The Entrepreneurs

In this together

Businesses have never faced a challenge like this. The global economy looking is rather bumpy (to say the least): as these pages went to press, a third of the world was in lockdown. With the threat of workforces everywhere falling ill and most industries operating under unprecedented conditions, companies from small to large have had to think hard about how they plan on moving forward. And think they have.

It’s been inspiring to hear from business leaders of all stripes. Among mantras of resolve and creativity, one message has cut through more than any other: we must remain positive. This is not to say that problems won’t have to be dealt with head on – and swiftly. But, ultimately, their ability to weather this storm depends on their resolve. That’s whether they’re a Swiss soap manufacturer that’s nimbly pushing hand sanitiser through development stages to clean up in a booming market, a Californian running-clothes outfitter that’s having to learn on its feet or a Spanish design studio director who’s finding some solace in a morning routine of downward dog.

This is the word from those who have everything to play for – and how they’re making the best of it.

1.
Sprüth Magers
Monika Sprüth & Philomene Magers
Founders

Contemporary art gallerists with spaces in Berlin, London and Los Angeles working with some 70 artists worldwide.

Magers: “This situation has had an enormous effect, of course. We have closed all of our locations temporarily and our team works remotely. But it is not only about business, it is also about our cultural mission. Since the beginning our aim has been to discuss the ideas of the artists, to show and sell their art and give them the opportunity to continue working. We now offer video tours of our exhibitions for anyone who’s interested and we have launched a video series with insights from our artists’ studios.”

Sprüth: “You have to have a clear idea of what you want to represent in terms of content, you have to think long-term and follow your intuition. But now is also a chance for resetting and reimagining the business on many different levels, for rethinking routines and developing new ways of doing things. This is not limited to the art world; it is a wider chance to question the values of our capitalist world, which has led to many dangerous and questionable developments.”
spruethmagers.com

2.
Seed
Ara Katz
Founder

This US brand works with a network of scientists and doctors to develop probiotics and health supplements

“At a time when misinformation is especially rampant, we’re honoured to help educate and make scientifically credible information accessible, reminding our community of the power of connection and resilience.

We’ve assembled an internal task force with dedicated owners to ensure that all areas of our business are accounted for and functioning thoughtfully, from proactive consideration and management of our customers’ needs and experience through to tapping our international network and supply chain to see how we might help source medical supplies, such as masks.

It has been a deep reinforcement of our vision and our work. As a company looking to steward the future of microbes and their applications across both human and planetary health, our values are grounded in the successful translation, communication and empowerment of science. The events transpiring around the world today are a first-hand reminder of what happens when science and health aren’t prioritised.”
seed.com

3.
Point Supreme
Marianna Rentzou
Co-founder

An Athens-headquartered architecture and urban design practice with public and private projects throughout Europe

“We have always been conscious of maintaining a small company with minimum investment, risk or stress. The current situation mostly means delays but all research, creative work and problem-solving continues.

I advise people to take advantage of this moment – it is a rare time for introspection. It gives us time for family and to focus on the important things and give up unnecessary habits. It’s also a moment for realisations; for example, how much time do we spend commuting, travelling – working, even?

But most importantly, this is a time to look at our homes. Is this a place we are happy to be? This is the time to fix, improve, organise, decorate. Our home is our micro world, a mirror of ourselves and the life we want to live. The project of our home can truly happen now.”
pointsupreme.com

4.
Porous City Network
Kotchakorn Voraakhom
CEO

Sustainability-focused landscape architecture practice responsible for public green spaces all over Bangkok

“Disruption is normal – whether economic or climate – but this is severe. It is testing our creativity and resilience. All communications with our team and clients have become much more streamlined and we have saved a lot of time with travel.

I think there will be more work for us after this. It will not be business as usual but it will be easier to convince clients of the importance of our work. Many want denser cities but avoiding this sort of pandemics requires more space and a healthy city structure. I think that people will place more faith in scientists and experts, which will carry over to attitudes toward climate change. It’s a disruption that I hope will wake us all up.”

5.
Hey Design
Veronica Fuerte
Founder and creative director

Creative design studio based in Barcelona with an international roster of editorial, fashion and corporate clients.

“Many of our staff already worked remotely with a lot of our clients and they’re continuing with all of their projects with us. But management has had to adjust to not having people around, physically. We also opened a homeware shop last summer that, sadly, had to close. After this, I’m not sure whether people will have as much money for these sorts of shops.

But we need to be positive. If we don’t take this time to do the things we have always wanted to do we could get depressed – so be proactive. Reclaim your free time: learn subjects and follow tutorials, pursue your own opportunities. I meditate and do yoga every day now. You have to keep the creative energy alive.”
heystudio.es

6.
Incu
Vincent Wu
Co-founder and COO

Premium Australian fashion retailer founded in Sydney by twins Vincent and Brian Wu.

“The number one concern is cashflow. We’ve definitely come up with a lot of creative ways to keep close to our clientele, which I’m sure we would not have thought of if things were running smoothly. Our staff have made a real effort to reach out to our VIP customers and make sure they’re OK, even giving them some styling ideas over video chats. Hopefully suppliers, retailers, factories and everyone else will start working together a lot more, as we all need each other to survive.”
incu.com

7.
Vestiaire Collective
Maximilian Bittner
CEO

Luxury secondhand fashion retailer, available around the world and based in Paris.

“Our entire Paris head office and most of our regional offices across the globe are working remotely so that we can continue to function as a business. Our logistics team in northern France has been divided into two teams who alternate their time in the warehouse and take every precaution: masks, full sanitisation, medical supplies, temperature monitoring. We’ve had to expand the scope of our direct shipping service in response to customer needs.

There’s no doubt that the coming months are going to be challenging for everyone. We need to remain in tune as the situation develops and ensure that we evolve the way we function and support our customers. I believe that people will step out of this crisis with a different mindset. They might reconsider their priorities and the way they consume, which will drive interest in resale – it’s a more conscious and affordable way to buy clothes.”
vestiairecollective.com

8.
Söder
Hanna Olzon-Åkerström
Founder

Soap and cosmetics brand based in Zürich, with factories in Europe.

“People still need soap. But the immediate direction of the company has changed; we’re making a lot of hand sanitiser now, something we moved into production in January. Revenue is similar to before: wholesale orders from hotels and restaurants for shampoo and soap are way down but internet purchases are way up.

We’re all going to have to rethink what’s in demand, especially as this new behaviour will probably stick around in the future. In many cases, it’s about ensuring that people can access what you have to offer. People still want to shop local; they still want the things they wanted before. We need to make sure they can access them.”
soeder.ch

9.
Beyrl Bike
Emily Brooke
Founder & CEO

A pioneering bike-share company whose technology has been rolled out in cities across the globe.

“We had to make the tough decision to temporarily pause our London service. We have, however, been able to make a group of Beryl Bikes available for personal loan, free of charge, for key frontline workers across the city. We’re working to keep the service running for everyone who needs it in these uncertain times.

As a team we’re calling each other throughout the day, giving everyone a more personal insight into colleagues’ home lives and there is a real sense of comradeship across groups coming together to solve problems.

We’re using this time to align behind key projects and build launch strategies. A new bike-share scheme requires months of hard work and collaboration between our team and the authorities with which we partner. We’re researching locations for parking, communicating with communities and improving our technology.”
beryl.cc

10.
Deciem
Nicola Kilner
Co-founder & CEO

A Toronto-based beauty company, whose products run the gamut from skincare to supplements.

“Our first priority was to ensure that we slow the spread of the virus by closing our offices and shops. We are now working to have online consultations with our shop teams. It’s important that they feel connected with the business: we want them to continue providing the human connection they bring to our audience.

We need to work harder than ever to ensure our survival. It is likely that supply chains will take some time to recover but we hope that the impact of coronavirus will reset some human values, one of them being patience. Our team has been finding novel ways to stay connected, which is a reminder of how resilient we are.”
deciem.com

11.
Potato Head Family
Ronald Akili
Co-founder & CEO

An Indonesian hospitality company famous for its hotel and beach club in Bali, with outposts in Hong Kong and Singapore.

“To be able to lead our business through this turbulence, we need to be fit and healthy as individuals. We’re controlling what we can control rather than dwelling on things that are out of our scope. And we’re emphasising kindness in every way we can.

We are using this opportunity to focus on two things: what does our wider community here in Bali need to get through this and with global travel limited for the foreseeable future, how can we share our brand with people around the world? We don’t know exactly what this will look like but we’re trying to find new solutions.

It’s certainly driving us to be more creative. We’re focusing on ensuring that the business will be viable on the other side and streamlining what we do to emerge from this healthier and stronger.”
potatohead.co

12.
Tracksmith
Matt Taylor
Founder & CEO

A running brand for everyday athletes dedicated to the pursuit of personal excellence.

“When running, you learn not to get too comfortable. As soon as you think, ‘I’ve got it figured out’, something brings you down to earth. This mindset pays dividends when running a business confronted with the unexpected.

We’re fortunate: running is one of the few activities available to people practising social distancing. The brands that will emerge from this in the best position will be those that don’t shy away from experimentation; this is an opportunity to fundamentally re-examine their way of doing business. My goal with Tracksmith has always been to build a sustainable business model. This upheaval has reinforced the importance of a thoughtful, measured approach to business.”
tracksmith.com

13.
Future Classic
Nathan McLay
Founder & CEO

Australian record label, whose portfolio includes electropop favourites Flume and prodigies Erthlings.

“Live revenue, the largest segment of artists’ income, has been wiped out. Recorded music income continues but it has been devastating for artists, managers, agents, promoters, crew and anyone connected with the live music business. It will get harder before it gets easier but we will get through it.

Humans are incredibly adaptable. At Future Classic, on day one of working from home we started working on an artist-collaboration app; our world had changed and we were forced to adapt. There will be countless examples of this sort of innovation across every sector and seeing this ingenuity inspires others. Let’s make the world a better place, it’s all that matters.”
futureclassic.com

14.
Swire Group
Guy Bradley
CEO Swire Properties

A Hong Kong-based property developer, managing commercial, retail, hotel and residential ventures.

“All our businesses have been impacted. But this is 2020. We’re living in a digital age; having to incorporate more technology into our business could turn a crisis into an opportunity.

We have to play our part as responsible corporate citizens in the face of a global crisis. Take care of your people first as they’re your greatest asset. It’s important to stay positive; maintaining a long-term outlook for your business is essential, with an eye towards the future to see how you can keep adapting to an ever-changing and very unpredictable world.”
swire.com

15.
Time & Style
Ryutaro Yoshida
Managing director

The Tokyo-based homewares brand fuses traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary furniture, lighting and tableware.

“The experience of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami that caused Tokyo to lose its function as a city for several months – with many craftsmen and factories suffering – means that we try to continue our production activities as much as we can.

It is possible for us to continue manufacturing even in difficult situations as we use local materials and craftsmen from Japan, and our products are made at our own factory; many other manufacturers rely on parts from other countries. I think that this is the first time that the whole world has simultaneously faced a crisis like this; in overcoming it, the world will undergo a major shift in values and a new era will begin.
timeandstyle.nl

16.
Banyan Tree
Ho Kwon Ping
Co-founder

Family-run luxury hospitality chain based in Singapore with 47 hotels and resorts and 72 retail spaces around the world.

“Any risk hits the travel industry extremely hard because travel is the first thing to go out of the window. Bearing that in mind, the necessity is to be resilient. We had a huge humanitarian crisis with the tsunami [in 2004]; 200,000 people died around the world and nine of our resorts were hit.

All expansion projects and capital expenditure will be pushed back. But, at the same time, we’re not making any substantial changes to our overall strategy. In this business we expect tsunamis, earthquakes, epidemics, riots. We can’t live by being afraid of these things and adjusting our plans simply because there is a sudden but relatively short-lived disruption. Life goes back to normal and our long-term strategy reverts to normal, probably after a one-year hiatus.”
banyantree.com

17.
Oteque
Alberto Landgraf
Owner and head chef

A Michelin-starred restaurant in Rio de Janeiro.

“For our trade there’s no working from home so we decided to close and wait for things to improve. We’re planning and looking forward to what’s going to happen when we can come back. With my kitchen staff, we’ve been looking to our books for inspiration and writing down ideas. We’re using this time to make sure our cellar is well stocked too; we’re preparing for the euro to go up by buying wine for our restaurant now.

Through all of this I’m making sure I keep my team together. People come to the restaurant for different reasons: wine, food, ambience or friendships with the staff. When my customers come back, they will find the same people that were there before and it will give them a feeling of coming home.”
oteque.com

18.
Pitti Immagine
Raffaello Napoleone
CEO

Trade-fair organisers hosting events for everything from food to fashion.

“Pitti Immagine has never stopped working but we’re fully aware that we will need to adapt to the new situation. We are laying down the foundations for a relaunch as soon as possible and are aiming to open June’s fairs in September instead. We intend to host the physical fair alongside a new version of the e-Pitti Connect digital platform. We’ve also been strengthening our teams and rethinking our strategies. This fair season will not be like the others but this period will provide us with more ideas for a great Pitti Uomo.”
pittimmagine.com

19.
Bjarke Ingels Group
Sheela Søgaard
CEO

The Copenhagen architecture firm with projects around the globe.

“At its core, our business hasn’t changed: we’re making the same product for the same people to the same standard. But the way we work has changed: everything is now run remotely and we’re relying on the digital world much more.

We’re also trying to understand the outlook of our clients in the medium- to long-term so we can adapt to their needs. The future is unpredictable but you can focus on what you can control and plan for the different scenarios.

This is a new way of working; it will teach us to be more efficient and how to operate better remotely. We’re also learning new management styles: we have to disperse assignments but can’t offer as much supervision or guidance to our staff as usual. We’re approaching this as an opportunity for growth, for our leadership and our workforce alike.”
big.dk

20.
Black Isle Bakery
Ruth Barry
Owner

A bakery and café on the gallery-lined Linienstrasse in Berlin.

“Though sales in my shop haven’t been affected yet, I have lost 75 per cent of my wholesale orders, which is a big gap in my income. But we’ve had a huge amount of support from our community; Berlin is built on small, independent businesses and the city needs us to survive.

But this is an existential challenge for the industry and we are in uncharted waters. I’ve been focusing on remaining calm and carrying on. If we have to close our doors, we’ll put in place a home-delivery service. In the meantime, we’re taking the opportunity to get a new range of products on sale. We’ve been preparing lots of long-life goods: jams, nut butters, granola, cereal bars. It’s something I had been wanting to focus on for a while but never found the time.”
blackislebakery.com

Staying power

1.
Luis von Ahn
Duolingo

Before the pandemic, Duolingo was already the world’s most successful language-learning app, with more than 300 million users worldwide – a figure that has risen exponentially as much of the world’s population have stayed at home. Launched by Luis von Ahn (pictured) and Severin Hacker in 2011, it was created in an effort to open up the web to non-English speakers and has since grown to offer 35 languages. In March the company launched Duolingo abc to teach young children how to read and write.

What was behind your decision to create a language-learning app?
I’m from Guatemala. It’s a poor country. I wanted to create something that provides everyone with equal access to education. Those who learn English can greatly increase their job prospects because they can work in multinational corporations, or even just in a restaurant that caters to tourists. Learning English can double your earning potential.

How have you managed to turn a profit from an app that is free to use?
We started by putting a very small banner advertisement at the end of every lesson. Then we had people asking if they could pay to remove the advertising, so we added a subscription service. In 2019 we made about $90m (€82m) and $75m (€69m) of that came from subscriptions.

How have your user numbers changed with people staying at home this year?
Our traffic is at an all-time high. We’ve seen spikes in new learners correlating with countries taking isolation measures. It started in China then moved to Europe as lockdowns were introduced, then the US.

What have they been signing up for?
We’re still seeing an increase in people signing up to learn for school, which makes sense given all the closures. But surprisingly we’re still seeing people sign up for travel reasons too. They want to prepare for trips they plan to take in the future.

How have you adapted your marketing strategy with people self-isolating?
We launched Duolingo ABC months ahead of schedule because we knew it was needed by people who were home-schooling. It’s designed to teach fundamental reading and writing skills to children aged three to six. It’s free to use. Our goal is to take everything we’ve learned about how people learn languages to make a dent in global illiteracy rates. It’s been really well received so far.

2.
Yol Phokasub
Central Retail Corporation

Well before anyone could have contemplated a global pandemic – Central Group, one of Asia’s biggest retailers, with operations across 17 countries – had moved to transform its empire of more than 5,000 department stores, speciality shops, supermarkets and other outlets with a multi-dimensional “omni-channel” strategy.

Combining elements of old-fashioned in-store retailing with digital platforms that utilise social media, transport and delivery apps, email and text messaging, Central set about creating a model that catered to digital newcomers and natives through dual offline and online formats. The strategy includes e-commerce sites (in desktop and mobile-friendly formats) that enable customers to browse, buy or reserve items for physical collection or direct delivery.

“Customer behaviour is trending towards a shopping experience that seamlessly integrates online and in-store sales channels,” says Yol Phokasub, CEO of the group’s core retailing arm, Central Retail Corporation (CRC). “Omni-channel platforms enable us to build on these trends.”

Since becoming CEO last year, Yol (pictured) has been grappling with unprecedented challenges to CRC, which had more than 3,000 shops in 2019, including the Italian chain La Rinascente and department stores and malls in Thailand and Vietnam.

The blow to consumer confidence in Asia and Europe as the pandemic took hold hit traditional retailing hard, with the closure and curtailment of shops in the parent group’s key markets of Italy, Thailand, Vietnam and Germany. Yol sees the expansion of crc’s digital strategy as key to weathering the global downturn. “The onset of coronavirus accelerated the change in consumer behaviour and reinforced the ‘on-demand’ strategy that we’ve been pursuing,” he says. “More people will turn to the convenience economy.”

Key aspects of that strategy include the parent company’s recent push to tie up with, and in some cases invest in, online platforms and applications, including a stake in ride-sharing and delivery service Grab Thailand, and China’s retail and e-commerce giant JD.com. The Chinese venture was timely as online grocery sales surged amid the country’s coronavirus outbreak in early 2020. “After so many economic uncertainties this year, we know that we have to exercise caution in business operations and use technology to manage costs,” says Yol.

In the era of lockdowns in many key cities, food sales through digital retailing channels soared. Yol expects them to soon account for 55 to 60 per cent of crc’s portfolio. “It’s a sector that consumers will always engage with,” he says.

3.
Jennifer Brandel
Hearken

Growing up with a Jewish mother and a Catholic father doesn’t necessarily make for a harmonious childhood. “I always wondered whether one of them was right and the other one was wrong,” says Jennifer Brandel. “That false dichotomy really bothered me.” That was until her father took her to a Bahá’í temple in the suburbs of Chicago, the second to be built for the religion, which grew out of Persia in the 19th century and preaches the worth of all global faiths. “I remember being so taken with the building,” says Brandel (pictured at the temple). “I bought a book and read about the Bahá’í faith. There’s this umbrella of unity around it and that solved the problem: I don’t have to choose. At that point I declared myself Bahá’í.”

It was a conversion that would influence her career path. As a journalist for public radio station wbez Chicago, she followed up a story on the city’s Bahá’í community and its unconventional election process. “Their whole approach to community building was fascinating and it made me think about whether it could be applied to journalism.” The experience prompted her to explore new ways of creating stories: she launched a Curious City segment that solicited ideas from the community and brought listeners into the reporting process. From this, her business, Hearken, was born.

You might have unknowingly taken advantage of Hearken if you joined the various Curious Campaign segments by Australian broadcaster ABC, for example, or the BBC’s Have Your Say platform. Since its founding in 2015, Brandel’s Chicago-based company has worked with newsrooms around the world to change the way they engage with their audience. She believes it’s an approach that has become more relevant during coverage of the pandemic. “In moments of crisis, people have more information needs,” she says, citing examples such as the California wildfires or Hurricane Michael in Florida. “In other crises, Hearken has been a lifeline.”

Hearken is at once a technology and a media-consulting company: its digital platform allows journalists to collect, collate and make use of questions they receive from readers or viewers; while the consulting aspect is about changing a newsroom’s broader approach and helping journalists to find clever ways of putting their audience at the heart of a story. “Reporters don’t have a lock on curiosity nor do they have a lock on good questions,” says Brandel.

The business case for what she calls “public-powered journalism” is simple: done right, interacting with your audience can improve engagement and reader numbers. Brandel has recently expanded her approach to work with public organisations. The first major case study involves working in Chicago, with the city’s mayor Lori Lightfoot, to input from the community on how to solve systemic poverty issues. Hearken is also merging with another customer-engagement platform, Switchboard, to help bolster its technical expertise.

The biggest challenge? Securing funding. Brandel argues that most market investors looking for the next unicorn company to make millions aren’t going to be drawn to Hearken, which is as much about changing attitudes and approaches to public outreach as it is about revenue. As a result, Brandel’s next goal is to reform the world of investing: she co-founded Zebras Unite, a community that has grown to more than 6,000 investors who pledge to generate value for communities as well as for shareholders.

“We’re trying to help entrepreneurs who don’t find themselves in the patterns that exist in financial markets,” says Brandel. “To me this is another kind of crisis. I often wonder: do we not [already] have the insight and solutions to have a peaceful and just working world? Perhaps it’s just that we aren’t able to listen to the people who have those solutions but don’t have power and status.” Ideas that Zebras Unite is exploring include a co-operative investing structure that offers dividends to members; and “character-based” loans that require the approval of a community of peers in order to secure financing. Brandel says that she’s drawing inspiration from community approaches ranging from Islamic law to the longer-term investing focus in European countries, such as Germany, and even Native American approaches to community finance. “We’re a big tent,” she says.

But in the weeks running up to our interview, all of that paled in comparison to the coronavirus pandemic, prompting Hearken to hold a series of open conference calls. “Given the situation, we’re looking more at the speed and breadth of the coverage,” says Brandel. “General assignment stories would normally look at a historical question but right now we advise partners to focus on how they can help the most amount of people the fastest.”

Brandel says that the platform has helped by registering postcodes and assisting journalists to detect what information their audience is lacking and whether they should shift the focus of their coverage (while also collecting email addresses that are vital for any business). Another positive by-product in crises, says Brandel, is local outlets supporting regional rivals. “The newsroom becomes the operator: people will collaborate more, they will point to other people’s coverage,” she says. In other words, we really are all in this together.

Out of office

1.
Snøhetta
Treks help a Norwegian architecture firm to build better relationships.

Company traditions become ingrained by virtue of repetition and for Norwegian architecture practice Snøhetta, its all-staff hike up a mountain has now had more than a dozen iterations. It all began in 1990, the year after the studio was founded. “When we first opened, our office in Oslo was above a beer hall called Hall of Dovre, which is a mountain region near the city,” says Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, one of the founding partners. “And Snøhetta is the name of the highest peak in the area. We decided to go to see what it was like.” That first walk involved eight people; 30 years later, that number has grown with the company and on the last outing there were 200 participants.

With offices in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Innsbruck, Hong Kong and Adelaide, as well as the Oslo HQ, there’s always a batch of first-timers on the trek. Yet the hike is no less illuminating for those who are familiar with the terrain. “It’s about walking and talking, about discussing what we’re going to do next year but also being together for three days and letting people get to know each other,” says Thorsen.

Even if the outing does include meetings, talks and workshops, the main lessons are drawn elsewhere. “You have to find the right speed, fight external circumstances,” says Thorsen. “You have to help each other and wait for people who are slower. It’s about understanding our relationship with the world – an individual and collective experience at the same time.”

As the pandemic has forced the team inside their homes, Snøhetta hopes that this year’s walk, planned for August, will go ahead. Meanwhile, the situation has pushed the architects to make use of their internal digital platform more creatively: sometimes that means meetings joined by more than 100 people; other times it’s impromptu birthday celebrations. “Sharing our experiences online gives us an even stronger feeling of being part of the same collective,” says Thorsen.

2.
My Little Paris
The French media company encourages employees to speak up.

Montmartre’s Théâtre de l’Atelier was founded in 1822 and, over the years, it has seen the greats of French drama tread its boards. Over the past few years, however, this hallowed theatre has played host to a different kind of spectacle; one that sees events co-ordinators, computer programmers and marketing directors take to the stage. Every couple of months, media company My Little Paris decamps here for a morning called Megalab that sees employees make a 10-minute presentation on a topic that inspires them.

Everything from the power of DIY to the life lessons learnt by the commercial director during her career as a ballet dancer has been presented at the theatre. “We cover diverse themes,” says Maxime Froissant, My Little Paris’s chief cultural officer. “One of the best examples was a proofreader from our customer-relations team who gave a presentation on punctuation as a work of art. It was amazing.”

My Little Paris began life in 2008 as a newsletter revealing insider tips on the city’s hidden gems and feature quirky illustrations and columns on topics such as “40 ways to be a little French”. Word spread quickly and the website soon garnered a worldwide fan base. The venture now has offshoots in Marseille and Lyon, as well as a version in English. It has also launched a monthly subscription goody box and an in-house cosmetics brand, My Little Beauty.

Megalab began five years ago as an informal get-together. “It started off as a casual gathering where people would talk about things they had seen or done,” says co-founder and CEO Celine Orjubin. “As we got bigger and bigger, we had to rent a bigger space to fit everyone in. That’s when we decided to turn it into a proper event.”

Giving employees confidence with their public-speaking skills is a key objective. Every speaker is coached by Froissant and brand manager Elisa Rummelhard, who help staff build their presentations. “In the US and UK you learn public speaking at school; that’s not the case in France,” says Orjubin. “At the Megalab, everyone from managers to interns gets on stage. It has nothing to do with your role in the company. We want you to share your stories.”

Even though France has been in lockdown, My Little Paris has kept the Megalabs going. The presentations now take place on Zoom: five employees present something of interest online. Sixty-five people watched the latest event but all of the brand’s 130-strong team can watch at once. “It’s a very fun and friendly moment,” says Froissant.

3.
Northvolt
The battery-maker’s team events bring a change of perspective.

Northvolt’s ambition is to build the world’s greenest battery with a minimal carbon footprint. It’s no surprise then, that its annual team events are equally ambitious. For the latest instalment in 2019, nearly half the company mounted their Northvolt-branded e-bikes and set off on a four-day trip dubbed The Future of Energy Ride.

Last September nearly half the workforce mounted their Northvolt-branded electric bikes. The 300-strong group headed 700km north of the firm’s Stockholm HQ to northern Sweden. “We passed through villages, lakes and landscapes covered with trees as far as the eye could see,” says Jesper Wigardt, vice-president of communications. The trip ended at the company’s soon-to-open gigafactory in the city of Skellefteå.

The great outdoors plays an important role in the day-to-day lives of most Scandinavians but friluftsliv (embracing open-air living) helps with fostering cohesion at large-scale businesses too. “I’ve heard of smaller companies doing these kinds of team events,” says operations manager Lovisa Bunner, who has been to every Northvolt company event. “But to organise something of this scale is really impressive.” The whole group cycled almost the entire distance, with the exception of a night train between Uppsala and Umeå in the country’s northeast. “We wanted to make a statement that you can travel all the way from Stockholm to northern Sweden with a near-zero carbon footprint,” says Wigardt, who is a member of the organising committee. “But we also wanted to bring different types of people together.”

Participants were split into teams: with more than 50 nationalities in the company, the sub-groups were assembled to reflect different backgrounds, as well as job roles and seniority levels. The main takehome for the cyclists was the power of sharing the experience with their colleagues. “It was only when we arrived in Skellefteå that we all joined up,” says analytical chemist Anna Semenova. “There were hundreds of people in front of me and behind me. We cycled through the city as one. You really feel part of something bigger.”

As the team is now working from home, Northvolt hasn’t given up on its commitment to keeping employees motivated: the firm has created online videos of training exercises so that staff can get their daily workout at home without any need for equipment. To remain up to speed on all things work-related, the teams organise video check-ins every day; on Fridays, they unwind over an online company quiz.

Taking root

Yerevan, Armenia’s capital city, lies in the flatlands and foothills of a biblical mountain, nestled like a goose in lush grass. Noah’s Ark was spared on the summit of Ararat and on bone-cold days its snow shines as brilliant as a lighthouse, like a full moon trapped in daylight. In fine weather the mountain dominates the city and every view is a view of Ararat. Often it isn’t the horizon, it’s the sky.

Ararat dominates supermarkets, services and shopfronts too: the mountain lends its name and silhouette to a famous brandy, to cafés and car dealerships. But the mountain, like a few things of which Armenia is proud, no longer lies in the country. The Ottoman genocide and landgrab of the early 20th century leaves the mountain sitting in Turkey. Ararat itself is part of a potent, engaged and, perhaps, homesick, Armenian diaspora. Perhaps their history, like their mountain, causes Armenians to look up, to look onward.

“The population of Armenia is three times smaller than the number of Armenians abroad,” says Zareh Sinanyan, high commissioner for diaspora affairs of the almost three million-strong republic. Part of his main job is to lure back the best and brightest of the supposed nine million or so living elsewhere. “We at the commission focus on economic affairs and repatriation – that’s one of our mega goals.”

Sinanyan – trim, smiling and sharp in his sun-soaked office near Republic Square – is himself a good advertisement for this relatively new government programme. “Yup, I was the mayor of Glendale in California and I just resigned all my positions and came over in June of last year,” says Sinanyan, who was born in Armenia but sounds about as American as a former US mayor should. “I was president of the airport and I was on the metropolitan water board, which distributes 70 per cent of California’s water. But since I’ve come back I’ve met a lot of people who’ve done the same; they hadcomfortable lives where they were but they said, ‘I want to be part of this.’”

“This” is an Armenia striving to eradicate corruption, shake off an economic and cultural Soviet hangover and now deal with the fallout from coronavirus. The diaspora is proving critical for all of it. Recently many have volunteered and asked how they can help with the pandemic, says Sinanyan. “We received a shipment of medical equipment speedily deployed from the US west coast,” he says. “And an online training programme has been set up with the help of our virologists in the diaspora – that has been a great help.”

The prime minister, Nikol Pashinyan, led a velvet revolution in 2018 that promised democracy, accountability and opportunity. Until now the economy has been doing well, enjoying 5.2 per cent GDP growth in the first half of last year, low inflation and a general reduction in poverty. Finding and hiring the people to sustain this positive development is, in part, Sinanyan’s work. “Number one on my wish list is more involvement from highly professional individuals for the governance of the country, real civil servants,” he says, punctuating the words to show that he means they should be both civil and servants of the public. “We need people who can negate the Soviet culture and mentality, and replace it with the can-do, problem-solving attitude that we’re used to in the west.” The current difficulties have offered an unplanned test of the state and people’s trust in it. “Oh, for sure,” says Sinanyan. “We have tried to make everything transparent – no matter how bad the news – so that we can fight it together. And there has been a lot of buy-in from the public.”

Sinanyan is very involved with Neruzh (“potential”), a government-backed talent contest for new businesses, often but not exclusively in IT. The prize is office or manufacturing space, plus consulting, financial, legal and accounting services. The only proviso? They have to move to and operate their business in Armenia. “And you know – there is no shortage of people who want to do that,” says the high commissioner.

One such a person is Armenian-born, Dutch-raised Narek Aramjan, whose logistics technology firm Storegear became part of Neruzh in 2018. Aramjan shifted the nuts, bolts and laptops of his operation from Rotterdam to Yerevan, where he employs 10 engineers to design and develop software for, at the moment, an entirely Dutch client base that includes dhl and Co-op supermarkets. He is currently expanding to meet demand. “There’s a good talent pool here,” he says. “There are plenty of engineers with a mathematical background – that’s what we can tap into. The skills are great; they just need experience. But hopefully we are giving people interesting problems to solve.” Yerevan’s problems are not those of the Netherlands: few Armenians are swiping a screen to demand a cake be delivered in a mean half hour.

Storegear’s office is in the same building as the Armenian Coding Academy, where there is a palpable desire to complete the jigsaw puzzle of start-up success by advising, recommending, hiring, nudging and bringing people together. “Yes, it’s a bit of a conveyor belt,” says Aramjan. “It’s very convenient.

On the floor below his office, Aramjan introduces me to the folk of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (Fast), a nonprofit organisation funded by a wealthy diaspora of Armenians that helps small businesses. The network in this building is very real despite using the language of the virtual: funding is supplied by “angels”, advice is an “incubator”, knowing people is an “ecosystem”, success is “leapfrogging” and so on. Fast is set up like the standard Silicon Valley office: an adult playpen. I’m shown to a meditation room with as much hushed reverence as that attendant to the birth of a panda in captivity. Yet the intention is very clear and the staff arrow-straight in their ambition and hunger for the future. “We want to become a strong scientific nation again,” says Suzanna Shamakhyan, Fast’s vice-president of partnerships and programmes. “So we work with start-ups that need funding, especially in AI and biotech. We also focus on advanced materials and robotics, scientific fields that will give Armenia the opportunity to be part of the global value chain.”

Every October, Fast stages its Global Innovation Forum in Yerevan, providing a platform for science, business, investors and policymakers to meet. Last year’s event entertained delegates from Microsoft, Google’s AI offshoot Deepmind, Facebook, mit and Stanford University. “Now there is hype and hope, says Shamakhyan. “Because of the recent political changes people no longer think that Armenia is too corrupt or too conservative to do anything new. People think, ‘We can invest our time and effort here.’” (Just don’t show them the meditation room.)

The grand vision and noble sentiments of some of the wealthier elements of the Armenian diaspora are nowhere more evident than in the work of Tumo. Founded and funded by the Sam and Sylva Simonian Foundation (the Beirut-born, Dallas-based Simonians made their fortune in telecoms technology), the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies was set up in 2011 to offer a state-of-the-art education facility for teenagers. Harmick Azarian – of course, an Armenian, though from Wales – is chief of staff and designed much of the technology for the hundreds of students, who can learn photography, film-making, illustration, graphic design, robotics, web programming and music production under this one roof.

“We try to push people away from believing that they’re either a creative person or a technology person,” says Azarian. “The best product at the end is when you can do both.” He describes the Simonians’ funding as, “very targeted philanthropy with a real focus on the future”. It feels that way at Tumo – as though the future is something these young people will grasp this evening on their way home, that it might be close enough to touch.

The latest addition to the Tumo family is the design workshop Tumo Studios that opened its doors in 2017 thanks to funding from the John and Hasmik Mgrdichian Foundation (based in Los Angeles) and offers free courses in everything from printmaking to ceramics. Based in a once-grand 19th-century apartment building, it sings with a sort of happy creativity. Professionals from beyond Armenia teach courses every month: Reza Abadini, an Iranian graphic designer, is overseeing the hanging of his students’ print works in one room while Chiharu Ishikawa, a Japanese ceramicist, leads a pottery session.

Maral Mikirditsian – another diaspora Armenian who grew up in Beirut – is head of Tumo Studios and breezes from room toroom showing off young designers’ work. “We’re young, we’re fresh and it’s very powerful to feel that we’re building this country,” says Mikirditsian. “We teach people but we encourage them to be ambitious too, to make their own brands, to be involved in the market, to be entrepreneurial. When a student can see their designs being bought and enjoyed it’s amazing.”

There’s some very joined-up thinking at work here: everyone at Tumo is encouraged to test their ideas in the real world. Tumo Center is now exporting its expertise: three other sites around Armenia and two in Paris and Beirut do a similar thing on a smaller scale. They will soon be joined by openings in Berlin, Moscow and Kiev. The diaspora marches onward.

In the Old Testament, after the flood, on the plains beneath Ararat, Noah planted the first vineyard, had a good harvest and got a bit merry. Armenian wine was the first to be written about but, according to Vahe Keushguerian, vintner and founder of WineWorks, for years it was not something to write home about. “Sure, there was wine but it was Soviet style,” says Keushguerian. “The Russians saw a European wine press and made a bad copy of it. There was no new investment so it was horrible.” Vineyards existed to slake the thirst of Armenia’s brandy industry and wine became like moonshine; people made their own and held their noses as they drank.

Since 2011, Keushguerian and his daughter Aimee have run WineWorks, creating their own reds, whites and sparkling wines as well as consulting and making wine for others. “Other winemakers came with their grapes and asked if I could make their wine for them,” says Keushguerian. “Now it’s become a business model. We’ve done 14 or 15 projects like this that have sped up the culture and the industry.”

Keushguerian’s journey to revamping Armenia’s wine industry has been long and eventful. “I was born in Syria and grew up in Lebanon until I was 19,” he says. “I went to Italy for three years and discovered politics, socialism and everything that goes with it, so 1975 and 1976 was a good time,” he adds with a smirk as we drive to his winery on the outskirts of town. “Then what? Oh yeah, I went to the US to finish my studies, I opened a restaurant in the Bay area, became a wine importer and then moved to Tuscany with my 11-month-old twins. I was there 12 years, had vineyards, made wine and then, in 1997, I came to Armenia and caught the bug. I guess I came home.”

Ask around in a Yerevan wine bar, of which there is now a giddy concentration, and people will tell you that Keushguerian is Armenia’s Mr Wine and can take credit for bottling a renaissance. Export is the big hope, the next stop on a journey that will be steered by Aimee over the coming years. The tasting is a fine way to finish the day, the wines excellent, the blood singing with khatuni, areni, tozot and more than a dozen other unhailed grape varietals. Ararat glows in the sunset and tomorrow Yerevan seems primed to bask in a bright dawn.

Firm beliefs

1.
Martina Müller
The security company

In 2018 counterfeited goods amounted to €545bn worldwide. It’s a high figure but one that would have no doubt been higher had it not been for a family business based in Baar, Switzerland. Founded in 1989, 3d ag deals in nano and microstructures used for security technology. Its flagship product is a hologram seal – a hugely detailed label of authenticity that is especially hard to fake – which is made by hand in a laser laboratory. “It’s like photography; you have analogue and digital,” says 3d ag’s CEO, Martina Müller, the third generation of her family to run the company. “We’re proud that we still do this analogue, old-school holography.”

Applications for 3d ag’s bespoke and standard services span everything from banknotes and sports tickets to cheese. They are used by 100 major brands and institutions (the company won’t disclose names for security reasons). However, despite the significant market potential, the business had somewhat stagnated by 2011. Not enough was being reinvested in research, the clientele wasn’t expanding and too much knowledge was concentrated in a few individuals. At the time, Müller (pictured) was studying chemistry at eth Zürich and the firm was being run by a third party while her father oversaw things as chairman. In need of a fresh approach, Müller dropped out of college and joined the team, eventually being appointed CEO in 2019.

She focused on adding five new members of staff, renovating extant machinery and modernising the management process.

“The difficulty is pinpointing which parts to keep as they are and which to update,” she says. “The biggest step was taking back outsourced manufacturing. We realised the importance of guaranteeing full-service one-stop shopping, a secure supply chain and high Swiss quality.” The results are clear. Revenue has jumped 30 per cent in the past decade and 3d ag has found new uses for its products, such as mobile and tablet screens. This year it released a machine-washable security label called Garmen Trust 2.0, which is being used to guarantee authenticity for high-end clothing, safety equipment and sports gear. It can also be tracked.

This is all part of Müller’s much larger vision of continued growth. “We are always investing in new things and planning to double the revenue in the next year. My goal is to make the company sustainable for generations to come.”

2.
Navalayo Osembo and Weldon Kennedy
The trainer brand

Tired of the same mass-market names in running shoes? Then Kenyan comapany Enda (“Go” in Swahili) might have the trainer for you. Navalayo Osembo and Weldon Kennedy established Enda in 2016, launching it with a Kickstarter campaign that sprinted past its $75,000 (€68,000) target. A year later the Iten was born. More than 4,000 pairs have been sold since then, mostly in the US. This year, Enda’s second model – an everyday trainer, the Lapatet, in the same price bracket – hits the market.

What makes Enda different? “We are working with Kenyan athletes, who are renowned as the best runners in the world, and putting their skills and experience into the product,” says Osembo, pointing to the Iten’s efficient “midfoot strike” and its low 4mm heel-to-toe drop. All of the shoes are made in Kenya, providing much-needed employment for 70 full-time and seasonal staff, while 2 per cent of company revenue is channelled into community projects. Osembo hopes that Kenya will soon be known not only for its runners but also for its running shoes.

3.
Morry Schwartz
The independent publisher

Over the past 46 years, Morry Schwartz has steadily built a profitable print portfolio, encompassing Schwartz Media (The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and Quarterly Essay), book publisher Black Inc and business-sector news service Schwartz Pro. It’s an impressive feat considering Australia’s struggling media industry; the 85-year-old Australian Associated Press, for example, closed in March. Schwartz (pictured) is also a successful property developer but, for him, print has always come first.

Why did you get into publishing?
I’m an interested reader of good writing. An opportunity came up with a small group of people who felt similarly and it was at a time when book publishing in Australia was dead. At first I relied financially on the publishing and that didn’t work. That’s when I started to develop property on the side.

How did you juggle the two?
I believe in keeping things as lean as is feasible as well as doing things in the easiest possible way. It means that I focus on Australia in everything that I publish. The Monthly covers Australia mostly, although every now and then it will deal with an issue that Australia is interested in, such as the war in Iraq or a US election. It’s the same for The Saturday Paper and the 7am podcast.

You’ve recently dipped into industry publications. Why?
It’s a big plan and also a big experiment in getting people to buy information. It’s a model that I’m told is not going to work but people said that about The Saturday Paper, The Monthly and Quarterly Essay – and all three are now financially very healthy. There are 16 or so major sectors, including education, health, telecommunications and agriculture, and I’d like to cover them all.

What’s your advice for someone wanting to start a business?
Do it slowly: life is long. In 50 to 60 years of a working life you can achieve a hell of a lot. I’ve been guilty of moving really quickly but there’s enough time in life to slow down and build something fabulous and important. And unless you have a very strong heart, don’t borrow too much money. I do borrow too much – but I have a strong heart.

4.
Nicolas Keutgen
The urban lighting specialist

If you’ve ever admired Paris’s Place Vendôme, Shanghai’s Bund or Rome’s Colosseum after dark, then you’ve enjoyed the work of Belgian lighting company Schréder. Founded by Jules Schréder in 1907, the company has grown exponentially and is now active in more than 70 countries, with multiple awards under its belt.

The family-owned firm’s success lies partly in the fact that each generation has brought a fresh approach. Jules’s son created an international portfolio of subsidiaries, while his grandchildren added a focus on design. Now his great-grandson is getting involved. Nicolas Keutgen (pictured) was appointed chief innovation officer in 2016 after managing the company’s businesses in the Americas and Hungary. He is currently busy setting up the firm’s Smart Cities business unit, in Portugal. Keutgen has big plans. “Our generation will hopefully be the one that takes the company beyond lighting to something where we have an impact on people’s lives.”

Having seen the difference that effective lighting can make in disadvantaged areas while he was living in Brazil, Keutgen is keen for the needs of people to be at the centre of the process. For example, Schréder’s Shuffle is a smart lamppost that can be used to provide wi-fi, electric-vehicle charging points, cameras and much more. German municipalities have already snapped up hundreds of Shuffles, deploying them in places stretching from the shores of the Bodensee to Trier city centre.

Based in the Nova School of Business and Economics’ smart new Lisbon campus, Schréder-Hyperion has a ready supply of students and professors, and can easily test ideas. The next big thing in urban lighting, says Keutgen, isn’t just keeping people connected but creating systems that protect the night sky, save energy and have less of an impact on animals and plants.

With this in mind, the company recently completed an overhaul of the lighting in La Mongie, a ski resort in the Pyrenees, where outdated streetlamps were impacting on the scientists at the Pic du Midi observatory.

The new smart lamps now adjust automatically for weather conditions while providing safe, warm lighting in the streets. Keutgen’s team are also tweaking the wavelength and placing of street lights to encourage useful animals and discourage pests. “Bats hate light but insects such as mosquitos like it,” he says. “What we’re trying to do is solve current problems like this.”

5.
Alexandra Bernardo and Tiago Leiria Miranda
The retailers

Alexandra Bernardo didn’t know much about textiles or design before she opened her own children’s clothing shop, Lisbon’s Loja Real, in 2012. But as a mother of three, she did know that the demand was there. Portugal was in the middle of an economic crisis but, convinced that she was on to something, Bernardo developed a col- lection of affordable pieces manufactured entirely in Lisbon and rented a small space within a furniture shop to keep costs down.

Within a year she had sold about 2,000 items and been joined in the business by her husband, Tiago Leiria Miranda (both pictured). But they were soon faced with a major challenge: shortly before Christmas in 2012, their host went bankrupt. They convinced the landlord to let them stay through December to see whether they could survive on their own. When they discovered that they could, the couple took the plunge and rented the entire shop floor using €50,000 of their own money. To spread the risk, they invited other retailers to rent corners, naming the enterprise Real Slow Retail Concept Store.

The business helped to prompt a sea change in the city’s neglected Príncipe Real neighbourhood, which is now an indepen- dent retailer’s paradise. Getting the product mix right and keeping it fresh has been key to its success (Real Slow has expanded to include everything from books to homeware by Portuguese and international brands). “Clients would come to us because they knew they would find something different, something new,” says Miranda.

Things have gone so well that when, in 2019, the couple caught wind that another spot had become available just up the street, they snapped it up. It became Bernardo Atelier Lisboa, another multi-brand shop with a higher price-point. Part of their suc- cess is down to the fact that they have kept things small, allowing them to take risks and pivot quickly. At the end of the day, it’s a true family operation, says Miranda. “We figure out problems and come up with ideas at the shop, over lunch or at dinner when the kids have gone to sleep.”

6.
Luca Gnecchi Rusconi
The eyewear brand

It all began during a family trip to the former Italian colony of Eritrea 15 years ago. Rummaging through a warehouse that once belonged to his grandfather’s import business in the capital, Asmara, Luca Gnecchi Rusconi uncovered several pairs of vintage Italian-army sunglasses. “I was fascinated by their quality, their build, the steel hinges, the polished acetate,” he says. “I immediately saw the beauty of these objects.”

It sparked an obsession that would soon turn into a lucrative business idea. He tracked down the Italian craftsman who made them and, in 2008, assembled a small team to manufacture retro-style models with unusual details: thicker frames than the industry standard as well as lenses made from tempered mineral glass instead of plastic. Within a few years, Rusconi’s lgr shades were being worn by fashion insiders and filmstars. Today his products are stocked in hundreds of shops around the world and the firm brings in €4m in revenue and employs 20 staff across three boutiques in Italy. His advice? “If you believe in your product, put your name on it.”

7.
Florian Schick and Lauri Toikka
The designers

Florian Schick and Lauri Toikka met in 2010, while both were studying at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Soon after, they decided to set up a type foundry and have since built up an enviable portfolio working for the likes of Nike, Zeit Magazin, Sennheiser and The New Yorker. This year they won the Finnish graphic-design award, Grafia.

Going against the trend of type foundries being taken over by large corporations, Helsinki and Berlin-based Schick Toikka has succeeded by remaining staunchly independent and continuing to be a two-person operation (extra staff are brought in on a freelance basis). There are no investors involved. By staying lean and specialised, Schick Toikka has focused on developing its craft. “Be patient and just do your thing,” says Schick. “If you really enjoy doing something you will become good at it and maybe even successful.”

8.
Masuko and Sanae Yosuke
The restaurateurs

It’s Tuesday lunchtime in Ho Chi Minh City and hungry groups of office workers are gathering in District 3 at the flagship branch of Pizza 4ps, an airy, two-storey wooden complex draped in greenery. Now in four major cities across Vietnam, the artisanal-pizza restaurant chain opened its 20th branch in March and expects to reach 100 by 2023 thanks to expansion into Cambodia, India and Japan, the birthplace of co-founders Masuko and Sanae Yosuke. This year, revenue is forecast to reach $40m (€36m). “We were really lucky,” says Masuko (pictured). “We picked the best time to start our business in Vietnam.”

The husband-and-wife team, aged 41 and 36 respectively, met while working at the same Japanese IT company. During a posting in Hanoi, Masuko spotted an appetite for pizza among Vietnam’s growing middle class. He quit his job and in 2011 sunk savings of $100,000 (€90,000) into opening a restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial capital. Key to the growth of Pizza 4ps was finding Vietnamese investors to help with obtaining new sites and negotiating longer leases. “We are foreigners so we needed a very strong Vietnamese partner,” says Sanae.

The company’s success is partly due to an unrelenting work ethic and an obsessive attention to detail. Then there’s the cheese. The company works with Vietnamese dairy farmers and makes mozzarella and eight other varieties at its own factory. It has secured investment from a private-equity firm to fund a new factory five times the size of the current one.

The company’s financial future looks bright. But Masuko and Sanae are now bent on improving a less-tangible metric: smiles. To track customer and employee happiness, they say they recorded 2.5 million smiles in 2019; they want to reach 10 million by 2023. Say cheese!

9.
Ariel Arce
The hospitality whizz

By the age of 31, hospitality entrepreneur Ariel Arce had opened four New York institutions in little more than two years and expanded her team from one person to more than 30. “I never dreamed that this would be possible,” says Arce (pictured), whose company, You Can Do It Group, runs a bar, two restaurants and a jazz club in Greenwich Village and Soho. “Now I feel as though the potential is limitless.”

When Arce first sketched plans for Air’s Champagne Parlor, a high-end spot serving vintage fizz and king-crab’s legs, and Tokyo Record Bar, a fixed-price restaurant offering izakaya food and vinyl playlists, she had her business plan down to a T. Having grown up with parents who were entrepreneurs, she knew what it was like to run a business and be prepared.

“I under-projected everything because I was terrified that it wasn’t going to be successful,” says Arce. She opened both venues in 2017 with investment from a private partner who she was able to pay back within a year. Last year she opened Niche Niche, a wine-focused supper club, and Special Club, which pairs live music with Japanese-inspired food.

Part of Arce’s success lies in keeping costs low. “We don’t work with a design firm or general contractors, so each space feels homely made,” she says, adding that her father helped with every build. “For the opening we spent our money on essentials. Over time we invested in things we wanted to enhance.” Niche Niche, for example, has a stripped-back interior but superior food and wine. “If the product that you sell isn’t great, people remember,” she adds.

Arce also knows her limits. All four venues are small and she will wait for the right time before expanding. “I don’t want to stretch us too thin,” she says, pointing out that it was only because her first two ventures were doing so well that she opened Niche Niche and Special Club. “When these two are in really good shape, we can consider what to do next.”

10.
Dr George Ambartsoumian
The label expert

When Armenian veterinarian George Ambartsoumian moved to Canada to work at research labs in Montréal, he noticed a tiny problem that was plaguing researchers: labels kept falling off the test tubes. “If you don’t know what’s in your tube, you have to start all over again,” says Ambartsoumian. “I thought that there must be a way to develop a new type of label that could withstand those difficult conditions.”

In 1999, Ambartsoumian launched GA International from his basement, using a children’s toy to experiment with cutting labels out of different materials. “There were difficult times when I was the only person taking the orders, making the labels, shipping, filing taxes – all things that come with being a one-man operation,” he says. But it was worth it. After years of using subcontractors to produce the final product, a turning point came when the company grew large enough for Ambartsoumian to be able to buy the necessary equipment to bring it all in-house.

The firm is now the market leader in cryogenic, deep-freeze, alcohol and chemical-resistant labels, selling 7,000 products in more than 60 countries. Year-on-year growth has exceeded 40 per cent over the past five years and the firm now employs 70 staff. “If you stick to your idea and drill and drill, eventually you’ll make something happen,” says Ambartsoumian.

Change your job

Better health
Focus on the next curve with Hintsa Performance.

There are some startled looks when leadership coach Pekka Pohjakallio asks every employee in the audience to imagine what a perfect version of themselves would look like. This is followed by a role-playing exercise in which those imagined identities are acted out. The drill, says Pohjakallio, focuses on positive psychology and self-fulfilment. It is run by Hintsa Performance, a Helsinki-based business-coaching firm that helps to improve mental health and wellbeing.

“Employees who see their work as meaningful and important on a personal level are much more likely to perform their tasks better,” says Pohjakallio, who prior to his coaching career spent 20 years working as an executive for the Finnish telecoms giant Nokia. “Sometimes they realise that their current job is not a good fit for them and start looking for change. In the long term, this is good for the company too.”

Hintsa’s method is based on a simple idea: a better quality of life leads to better performance. Instead of teaching sales techniques or productivity boosting, Hintsa’s team of 70 coaches tutors its clients in how to live better, healthier and more fulfilling lives. It examines issues such as nutrition, sleep and physical wellbeing in order to bolster individual and team performance.

The coaches, many of whom hold PhDs, have backgrounds in fields that range from sports science to psychology. “Most coaching companies aim to boost a specific skill set, whereas our approach is more holistic,” says Annastiina Hintsa, who runs the company. It’s an approach that might sound rather vague but it is actually deeply rooted in science; the company does its own scientific research and has spoken about the results of its work at key gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos. “We put a lot of emphasis on quantifying and measuring what we do so that we can analyse its effects,” says Hintsa. “We don’t offer any quick fixes and we are cognisant of the fact that the process is never fully complete.”

This is all the more important during uncertain times, such as the coronavirus pandemic. For many, the instinctive reaction in a crisis is to project strength. But according to Hintsa, it is more important to adapt to the new normal rather than to fight it. “The ones who survive are not necessarily the strongest but the ones who adapt the fastest,” she says. Put another way, crisis is always partly an opportunity. “Great companies are born in bad economies,” adds Hintsa. “Leadership is critical in shaping the outcome. And it will continue to be critical as we adapt to the new world that follows.”

It’s also important to keep things moving. Hintsa’s recommendation to entrepreneurs is to plan ahead, keep it simple and tick things off as you go along. When faced with challenges, the key is to identify what gives you a sense of accomplishment. “When a crisis hits and everything piles up, the mistake that we often make is to de-prioritise ourselves,” she says. “Stress negatively impacts our immune systems. Our cognitive performance declines when we’re sleep deprived. We are less capable of critical thinking, creativity and empathy – skills we desperately need to perform.”

The fact is that even in non-crisis times, work often takes over the entire lives of start-up entrepreneurs and business executives. That means less exercise, less sleep and an unbalanced diet. But it’s also about a healthy working mindset: ceos can lose sight of the bigger picture if they never pause to contemplate. “Don’t try to maximise every single area in your life,” says Hintsa. “Focus on what truly matters to you and optimise your life to reach that goal. Significant improvements in performance are the result of small daily steps.” Hintsa puts it in racing terms. “Focus on the next curve,” she says.

Racing is in her blood. Hintsa Performance gets its name from its late founder, Aki Hintsa. Annastiina’s father was a Finnish doctor who spent his career working with some of the leading drivers in Formula One motorsport. Using methods that helped propel many drivers to world championships (Hintsa’s clients have been involved in 96 per cent of podium finishes over the past six years), the firm shifted to work with businesses too, including high-level executives running Fortune 500 companies.

“There are parallels between F1 racing and being a CEO,” says Hintsa’s medical and sports performance director, Luke Bennett. “Both face tremendous pressure and need to react fast and be good at organisational optimisation.” The parallels don’t only apply to racing. Aki Hintsa developed the method when working as a doctor in Africa and observing Ethiopian long-distance runners, such as multiple world and Olympic champion Haile Gebrselassie. “Their life had a sense of purpose beyond running – as fathers and as members of the community,” says Annastiina. “This meant that they were able to deal with challenges and setbacks more effectively.”

Pohjakallio’s session is about to end and a dozen or so employees from today’s clients, electric-vehicle charging company Virta Global, seem to be in a positive mood. “Hintsa Performance has helped our staff focus more on their wellbeing, which in turn has measurably increased their performance and boosted our business,” says Virta’s HR director, Mia Kotakorpi. “They now sleep better, exercise more and eat better – but have also started to focus more on their strengths and weaknesses.”

Better posture
How Stretch Asia is helping us to sit it up straight.

When Snøhetta fitted out its new Hong Kong studio last year, the Norwegian architecture firm installed adjustable desks as standard. With a few clicks of a button, designers are on their feet working in front of their screens while colleagues remain slouched over their keyboards. Similar scenes are being replicated in modern workplaces – and homeworking spaces – right across the world. Sitting down has become the new smoking and the global war on sedentary office chairs has gone upwardly mobile.

Herman Miller’s Aeron chairs have morphed into bouncy balls, swopper seats and even self-propelled treadmills joined to tables. The problem with these fancy chairs and faddy desks is that we can’t be on our feet all of the time. Most of us just don’t know how to sit correctly.

“Sitting isn’t the new smoking – you’re just not doing it right,” says Peter Schneider, a posture expert at Stretch Asia in Hong Kong. Schneider has been teaching the city’s executives and business leaders how to sit and stand since 2007.

“That’s the best seat,” says the upright Aussie, pointing towards the window of the open-plan studio. His chosen apparatus – a simple four-legged stool in the style of Alvar Aalto’s e60 – is easy to overlook among the row of luxurious-looking green massage beds and the distracting view of Tai Kwun, a former policecompound turned arts base.

Schneider uses the design classic, a masterpiece of Finnish modernism, because it is solid and stable. “The problem is that everything we tend to sit on has soft surfaces that dull the feedback,” he says. “When your body sits down it is always looking to be stable. If I sit on something hard there’s instant support, instant feedback.”

Schneider uses the Alexander Technique, a hands-on method that starts with him watching how you hold yourself while seated. He then guides your head and limbs into the correct position. It can take weeks of repetition to retrain the brain and nervous system – forget the 10-minute, box-ticking seat consultation arranged by many HR teams.

The technique was born in Schneider’s hometown of Melbourne in the early 20th century by a Tasmanian voice coach who later found success in Edwardian London. Originally taught to stage performers, it has found more lasting success as a treatment for back problems.

Pain relief is normally what prompts people to come to see Schneider rather than prevention or good practice. While he has nothing against the ubiquitous Aeron chair, he says that few people sitting on one will know how to adjust it properly. Learning how to sit correctly would be a more sustainable investment; Stretch Asia charges hk$1,200 (€150) for a session lasting 60-minutes.

Make sure you are sitting down for this final bit: proper posture technique can even provide a work out. “If you are able to sit with your spine activated, balanced on your sit bones, your body is designed to stretch and strengthen itself as it moves,” says Schneider before launching matter-of-factly into an anatomical explanation of the human skeleton. Essentially, chairs should support the “sit bones” at the base of the pelvis and this activates the body’s internal support – the spine.

“People have it the wrong way around. They look at a chair and go, ‘Oh that is going to support me,’” he says. So forget about leaning in. Simply sit up straight and perhaps buy a nice stool. That’s where the war on sitting is really going to be won.

Better presentation
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s key role.

The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is one of the world’s most storied stage schools. For the past 20 years its sister firm, Rada Business, has helped companies and ceos with their pitches and presentations to help polish to their communication skills. Its trainers, who mainly come from performance backgrounds, deliver sessions in 30 countries to firms ranging from tiny independents to vast multinationals. Charlie Walker-Wise, a school alumnus, is an actor, trainer and client director. He explains how a little drama can serve entrepreneurs well.

What can companies learn from stage schools?
One misconception about acting is that it’s about lying: pretending to be someone who you’re not. It’s really the opposite, it’s about finding the truth. In business there’s another word for that: authenticity. It’s the same thing. Actors have to be able to convey emotion in a convincing and believable manner in order to make the audience feel something. But that doesn’t mean that they have to be able to cry their eyes out. That’s often a really bad way of conveying emotion.

What types of industries ask for your assistance?
Many are financial services, from insurance to banking. We also work in media, so get lots of broadcasters, advertising agencies, design agencies, branding agencies and technology firms.

Why do they come?
There comes a point when people realise that they need to connect and communicate with other people but also realise that they’ve never been taught how. Organisations develop and celebrate people for technical excellence but there comes a point when you have to lead, present, connect and sell ideas in ways that are engaging – to tell a story that connects with other human beings. The education system isn’t really geared up to helping people with that.

How do you help?
We offer skills and techniques and some fundamental principles. We’re in the business of creating self-awareness and the overriding issue that we deal with is confidence. People need to be able to demonstrate it. It’s all about having the confidence to be heard and seen.

Do you get common requests?
One is to “control a room”. That always gets challenged. Control suggests tension, which is the enemy of communication. By letting go and releasing that, we can move from “controlling” the room to “commanding” it – that’s a much more powerful and exciting proposition.

Is drama taken seriously enough as a subject?
Drama sits right at the bottom of the sort of pyramid of respected subjects; it’s not always seen as essential. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that many people don’t have skills such as presence, being in the moment or gravitas.

What kind of skills will you be teaching in a session?
It doesn’t matter whether you’re the MD or whether you are the floor-washer. We all have the same physical tools to use, we all have a body and a voice and breath for communication. Our training approaches everyone from the same place.

It sounds simple. Is it?
The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art is a big name so people are often dazzled by the idea of it. We try to quickly establish a sense of trust both in the session and the rules of the game. We try to disarm people and create a space where people are allowed to fail.

Tell us about the different types of courses on offer.
One that we provide is one-to-one performance coaching. If someone has a speech coming up in a couple of weeks, that’s a very simple thing to do. There are different tiers of coaching and we have a menu of 11 courses that range from personal impact to presentation skills and leadership.

We also offer in-house training where we design a programme for an organisation. This is where we become a bit more of a consultancy business. We design a programme from the bottom up, based around meeting a company’s needs. These are the ones that we enjoy the most, when we don’t just have one single intervention. We get to understand an organisation and build a relationship.

Has the commercial arm of Rada always been a successful undertaking?
For a while people didn’t really get it and then the [2008] crash happened and suddenly everything that people thought about business seemed not to exist any more. The whole slant and angle of what work meant – what the contract was between the management and the employee – began to change. Suddenly many companies started to think about how they were going to win trust with their employees, to develop them and retain them.

Has the way that you teach changed over the years?
I don’t think so. Theatre is an ancient art and it has been operating in its current form since the time of the ancient Greeks. The idea of someone being honest while others are watching and listening is ancient. How we teach is by doing, experiencing, getting it wrong, trying again, receiving feedback, sharing ideas, doing it again, getting it wrong again, playing. We believe in learning by play – we’re in the business of plays.

Better dialogue
Speak your piece thanks to Essential Partners.

We’re all familiar with the concept of “fight or flight”. Faced with a physical threat, our mind quickly calculates the best survival option: confront the threat head-on or retreat and live to battle another day. What we might not realise is that the same concept applies to difficult or awkward conversations – a political or cultural insensitivity shown by a colleague, for example, or qualms about the ethics of an investment or business strategy.

“Fight or flight responses come up in those moments too but we often don’t recognise it,” says Katie Hyten, co-director of Essential Partners, a 30-year-old consulting firm based in Massachusetts, that coaches organisations on how to better communicate and foster a more inclusive culture in their increasingly diverse workforces.

Hiring more women or minorities, for example, is not enough on its own; it’s about getting everyone integrated – something that can take years and a solid commitment from executives. “We are hearing from a lot of organisations that have taken pride and have succeeded in recruiting and developing a more diverse workforce – but then end up struggling when it comes to retention,” says Hyten.

The company’s coaching philosophy is not only about improving people’s interpersonal skills (particularly with those of a different cultural background) but finding ways to create the space for co-workers to have more honest and constructive conversations. It’s the latter, in particular, that comes down to managers and culture in the workplace: companies need to get better at helping to settle any differences before they get out of hand.

It’s a coaching philosophy that’s born of conflict resolutionand facilitation. Essential Partners works with faith groups, universities and political organisations where the need for mediation is more obvious, whether that’s helping to integrate refugees in Jordan or fostering student dialogue in the Philippines. But the same principles that apply in mediating conflict situations can also be relevant to the workplace.

The trick in any conversation is to encourage people to stay in the moment. Unlike a physical threat, there’s little point in hiding from an awkward or difficult discussion. Instead, it’s important to be open, patient, honest and curious; to allow people to make mistakes when they interact with you as long as they show an interest in finding a resolution. “There’s often a gap between intention and impact; we might have the best intentions and yet cause a very unintended impact,” says Hyten, whose own background is in managing religious conflicts. “Part of our goal is to make those gaps transparent so we can be aware of them and minimise them in the future.”

If talking doesn’t solve the problem, managers need to show that they’re willing to listen and take action. “It’s on the managers and supervisors to build up that relational infrastructure,” says Hyten. “There has to be enough trust and enough appropriate action for people to believe that things have changed.”

That includes making space for the new voices in your company to be heard. Hyten says that one of the most common problems in company meetings is that the same three to five people are always the ones who speak. She encourages simple steps, such as having everyone write down questions or comments ahead of a meeting to make sure nobody is left out by the end.

As many businesses move to remote working amid the coronavirus epidemic, Essential Partners has been busy encouraging companies to keep up the dialogue – and not just about the business at hand. “With virtual teams, it’s important to keep connecting on a personal level,” she says. “You don’t have the watercooler any more Hyten suggests opening virtual meetings with some personal questions about new passions and interests that colleagues might have developed during their time apart.

It’s also important to build in time for reflection. “There’s a natural urge to fill the silence on video calls. But you want to give all your team a chance to gather their thoughts, make some notes or look up a piece of information,” says Hyten. “Team leaders can build moments of reflection into the meeting to facilitate that process and reduce the awkwardness of dead air.”

Doing the right thing

1.
The fashion and cosmetics industry
Putting factories to good use

The fashion and cosmetics industry pivoted quickly to respond to shortages of antibacterial gel and protective gear. One of the first to act was French luxury conglomerate lvmh, which in mid-March transformed its fragrance and cosmetics workshops for Dior and others into hand-sanitiser plants. Thousands of companies have since followed suit, using their factories to shift product with a deftness honed over years of hitting tight seasonal deadlines.

In France, a Whatsapp group is being used by some 100 fashion brands, big and small, to share tips on how to move from making runway frocks to hospital gowns. In the UK, Burberry has retooled its Yorkshire factory to stitch masks instead of trench coats. In Japan, Fast Retailing, Uniqlo’s parent company, is donating 10 million masks, while in Milan, Prada, Gucci and the Armani Group are producing masks and medical gowns.

“I’ve never seen such solidarity, such determination to help and such collaboration,” says Louis Goulet, founder of Noyoco. In March, the eco-friendly Parisian brand developed a prototype mask overnight and ramped up production at its five workshops in Romania to operate six days a week. Its goal is to produce 100,000 washable surgical masks. As is the case with many brands, the items are being donated free of charge, with the company absorbing costs, helped by public donations.

Acquiring medical-grade materials isn’t easy: the masks must be made from non-woven polypropylene cotton, which is in demand. The French Whatsapp group helps by sharing information from associations including the government’s defence agency and the French Institute of Fashion, Textile and Clothing. “Everyone is doing a tremendous job of synchronising manufacturers and suppliers and sharing the instructions of the authorities,” says Goulet. “The task is huge but the mobilisation of the fashion industry is impressive.”

2.
Political leaders around the world
Pulling out all the stops

Christine Lagarde, president, European Central Bank
Rewriting the rule book

Lagarde initially stumbled in her response when her comments about Italy’s finances sent markets tumbling in March – but she’s since made good. Days later she pledged that there were “no limits” and unveiled a €750bn emergency stimulus package and abandoning long-standing rules limiting the amount of debt that the central bank can buy up from individual eurozone nations. She’s also been pushing through a common “corona bond”, a mutualised debt to give countries extra cash for struggling businesses.

Clover Moore, mayor of Sydney
Quick off the mark

Moore announced au$72.5m (€42m) in financial aid within weeks of the lockdown in Australia. “The pandemic adversely impacts businesses of every size so we are considering a range of options,” she said. That includes small-business grants for innovation and adaptation that can be put towards certain approved initiatives, from the development of e-commerce capabilities to professional training. Moore has also backed the city’s creative enterprises and professionals by freeing up au$2.25m (€1.25m) for those who rely on grants and live events to stay afloat.

Eric Garcetti, mayor of Los Angeles
Keeping the city in business

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti, once touted as a future Democratic presidential hopeful, calls small businesses “the backbone” of the City of Angels and in March set up an emergency microloan programme. The aim is to lend between $5,000 and $20,000 (€4,500 to €18,500) to business owners who are in need of quick relief, at either zero interest for six months or a low interest for a longer term. The initiative is set to help between 550 and 2,500 businesses. Garcetti has also created an emergency response fund to finance childcare and meals for families, workers and small-business owners whose lives have been disrupted by coronavirus.

3.
The Dining Bonds Initiative
Bringing a wartime spirit

In March, New York City-based publicists Helen Patrikis and Steven Hall launched the Dining Bonds Initiative to help people save their favourite neighbourhood restaurant from going under while it stays shut for months on end. “I started to think about what it was like back in times of war when you bought a government savings bond [to fund war efforts],” says Patrikis. “I wondered if we could apply that same principle to restaurants.” The idea is simple: you buy a “bond” or voucher today at a certain price, say $75 (€67), that’s then redeemable for $100 (€90) in the future – a sort of value-added gift certificate.

The initiative itself consists of little more than a website (diningbond.com) that hosts a map of participating restaurants, which customers can then get in touch with directly. “We didn’t want to make it too complicated,” says Patrikis. “We just wanted to be the connection between the diner and the restaurant.” Within 24 hours of launch, more than 100 restaurants had signed up and the initiative has since expanded in the US and beyond, into Europe, Australasia, Asia and even Africa.

Though government support will still desperately be needed, these bonds have proved to be a short-term lifeline for some ventures. Manhattan restaurant 232 Bleecker, part of the Dig hospitality group, had only been open for three months before the pandemic hit. It quickly signed up to the scheme.

“So far it’s been incredibly successful,” says 232 Bleecker’s executive chef, Suzanne Cupps, a veteran of Gramercy Tavern and Untitled at the Whitney. “We hit our initial goal faster than we could have imagined. The response of the community has been a silver lining in this crisis.” All proceeds have been used to support 232 Bleecker’s 45 staff.

Although Patrikis and Hall have focused their efforts on restaurants, the pair hope that their initiative might prompt similar efforts across other sectors that have been hit hard by the virus. “All types of service industries from gyms to nail salons are being forced to shut down,” says Hall. “There’s an opportunity for programmes such as this to help all of them.”

Images: Getty Images

From wearable fans to cooling creams: East Asia’s market for staying cool in a hotter climate

Although concern over climate change has temporarily taken a backseat while the world struggles with coronavirus, global warming is still happening. As politicians, scientists and business leaders work towards various solutions, we hop over to East Asia to see how they are coping with the kinds of hot, sticky weather that will increasingly become common elsewhere in the world – and find a significant business opportunity. Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and its neighbours are home to a world of products designed to help you and your loved ones stay cool, from face creams and hygiene items to useful accessories and extras for the home. Retailers take note: could these be the new supermarket staples of the future?

Hands-free fan

Available in 12 colours and with a USB-rechargeable battery, Japanese lifestyle brand Spice of Life’s wearable WFan is about the size of a pair of headphones, making it the perfect solution for a punishingly humid, hot summer day.

Dehumidifying beads

Keeping homes and cupboards mould-free is a team effort. Alongside dehumidifying machines, thesesingle-use cartons are placed into cupboards and there are also handy sachets for sock drawers.

Mask

Wearing a cooling mask after a day in the sun provides new meaning to the “grin and bear it” approach to hot weather. Cute animal designs, from bears to cats, provide optional lift to evening beauty routines.

Facial gel strips

Usually used for treating fevers – many households stock a packet in the fridge for children – they’re also useful for on-the-go cooling action. Shops in Hong Kong did a roaring trade last summer during the street protests.

Cooling insoles

This insole will keep socks dry – an important consideration when tradition dictates taking footwear off when entering homes or some places of business.

Wet tissues for men

Available across Japan, millions of these wet facial wipes are consumed every summer. It’s such a staple that you’d be hard-pressed to find a businessman not carrying a packet in his tote.

Sun visor

A step up from sunglasses, these visors provide full-face protection from damaging rays. In Japan you’ll often spot women wearing these as they zoom around the city on electric bikes.

Neckerchief for dogs

Man’s best friend also needs to battle with the heat when going out for a walk. So why not help him do it in style? This cooling gel product is made to be easily wrapped around your pooch’s neck.

Deodorising balls

Playing sports in high humidity means breaking into a sweat even before running onto the pitch. After a game, baseball-mad Japanese and Koreans keep their cleats smelling sweet with these sports-themed deodorisers.

Cooling mat

Whether in the park or relaxing at home, this compact chilled mat helps bring the mercury down a bit. Washable and easy to clean, it’s a popular option for pets and little ones.

Facial moisturising stick

South Korean beauty brand Easy Peasy’s Aqua Calming Stick helps keep skin cool during the summer months and reduces heat-induced puffiness. Its smart branding and easy-to-use design makes it a popular handbag essential.

Rear window car shade

Cars cook under the sun so street-smart drivers throw some shade on their back seat. This handy collapsible window shade comes with a fun, visual reminder that pets are important passengers too.

Moisturising cream

Suitable for sensitive skin, beauty brand Mamonde’s Blue Chamomile Water Cream instantly cools and reduces redness, useful for refreshing a frazzled face. A new product from South Korea’s Amorepacific.

Long arm-protectors

Another popular product for reducing sun exposure without having to ditch your summer wardrobe. These long gloves are popular among women, particularly when cycling during the day.

Room humidifier

Going to sleep with the air conditioning on often means dry skin or waking up gasping for water. These portable fruit-shaped room humidifiers are a nifty solution.

Sweat-absorbing underarm pads

When work dictates wearing a suit or a smart dress all day, these underarm pads are just the ticket. They stick to the inside of your clothes and are pleasingly discreet.

Tricks of the trade

The right move
City revival

The world’s largest chess piece (garlanded as such by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2018) stands on a pavement in the leafy Central West End neighbourhood of St Louis, Missouri. At six metres tall and weighing nearly 5,000kg, the towering king, built from mahogany, is a totem to one of the city’s most notable cottage industries: the game of chess, which has become a pillar of life in St Louis.

“This has become a pretty colossal endeavour,” says Rex Sinquefield, cheerfully. The 76-year-old serial entrepreneur and former investment manager made his fortune in the 1970s by pioneering index funds, the stock-market device that groups diverse stock portfolios and tracks them on the markets. Upon retirement, his attention returned to chess, a pastime he first picked up as a teenager playing “postal chess”, where players mark their move on a checkerboard postcard before mailing it back to their opponent.

“It’s been incredibly successful,” Sinquefield says, of the St Louis Chess Club, which he c0-founded 12 years ago, and the satellite endeavours it has spawned since. The club has almost single-handedly made this midwestern city the hub of US chess and one of the world’s best-regarded centres for the game. Hundreds of tournaments take place here every year, including the US Championships, and Sinquefield estimates that chess events have brought millions of dollars into the city over the years.

The club has woven itself into city life. Its 1,000 members – old hands and newcomers alike – represent most strata of St Louis society. As well as offering chess scholarships to local universities, the club operates in 60 schools, hosting chess classes for schoolchildren. “Chess teaches you a bunch of stuff that is critical to success, not just in education but afterwards,” says Tony Rich, the club’s executive director. “It’s basic things like critical thinking, problem-solving, planning ahead or realising that your actions have consequences down the road.”

For former industrial powerhouses such as St Louis, the chess club offers a lesson: there is opportunity for smaller, more targeted industries to help reinvigorate cities. “What chess has done for the city is to become another cultural touchstone for St Louis,” says Rich. “One of the questions I love getting asked is, ‘What is chess? Is it a sport? Is it an art? Is it a game?’ Well, it’s all of those things. It brings together all these facets from our everyday lives. And it’s fun.”

Branding
What’s in a name?
By Ed Yeoman

Stephen King once wrote that the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Despite this, it’s a road that lots of companies have decided to follow. It’s a trend that’s been with us for more than a decade, so it’s high time we look at how it came about – and the pitfalls of following the herd.

Today, with our abundance of domain extensions, it’s easy to forget that not so long ago the holy grail of business naming was to allow you to secure the same dot-com. Yet getting your hands on a dot-com wasn’t easy and for those without millions to spend, new approaches were needed – approaches such as the portmanteau (Pinterest, Codecademy), the compound (Foursquare, Birchbox) and the misspell (Tumblr, Etsy).

Another way was to use a suffix to create a new word (Spotify, Bitly). And many turned to other countries to give themselves an online edge: the .ly URL code of Libya became popular following the success of bit.ly. But as Libya entered a decade of war and instability in the early 2010s, brands no longer felt comfortable associating with the code of such a volatile nation.

The adverb trend continued unabated, however, leaving us with Feedly, Cloudly, Feastly, Leafly, Yabbly, Guesterly, Zaarly and hundreds of other names ending in “ly”. This is naming for sheep – unimaginative, uninspired and charmless. How are customers supposed to build a relationship with a name that they are embarrassed to say out loud?

There are so many elements that can serve as naming stimuli. By linking the name to your firm’s products, provenance or purpose, you can build a story that sticks. It will give your business a more cohesive, confident aura and it will mean that your team will have less of a hellish time trying to explain a name that people can’t spell.

Q&A
Thomas Erikson
Sweden

Communication expert Thomas Erikson is the author of Surrounded by Idiots, one of Sweden’s best-selling non-fiction books. Since its publication in 2014, the book has sold two million copies; it is now available in 40 languages.

What’s the premise?
My thesis is that there aren’t many idiots out there. [Problems arise from] not understanding each other so I want people to talk more about how they communicate. I outline four types of human behaviour. A common question is: should a workplace mix them all together? The best dynamic you can get is a combination of different people – you’ll have more ideas and points of view – but the trick is that you need a team leader who can cope with all the different characters.

Why should entrepreneurs read your book?
If you want to succeed in any business, you have to rely on other people. I mean, you haven’t heard about any successful hermits, have you? Understanding people and getting the most out of partnerships is crucial.

How can your book help people through and beyond the pandemic?
Under stress people’s behaviour can shift quite a lot. If we can predict how a person will respond to pressure, we can show a greater understanding of how people are acting out their worries and concerns.

Q&A
Daniel Coyle
USA

From locker room to boardroom, author Daniel Coyle’s best-selling The Culture Code explores the very real but hard-to-identify traits that underpin the world’s most successful organisations.

What’s the premise of your book?
It feels like magic where you’re around a group that has an extraordinary connection or sense of purpose but it’s not. It’s a real thing. So I spent time with some of the world’s top-performing groups and, while they’re wildly different organisations, there are patterns connecting all of them.

How important is ‘work culture’?
A Harvard study looked at 200 businesses where the only difference was that some had a strong culture and others didn’t. Over 11 years it turned out that culture was worth 756 per cent more net revenue. Culture isn’t some add-on. The soft stuff gets you the hard stuff.

How can your book help people through and beyond the pandemic?
This recent crisis has revealed that a strong culture isn’t a frivolous accessory. It’s the engine that helps a group stick together in challenging times. The more energy groups funnel toward building and strengthening that engine – learning to be vulnerable together and creating a sense of purpose in an ever-changing, hazard-filled landscape – the more prepared they can be for any future.

Another giant leap
UK space race

A low moon is visible in the morning sky above Manchester but Steve Bennett – entrepreneur, self-taught rocket engineer, budding astronaut – is focused on more earthly pursuits, for now at least. Climbing down a tower of scaffolding, the 55-year-old stops to admire his work: a 12-metre-high rocket parked on the back of a converted flatbed truck in an industrial lot near the M67.

But this is no garage project. Nova 2 is the latest in Starchaser’s human spaceflight programme, a one-tonne craft capable of manned, suborbital (ie entering space but not high enough to orbit) flight at 5,400km/h. With an unmanned test launch scheduled for the near future, it’s a symbol of the UK’s aspiration to be put firmly on the map of Solar System-faring nations. “Space is becoming the everyday,” says Bennett, who founded Starchaser in 1992. “And there’s no doubt we’re closer to it than ever before.”

Bennett has reason to feel optimistic. Recently the UK’s race for the stars has gone into hyperdrive. Following the ratification of the Space Industry Bill, which allows UK businesses competing in the commercial space race to use domestic spaceports, several Nasa-lite operators are pushing forward with various ventures. Among the developments, the bill has ushered in £31.5m (€37m)of funding for Space Hub Sutherland, the UK’s first vertical launchpad complex, with construction teams set to break ground next year. Revenue from the industry has grown steadily from £14.8bn (€16.8bn) in 2017 to an estimated £15.5bn (€17.6bn) in 2018, and the government intends to increase its share in the global space economy from 6.5 to 10 per cent by 2030. The next frontier, though running a few years later than planned, is extraterrestrial tourism.

Starchaser – with two dozen employees and volunteers – is a contrast to glossier private ventures such as Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and Blue Origin but the aim is the same: enabling paying passengers to become astronauts. While revenue is generated from sponsors, school visits and one well-heeled local investor who has put in £2m (€2.3m), Bennett also has a number of customers (he won’t divulge exactly how many) who have paid £250,000 (€293,000) for front-row seats. Driving it all is the appeal of experiencing the strange beauty of the universe’s blackness first hand. “Space has a huge potential to be profitable,” he says.

Bennett is not alone. There are now nearly 1,000 organisations working on related projects in the UK. One of the biggest is Airbus Defence and Space’s ExoMars rover, designed to search for signs of life on the Red Planet. Part of an international programme led by the European Space Agency, the rover was prototyped and tested at Stevenage’s Mars Yard, a tennis court-sized sandpit. “It has all sorts of rocks and slopes to test the vehicle on,” says Paul Meacham, ExoMars’s lead systems engineer. “The UK government sees the benefit in investing and funding this. There’s real belief in the future of a space industry here.”

The UK Space Agency (UKSA), the bureau responsible for the civil space programme, has similarly green-lit projects from Cornwall to Glasgow. And the technologies being developed aren’t reserved solely for space. Following a £60m (€70.3m) investment from the UKSA, for instance, Abingdon-based aerospace manufacturer Reaction Engines Limited saw its Sabre engine pass the hypersonic Mach 5 milestone; potential spin-off markets include everything from motorsports to power stations.

Future investment has already been ring-fenced: at the recent European Space Agency’s Council of Ministers in November, the UK committed to increase funding by 15 per cent, or £374m (€438m) per year, to deliver international space programmes until 2025. Extraterrestrial businesses: coming soon to a launchpad near you.

How to…
Be a good boss
with Kim Scott

“Early in my career I was an entrepreneur. I founded a couple of sales start-ups before joining Google where I realised that what got me up in the morning was the act of building a great team. Steve Jobs had decided that Apple was going to throw out its management training and start over so I went to Apple and developed a course called Managing at Apple. I realised that managing there was similar to managing anywhere. So I started writing my book, Radical Candor, because the advice I was giving to technology CEOs was the same advice that I gave to young people just starting out.

As a manager you need to care personally about your employees while also challenging them. That’s ‘radical candour’. If you challenge someone but don’t show that you care about them, that’s ‘obnoxious aggression’. Having a senior leader who behaves this way creates a culture of fear.

But it’s also one of the mistakes we most fear making. Often when we realise we’ve been a jerk, we move in the wrong direction. We say we ‘didn’t really mean it’ or ‘it’s no big deal’ when, in fact, we did mean it and it is a big deal – and we end up in the worst place of all. The majority of mistakes are made when somebody is so worried about not hurting someone’s feelings that they don’t tell them something they would be better off knowing. This happens all the time at work: mistakes that don’t get corrected get repeated.

There is a path that companies often go down. A successful small company is often very candid. People know each other well and part of the reason that they’re successful is that they deal with things as they arise. But as they have success, they grow and want to maintain that nice culture – that sense of almost being a family – but now they don’t know people as well so they tend to pull their punches. They no longer point out problems like they did before so you get this culture of what I call ‘ruinous empathy’, which can lead to failure.

It’s easy for me to say, ‘Be radically candid’, but how do you do it? Here is how.

1. Solicit feedback. This is true no matter where you are in the hierarchy but it’s especially important if you’re the boss. You need to understand what is going on from other perspectives.
2. Focus on the good stuff. If you’re a leader, especially an entrepreneur, your job is to show your team what’s possible. Praise is a much better tool for doing this than criticism. Remember that praise has to be sincere and specific. One of the mistakes people make is thinking that praise is only used to show that you care about someone when it should also challenge other people directly: it shows the whole team what success looks like.
3. Now you’re in a better place to offer criticism. Make sure that while you praise in public, you criticise in private. The best criticism I’ve ever received has come in impromptu two-minute conversations. It can be a gift in one of two ways: either because you’re giving the person an opportunity to fix the problem or because you’re wrong and only by telling that person what you think do you give them the opportunity to correct your thinking. But remember to state that you’re giving criticism to help them improve. Make sure you do it right away. The longer you wait, the harder it is to remember the context.
4. Focus on things people can change. Describe the situation, the behaviour and the impact that the behaviour had. Then you’re explaining to the person how to change their behaviour, not their personality.

About 15 years ago a lawyer friend said that in Silicon Valley, management is neither taught nor rewarded. The good news is that that has started to change. There is an increasing understanding that getting management right is the only way you can build the product or service you’re passionate about. For entrepreneurs it’s really easy to get caught up in the stress – there’s no more stressful job out there – but if you can get the management side right then the stress goes down and the product gets better. And most importantly, the relationships will be fun.”

Kim Scott is co-founder of Candor Inc and the author of best-selling book ‘Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity’.

On board
Brand revival

“If you can make it from cardboard then we can do it,” says Jakob Kristoffersen, one of the new co-owners of Elvo, manufacturer of bespoke cardboard products since 1923. Its output currently includes notepads, waste-paper bins, restaurant menus and packaging for brands but Elvo’s mainstay has always been boxes. These are no ordinary boxes; these are super-durable boxes, featuring embossing, waterproof finishes or leather straps and buckles. The Copenhagen-based company can make them to any specification, whether for vinyl records or socks.

“The Danish Royal family uses them and the Danish Royal Ballet has used Elvo boxes to store ballet shoes for more than 70 years,” says Kristoffersen, who bought the company with three partners from its family owners in 2019. No commission is too small: you can order a single box, made-to-measure, from 130kr (€17). Kristoffersen’s day job is as a senior manager at Bang & Olufsen but Elvo represented a chance to revive a classic Copenhagen brand, in decline since the advent of digitalisation, and take it in a new direction.

“There are so many industrial products in our lives but this is something that is handmade in Copenhagen; the craftsmanship is amazing and it’s sustainable,” he says. “The cardboard is all recycled here in Denmark.”

Another new co-owner is Kim Dolva, founder of Københavns Møbelsnedkeri (Copenhagen Furniture Carpenters), whose high-end cupboards and wardrobes have long featured Elvo’s storage boxes. “I’ve used them for more than 10 years so when I heard that the family didn’t want to continue running the company, I had to help save it,” she says.

Among the treasures that the new owners discovered in storage was a stack of vintage cardboard, almost half a century old. “It has some really special properties,” says Kristoffersen. “Because it has dried out, it is incredibly tough, like heavy-duty plastic.” The cardboard was used in a clothing repair kit handed out at a fashion show by designer Mark Kenly Domino Tan. “Mark wanted to make a statement about sustainability in fashion and this was the perfect way to do it,” says Kristoffersen. “Instead of the usual goody bag, he gave the audience something they could use to repair their old clothes.”

Elvo’s new owners are having fun with the company and business is on the up. “We have started spring/summer and autumn/winter colour ranges,” says Kristoffersen. “Right now, the mustard is very popular.”

Where are they now?
How to build on success
We check in on three flourishing businesses to see how they’ve fared in their respective markets.

1.
Al Rifai
Lebanese nut company

When food company Al Rifai launched in Beirut in the 1940s, it competed for a foothold in Lebanon’s snack-food market. It quickly grew. When Monocle spoke to managing director Moussa Al Rifai Jr in 2008, the company had nearly 90 per cent market penetration in the country and had just launched a European product line, Nutisal.

Today, Al Rifai Jr is manager of the whole group and in 2015 he oversaw the sale of Nutisal for €10.3m. “It meant that we could focus on our core business, which is retail,” he says. “It also allowed us to develop a new premium line of nuts for the travel industry.” The result? Al Rifai has grown from 160 shops in 2008 to nearly 420. Last year it premiered a high-end snacks shop in Frankfurt Airport. Like many, it hopes that airports are running normally again soon.

2.
Igloo
UK property developer

When Monocle spoke to developer Igloo in 2009, it had just been named the world’s first responsible real-estate fund by the UN. It’s a reputation the team has upheld: in 2017 it became the sector’s first European B Corp, a label reserved for profit-driven businesses that meet high environmental, social and governance standards. The company now has 5,000 completed and in-the-pipeline homes under its belt. This has also allowed the team to double in size from 16 staff in 2009 to 32.

“Investment has moved in our direction,” says founder David Roberts. It’s also pushed them to think outisde the box. “Every project has to perform better than the current standards. These standards will have changed by the time it’s finished so we need to be ahead of the curve.”

3.
Grace Winery
Japanese vineyard

Grace Winery, in the hilly Yamanashi village of Akeno, is one of Japan’s most respected wine-makers. Started in 1923, it is now run by fourth-generation president Shigekazu Misawa and his daughter Ayana, who is head wine-maker. When Monocle spoke to Ayana five years ago, the winery was already making waves internationally and exporting to eight countries. Today that number is 20, with nations including Switzerland and Indonesia stocking its vintages.

The firm has been on a winning streak: Grace’s Koshu white wines, made with Japan’s light indigenous grapes, have won gold medals at the Decanter World Wine awards for six consecutive years since 2014. “We’re improving the quality and raising the profile of Japanese wine in the world,” says Ayana.

Q&A
Angela Duckworth
USA

“One habit that I’ve noticed about entrepreneurs and other successful people I’ve studied is that they’re always reading,” says psychological scientist Angela Duckworth, author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance, which explores the psychology of achievement.

What’s the premise?
I started out asking: what differentiates those who are successful from those who are less so? Grit is about high achievers in business, medicine, literature, athletics and music. In addition to talent or IQ, I found that they had a combination of passion and perseverance – “grit” – that they sustained for years or decades.

Why should entrepreneurs read your book?
If you want to be more successful, why not look at the psychological science of achievement? Everything we study has some inheritable DNA component but we also know that there’s nothing that’s completely nature. Our experiences, mentors and the culture that we grow up in influence who we become.

How can your book help people through and beyond the pandemic?
Whatever your grit has enabled you to master, now is the time to put that skill to use. Plus, every crisis is a learning opportunity. We will all learn something new for the simple reason that we have no other choice.

Where to put your money
Ideas that will pay off

1. Stephan Gerhard, co-founder of the 25hours hotel group: “People will travel once coronavirus is under control so I would recommend investing in tourism. But people won’t be looking for adventures and unexpected experiences. They will travel in their own backyards, looking for health, ecology and security. Invest in back-to-earth projects nearby.”
2. Nicola Kilner, co-founder of skincare company Deciem: “People have realised the value of their health. I would invest in something that allows for easy home [medical] testing. The earlier we identify issues, the better our chances of solving them.”
3. Jean-Martin Fortier, co-founder of small-scale farming enterprise The Market Gardener: “I believe that people will put more value on having a direct relationship with their food. Investing in anything that supports a transition towards local food systems – farms, distribution solutions or companies focused on artisanal production – is a sure bet. Or just start a garden.”
4. Alain Sylvain, founder of design consultancy Sylvain Labs: “Businesses’ promises to care for employee wellbeing is being tested. As we spend more time working remotely, feelings of isolation can become overwhelming. Companies should invest in personal wellbeing and tools for healthy digital collaboration to maintain a productive mindset.”
5. Carl-Magnus Norden, co-founder of electric truck-maker Volta: “Covid-19 has forced the world to realise the shortcomings of our distribution systems. For the time being, our economies will depend on local trade. Investing in local farmers, factories and hospitality businesses will be crucial for recovery. This will inspire more sustainable trade, reduce polluting transport and make our society more resilient to future disruptions.”
6. Max Rofagha, founder of finance app Finimize: “I would like to invest in a remote Swiss mountain cabin where I could do a week-long retreat to read books and extend my knowledge.”
7. Corinne Vigreux, co-founder of navigation company TomTom: “I’d recommend investing in digital literacy and social mobility to help empower the next generation of technology talent. I’m a firm believer that digital literacy is key to economic growth. That’s why in 2018 I founded Codam, a nonprofit coding college in Amsterdam. It’s free and I would like to keep it that way.”
8. Nani Marquina, founder of rug brand Nanimarquina “We should all invest in the most sustainable practices and in new work processes that allow us to trace what we are doing.”
9. Rich Pierson, co-founder of meditation app Headspace: “This year will be about the integration of mental and physical health. As people are living longer, I think we’ll see a growing dependence on new technological developments combining wellness with healthcare. This trend should be at the top of investors’ minds.”
10. Ariel Kaye, founder of bedding brand Parachute “I recommend that people continue to invest in small businesses that focus on service and craftsmanship.”

Our editor in chief on how to build a better business

I was going to start by offering a warm welcome to this debut issue of The Entrepreneurs but there’s a good chance that you’ve already been a keen follower of this Monocle franchise for nearly a decade. So perhaps I should start by reframing things slightly. While this might be a print premiere for this sub-brand devoted to setting up your own stall, it’s first and foremost an extension of a much listened-to programme that’s part of Monocle 24’s round-the-clock audio schedule. With more than 400 shows under its belt, The Entrepreneurs signed on in 2011 and has become a favourite podcast (or live show) for listeners around the world. Indeed, it’s often ranked as one of the most downloaded shows in our line-up.

It was for this reason that we decided to make The Entrepreneurs part of our print portfolio; this latest addition will bring us to a total count of 24 magazines and periodicals across 2019. If you don’t believe me, let’s count: 10 classic issues, the escapist, The Monocle Drinking & Dining Directory, The Entrepreneurs, the Forecast, the Salone newspaper, the Art Basel newspaper, four Summer Weeklies and four Winter Weeklies. If you’ve missed any of these then please drop us a note at customerservice@Monocle.com and we will happily send along whatever you’re missing from your collection.

We officially pressed play on a standalone magazine devoted to start-up culture last December. We took stock of our inventory and recognised that there was a gap on newsstands for a chunky annual that feels like a magazine but can also jump off the shelf and sit on a table, alongside more likeable management and busi- ness books. In line with the editorial spirit of the audio version, The Entrepreneurs in print is about launching, sustaining and selling businesses in all forms. For our editors, start-ups are not just technology firms looking to do a quick exit off the back of a less-than-essential app launch, nor yet another firm trying to figure out how to sell us a solution to cover that last mile. From front to back we’ve taken a classic Monocle approach to examine how to spot an opportunity and then research, fund, brand, launch and grow it.This means that we’ve taken a global view and spoken to the indi- viduals who’ve launched and sold multiple firms, then aken a step back and done it all over again. We’ve vis- ited the companies that have created spaces that offer flexibility for growth; we’ve also turned over the tables and fixtures you might want to invest in when you’ve got that second round of funding and need to start looking the part.

And on the topic of appearances, our story on the evolution of the working wardrobe reminds all of us that the world works to different codes and timelines. As such, you still might want to invest in some good tailoring if you’re going to succeed within certain sec- tors and territories. And thank heavens! After all, if you’re really running your business from cafés and commuter trains, your daily get-up is a big part of your overall brand.

Along the way we’re going to ask some questions and force you to dig deep into the soul of the enter- prise you’re developing or already running. What does a successful day look like? Have you considered how you might hand the reins over and to who? What about balancing friends, family and health with grow- ing margins? Where should you be running your show from? Do you need to be in Brooklyn or Hoxton or Mitte? Does a major global hub need to be 15 minutes away (it never is) or does it make more sense to be sitting in an inexpensive office that’s a walk to your house – and just two minutes from the jetty where you keep your boat and enjoy a morning paddle? We have a few answers to these questions and, of course, many, many more. Enjoy this print premiere of The Entrepreneurs.You can find me at tb@Monocle.com. Cheers and thank you for your support.

Done deal
What you’ll learn from this magazine

1.
Everyone talks up the power of urban digital hubs but you can run a powerful business from a third or fourth-tier city – even from a rural outpost.You’ll need passion, good people to work with and a desire to balance revenue with a better quality of life. See the features on pages 50 and 165.

2.
Work is changing – and where we do it is too. But the giddiness around shared workspaces hides a truth: a nice office of your own is good for brain and brand. Our Design editor, Nolan Giles, can show you how to pull off a simple corporate look.Turn to page 113.

3.
Sometimes the world of work can be fun too; with that in mind, turn to page 80 to see how you do on our animal-branding quiz.