have never witnessed such unprecedented times in the last 81 years of my life. People have been philanthropists on several occasions, but being one during the pandemic is a different thing altogether.”

Chairman Sri Devi Education Trust Sadananda Shetty said, “I congratulate the Beary Chamber of Commerce and Industry for felicitating COVID warriors who worked hard, faced all the difficulties, and risked their lives during the pandemic.”

President Beary Chamber of Commerce and Industry, S M Rasheed said, “The year 2020 was a tough year for all of us, as one of our active founder members lost his life due to coronavirus.”

Image result for images Mangaluru: Beary Chamber of Commerce & Industry felicitates Covid warriors

As many as 11 COVID warriors were felicitated in the event namely: Abdul Rehman Goodinabali, Ziyauddin Ahmed, Abdul Rauf Putthige, Dr Farhan Fazal, Dr Tajuddin K, KM Asif, Abubakar Siddique, Mohammed Ilyas Bajpe, Ashraf Kinara Kudroli, Abdul Azeez and Mohammed Ashraf Kandak.

President Beary Chamber of Commerce and Industry S M Rasheed welcomed the gathering, treasurer Mansoor Ahmed proposed the vote of thanks and Abdul Razzaq compered the event.

source: http://www.daijiworld.com / DaijiWorld.com / Home> Top Stories / February 03rd, 2021

Wonder techpreneur from Hyderabad to appear on TV show

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Hyderabad, TELANGANA :

Zunaira Khan, 14, who runs her own tech company, dreams of expanding it and turning  into an investor.

Hyderabad : 

Zunaira Khan, a 14-year-old from Hyderabad is anything but your average teenager. She is a tech-savvy genius. A tech entrepreneur and software developer she got her first client at the tender age of nine. At the age of 11, she started teaching BTech students. Zunaira started her own website ‘ZM Infocom’ — a software development and consultancy firm — when she was just 12.

The wonder kid has developed business, mobile, and web applications for clients such as Licious, Fooditnow, Daily Ninja to name a few. The tech girl started learning at the age of seven and developing software from the age of eight. “My mother is a professional software developer. At the age of six, my sister and I after school, we used to be in her office.

When I was seven, I asked her to teach me coding and, she taught me everything,” says the spunky teen who lives in Nacharam industrial area with her family.  Zunaira has also been conferred with the title of ‘Digital Ambassador’ of Delhi Public School. She says, “I feel good when I get these recognitions and the biggest award I get is the satisfaction in my parents’ eyes.” 

How does she manage school and work? Zunaira’s hobbies are reading books and singing songs, and she says, “At the beginning, it was a bit difficult, but my principal and teachers are supportive. So after school, I give five to six hours to my company, then I study.”  What is her advice to those chasing their dreams? She replies: “The secret of my success is that you need to believe in yourself.

You need to find your interest. You need to share everything with your parents because they are the ones who will show you the way. Start small, but think big and that big should be the goal.” What does the future hold for her? “Right now we are a service-based company, but I want to also make it product-based. I wish to provide maximum employment and I want to make this company reach the highest level… I also see myself as a big investor.”

Zunaira will be seen in the upcoming episode of Byju’s Young Genius show on Network 18 with actor Rajkummar Rao which will be telecast on February 6 where they talk about their first paychecks. The shooting for the show was in Mumbai and the starry-eyed girlscomments, “It was a big honour for me to meet Rajkumar Rao.”

— Tamanna S Mehdi  tamanna@newindianexpress.com  @tamannamehdi

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Hyderabad / by Tamanna S. Mehdi / Express News Service / February 04th, 2021

Indian-Origin Sabih Khan Promoted To Apple’s Senior Vice President Of Operations

Business & Economy, Leaders, NRI's / PIO's, World Opinion,

Rampur, UTTAR PRADESH / U.S.A. :

Sabih Khan . Photo Courtesy: Apple

Indian-origin Sabih Khan has been named as the Senior Vice President of Operations at Apple, the global tech giant announced. Khan, whose family hails from Rampur in Uttar Pradesh has been with Apple since 1995 working in various senior executive roles.

In his new role, Khan would be in charge of Apple’s global supply chain, ensuring product quality and overseeing planning, procurement, manufacturing, logistics and product fulfilment functions, Apple said in a statement.

“Sabih leads our Ops team with heart. He and his entire worldwide team are committed to delivering unmatched experiences to our customers, treating workers everywhere with dignity and respect, and protecting the environment for future generations,” said Tim Cook, Apple CEO.

Before joining Apple’s procurement group in 1995, Sabih Khan worked as an applications development engineer and key account technical leader at GE Plastics. He earned a bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University and a master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Khan’s promotion follows the departure of Apple’s legendary chief design officer Jonathan Ive, who quit the company to form his own design company, LoveFrom.

KKhan will report to Jeff Williams, Apple’s chief operating officer

“I’ve been privileged to work with Sabih for more than 20 years, and you won’t find a more talented operations executive anywhere on the planet,” said Williams. “He is a world-class leader and collaborator, and I have no doubt that he will be the best leader of the Ops team in Apple’s history.”

source: http://www.thecognate.com / The Cognate / Home> Business / by Shaik Zakeer Hussain / June 29th, 2019

UAE Businessman M.A. Yusuffali Nominated for Govt’s Centre for Migration As Expert Member

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KERALA / U.A.E. :

M.A. Yusuffali.

Chairman and Managing Director of UAE-based Lulu Group International is an employer of more than 30,000 Indians abroad.

Thiruvananthapuram :

M.A. Yusuffali, Chairman and Managing Director of UAE-based Lulu Group International has been nominated as expert member of the Governing Council of India Centre for Migration (ICM) by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

ICM is a committee that undertakes research and studies on migration of Indian workers for overseas employment and supports informed policy making in MEA.

Among other objectives, ICM is tasked with equipping the country’s human resources in the field of employment to international standards, providing guidance for promoting employment in foreign countries, highlighting India as a country with a highly qualified and skilled workforce, and preparing welfare schemes for the Indian working community abroad.

The committee, chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, also includes the Secretary, Ministry of Finance, the Secretary, Ministry of Labour and the Secretary, Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises.

Yusuffali, while thanking Indian government and the prime minister for this important nomination, said that he will use his experience of almost 5 decades in the Middle East both as an NRI businessman and as an employer of more than 30,000 Indians to further enrich the diaspora.

“My efforts will be more towards preparing the new generation as a global professional fit for today’s fast-evolving business environment, especially considering the challenging times we are going through,” UAE-based Indian businessman said. — IANS

source: http://www.clarionindia.net / Clarion India / Home> Editor’s Pick / by IANS / January 19th, 2021