In this episode of Unboxing What Matters we meet Friso Wesseling, former Regional Head of Financial Services of the Daraz Group and Co-Founder of the Koko Buy-Now-Pay-Later app in Sri Lanka, as he talks to us about financial inclusivity and his predictions for the future of microfinance in the developing markets.

Having been a part of Koko, which leverages rich alternative data to allow users to access interest-free credit, provided Friso with the regional leadership experience to discuss the South Asian context and unpack how governments and private organisations can collaborate to improve infrastructure, digital identification, and investment in mobile technology to enable more communities through access to financial services and solutions. The show discusses the 430 million unbanked consumers in the Asian region and looks at the impact of this socially and economically to uncover why so many consumers in the developing markets will not, or cannot, access the traditional banking system.

Guest Bio

Friso Wesseling hails from the Netherlands and has extensive experience in the South Asian region. He has a degree in Economics (BSc.) and Law (BSc.) from Utrecht University and has earned a Management of Innovation Master's degree from Erasmus University in Rotterdam. At Daraz, he has led the Retail, Strategy, Planning, Business Intelligence, and Financial Services departments over the course of 3 years, seeing the business grow 10 fold, to 100M USD+ during his time in Sri Lanka.

In this episode of Unboxing What Matters we speak to Michelle Lee, Vice President of Brand and Communications at Dubai Airports.

With a 20-year career in marketing, this stimulating conversation unpacks the role of diversity and inclusion in the increasingly multicultural environments we work in, while also highlighting the need for more multi-faceted leadership and organisational structures to enable individualism in the workplace.

Michelle shares her experience of elevating corporate performance and guest experiences through employee engagement and marketing storytelling, as the world’s largest airport shifts to becoming a leader in hospitality and service culture.

Michelle unpacks the role of technology in the future of marketing, brand building, and service culture and how the brands she represents reflect the innovative city within which they reside. The discussion closes by looking at female leadership opportunities and equality within aviation, as well as the role of sustainability as Dubai Airport journeys towards becoming the world’s best airport.

Guest Bio:

Michelle Lee is the Vice President of Brand and Communications at Dubai Airports. Michelle has more than 17 years of experience in marketing and joined Dubai Airports in December 2019. Prior to her current position, Michelle has held various global marketing and customer experience leadership roles in the aviation, tourism, insurance, automotive, and consumer goods industries across local and global enterprises that include Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand and Pepsico. Michelle’s most recent role was Chief Marketing Officer EMEA for MetLife based in Dubai, UAE. Michelle holds double bachelor’s degrees in Commerce and Arts from the University of Auckland, with majors in Marketing and Psychology. She also attended the University of Virginia School of Business Leadership Program and achieved certifications in Strategy in the Age of Digital Disruption from INSEAD and Implementing Winning Strategies from Columbia Business School Executive Education.

This discussion with CEO Lucy D’Abo unpacks the current state of workplace culture across the world and answers the question as to whether we are entering an ‘employee revolution’ in 2023.

Lucy shares her predictions for leaders in 2023 as well as deep insight and data to the current evidence supporting the need for more listening-led, engaged, and communication-focused organisational cultures. Sharing highly visible case studies from KPMG UAE and Elon Musk and Twitter globally, Lucy’s interview offers listeners the transformational tips, evidence, and advice that leadership teams need to ensure they move from ‘surviving to thriving’ in the year ahead.

A multi-award-winning CEO and entrepreneur who knows what it means to build, manage and perform in the business world, with culture at the core, Lucy D’Abo has been recognised in the top 50 of Inspiring Female Leaders 2022 by Arabian Business. She has also been awarded ‘Entrepreneur of Year’ by the SME Stars of Business Awards 2015 and named one of the 50 ‘Most Influential Brits’ in the Arabian Business Index in 2013 and 2014. Lucy has been providing professional consulting services to clients and businesses across the Middle East & Asia, Africa and Europe since 1998. In 2021, Lucy launched together, a dedicated workplace culture consultancy focusing on 3 areas, People, Purpose and Culture: www.together.inc  

Episode 1 : Building Brand Experiences and Teams that matter.

This episode with Maud Meijboom-Van-Wel and Rakhil Fernando unpacks ideas around great brand building and storytelling in the digital age. The episode answers the question of what makes up the formula for success in sparking creativity in teams that lead to delivering great brand experiences, especially within the Asian consumer markets. Sharing highly visible case studies and examples from two very different, yet vibrant brands operating in consumer markets, the two guests Rakhil and Maud bring together a wealth of ideas, transformational tips, advice, and evidence on ways to approach 'brand-building' with creativity and purpose.

About the speakers:

Maud Meijboom-Van-Wel is the Managing Director for Heineken Sri Lanka! With wide exposure in both Sales and Marketing across multiple markets in Europe and Asia Pacific, Maud arrived in Sri Lanka from Singapore where she last served as Brand Director Asia Pacific & Global Communication Director Heineken®. Covering Brand Development in 23 Asia Pacific markets such as China, Vietnam, Korea, Australia, India and Singapore, she has also held the position of Board Member of Thai Asia Pacific Breweries. In 2013, Maud became a Management Team member for DB Breweries in New Zealand. As the Marketing Director, she led an extensive portfolio of cider, craft, and lager brands with a focus on growth in premium, innovation and breakthrough communication. In April 2016 Maud was appointed as Marketing Director for GAB, later HEINEKEN Malaysia Berhad, developing an innovative portfolio of global, local and license brands, as well as accelerating cider locally in Malaysia.

Rakhil Fernando is the Managing Director of Daraz in Sri Lanka and the Founder of KOKO, one of Sri Lanka’s first-ever buy now pay later applications. Under his leadership, the Daraz online marketplace has grown into a household name that supports over 80,000 sellers and 5 million consumers in Sri Lanka. Founded in 2015, Daraz is South Asia’s leading e-commerce platform in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Myanmar. It empowers more than 200,000 active sellers with world-class marketplace technology to reach the fast-growing consumer class in a region of 500 million people. Through Daraz Express and Daraz Pay, it operates the most efficient and digitalised logistics and payments infrastructure in its markets. Daraz’ vision is to be a champion of South Asia serving 50 million consumers and businesses by 2030. For more information, please visit www.daraz.com.  Prior to joining Daraz, Rakhil held various leadership roles in the technology, banking and finance space. In particular, he co-founded Kashmi in Singapore, a social mobile neo-banking product designed to fit seamlessly into the lifestyle of Southeast Asia's banked and unbanked millennials, and he also held different roles at leading financial institutions like Credit Suisse and Coutts. Rakhil holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, in the United States and is a former student of Eton College in the United Kingdom.