True Skyrocketing Success with RapidValue

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Dec 27, 2017 @ 04:37 PM

RapidValue is a leading provider of end-to-end digital transformation solutions for enterprises worldwide. Its digital solutions span across mobile, cloud, IoT and omni-channels to help improve productivity, stream business workflow, reduce operational cost and achieve higher ROI. They won the Gold Stevie® Award in The 2017 International Business Awards for Marketing Department of the Year.

Rapid Growth

RapidValue, headquartered in Pleasanton, CA, in the United States, was founded in 2008 and has grown year-over-year since its inception. With eight global offices, 450+ employees, 600+ projects delivered and 15+ international global corporate awards, it’s safe to say recognition is in order. Kavyanidhi Narayan is the Marketing Manager at RapidValue and is proud of the attention the company is receiving for its hard work.

RapidValue-1.jpg“RapidValue is extremely proud of winning the Gold Stevie Award for Marketing Department of the Year. This international award boosts company visibility in the global market and brings in confidence to the management and business development teams in upsurging the revenue for the organization.”

RapidValue is also proud to have some of the world’s top brands, Fortune 1000 firms and innovative product startups as their customers.

Driven by Innovation

Technology is evolving every day as businesses try to keep up. RapidValue considers itself to be a fast-paced emerging firm that builds solutions with cutting-edge technologies. Its collective enthusiasm is driven by its fascination of new marketing ideas for solution launches, branding and executing innovative ideas quickly. Narayan believes, “the most interesting part is incorporating new-age marketing solutions to increase brand awareness.”

Kavyanidhi supports the pursuit of balanced work-life relationships. RapidValue is rich in culture with a diverse team, so celebrating all festivals throughout the year is important to them.

“We have many talented employees. They perform dances, play musical instruments and participate in sporting events,” says Kavyanidhi. “This inspires the team to have bonding experiences that promote enthusiasm to work cohesively.”

Apart from leading the 17-member marketing team, Kavyanidhi is also an athlete and has won many championships in track & field events. She also has her own sports club for children called Galloper, which she pursues on the weekends.

From Small Beginnings to Big Destinations

RapidValue’s marketing team’s lead generation and brand building has upsurged the company revenue. In 2016-17, the team contributed 30% of the company’s revenue through marketing initiatives that netted five big customer wins. There has also been a 20% increase in sales compared to 2015 through 12 road shows, technology events and global awards

“RapidValue’s marketing team is closely knit with cross-functional teams to increase the visibility of RapidValue and the business development team, to generate leads and to drive customer wins. We motivate the entire organization to contribute through leadership articles and whitepapers.”

Kavyanidhi also believes that building the right relationship with stakeholders and working closely as a team is what brings success—not just for themselves, but also for the organization.

“This team has proved that a small group can make a difference in transforming a three-member startup into one of the fastest emerging companies in the world.”

Topics: marketing awards, International business awards, marketing campaign of the year, marketing campaign

Pakistani Executive Connects Social Good with Business Goals

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Tue, Dec 19, 2017 @ 02:24 PM

Syeda Amna Nasir Jamal knows things could have ended up very differently. Faced with the untimely death of her father, a young Jamal suddenly held the reins of the family textile business in Pakistan. Though she had started to work for him at age 13, it wasn’t exactly a role for which she was prepared.

“After the death of my father, there were difficult challenges in our lives,” Jamal says. “We had plenty of setbacks and disappointments.”

Instead of losing hope, she pushed forward. Jamal would have a hand in virtually every aspect of the business, from marketing to human resources, providing the steadying force it needed.

SAN enterprises.jpg“I overcame obstacles by being shrewd,” she concedes. In time, she would create her own agricultural and textile trading firm, the Karachi-based SAN Enterprises.

Despite her successes, Jamal wanted to do more. She found herself wanting to help the next generation of Pakistanis in overcoming their own obstacles ‒ be it poverty, a lack of education or gender biases ‒ to achieve success in life.

With that goal in mind, she set up a free school for underprivileged children on the SAN premises. Rather than being a distraction, she says the project had an overwhelmingly positive impact on the business. Jamal contends that it’s been a way to attract the sort of employees she values ‒ those wanting to make a positive change in the world.

“Initiatives for social good are one of the ways that you can show a job candidate what it is like to work at your company,” says Jamal. “Candidates want to know they work for a company whose values are aligned with their own.”

Eventually, Jamal created an NGO called the Tavuun Welfare Association so that she could make an even bigger impact within the city and nationwide. Through Tavuun, she’s helped set up a second school in the high-crime Lyari district of Karachi, which promotes academic achievement and civic engagement among women.

“Pakistani society has traditionally been patriarchal, where a female child is often regarded as an ‘unwanted’ being,” Jamal says. “Due to cultural and religious practices, gender discrimination and socioeconomic disparities are very visible.”

As the organization has developed, it’s taken on numerous other projects as well. Among them: a free clinic where low-income residents can receive medical care and a program that provides blankets and other necessities to disaster victims.

Changing hearts and minds

Alongside her work on the ground, Jamal is hoping to bring broader awareness to these issues in Pakistan. She’s created a policy and research organization that shines a light on the downtrodden in Pakistan and often writes for local news outlets on education, health and gender-related topics.

“Unfortunately, human rights is a concept that is still trivialized in the sub-continent,” she explains. “That’s why the current generation of young people has grown up without developing a sense of collective responsibility for social change.”

Changing those ingrained attitudes is a significant task, to be sure. For inspiration, Jamal says she turns to the ancient proverb: “You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

What she has done so far is nothing short of extraordinary. For her tireless efforts, Jamal won Silver for “Female Innovator of the Year” at the Stevie® Awards for Women in Business in November, 2017. Her NGO, Tavuun Welfare Association, earned the Bronze Stevie for “Organization of the Year.”

Jamal says the recognitions will only help bring more attention to the organization and the causes that she’s trying to remedy. She’s also confident it will boost the morale of her staff and help make it easier to recruit and retain workers.

“Confidence begins with faith, self-determination and dedication to success,” she says. “Winning is an amazing feeling because it says that I am capable of bringing something special to the table.”

Topics: stevie awards for women in business, Organization of the Year, womens awards, innovator of the year

The Great Disruptor: Female Entrepreneur Shakes Up the Specialty Finance Sector

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Thu, Dec 14, 2017 @ 10:49 AM

“Complacency” is not a word in Renee Tocco’s vocabulary.

Whether it is using her skills to encourage people to live healthier or supporting any number of philanthropic causes ‒ from helping low-income children to protecting rainforests ‒  the energetic Aussie is keen to make a difference wherever she can.

It is no surprise when it comes to her main career as a business executive, Tocco does not settle for the status quo. A former sales and business accounts manager for Telstra, Australia’s largest telecom company, she started her own commercial finance brokerage, Loanezi, in 2014. In the process, she is bringing a fresh approach to an industry that is not necessarily known for innovation.

In three years, her company has become one of the fastest-growing players in the country’s asset finance industry. “Loanezi is my greatest achievement so far,” the entrepreneur says, proud of the success her venture has earned.

Loenzi.jpgFor as long as she can remember, dreaming big has been one of her character traits. “I always believed that I will one day build up an empire or disrupt an industry with a revolutionary invention,” concedes Tocco, who lives on The Gold Coast, a metropolitan area on Australia’s eastern shore.

Loanezi is the marriage of that enterprising spirit with the industry knowledge she acquired at Telstra. It was there Tocco realized the impact information and communication technology could have on businesses ‒ particularly smaller ones. For clients, new equipment was often the difference between growing or falling behind the competition.

Tocco vividly remembers her first client, a woman who was starting her own real estate practice. “Without a new phone system and printer, this new little real estate business literally would not have been able to successfully function,” Tocco told her hometown newspaper, The Gold Coast Bulletin.

Three years later, the company’s trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. In early 2016, Loanezi was already generating enough revenue to pay back all borrowed capital, becoming 100% self-funded. During the 2016-2017 financial year, Loanezi generated 450 commercial loans, outpacing its own ambitious sales goals.

What makes Loanezi different from the competition? Tocco says it is, in part, the novel use of technology, something that is transforming what had long been a “staid” finance broking sector.

The company also offers a large panel of vendors, enabling it to serve customers with a wide range of needs, including new businesses that sometimes have trouble getting financial support.

Despite the success the firm is enjoying, Tocco makes it clear the company is not pulling off the accelerator pedal. “My goal is to become the largest commercial asset finance broker in Australia within the next three years, a humongous goal that I am focused on achieving.”

In August, Tocco and her team found out they won the Silver Stevie® Award in the “Startup of the Year – Business Services Industries” category of The 14th Annual International Business Awards.

“These awards have a great impact when building a brand and trying to stand out from the crowd,” says Tocco. “The day we added the Silver Stevie seal to the website was such a fun moment, as we appreciate the impact this has in building my profile and that of Loanezi.”

Thinking Big

For Tocco, one of the biggest benefits to the company’s success is the opportunity to give back. The business has partnered with the business giving initiative known as Buy1Give1 (B1G1), providing donations for every corporate loan it settles.

Among the results of its B1G1 gifts so far: 175 days of shelter and 225 days of education for children in need, as well as the protection of 45 square meters of rainforest and 2,000 meals for orphaned children.

“My desire is to change as many lives as possible, directly or indirectly,” she says. “The bigger Loanezi grows, the more impact we can have.”

Tocco is also using her experiences to help other female entrepreneurs achieve a similar level of success. “Through my blogs in the finance industry, I am already mentoring several females and believe that will foster into perpetuity the gift of shared knowledge.”

In that same spirit, she is hoping to offer traineeships to help students achieve their business goals and tackle important challenges around the world.

“I believe young people, offered the novelty of mentorship, will thrive in whatever industry they choose as their end goal,” says Tocco. “I hope my company will be the launching pad of future leaders with a global conscious mindset.”

Topics: entrepreneur, International business awards, company of the year, Startup of the Year, startup awards

Ex-Footballer Showcases Australia’s Hidden Gems for Hit Travel TV Show

Posted by Maggie Gallagher on Wed, Dec 06, 2017 @ 02:25 PM

Swimming next to crocodiles? Traversing giant rock formations? Boogie-boarding on whitewater rapids?

It’s all part of the job for Peter “Spida” Everett, a longtime star in the Australian Football League, and his wife, Sheree. As hosts of the hit TV and radio show “The Great Australian Doorstep,” the couple explores the country’s unique destinations and take on whatever adventure they find along the way.

Great Australian.jpgPast destinations have included Australia’s natural wonders like the Great Barrier Reef and Ayers Rock, as well as many of the charming small towns that dot the countryside. Wherever they go, the couple travel by car or RV, soaking up the land’s distinct character and meeting locals along the way.

From one episode to the next, the couple could be hiking Kings Canyon in the Northern Territory or exploring the wild and majestic Kimberley region in Western Australia. In recent years, they’ve ventured beyond the Great Down Under, filming episodes in New Zealand, China, Canada and the state of Alaska in the U.S.

Now in its tenth season, the show’s unique mix of cultural exploration and thrill-seeking has clearly struck a chord with audiences. The program is a staple on the television station 7TWO and on more than 40 radio stations across Australia. The show recently broke into the Chinese market, where they’ve inked a five-year deal with China Central Television, and have become the first Australian travel show to be picked up by iTunes.

Those remarkable achievements earned the admiration of jurors for The 14th Annual International Business Awards, which featured nearly 4,000 nominees. “The Great Australian Doorstep” came away with the Bronze Stevie in the Travel and Tourism Video Awards category.

“With his steely determination, Spida has taken on some of Australia’s biggest travel media outlets and come out on top,” says Sheree, deflecting her own sizeable contribution to the show’s success.

Overcoming Obstacles

Everett’s 16-year football career, in which he played for the St. Kilda Saints, Hawthorn Hawks and Sydney Swans, provided the kind of fame that certainly helps when you’re pitching a new media venture.

But Sheree insists his high profile could also be an obstacle at times, especially when the pair would try to garner seed money. “People would often say, ‘Oh, he has millions. We don’t need to support him,’” she says. But after a costly divorce, she says, that wasn’t the case.

As a result, the couple had to take on considerable financial risk to make their venture work. “When he retired, we put our entire life savings and have worked tirelessly, often with little support from the industry,” she says.

It’s fitting then, that the show caters to audience members who are looking to travel on a budget. Rather than flying from place to place and booking luxury hotels, the Everetts opt for the modest confines of an RV park and favor unpretentious local establishments. That stripped-down approach has also made the program more fun they say, allowing them to interact with everyday people and experience the countryside up close.

The attention the show is receiving is just icing on the cake, they insist. The Stevie® Award, in particular, plays a major role in helping to boost the program’s profile, says Sheree.

“It has given us higher global exposure as well as huge applause from media and travel industry personnel here in Australia,” she explains.

And its proof, she insists, of what can happen when you believe in your ideas and are willing to work through the struggles. “It’s about focus, vision, hard work and never losing sight of the big goal,” Everett says.

Topics: marketing awards, International business awards, communication awards, The International Business Awards, australia business awards

Introducing the 2018 Silver and Bronze Stevie Medals

Posted by Michael Gallagher on Mon, Dec 04, 2017 @ 12:21 PM

We're pleased to share with you the first photographs of the Silver and Bronze Stevie® medals that will be presented to Silver and Bronze Stevie winners in all of our 2018 competitions.

The medals are diamond-shaped, evocative of the Stevie Awards logo, a break from the triangular medals of 2016-17.  The Silver Stevie medal will be conferred in a powder-blue presentation box, and the Bronze Stevie medal in a hunter-green box.

The medals will first be presented to Silver and Bronze Stevie winners at the 12th annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service in Las Vegas on Friday, February 23.

As in the past, Silver and Bronze Stevie winners will automatically receive one medal.  They'll have the option to purchase additional medals, or corresponding Silver or Bronze Stevie Award trophies, through the Stevie Awards Store.

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Topics: business awards, stevie awards, stevie awards for sales and customer service, Awards, medals