FCI London is one of the largest luxury furniture and lifestyle houses in the UK with a 30,000 sq.ft contemporary furniture showroom that displays the most exclusive quality pieces from the world’s best designer brands. 

Established in 1985, FCI London is an independently owned family business with deep roots in furniture design, manufacture and interiors. CEO Firdaus Nagree hails from a family of entrepreneurs. His parents started their furniture business in the UK and called it Furniture Craft. After working for several years at Accenture, Firdaus decided to join the family business to help it grow and evolve. He saw a real opportunity to grow the store into something much bigger. Armed with this new vision and a new showroom, FCI London was born. 

From the beginning, FCI’s focus has been on targeting the high-end, luxury corner of the furniture market and emphasising customer retention. Currently, FCI London is looking at expanding in new directions by growing the B2B side of the business and getting involved in the changing shape of interior design with several innovative platforms. 

Largest Luxury Furniture and Interiors Brand

FCI London is one of the largest luxury furniture and interiors brands in the UK, showcasing over 700 brands under 1 roof in its North London showroom. Most of the furniture brands they work with were artisan workshops when FCI first brought their products to the UK. Today, many of these brands are highly sought-after and recognised throughout the world. 

Besides their luxury furniture range, the company offers a comprehensive interior design service with a team of trained designers. Their clients are spread across a variety of sectors, from high-net-worth individuals and corporates to the general public looking for a key statement price. FCI London also works with a close network of interior designers and has created a range of trade services designed to streamline design projects. 

What sets FCI London apart from its competitors is their customer service. Unlike other companies, they remain a step ahead in catering to customers by taking ownership of all the necessary moving parts in-house. From the installation team and the fixers, to the delivery vans, warehousing and admin, everything is done by FCI teams and nothing is subcontracted out. 

Innovation Incorporated with Technology

Since their establishment, FCI London has emerged as an innovative tech company due to their innovative ability to leverage technology within the furniture industry. They are constantly looking at ways to reinvent their processes, especially when it comes how technology can enhance the customer experience within interior design.

FCI London prides themselves on not having a status quo on how things should be done—they’re happy to try out new ideas even if they sound unconventional. They give equal weight to feedback and creative ideas from all team members, regardless of their tenure, job title or experience level at the company. 

Communicative and Collaborative Environment

When asked about major highlights in FCI London’s journey, Firdaus said that building an incredible team and creating a company culture that makes employees loyal to the organisation are his biggest achievements. “Once I realized how important these two things were and started focusing my decision making based on the culture I wanted, the individuals in my team were able to grow and evolve in an environment which supports them as they support each other,” he adds. 

FCI has created a collaborative environment where all members of the team are encouraged to be inventive and present ideas freely. The company has created a safe culture where failure is embraced as as learning. As a result, the team members are open and communicative and this, in turn, leads to a stream of original ideas which are excellent for business—creating a complete win-win situation. 

Analyzing Challenges and Speculating Accolades

As with any entrepreneurial venture, FCI London has had their share of challenges and struggles along the way. However, the team’s commitment to learning and growthand their unified goal of reaching for the next level has helped them overcome those challenges. 

FCI’s commitment to always improving has earned them various awards, including its best showroom, best interiors brand, best up-and-coming business and many more. However, they don’t consider these awards to be a gauge for their achievements; it’s their customer reviews that tell the true story. In the case of negative feedback, they try to learn from them and work on ways to improve. But overall, it is the positive customer reviews that act as the real measure of the company’s success. 

Creating Transformative Spaces 

FCI London is in the process of building a SaaS platform, a global platform that will revolutionise how people access interior design; from professional advice to how to plan your own space. It will also allow people to optimise their living spaces without spending an arm and a leg, which is huge for an industry that has long been seen as very expensive. 

FCI London aims to transform people’s living spaces in a way that suits their personalities while fitting into their budget and contributing to their overall happiness. Additionally, the company is planning to introduce NFTs as part of their furniture offering will soon accept cryptocurrency payments for products and projects. They are looking forward to the next big thing in interior design and making sure that they’re along for the ride on the first wave. 

“Leaving our imprint on the client’s memory, along with giving exceptional service along the way, is what makes us different.”

Geopolitically, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is at the crossroads between Asia, Europe, and Africa. This has been one of the main reasons why MENA continues to be of interest for foreign governments, particularly as it relates to defence, security, intelligence, investment and trade sectors. MENA is also a primary area where the competitive U.S.-China, U.S.-Russia relations are playing out. While the U.S. is gradually transitioning out of security commitments in the region; Russia and China are attempting to fill the void, in addition to influencing domestic politics, counter-terrorism, transnational trade, infrastructure, and economic development moving forward. This has direct and indirect, short and long term implications for international corporate operations, government missions, and NGOs in the region. 

Despite being a volatile region, MENA remains an investment destination connecting vital infrastructure from Asia to Europe and Africa. What has made investors interested in MENA? The region offers a sizable consumer base, educated populations and is resource rich. Moreover, it also includes various sector-specific opportunities in healthcare, information technology, education, infrastructure, energy, manufacturing, and ample space for economic development. Hence, anticipating and navigating political risk in a MENA host country is a primary corporate capability for successful market entry and sustainable operations.

However, identifying the crucial political, security, regulatory and socio-economic risks of a MENA country require contextual intelligence, connections, and cultural knowledge to translate signs and data into actionable insights. Actionable insights inform risk management strategies and enable corporations to seize profitable opportunities. This requires a key player of the industry who is proficient in MENA context intelligence, and is prepared with proactive risk management strategies that beat the traditional approaches. Established in 2013, iStrategic is a political risk analysis and consulting firm providing specialized guidance on the Middle East and North Africa affairs to the private sector. HQ in New Jersey in the United States, the company shares in-country connections throughout the Middle East and North African region, and a dedicated team devoted to delivering insightful and timely analysis to its clients. 

“We contend that having a proactive strategy is indispensable for today’s U.S.  and international corporations, business ventures, government agencies, and investment missions in the MENA region,” quotes Ghaidaa Hetou, the Founder of iStrategic.

A Passion for MENA

Dr. Hetou guides the development and overall operational efficiency of iStrategic. She has always been passionate about the MENA region and its rich culture and history, complexities, and potential. This zeal motivated her to work and build a career helping companies and government agencies navigate the political landscape in this region. In doing so she pursued her education and now holds a Ph.D. and two master degrees in Economics and Political Science. She is a remarkable analyst, scholar, and author, specializing in political risk, threat assessment, geopolitics, security, and foreign policy in the Middle East and North Africa region. Her experience in the industry made her equipped to establish her company and venture into entrepreneurship. 

“Due to family constraints however in 2012, I was not able to relocate to Washington DC in the U.S. where such work is mostly concentrated. The next best thing was to establish a consulting business, and contribute tailored political risk management services to clients interested in expanding their business operation in the MENA region,” explains Dr. Hetou.

Apart from overseeing the operations of iStrategic, Dr. Hetou is a consultant, advisor and published author on MENA affairs. She is multilingual and fluent in Arabic, English, and German. Moreover, French, Farsi, Turkish, Kurdish, and Hebrew are spoken at iStrategic as well.

Corporate Risk Intelligence Backed by Data and Local Knowledge

The social, political, and security signs have preceded all political and security events and crises which transpired in MENA since 2003. An indication that MENA region’s political and security landscape is shifting and is no longer manageable by leveraging traditional approaches. “Relying on outdated ways of understanding the region can result in less than optimum outcomes,” explained Dr. Hetou.

iStrategic understood the need to introduce a modern approach, and thus offers a variety of services to corporations, government agencies, and NGOs interested in expanding their operations in MENA. The services bouquet includes corporate consultation, risk assessment reports, risk mitigation strategies, red team, sector-specific risk assessments, monthly monitoring reports, and executive outlook presentations. Furthermore, these services are backed by a team of experts in context intelligence, data analysis and are proficient in MENA languages, culture and dialects. Context intelligence, powered by HUMINT and OSINT, with cultural understanding is at the heart of what iStrategic does.

As aforementioned, consulting companies are coming around the idea of corporate political risk space in MENA, and how it can be addressed and integrated in the corporate capability space. iStrategic starts with corporate risk assessments and then supports corporate decision-making by providing Context Intelligence supported by data, indigenous knowledge, personnel, and access. This crucial corporate advantage lays the ground work for a successful market entry and sustainable operations. This has placed iStrategic ahead of its competitors. As to what exciting technology advancement are on the horizon, ”OSINT is continuously adapting to new technologies, risk modelling is in continuous adaptation mode, and access to high-resolution imagery is always improving, which is exciting and does enrich the actionable intelligence available,” explains Dr. Hetou. 

Flexible to Adapt to Client requirements 

iStrategic caters its services to both private and government sectors. The private sector is more inclined towards a fast pace approach that saves time while achieving results. On the contrary, government agencies generously “spend time” while going through bureaucratic procedures. “Each relation has its upside for sure,” highlights Dr. Hetou.

Being a small consultancy company, iStrategic is flexible to adapt to the client’s specific needs. The team is always responsive and values the clients’ time. Dr. Hetou adds, “We do not subject clients to bureaucratic hurdles, generic intelligence, or unnecessary delays that are an unfortunate side effect of larger consulting organizations.” At iStrategic once initial consultations are concluded, the client has a dedicated project manager that maintains communication before, during, and after the specified services are delivered to insure the client’s satisfaction.  

The COVID-19 pandemic caused a minimal impact on iStrategic’s services as the team utilized virtual communication since 2014. iStrategic’s top priority has always been to provide the requested deliverables with precision, exceeding client’s expectations, while maintaining client relations during market entry and the operational stage. The company does not commercialize its work, since all reports and consultations are exclusive and owned by the client. 

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“We hope that the vaccination campaign catches up in MENA and all developing countries. This pandemic highlighted the shortcomings in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors in MENA. Corporate interest in MENA is high, and we are starting to see a gradual return to business relations .”

The healthcare industry has always been on the pedestal to offer the best. With the integration of modern technology, the disruption of the industry is uncanny. In this competitive landscape, healthcare providers have to deliver something unique to sustain. While the journey of such ground-breaking ventures is not easy the story behind the establishment is very interesting and inspiring. For instance, a call for help, and a noticeable gap in the industry were the founding pillars of United Orthopaedic Corporation (UOC) —the European distribution and management branch for all orthopedic hip and knee implants and ancillaries.

In December 2015, Jason Lin called François Bopp to help him in Europe. After 3 months of analyzing the chances, the duo co-founded the European operations. The initial challenges however did exist. Though the leaders enjoyed the competition, they made sure that UOC would be placed on the map of leading orthopedic providers. 

Thriving in Competition

“Starting from scratch in a competitive business is not so obvious; I can say that we exist!” commented Bopp. Over the years, UOC has managed to establish a name in the market. The surgeons and competitors are familiar with the firm. While start-ups often venture into a less crowded niche, Bopp and Lin particularly looked for competition. In order to explain this, Bopp states that tough competition is good news for their field. If one is able to find a market with little or no competition, one should recognize that there will also be not much profit to be done. 

Since the day of inception, the company has traveled a long path to success. Today, UOC has expanded its branches in Switzerland, France, Belgium, and the UK. Apart from this, the company also has distributors in Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ukraine, Moldova, Greece, and Turkey. Moreover, it is looking forward to adding Russia, Bulgaria, and Romania to the list.

UOC’s objective has always been to be a prime player in the European market and the team is determined to fulfill this objective. Recently, UOC was ranked amongst the Top 10 Orthopedic solution providers in Europe. Bopp believes that this is a good start but the objective is yet to be achieved. 

Distinguisher Of The Market

It is not a surprise that one has to be an ultimate differentiator in order to thrive in the competition and make a difference. Apart from overseeing the responsibilities as a leader, Bopp’s role also involves searching these differentiators. As the leading Orthopaedic providers, UOC offers a wide range of solutions and specializes in knee and hip implants. Soon, UOC plans to add shoulder implants too. In addition to this, the team is also exploring the potential of modern technologies to further strengthen the market grasp. “Those projects are still a little confidential, but could really play an important role in our future growth,” confirmed Bopp.

When UOC started its journey nearly 5 years ago, there was nothing, zero sales, and an unknown company in Europe besides a distributor in Spain and one in Greece. However, Bopp was affirmative that by building a scientific image with a strong R&D and fully integrated production, UOC can compete with American big names. This strategy was the result of decades of experience in the orthopedic industry. Furthermore, being on small scale is not a disadvantage for the firm as the team is much more reactive in every aspect. He adds, “In a business where a decision-maker is a person, a surgeon, this is a key success factor.” It took time, a unique strategy, and persistence to grow the sales. 

Small Gathering of Experts

UOC has also established the United European academy four years ago. Dr. Epinette is the current President of the European Hip Society and Chairman of the scientific board of the academy. This academy was established with two main purposes,

• The follow up of its prosthesis in form of a register
• The organization of yearly conference with a conversation on each subject

“It is a scientific conference where we never try to tell that we are better than the others,” explained Bopp. This scientific conference is a platform to share the opinions and knowledge of the surgeons and other relevant hot topics. 

Progression and Modern Tech

If one closely inspects, orthopedics is a market where the evolutions are fairly slow. Both the regulatory and design of the prosthesis are the factors hindering the evolution. Bopp further explains, “For instance, a ‘squared’ knee would have little chance. If you come up with a revolutionary design, you will be asked by most of the surgeons to prove that the design is superior for the patient vs. the current solution.”

Even if bone reconstruction materials is excluded, the evolution can be anticipated in the surgical techniques. Consequently, to stay relevant and updated with the trends, it is evident to upgrade the instruments. Understanding these trends, the team is continually learning to make these new techniques reproducible. Currently, the team is working on different fields like implants, instruments, and surgical techniques. “In other words, we are thinking permanently about future evolutions and how can we be precursors or at least part of it. We try to avoid seeing a train leave the station without being either driving it or at least in it,” stated Bopp.

Candid Perception on COVID-19

COVID-19 outbreak managed to divide the population on a global level. Though the pandemic posed threat to both humans and the economy, people tend to have varied opinions on the outbreak. Bopp too shared his candid perspective on the global outbreak, “The COVID crisis is a good example of collective fear created by the media and some “scientific” people.” The countries stood divided under economic disruptions, a threat to life, and a political façade. While many politicians shied away from making decisions, the scientific board was delegated to decision-making. He continues, “We work with surgeons and those are reasonable people, used to work in a sterile environment. They are not easily afraid of the media. The life will return to normal sooner or later and I really hope that some politicians disappear from the public landscape. They cost us a lot by their incompetency.”

Challenges and Opportunities

UOC was not adversely affected by the pandemic but was temporarily on halt. The priority was employees’ wellbeing and be prepared for the upsurge in demand as soon as the restrictions are uplifted. Concerning the market scenario post-COVID, many have the perception that we as a population will enter a new world. On the contrary, Bopp believes that things will just return back to normal—especially in his orthopedic world—the sooner the better. 

Quote: We uphold each patient’s quality of life and we take great pride in all that we do.

Digitalization has effectively smoothened most of the tedious tasks for humankind. Technology has also managed to influence the mover and shakers of the industry—Supply Chain and Logistics. It has become important for companies to adopt the technology and stay abreast with the trends, but it is equally vital to adapt to the rapidly changing tech advancements. For an industry that is responsible for moving $16.4 trillion of cargo every year globally, it cannot afford communication gaps and other errors. Several companies in the industry relied on EDI (Electronic Data Exchange) for the manual processes which were inefficient for the current market. 

Having witnessed the same issues first-hand for nearly 20 years, Jett McCandless realized that the sector could transform with the use of the right technology. By replacing EDI with modern API technology, he could revolutionize the process and in turn save shippers, carriers, and logistics providers a significant amount of money and time. Jett combined his expertise with his passion for logistics and technology and launched project44 in 2014, which  is now recognised by Gartner as a Leader in real-time transportation visibility  in its 2021 Magic Quadrant. 

project44 offers real-time transportation visibility solutions for carriers, logistics service providers, and shippers in a variety of industries, including consumer goods, retail, manufacturing, life sciences, and food and beverage. Currently, it is catering the services to 500 enterprise customers including Amazon, Starbucks, and Walmart, and partners with leaders like SAP, FedEx, and IBM. Jett and his team are looking forward to evolving the Advanced Visibility Platform™ by increasing multi-modal capabilities to the point of seamless interoperability. Moreover, they are going to explore unchartered capabilities of technology and find new innovative ways to utilize shipment data to create even more efficiencies. This includes improving warehouse and inventory management, revolutionizing customer service around the delivery experience, and optimizing the continually expanding e-commerce industry.

Deviation from the Set Route

No matter the pace of growth, convincing people for an alternative advanced tech—which is also better than the old version—comes as a challenge for the provider. Initially, project44 countered several battles to convince the industry to reroute from EDI to APIs. Majority of these shippers or third-party logistics providers were unable to understand APIs while the others had already invested in EDI. Jett and his team relentlessly set out to convince these shippers about the potential of this new visibility platform called project44 and why it was worth rerouting to this new technology. 

Soon, the idea of having access to real-time visibility became popular in the industry. Several companies deviated from the question “why do we need this?” to “we know we need this, when can we get started?”

This innovative tech by project44 has truly set it apart from its competitor in the same niche. What makes project44’s innovation truly unique is Jett’s “platform” vision. While the competitors are leveraging or acquiring other application companies and patching them together for a ‘closed system’, project44 creates an open system—shared network connectivity across carriers, TMS’s, telematics providers, IoT devices, condition monitoring sources, and more. All these factors have contributed to making project44 the largest supply chain data network in the world.

Tale of two simultaneous Crisis

Another factor that highlighted the importance of real-time visibility over shipments were two major crises that took place simultaneously. In 2019, the advent of the COVID-19 virus was prominent and disrupted business operations by 2020. There were lockdowns on a global level causing an abrupt halt. But, e-commerce experienced a surge in demand. Consumer behavior has inclined more towards online shopping and even when the pandemic subsides there will still be upscaling demand. This will affect transportation—especially for the fast delivery driven suppliers like Amazon—with a continued rise in small packages and last-mile deliveries. As a result, there is going to be a spiked demand for expanded real-time transportation visibility, automation, and collaboration – by all B2B POs, to match the Amazon experience in their consumers’ lives.

Apart from the small package deliveries, the supply chains will need real-time visibility for the resilience of overall shipments in the end-to-end supply chain from factory to DC to retail shelves so they can address disruptions and manage lead time to meet and exceed customer expectations. 

Jett put forth another example to explain this clearly, the Suez Canal incident. In 2021 while we were all pushing through the crisis to lift the economy ashore, ‘Ever Given’ got stuck on her route and blocked the Suez Canal. Though the ship has been sailed on its route now, there will be larger vessels waiting to be unloaded. All this contributes to cargo delays in Europe, the US, and Asia – later causing high friction inland. “It is going to be messy for some time,” Jett explains.

We live in a dynamic world where customer expectations are sky-high, and the landscape is continually changing. Supply Chains need visibility to manage this disruption. Though companies are failing to acknowledge this need now, in few years the need will be apparent and companies unprepared. Today, companies must have robust, real-time visibility over all their transportation moves. Soon with expansion overseas, these companies will require a more advanced solution that encompasses collaboration and automation into their visibility of all their processes and inventory. Thus, growing the real-time visibility transportation market, and project44 will be at the forefront with its advanced solutions.

Advanced Tech for Enhanced Efficiency 

Though real-time visibility enables supply chain managers to see the problem as it occurs, correcting that problem requires a swift response. This can be achieved through predictive analytics and offer necessary guidance to the supply chain executive to arrive at the correct response and solve the problem. Followed by prescriptive analytics, an AI tech working independently and making decisions without the involvement of humans in the process.

Jett anticipates that in coming years predictive and prescriptive analytics will dominate the industry. He further explains his speculation with an example, stating “Predictive analytics play a big role. If the port is slowing down, the supply chain manager can route their shipments through another port. If a trucker, on the other hand, has a record of excellent service, always meeting their delivery commitments, the supply chain manager can assign more loads to the high performing carrier.”

All this contributes to the evidence that analytics will no doubt enhance supply chain visibility data to provide insights for improving customer support and e-commerce. The amalgamation of real-time visibility and analytics will foster efficiency and transform the supply chain practices for the better. This has been project44’s mission all along. By integrating the advanced tech the team will further strengthen the solutions.

Exploring New Horizons

The team has been one of the strong pillars behind project44’s success. Even amid the harsh crisis of COVID-19 the team worked relentlessly to attain their goals and achieve amazing results. The set target could be achieved because of transparency. The past few months were not easy for any organization and employees were stressed about unexpected layoffs or furloughs. project44 ensured there was effective communication amongst the team. There were regular Zoom calls and meetings to have a sense of togetherness. Jett proudly asserts, “We are proud of our team members and the resilience and teamwork they have demonstrated during this time!”

Due to the team’s harmonized efforts, project44 could bear the tough tides of the pandemic. Now, the team is planning to expand its visibility solution to more countries around the world. Moreover, the team has outlined granular visibility of shipments to enable SKU level visibility for the shipper. Whereas, the shippers will also have access to dynamic appointment scheduling with the integration of time-slot booking functionality with more TMS providers. 

For the year 2021, the goal is to keep working to expand the presence of project 44 while focusing on improving the functionality and ease of use of the platform. Jett and his team will be exploring AI and big data applications and automation of customer processes and workflows to enhance customer experience.

Leader’s Advice

“The Supply Chain Industry is much more innovative and dynamic than it was 20 years ago. It is growing incredibly fast being driven by large investments in technology and big data. It’s also an incredibly diverse industry that is global and multicultural. If you want to have a career on the cutting edge of a global high-tech industry that has real-world impact, the supply chain industry could be for you.”

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“project44’s vision is to increase the predictability, efficiency, agility, and resilience of global supply chains improving lives and creating a more sustainable planet.”

“Buildings consume about 70% of total electricity use in the United States. The potential for transaction-based control schemes will be successful when behind-the-meter loads, generation, and storage assets seamlessly integrate into a collaborative, incentive-based network that, from the perspective of grid operations, functions as a virtual control system, enabling them to deliver energy services to the grid at the lowest possible cost,” U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).

Building-to-Grid (B2G) Revolution Begins 

The increase of intermittent power generation sources such as solar and load sources like electric vehicles and data servers plugging into our electric grid continues to challenge grid operators (ISO) on balancing available clean energy supply versus usage demand times. The 2020 Covid pandemic showed the world that if we do nothing, then a societal and climate behavior change will result in blackouts and danger, which we’ve seen from California power shutdowns, fires, and Texas’ power failure. How buildings consume electricity throughout the day is expressed using a line graph with peaks (high usage) and valleys (low usage). Too many peaks and valleys stress the grid. This causes grid operators to work around the clock to level out these peaks and valleys as much as possible. They use dispatchable thermal CO2 emissive generators such as coal, gas, and diesel as these resources are readily available and can be turned on and off. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) Order 2222, issued late last year, mandates ISOs to allow dispatchable demand-side resources to help with grid balancing so we can reduce electricity costs and reliance on dirty energy resources. 

Can we rely on an intermittent clean energy-powered future when buildings continue to demand and use electricity when it isn’t available without increasing costs and damaging the environment? The answer is Yes! According to the DOE, if we can transform buildings’ demand to be fully dispatchable for grid operators, enable them to generate billions in annual reduced energy costs while offsetting generation and transmission infrastructure, then we can. How? Enter MicroNOC Inc. MicroNOC is an award-winning, CA-based company, founded and lead by Mr. JK Kim, CEO, who has been working diligently on this exact vision since 2016. 

MicroNOC Turns Buildings Into Grid Synchronized, Clean Virtual Power Stations (CVP) 

California has designated 4 pm-9 pm as the high cost, dirty energy, peak hours. During these hours, electricity rates are 3x more expensive. The costly rates coincide with solar power fading with the sunset, and the only available dispatchable source for demand is gas. So, if demand is the determining cost factor for when and how long a source is needed, the logical step is to make demand controllable.  

MicroNOC has pioneered a revolutionary solution to meet this need—a state-of-the-art, grid-synchronized, property-based, clean virtual power (CVP) station—that redefines electricity consumption and distribution. CVP entails installing its Energy Management and Energy Storage System behind-the-meter of commercial and industrial buildings to reduce on-peak energy consumption. This solution provides a 25% electricity rate savings for business building occupants and acts as an alternative to gas peakers and other fossil fuel-based power resources from the grid. According to JK Kim, MicroNOC’s CEO, “We balance your rates and balance the grid.” 

MicroNOC CVP empowers new opportunities from energy savings and trades for consumers and commercial and industrial building owners, operators, and tenants. MicroNOC transforms buildings into automated power stations to deploy low-cost storage options for the grid for a seamless balance of both peaks and valleys of demand. 

This year, MicroNOC plans to unveil an innovative, new program that will involve more people to collectively influence and mitigate issues that grid operations, governments, and utility companies face. The forthcoming program allows customers to contribute a percentage of their returns earned from supplying the stored energy to the grid and give back to the community as part of what he has coined “corporate social relationships” (CSR). Mr. Kim envisions MicroNOC’s CVP serving as a transparent platform that enables everyone to participate in balancing the grid with clean energy. With the energy savings MicroNOC expects to yield, it plans a generous social impact initiative to give back to regional counties, cities, and businesses.

Longer-term, MicroNOC plans to enhance its platform to support 1.5-gigawatt projects. Mr. Kim believes that CVP is an innovative solution with the potential to immensely benefit society and optimize the grid for both the present and future. The company is committed to a greener future. Over the last few years, it has built and deployed modern technologies that play a crucial role in supporting a grid of the future.

With FERC’s landmark Order 2222, it is likely that in the next 50 years, the energy sector will undergo an unprecedented revolution akin to the industrial revolution. The order is banking on the market’s creativity and innovation to increase clean energy solutions to fight climate change. MicroNOC is an exemplary example of what FERC envisions.

Dr. Stefanos Chandakas, the Founder and President of HOPEgenesis, one of the best companies to watch for in 2021. HOPEgenesis is a non-profit organization that is constantly growing uphill to fulfill its mission. Today ranked amongst the prestige, this organization has an inspiring story behind the inception and the motivation that drives the team to work relentlessly every day.

The Journey to Establishment

Born in Athens, 1972, Dr. Chandakas received his medical degree in medicine from the University of Athens. Later he completed his Ph.D. distinction with a degree. He also has studied in London at the Imperial College of Medical Business Administration and earned his MBA in 2002. Dr. Chandakas is an obstetrician, a gynecologist, with training in England and America, and specialized in laparoscopic surgery, robotic surgery, and infertility. Moreover, he is one of the youngest gynecologists in England’s National Health System in 2001 (NHS). He is a member of the scientific board and the Chairman of the board of directors of Mitera Hospital and a member of the Medical Scientific Committee of the Startup OramaVR, which is focusing on changing current medical education through virtual reality surgical tutorials.

In 2007, he developed an intense charity action with the NGO ‘Omada Aigaiou’—associated to date—for providing free health services to the isolated islands in Greece. While traveling to the Aegean islands with a group of doctors and volunteers to offer free health care, he noticed that numerous pregnant women were suffering from little to no medical attention during their pregnancy. Due to this many of them postponed or even declined the possibility of motherhood. Being a doctor and a European citizen in the 21st century, Dr. Chandakas could not accept this reality.

Besides, researches and statistical data have been hinting towards the decline in birth rates in Greece threatening the future. It is estimated that by 2050 Greece’s population will have fallen to 6.500.000-8.000.000 citizens from 10.800.000 million today. According to official data of the Hellenic Statistical Authority, in 2019 Greece reported 83.763 births compared to 124.965 deaths, resulting in a dramatic population decline.

Dr. Chandakas established HOPEgenesis in 2015, with a mission to reverse the low birth rate and offer free medical care and treatment to women living in isolated regions in Greece. This non-profit organization is enabling underprivileged women to have access to one of the organization’s affiliated Medical Units and be properly monitored during their pregnancies by a team of obstetricians-gynecologists—free of cost. 

Eight Program Pillars of Mission

HOPEgenesis motive and actions are derived from the concepts of equality, human dignity, and human rights. After being faced with the reality of Greece undergoing a demographic deadlock that must be dealt with immediately it was only human to offer help in the tough situation. The non-profit is operating under the principle of—Together we give hope to mothers who give hope to our future. 

HOPEgenes is fulfills its mission through the following program pillars:

1. Adoptions of frontier regions and remote islands: It covers all costs of pregnancy, childbirth, transport, and accommodation of pregnant women at affiliated hospitals and medical centers, by ensuring that no woman is deprived of equal rights to maternity due to her place of residence or financial status. 
2. Provision of in vitro fertilization (IVF) services: Under this program, women who face fertility issues have access to IVF treatments. This program is being implemented in 28 islands and the treatment is provided by collaborating with large fertility centers in Greece.
3. Remote medical monitoring of the program’s beneficiaries: By leveraging the advanced and pioneering medical Bluetooth devices and a specially-designed platform, the team can monitor the safety of pregnant women and their babies at all times and aid help whenever needed. 
4. Preschool children’s activity centers and nursery schools: Under this program, HOPEgenesis is establishing public preschool children’s activity centers in areas that they operate. The construction and staff of preschool are managed by the organization.
5. Researching to document and set out the birth deficit issue: The organization assigns well-known academic institutions to research and record the causes and aspects of the birth deficit in Greece, to find comprehensive solutions to resolve it and spread awareness. 
6. Planning of the “Neighborhood Nanny” program: As HOPEgenesis established preschool and children activity centers, this program aims to support the working mothers in urban and semi-urban areas, as well as help Greek women combine motherhood and employment. This program is designed in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Family Policy and Gender Equality, the Region of South Aegean, and local municipalities.
7. Organization of meetings and workshops: HOPEgenesis arranges several workshops and meeting to train different authorities, as well as inform and raise consciousness about the underlying issues and their consequences in Greece, not just to the population but worldwide. 
8. Participation in the “Renaissance” program in frontier regions: Through this program, the aim is to reinforce local communities and native populations, and is being implemented under the auspices of H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou, on the islands of Antikythera, Gavdos, Kastellorizo and the Diapontian Islands (Othonoi, Ereikoussa, Mathraki).

“We ensure that we adhere to our values through our monthly board meetings, where we review each action concerning HOPEgenesis’ general mission,” stated Dr. Chandakas.

Benefits of the Program

Since its inception, HOPEgenesis has expanded its foothold in more than 350 remote regions, 317 local communities, as well as on 40 islands in the Aegean and Ionian seas while it is in the process of including 102 new regions from the Regional Units of Ioannina, Preveza, Imathia, Kilkis, Pieria, Serres, and Lakonia. Currently, it collaborates with 27 medical centers in Athens—both public &private—the staff consists of more than 80 doctors, midwives, and other health professionals located in 15 different places across Greece. The non-profit has been successful in aiding the lives of more than 420 families through its programs and positively affected the socio-economic welfare of the social communities.

Women have free access to IVF treatments in 28 islands. Apart from this, HOPEgenesis accepts pregnant women until the 18th week of pregnancy or the ones who wish to become pregnant and permanently reside in the organization’s operating region so that the team can rush to aid whenever necessary.  

Free services to pregnant women cover,

• The cost of childbirth, transport, and accommodation at a location near an affiliated medical center during the week of childbirth/ during the pregnancy.
• Medical care to pregnant women at a reputable hospital with reliable obstetrical staff and suitable medical infrastructure.
• Provides coverage for any emergency that may occur during pregnancy.

The efficiency of the Program

By far, HOPEgenesis has been the only organization dedicating its efforts towards the grave situation in Greece. Although, its contributions speak volumes and as aforementioned, aided hundreds of families. HOPEgenesis has been able to keep the issue vocal and on the frontline of news through constant surveys and domestic/international coverage. Also, the relentless efforts have helped increase the birth rates in the isolated areas of Greece.

To understand their growth and the issue that needs attention, HOPEgenesis uses its own metrics by including an annual or biannual appraisal and rating system for each project, the same is conveyed to its sponsor and strategic partners. It also equally participates in workshops where they evaluate its contribution in comparison to other non-profits. Moreover, one of the major sponsors of HOPEgenesis evaluated the efforts through Social Return on Investment (SROI) methodology and the result indicated that for every 1 euro invested, a social value equivalent of 3.80 euros was created. “This result gives a very clear picture of the efficiency of our program,” Dr. Stefanos adds.

Social Media and Promotion of Volunteerism

Social Media is honed to be a great tool for marketing and creating awareness—especially in today’s time. HOPEgenesis has leveraged the platforms as powerful communication channels. Equal efforts are dedicated to creating social media posts and campaigns, which has resulted in a wide media presence for the organization. It operates in more than 350 regions in Greece with stakeholders internationally, making social media an important medium to reach the targeted audience and inform people about the current operations. Social media also promoted volunteerism and helps HOPEgenesis’ initiative reach people who want to help.

Currently, the non-profit has a large group of people, several companies, public authorities, and organizations have equally supported the efforts and brought happy children’s voices back in the country through different categories. 

“We strongly believe that people nowadays are much more sensitive and aware of their social duties, and these figures show the inclining trend in social responsibility,” said Dr. Chandakas.

Pandemic is No Excuse

The unprecedented crisis of COVID-19 further burdened the already exhausted healthcare system of the Greek public health sector. Despite the challenges, HOPEgenesis did not halt its operations. There were several obstacles due to pandemic like no accommodation support, lack of transportation, and funding issue—granted the economic disruption. However, the organization welcomed every woman who needed help during their pregnancy. Moreover, the organization used the quarantine time to further augment its services and efforts while creating a new database format to ease the communication with the stakeholders.

The organization also established Remote Medical Monitoring of Beneficiaries (individual telemedicine) that were operated through advanced Bluetooth medical devices and a specially designed platform (mobile app). Through this app, the medical information resulting from the measurements of the beneficiaries is easily transferred directly to HOPEgenesis’ doctors, ensuring the safety of pregnant women and their babies at all times. 

Together We Can Change the Narrative

HOPEgenesis acknowledges that the pandemic was challenging for all—independently, socially, and financially. Despite the situation, there were several people involved in social welfare and also in the HOPEgenesis mission. Expressing his gratitude, Dr. Chandakas says, “We are grateful to have so many “#Filos” (friends) and volunteers, who, despite the crisis, support us in every way they can. Our message would be that together we can make a change even during the most difficult times.”

Quote:

“Our future goal is to work collaboratively with institutional and state authorities, EU and International academia, to establish a coherent strategy to reverse the birth deficit in Greece.”